Low MCATs and GPA...help!

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cavolley

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Hi all,
I'm new here to SDN. I have recently graduated from undergrad with a degree in Biology and Biochem. My GPA is 3.0 and my MCATS were 22. I do a great volunteer and work history. I have just recently sent my applications to LECOM (Erie and Bradenton), VCOM, WVCOM and UNECOM (I'm a Virginia Resident). Does anyone have any encouraging stores about acceptance stories with these stats? Anyone have advice? I have also applied to a few postbach programs. Thanks all!

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There aren't really any tricks or special ways to get in. Now that you submitted applications for this year, the only thing left is the interview and be prepared to retake the MCAT. Focus on your interview skills. Search for interview threads on SDN. Be prepared by getting familiar with questions that the interview committee will be asking. That is all that it is really going to come down to now.

Good Luck.
 
Go for the post bacc stuff and get your scores up...doesn't need to be a Pre-med program (my humble opinion), just take some solid science course and show improvement. continue to volunteer, maybe get an emt or do research. My undergrad GPA = 2.45...applied with a cum 3.6 after a few years of actually trying. You can do it, it might take a few years though. If you have ?s on UNECOM feel free to PM me.
 
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cavolley said:
Hi all,
I'm new here to SDN. I have recently graduated from undergrad with a degree in Biology and Biochem. My GPA is 3.0 and my MCATS were 22. I do a great volunteer and work history. I have just recently sent my applications to LECOM (Erie and Bradenton), VCOM, WVCOM and UNECOM (I'm a Virginia Resident). Does anyone have any encouraging stores about acceptance stories with these stats? Anyone have advice? I have also applied to a few postbach programs. Thanks all!
Your numbers might be okay if you apply really early in the cycle. Of course, no one can really say if you'll get in or not this cycle. Since you've already sent in your applications you might as well play along and see how it'll turn out. In the mean time, I would suggest retaking a couple of classes to raise that GPA in case you need to reapply. Good luck. BTW, good choice of schools to apply to with your numbers.
 
cavolley said:
Hi all,
I'm new here to SDN. I have recently graduated from undergrad with a degree in Biology and Biochem. My GPA is 3.0 and my MCATS were 22. I do a great volunteer and work history. I have just recently sent my applications to LECOM (Erie and Bradenton), VCOM, WVCOM and UNECOM (I'm a Virginia Resident). Does anyone have any encouraging stores about acceptance stories with these stats? Anyone have advice? I have also applied to a few postbach programs. Thanks all!


You put yourself at a disadvantage applying this late in the cycle, but since you've already done it, hopefully you'll get some good interview experience if nothing else. while you're waiting (and probably reapplying), take more classes, get your GPA up, and study for the MCAT. yes, getting into med school with your stats can be done, but if you're the average "I just graduated from college and volunteered at the hospital like every other premed" you need to make yourself stand out.

Keep in mind, we're a bunch of premeds like yourself, not admissions committees!!
 
nerdgrrl said:
"You put yourself at a disadvantage applying this late"

Keep in mind, we're a bunch of premeds like yourself, not admissions committees!!

OP, I agree with the above post. I dont know if i misunderstood..but did u just submit your primary app...or secondary to the listed schools?
 
Regardless to what people tell you about making special considerations if you have a lot of extracurruicular experience, scores means a lot more to schools still. I applyed to DO schools for the past two years with a 3.8GPA, 5 yrs as a CNA, 2 yrs as a MT at Mayo Clinic, and many other organizations (academic and community). However, since I have a 19L & 20L MCAT due to first messing up on test day 1 and getting a VR4 on test day 2, but BS9, many still wouldn't consider my plea's. I interviewed twice at DMU,(both times waitlisted at the bottom) and told by the PhD who interviewed me that "I am doing good where I am at and med school is not for me." Both PCOMS, LECOM-FL, TURO-NV, and KCUMB, would not interview me both years. All because of a low VR score, apparently I am not proficient on that part of the MCAT.

In the end, things worked out for me. I am now at one of the best DPM programs in the U.S., with a huge scholarship that leaves my tuition at 1/3 of a DO school price. Also, planning on doing research and someday opening my own surgical practice in rural MN where I grew up.

Keep with it. :thumbup:
It will all work out in the end.
 
Believe it or not, 23N MCAT and 3.57 GPA got me 7 DO school interviews and one ranked (1-50) MD school. I have interviewed in all but one DO school interview I declined (AZCOM, too far from home). Accepted in two, waitlisted in two, rejected in one, expecting results in one soon- DO schools. Waiting to hear from MD school. And NO I do not fall into the minority slot! So, guys and gals do not give up if you have 21 and above MCAT. BUT do apply early and prepare to knock 'em down in the interview.
 
cavolley said:
Hi all,
I'm new here to SDN. I have recently graduated from undergrad with a degree in Biology and Biochem. My GPA is 3.0 and my MCATS were 22. I do a great volunteer and work history. I have just recently sent my applications to LECOM (Erie and Bradenton), VCOM, WVCOM and UNECOM (I'm a Virginia Resident). Does anyone have any encouraging stores about acceptance stories with these stats? Anyone have advice? I have also applied to a few postbach programs. Thanks all!

Having been through the cycle twice, I'll have to say that the best advice given to me wasn't the post like the one above that talks about having below average MCAT scores and getting in---it was one which told me to 'chug along and keep in mind you MAY NOT GET IN'.

Yes, there are exceptions, but they are just that, exceptions. I grasped onto the "exceptions" story, thinking I will be one of them. Sure, my GPA and MCAT score was below the mean on this and that school, but I figured since so-and-so on this board had gotten interviews/acceptances with similar stats or below, I would also have a shot---I was wrong.

My second try, I applied DO and found my stats well within range of DO schools and I had no problems getting interviews and acceptances---so my only advice to anyone struggling with subpar numbers is: GET YOUR NUMBERS UP!!!

Looking for people who got in with poor scores isn't going to help you get in, it's just giving you false hope.

I suggest you focus on taking classes, doing post-bacc and raising your undergrad GPA up. Else, do a masters in biol so you get something useful out of the year spent in school. Also, retake the MCAT, really focus on your weak areas.

People say DO schools looks 'beyond the numbers'----I'm not sure I completely agree with that. DO schools accepts MCAT and GPA at lower ranges than MD schools but they still have certain standards. Having an MCAT score at or above their averages would go a long to smoothing your path to acceptance.

You evidently had a tough four years double majoring in bio and biochem---so stress that in your app when you get a chance, but still show that you have the stuff to make it through medschool by doing well on your MCAT and raising your GPA. I don't believe any amount of extra volunteer work or extracurriculas---save for a Nobel Prize in Medicine---will cover up poor grades and score. That's just my opinion from what I've been through.

I'm pretty happy to say, after raising my MCAT score by three points and attending both a post-bacc (for half a year) and doing a masters with bridge program, I got acceptance to one of my top choices last November and am awaiting an answer from the local state MD school (they said they wouldn't look at the masters' students apps until this year). All in all, I'm not dissatisfied, but I had to focus on my weak spot and really be a numbers ***** for the last year and get them up.

Good luck with you app!
 
cavolley said:
Hi all,
I'm new here to SDN. I have recently graduated from undergrad with a degree in Biology and Biochem. My GPA is 3.0 and my MCATS were 22. I do a great volunteer and work history. I have just recently sent my applications to LECOM (Erie and Bradenton), VCOM, WVCOM and UNECOM (I'm a Virginia Resident). Does anyone have any encouraging stores about acceptance stories with these stats? Anyone have advice? I have also applied to a few postbach programs. Thanks all!


3.92 GPA, a buttload of EC'S and a 22Q MCAT. Seven interviews, I have attended 5 of those, have been accepted to all but one of the D.O. schools I interviewed at thus far (including my top choice DMU!!). I say this over and over again and, maybe that makes me the champion of low MCAT's ahah, but, stick in there and SELL yourself at the interview. Your scores are only as low as you SELL them at the interview. :thumbup:
 
cavolley said:
Hi all,
I'm new here to SDN. I have recently graduated from undergrad with a degree in Biology and Biochem. My GPA is 3.0 and my MCATS were 22. I do a great volunteer and work history. I have just recently sent my applications to LECOM (Erie and Bradenton), VCOM, WVCOM and UNECOM (I'm a Virginia Resident). Does anyone have any encouraging stores about acceptance stories with these stats? Anyone have advice? I have also applied to a few postbach programs. Thanks all!

Put yourself in the adcom's shoes. If both metrics GPA+MCAT are below average, it raises a red flag. You could be mother teresa (w.r.t. ec's and such) but you'll still need to convince adcoms that you can cut through med school studies. Now there are cases where 1 of the numbers is low but the other provides compelling evidence of academic excellence. Take for instance the above poster's situation. Low MCAT but high GPA. There are cases where the opposite also works, i.e. low GPA but high MCAT. In both these situations you can tell your story *and* have evidence in the shape of either GPA / MCAT to back up the fact that you can and will do well in med school. Another situation that may work is avg GPA and avg MCAT coupled with strong EC's.

But you need to have atleast 1 of the two (GPA / MCAT) going for you. As others have pointed out there are ways to raise both.
 
cavolley said:
Hi all,
I'm new here to SDN. I have recently graduated from undergrad with a degree in Biology and Biochem. My GPA is 3.0 and my MCATS were 22. I do a great volunteer and work history. I have just recently sent my applications to LECOM (Erie and Bradenton), VCOM, WVCOM and UNECOM (I'm a Virginia Resident). Does anyone have any encouraging stores about acceptance stories with these stats? Anyone have advice? I have also applied to a few postbach programs. Thanks all!

The key question here is: are you an Under represented minority? If the answer is yes, then you should have a really good chance of getting into a D.O. school.
This is especially true if you are of African American or native American descent. If you are not URM, you may still have chance as long as you are a girl from a disadvantaged background. If you are white male, better luck next time.
 
these forums are the most PC entities I've ever seen. Sorry to the original post, but medical school isn't cut out for everyone!!! i possibly can't be the only one thinking this when I see extremely substandard people with posts like this. (please help my gpa and mcat suck. do i have a chance threads) true there is a chance, but come on. best find another career.
 
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mtDNA said:
The key question here is: are you an Under represented minority? If the answer is yes, then you should have a really good chance of getting into a D.O. school.
This is especially true if you are of African American or native American descent. If you are not URM, you may still have chance as long as you are a girl from a disadvantaged background. If you are white male, better luck next time.


Why in the world would you even post something like this?
 
cmeshy said:
these forums are the most PC entities I've ever seen. Sorry to the original post, but medical school isn't cut out for everyone!!! i possibly can't be the only one thinking this when I see extremely substandard people with posts like this. (please help my gpa and mcat suck. do i have a chance threads) true there is a chance, but come on. best find another career.


Being a physican is not measured in pure power of grades. Being a physican is showing that you have the desire, the power and the passion to care for another individual that you have never met before. Reading your post just now made me realize that all of this waved bye bye to you a long time ago. Empathy is the true measure of a physican and it is not something you find in a GPA or an MCAT score. It might be best for your to go find some.
 
mtDNA said:
The key question here is: are you an Under represented minority? If the answer is yes, then you should have a really good chance of getting into a D.O. school.
This is especially true if you are of African American or native American descent. If you are not URM, you may still have chance as long as you are a girl from a disadvantaged background. If you are white male, better luck next time.

Bitter, are we? :D

How about an asian female? Does the femaleness outweigh the asian-ness? :rolleyes:

cmeshy said:
these forums are the most PC entities I've ever seen. Sorry to the original post, but medical school isn't cut out for everyone!!! i possibly can't be the only one thinking this when I see extremely substandard people with posts like this. (please help my gpa and mcat suck. do i have a chance threads) true there is a chance, but come on. best find another career.

Well, the OP wasn't waiting for people to give him encouragements to 'wait it out'.....many of us have told him that he needs to bump up his MCAT and/or GPA to stand a chance. No one is being PC, certainly not me, who have told him to not listen to the people who tell him he 'may' have a chance when he probably does not. In fact, I have specifically stated that his best chance to to play the 'numbers game' and really get his way up.

The fact is, there are many acceptees who may have been in his shoes in the past and want to share their experiences with him. After all, these forums can't all be geared for the 4.0 and 35ers who can waltz into med school, right? There's always a good chance if a person is willing to go the distance, even for those that have subpar numbers.

Jamers said:
Being a physican is not measured in pure power of grades. Being a physican is showing that you have the desire, the power and the passion to care for another individual that you have never met before.

That's true, but adcoms are going to measure you by how well you can handle the academic schoolwork of the institution you apply at. And MCAT and GPA are their measuring sticks so I think having subpar grades will hurt your chance, not matter how great your beside manners are.

That said, it is unfortunate this pr,ocess tends eliminate the truly altruistic students for the ambitious brainaic who may not feel any empathy for their patients...but who says this process was ever fair?
 
Jamers said:
Being a physican is not measured in pure power of grades. Being a physican is showing that you have the desire, the power and the passion to care for another individual that you have never met before. Reading your post just now made me realize that all of this waved bye bye to you a long time ago. Empathy is the true measure of a physican and it is not something you find in a GPA or an MCAT score. It might be best for your to go find some.
I agree....
besides, how can you compare gpa's of someone from a rich family who had nothing to do or worry about through out the undergrad besides finding him/her self more EC's to do, to someone who has a family and had been working full time jobs throughout the college???
 
Why would you want to compare the grades of those people of two different backgrounds? At the end of the day people don't care if you had a tougher time during school than another person. Sure you can respect that person for overcoming the adversity they faced, but really low grades are low grades and despite how supposedly inadequete grades are of measuring future performance they are the only objective measure that schools have. By giving weight to unmeasurable external factors such as hardship you open a dangerous door to any sob story that a person may come up with... "I have bad grades because my dog died, but I still care so I'll make a good physician", "I have bad MCAT scores because I had to work the night before the test, but I'm empathetic so I'll make a good physician", and so on and so forth. Now you may say, "That's ridiculous, what person would consider those instances in possible admission", but those are just extreme examples and not everyone finds the same things ridiculous.

And as far as empathy being the measure of a physician, I think we forgot to include "competance". You can be a truly horrible physician with having either one with the exclusion of the other. I know of a few certain medical students that have migrated through classes, i.e they keep failing, that are the most caring and empathetic people I know, but I wouldn't trust anyone of them to touch me with a 10 foot pole. I'd trust them to comfort me through a bout of depression, but not diagnose my diabetes or pneumonia, let alone treat it. Maybe they'd be better off as nurses... (not flaming DO's or MD's, just nurses).
 
i agree with you to some extent but american schools unfortunatly grade something like "participation" and attendance(which is rediculous). If you have a family and for instance your little doughter is sick so you are forced to miss few classes and loose points because of that and then get a B instead of A just because your participation grade dragged you down....?
I do understand that some people do make up excuses and explanations of lower grades but i assure you that if i didn't have to make though choices throught my school times i would have streight A's.
But when you sometimes need to make a choice between going to class and paying your rent it doesn't really compare....
i am a good example because ever since my b/f parents have helped me financially so i didn't have to work my butt off to pay for school, i have been on a dean's list and my grades are much improved...
at the end i know that if i had that help elier i would do much better during my freshmen year in college.
I also have a friend who's father died in an accident and she works like crazy night and day to pay for her school because since she is not permanent resident yet she doesn't qualify for the fin aid. She still could pull a 3.85 gpa through 3 years of that crazy work/school thing. Now she is someone standing on the paper next to my other firend who never had to worry about anything because his parents payed for him.
you cannot compare those two people can you?
 
Bhiga said:
Why would you want to compare the grades of those people of two different backgrounds? At the end of the day people don't care if you had a tougher time during school than another person. Sure you can respect that person for overcoming the adversity they faced, but really low grades are low grades and despite how supposedly inadequete grades are of measuring future performance they are the only objective measure that schools have. By giving weight to unmeasurable external factors such as hardship you open a dangerous door to any sob story that a person may come up with... "I have bad grades because my dog died, but I still care so I'll make a good physician", "I have bad MCAT scores because I had to work the night before the test, but I'm empathetic so I'll make a good physician", and so on and so forth. Now you may say, "That's ridiculous, what person would consider those instances in possible admission", but those are just extreme examples and not everyone finds the same things ridiculous.

And as far as empathy being the measure of a physician, I think we forgot to include "competance". You can be a truly horrible physician with having either one with the exclusion of the other. I know of a few certain medical students that have migrated through classes, i.e they keep failing, that are the most caring and empathetic people I know, but I wouldn't trust anyone of them to touch me with a 10 foot pole. I'd trust them to comfort me through a bout of depression, but not diagnose my diabetes or pneumonia, let alone treat it. Maybe they'd be better off as nurses... (not flaming DO's or MD's, just nurses).

Yes, and I wouldn't let a doctor that cared nothing for human life below his own "level" touch me with a ten foot poll. That is what I meant. It was a direct cut to whoever it was that was trying to destroy the OP.
 
Bhiga said:
Why would you want to compare the grades of those people of two different backgrounds? At the end of the day people don't care if you had a tougher time during school than another person. Sure you can respect that person for overcoming the adversity they faced, but really low grades are low grades and despite how supposedly inadequete grades are of measuring future performance they are the only objective measure that schools have. By giving weight to unmeasurable external factors such as hardship you open a dangerous door to any sob story that a person may come up with... "I have bad grades because my dog died, but I still care so I'll make a good physician", "I have bad MCAT scores because I had to work the night before the test, but I'm empathetic so I'll make a good physician", and so on and so forth. Now you may say, "That's ridiculous, what person would consider those instances in possible admission", but those are just extreme examples and not everyone finds the same things ridiculous.

And as far as empathy being the measure of a physician, I think we forgot to include "competance". You can be a truly horrible physician with having either one with the exclusion of the other. I know of a few certain medical students that have migrated through classes, i.e they keep failing, that are the most caring and empathetic people I know, but I wouldn't trust anyone of them to touch me with a 10 foot pole. I'd trust them to comfort me through a bout of depression, but not diagnose my diabetes or pneumonia, let alone treat it. Maybe they'd be better off as nurses... (not flaming DO's or MD's, just nurses).

double post
 
Bhiga said:
Why would you want to compare the grades of those people of two different backgrounds? At the end of the day people don't care if you had a tougher time during school than another person. Sure you can respect that person for overcoming the adversity they faced, but really low grades are low grades and despite how supposedly inadequete grades are of measuring future performance they are the only objective measure that schools have. By giving weight to unmeasurable external factors such as hardship you open a dangerous door to any sob story that a person may come up with... "I have bad grades because my dog died, but I still care so I'll make a good physician", "I have bad MCAT scores because I had to work the night before the test, but I'm empathetic so I'll make a good physician", and so on and so forth. Now you may say, "That's ridiculous, what person would consider those instances in possible admission", but those are just extreme examples and not everyone finds the same things ridiculous.

And as far as empathy being the measure of a physician, I think we forgot to include "competance". You can be a truly horrible physician with having either one with the exclusion of the other. I know of a few certain medical students that have migrated through classes, i.e they keep failing, that are the most caring and empathetic people I know, but I wouldn't trust anyone of them to touch me with a 10 foot pole. I'd trust them to comfort me through a bout of depression, but not diagnose my diabetes or pneumonia, let alone treat it. Maybe they'd be better off as nurses... (not flaming DO's or MD's, just nurses).

That's really nice.
 
Bhiga said:
Why would you want to compare the grades of those people of two different backgrounds? At the end of the day people don't care if you had a tougher time during school than another person. Sure you can respect that person for overcoming the adversity they faced, but really low grades are low grades and despite how supposedly inadequete grades are of measuring future performance they are the only objective measure that schools have. By giving weight to unmeasurable external factors such as hardship you open a dangerous door to any sob story that a person may come up with... "I have bad grades because my dog died, but I still care so I'll make a good physician", "I have bad MCAT scores because I had to work the night before the test, but I'm empathetic so I'll make a good physician", and so on and so forth. Now you may say, "That's ridiculous, what person would consider those instances in possible admission", but those are just extreme examples and not everyone finds the same things ridiculous.

And as far as empathy being the measure of a physician, I think we forgot to include "competance". You can be a truly horrible physician with having either one with the exclusion of the other. I know of a few certain medical students that have migrated through classes, i.e they keep failing, that are the most caring and empathetic people I know, but I wouldn't trust anyone of them to touch me with a 10 foot pole. I'd trust them to comfort me through a bout of depression, but not diagnose my diabetes or pneumonia, let alone treat it. Maybe they'd be better off as nurses... (not flaming DO's or MD's, just nurses).

A) admissions committees do

B) Good point, I pose that they be made to provide documentation for extreme or unusual circumstances.
 
How funny it was that I used "PC " as my explanation of peoples attitudes in these forums and then get the response that just reinforces my opinion.

"What if I had three kids and was a single parent. What if mommy and daddy are rich and I didn't have to work a day of my life." How can you compare these (my favorite arguement)? As PC as is gets. Lets all hold hands and listen.

So do we fault the latter because of external circumstances through no fault of his or her own (being from a well-off family). The person still had to go to school everyday and get GOOD grades. This demands an understanding which is demonstrated with a GPA and MCAT score. No other way around it!!! The woman with the kids has it hard. True. And she may have obligations that supercede school at times. But if you don't get the grades and MCAT where a course load is easier, than how on earth is that person going to succeed in a more strenuous environment where the education starts dealing with the safety and well being of others.

Not everyone is cutout to be a doctor, whether that be from lack of intellectual capacity or external mitigating circustances. My point is I can't get over the fact of how many people I see making threads with extremely lower scores than AVERAGE and want to know some trick to get in. When you get a D+ in O chem, PLEASE take that as a warning sign that maybe you do not posseess the intellect required to become one of the most highly educated and relied upon members of society. Anyone heard of the phrase "quality not quantity." To the OP, here is the hard line and a reality check because in the real world reality is a bitch and you don't get to do anything just because you wanted too or dreamed about it your whole life (and if that was the case, you should have worked harder), retake the MCAT and get at LEAST the average score, ie. a 24/25. But to overshadow your dismal GPA, you should get something in the neighborhood of the average MCAT of people ACCEPTED into med school, a 30. And remember of the 30 thousand people that took that test, a 25 is average.

Do people really think average is acceptable for medical school even if they are REALLY REALLY nice to people. come on!!! demand a little proffesionalism from your future collegues.
 
cmeshy said:
How funny it was that I used "PC " as my explanation of peoples attitudes in these forums and then get the response that just reinforces my opinion.

"So do we fault What if I had three kids and was a single parent. What if mommy and daddy are rich and I didn't have to work a day of my life." How can you compare these (my favorite arguement)? As PC as is gets. Lets all hold hands and listen.

the latter because of external circumstances through no fault of his or her own (being from a well-off family). The person still had to go to school everyday and get GOOD grades. This demands an understanding which is demonstrated with a GPA and MCAT score. No other way around it!!! The woman with the kids has it hard. True. And she may have obligations that supercede school at times. But if you don't get the grades and MCAT where a course load is easier, than how on earth is that person going to succeed in a more strenuous environment where the education starts dealing with the safety and well being of others.

Not everyone is cutout to be a doctor, whether that be from lack of intellectual capacity or external mitigating circustances. My point is I can't get over the fact of how many people I see making threads with extremely lower scores than AVERAGE and want to know some trick to get in. When you get a D+ in O chem, PLEASE take that as a warning sign that maybe you do not posseess the intellect required to become one of the most highly educated and relied upon members of society. Anyone heard of the phrase "quality not quantity." To the OP, here is the hard line and a reality check because in the real world reality is a bitch and you don't get to do anything just because you wanted too or dreamed about it your whole life (and if that was the case, you should have worked harder), retake the MCAT and get at LEAST the average score, ie. a 24/25. But to overshadow your dismal GPA, you should get something in the neighborhood of the average MCAT of people ACCEPTED into med school, a 30. And remember of the 30 thousand people that took that test, a 25 is average.

Do people really think average is acceptable for medical school even if they are REALLY REALLY nice to people. come on!!! demand a little proffesionalism from your future collegues.

You make a good point. In the situation that one has kids, they should have to demonstrate they can still do well in medschool, after all, if one can't handle it in undergrad, they are likely not going to be able to in medschool.

Certainly a person who has stellar stats, but has parent to support them etc, should be commended--they deserve it. BUT, not getting the same stats b/c one had to hold down 2 jobs + full-time school and lack other necessities that others are given (ie, car, computer, etc) b/c he or she is from poverty. It is not the same as let's say, having kids. In this case, the disadvantaged category (for example) is a means to make the playing field a bit more equal. I don't call that punishing the one with support--I call it making the playing field more equal.
 
cmeshy said:
How funny it was that I used "PC " as my explanation of peoples attitudes in these forums and then get the response that just reinforces my opinion.

"So do we fault What if I had three kids and was a single parent. What if mommy and daddy are rich and I didn't have to work a day of my life." How can you compare these (my favorite arguement)? As PC as is gets. Lets all hold hands and listen.

the latter because of external circumstances through no fault of his or her own (being from a well-off family). The person still had to go to school everyday and get GOOD grades. This demands an understanding which is demonstrated with a GPA and MCAT score. No other way around it!!! The woman with the kids has it hard. True. And she may have obligations that supercede school at times. But if you don't get the grades and MCAT where a course load is easier, than how on earth is that person going to succeed in a more strenuous environment where the education starts dealing with the safety and well being of others.

Not everyone is cutout to be a doctor, whether that be from lack of intellectual capacity or external mitigating circustances. My point is I can't get over the fact of how many people I see making threads with extremely lower scores than AVERAGE and want to know some trick to get in. When you get a D+ in O chem, PLEASE take that as a warning sign that maybe you do not posseess the intellect required to become one of the most highly educated and relied upon members of society. Anyone heard of the phrase "quality not quantity." To the OP, here is the hard line and a reality check because in the real world reality is a bitch and you don't get to do anything just because you wanted too or dreamed about it your whole life (and if that was the case, you should have worked harder), retake the MCAT and get at LEAST the average score, ie. a 24/25. But to overshadow your dismal GPA, you should get something in the neighborhood of the average MCAT of people ACCEPTED into med school, a 30. And remember of the 30 thousand people that took that test, a 25 is average.

Do people really think average is acceptable for medical school even if they are REALLY REALLY nice to people. come on!!! demand a little proffesionalism from your future collegues.

You make a good point. In the situation that one has kids, they should have to demonstrate they can still do well in medschool, after all, if one can't handle it in undergrad, they are likely not going to be able to in medschool.

Certainly a person who has stellar stats, but has parent to support them etc, should be commended--they deserve it. BUT, not getting the same stats b/c one had to hold down 2 jobs + full-time school and lack other necessities that others are given (umm, car, computer, etc) b/c he or she is from poverty is not the same as let's say, having kids. In this case, the disadvantaged category (for example) is a means to make the playing field a bit more equal. I don't call that punishing the one with support--I call it making the playing field more equal.
 
I would like to comment to those who believe that people are not cutout to be doctors. Believe me when I tell you that not every doctor is a competent doctor. Yes, the finished medical school, probably good enough MCAT and GPA but what does that all mean. When it comes down to it, it depends on how bad you want it. Why do some people from the Caribbean, for example, become great doctors and some don't? Because they worked hard and got what they wanted.

People need to understand that this is a pre-DO forum. Where DO schools are "supposed" to look at you as a whole. I can't really elaborate on this since I havent applied to med school yet, maybe someone else can. Just show the adcoms WHY they should CHOOSE you! Many people have the grades and all but can't express in their personal statement why they want to become a doctor. Who knows what the adcoms are looking for, JUST TRY.
 
My GPA was a 3.8 with an MCAT of 23. It took me two years to get into medical school. I would try to increase my GPA and scores. Also remember to accent your positives during your interviews. :)
 
bkpa2med said:
People need to understand that this is a pre-DO forum. Where DO schools are "supposed" to look at you as a whole.

Med schools, whether MD or DO, are all "numbers ******." If a DO school has two similar candidates and one has a higher GPA/MCAT, then the higher score is likely to win out. Why do you think there are these big waiting or alternate lists? They are waiting for someone else to interview who is just like you, but with a better GPA/MCAT. There are many, many "qualified" people that get turned away every year.

OTOH, there are quite a few Carribean schools who send out mailers that say, "We don't really care about your MCAT or GPA. We want a really well-rounded person." The statement should actually say, "We don't care about your MCAT or GPA...as long as you have good credit and a co-signer."

The single most thing that keeps "good" people out of medical school is GPA or MCAT scores. No, a better score doesn't make you a better doctor, but that's just simply the way it is.
 
mtDNA said:
The key question here is: are you an Under represented minority? If the answer is yes, then you should have a really good chance of getting into a D.O. school.
This is especially true if you are of African American or native American descent. If you are not URM, you may still have chance as long as you are a girl from a disadvantaged background. If you are white male, better luck next time.

You truly are silly
 
I agree!

scpod said:
Med schools, whether MD or DO, are all "numbers ******." If a DO school has two similar candidates and one has a higher GPA/MCAT, then the higher score is likely to win out. Why do you think there are these big waiting or alternate lists? They are waiting for someone else to interview who is just like you, but with a better GPA/MCAT. There are many, many "qualified" people that get turned away every year.

OTOH, there are quite a few Carribean schools who send out mailers that say, "We don't really care about your MCAT or GPA. We want a really well-rounded person." The statement should actually say, "We don't care about your MCAT or GPA...as long as you have good credit and a co-signer."

The single most thing that keeps "good" people out of medical school is GPA or MCAT scores. No, a better score doesn't make you a better doctor, but that's just simply the way it is.
 
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