Low Stat, Non-Trad, Career Changer first cycle Acceptance

[medschoolmom25]

---

Members don't see this ad.

Just want to put some encouragement out there. I was a low stat non-trad career changing applicant. I was admitted in my first cycle having only taken the MCAT one time to my top-choice (NYC DO Program).
Academic: I had a rough start first year of college which tanked my GPA I had steady improvement but by the time I was applying I had so many credits that my great post-bacc grades weren't really moving the needle much.
Volunteer: I didn't have a large variety of clinical experience. I found a mentor who is amazing and basically let me tag along whenever I wanted.
MCAT: I took a prep course which was helpful mostly for the structure and the strategies, content review was mid. I took 10 practice exams and reviewed every single question... THIS IS SUPER IMPORTANT.
Application: My application was very polished. START EARLY! I started writing my experiences in January and then did my personal statement once I finished those. I made sure each experience told something about me and the takeaway without explicitly stating things like "this developed my communication skills". Show, don't tell.
Interview: There's overall interview prep which is about you and your experiences. Spend time practicing talking about yourself. Be prepared to talk about any red flags (although I personally wasn't asked about them). Then there's prep for each school, know the school why you want to go there, any special programs or services offered.
Secondaries: Secondaries are a BEAST. I recommend pre-writing these as well. They are more work than the primary app in my opinion.
cGPA: 2.99
sGPA: 3.09
Postbacc: 3.57
MCAT: 507

You can do it! Keep going!

 

[medmom45]

Can you please explain what you mean by "you started writing your experiences?"

 

[ajaxmonkey]

Congratulations! Well deserved my friend.

 

[medschoolmom25]

Can you please explain what you mean by "you started writing your experiences?"

In the application you have to write about your experiences, basically tell your story about your volunteer, work experience, shadowing etc. But there's a pretty tight character limit so you have to be very concise in your description and story telling with each one which takes a good amount of time since you can submit up to 15.

 

[Anthodite]

Just want to put some encouragement out there. I was a low stat non-trad career changing applicant. I was admitted in my first cycle having only taken the MCAT one time to my top-choice (NYC DO Program).
Academic: I had a rough start first year of college which tanked my GPA I had steady improvement but by the time I was applying I had so many credits that my great post-bacc grades weren't really moving the needle much.
Volunteer: I didn't have a large variety of clinical experience. I found a mentor who is amazing and basically let me tag along whenever I wanted.
MCAT: I took a prep course which was helpful mostly for the structure and the strategies, content review was mid. I took 10 practice exams and reviewed every single question... THIS IS SUPER IMPORTANT.
Application: My application was very polished. START EARLY! I started writing my experiences in January and then did my personal statement once I finished those. I made sure each experience told something about me and the takeaway without explicitly stating things like "this developed my communication skills". Show, don't tell.
Interview: There's overall interview prep which is about you and your experiences. Spend time practicing talking about yourself. Be prepared to talk about any red flags (although I personally wasn't asked about them). Then there's prep for each school, know the school why you want to go there, any special programs or services offered.
Secondaries: Secondaries are a BEAST. I recommend pre-writing these as well. They are more work than the primary app in my opinion.
cGPA: 2.99
sGPA: 3.09
Postbacc: 3.57
MCAT: 507

You can do it! Keep going!

LETS GOOOOO!! This made my day I wish you the absolute best of luck moving forward