Masters graduate looking for advice on future

[Drmo0ose]

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[Catalystik]

Hello all, this is my first post on SDN and like many before me I need some honest advice about my application, my chances and where I should go from here. Below, I is my entire application to date:

Iona College (fresh/soph)- cGPA 3.5 sGPA 3.4
Transfer to University of Florida: cGPA-3.16 sGPA: 2.6 Completed degree: Biology

Graduate School (Research Intensive) Medical Master’s University of Florida- cGPA & sGPA 3.4

MCAT 26 (8PS, 8VR, 10BS)

Notes: C’s in Orgo and physics. I had to take physics 2 twice because I was doing a political internship and the test was on election day so I had to drop. In graduate school I took the Medical Physiology course with med students and received a B as well as phD level courses (A’s, mostly Bs)

Work and experience:

During undergrad:
Manager of student union…200+ hospital volunteer hours (3 different units).. Undergraduate research 1000 hrs… Preprofessional service organization (36 hours com serv/semester).. Political Internship (470 hrs)

During Graduate school:
Graduate Research Assistant 40hrs/week 6000+ hours of research: 1 first author paper, 2 second author papers.. Including the discovery of a hormone pathway in mammals. 5 posters at national conferences, 1 invited presentation
Mobile Outreach Clinic Intern- 140+ hrs volunteering on a mobile bus that gives out free healthcare
Graduate student council representative, Graduate student advocacy committee, Graduate student service chairman – Service projects for masters and PhD students. Lots of hours in community service.
Medical mission trip

Applied 8/10 to aamc, 8/20 to aacomas.. Waiting on verification.

That’s about it. I have a gap year now and I’m continuing research as a lab manager and the Mobile outreach clinic internship. Hope to get another paper…
I’m applying MD & DO… MD- I’m applying to all schools in florida but I would like to hear some suggestions on what other schools I should apply to or if I even have a shot. DO.. My #1 choice is NOVA but I’m applying to about 10 others.

Any advice about where to or if I should apply would be great. Also, if not where should I improve? Should I spend a year to retake orgo/phys? Should I do a 1 year "feeder" program?

Thanks for your time.

It would help to know your overall undergrad cGPA, BCPM GPA, and AACOMAS sGPA. How many credit hours are figured into your grad GPA?

 

[Drmo0ose]

Catalystik, Thanks for your reply. My application is not yet verified so I don't know my AMCAS or AACOMAS numbers; however, I did the calculations myself and my cGPA is 3.3 and my sGPA is 2.9 for undergrad. My graduate GPA is 3.4 with 30 grade point hours.

I also forgot to mention that I received a Certificate in Clinical and Translational Reserach along with my medical masters degree. Course work towards that is included in my grad GPA.

Does that help?

 

[Catalystik]

I think that your best chance lies with DO med schools, but some adcomms may well have concerns about your lack of an upward grade trend in the undergrad years. I think that continuing efforts to raise your undergrad sGPA through AACOMAS grade replacement is a good idea, especially as you can update your transcript during the application year.

Have you investigated whether your favored DO med schools have sharp cutoffs for undergrad sGPA? Or whether they will consider your application based on a merged undergrad and grad sGPA?

 

[Drmo0ose]

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[Catalystik]

I have but most of that information is not readily available. Some schools say variations must be approved by the admissions committee. So you think it's best for me to look into retaking orgo and/or physics in the spring, even though I've completed medical school and PhD course work with Bs?

If you call an admissions office, they might give you the information when it's not on the website.

It could also be useful to make a phone or in-person appointment with a dean to discuss your application and get their comments about what you need to do to become more competitive.

Getting an A in a retake has far more positive impact on one's GPA than getting an A in a new class. If you could not get an A, then I don't think it would be worth the time and money.

If you took Biochem, what grade did you earn for that (to help redeem a C in Ochem)? Besides Medical Physiology, what other med school-like classes have you taken?

 

[Drmo0ose]

I took 2 different biochems 1) A 2) B (harder).. My other med like classes in graduate school include 1) principles of drug action B+ and biomedical science B-..

 

[Drmo0ose]

I also took graduate epidemiology and biostatistics both As

 

[gyngyn]

I also took graduate epidemiology and biostatistics both As

Grades in graduate school are not generally considered equivalent to undergraduate.

With relatively low UG gpa's and a relatively low MCAT score, your best bets are going to be DO schools with grade replacement of the lowest scores.

 

[Drmo0ose]

Jeeze. That bad huh? Should I wait until after this cycle to retake the undergrad courses I got Cs in or should I withdrawl my application and go back to undergrad and retake the mcat?

 

[Drmo0ose]

Im confused.. Why wouldnt a medical physiology course I took with med students be considered equivalent? Do you have a reference for that?

 

[gyngyn]

Im confused.. Why wouldnt a medical physiology course I took with med students be considered equivalent? Do you have a reference for that?

It is a generally accepted impression that grades are inflated in graduate programs. This can be reinforced by the observation that grad students in "med school classes" are not graded by the same standard (in one's own institution). This may or may not be the case with your program but it is a commonly held belief.