MCAT/advice

[drthedude]

Hey guys, I’m sure many of you are sick and tired of seeing pots like this but just need to for my own sake and sanity through this. I have a 3.44 cGPA and a 3.33 sGPA with an upward trend. 1000+ total hours with research, shadowing, clinical volunteering etc. I have a fifth author pub and a textbook entry within contributions section, current DO shadowing as well as more volunteering (transport). Would simply taking a gap year and trying to do well on my MCAT be the way to go over a post-bacc? Thanks in advance! My trend is broken down below. Goal MCAT score is a 505-508 and am not opposed to MD or DO. My state of residence is Illinois

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[nicobean]

I'm not an expert by any means, but my opinion is that with your GPA and goal MCAT being a 505-508, even with the good ECs, DO is a more likely outcome with no post-bacc. If you really want your best shot for MD I would do the post-bacc to get your GPA to better level that will get you more likely to be sent an II and not tossed to the side based on GPA alone.

 

[drthedude]

I'm not an expert by any means, but my opinion is that with your GPA and goal MCAT being a 505-508, even with the good ECs, DO is a more likely outcome with no post-bacc. If you really want your best shot for MD I would do the post-bacc to get your GPA to better level that will get you more likely to be sent an II and not tossed to the side based on GPA alone.

Hey! Thanks for the reply! Would you say with no post-bacc and goal MCAT I'd be okay for DO?

 

[nicobean]

Hey! Thanks for the reply! Would you say with no post-bacc and goal MCAT I'd be okay for DO?

Once again I'm no expert, but if I were you with those stats, I'd feel pretty confident applying DO and would expect to get interview invites.

 

[nicobean]

But I will say, it sounds like you would have a pretty good app for MD if you did a post-bacc and rocked it with a 3.9-4.0 GPA.

 

[drthedude]

I appreciate the response! Thank you!

Once again I'm no expert, but if I were you with those stats, I'd feel pretty confident applying DO and would expect to get interview invites.

 

[drthedude]

@Faha Any suggestions as well?

 

[Faha]

As long as your MCAT is at least 500 you should receive DO interviews. A post bacc with undergraduate level science courses would be needed in order to increase your sGPA for MD schools as well as a MCAT of 508+.

 

[drthedude]

As long as your MCAT is at least 500 you should receive DO interviews. A post bacc with undergraduate level science courses would be needed in order to increase your sGPA for MD schools as well as a MCAT of 508+.

Thank you Faha! Your insight is always invaluable

 

[Blueprint Med School]

When do you plan on taking the MCAT? As detailed previously above here if you crush it you could be in a very nice spot in the near future but it's always good to write two parallel tracks and timelines so that you know what you're most likely going to do depending where your score is and when you have to have stuff in for each timeline.


David D MD - USMLE and MCAT Tutor
Med School Tutors

 

[drthedude]

When do you plan on taking the MCAT? As detailed previously above here if you crush it you could be in a very nice spot in the near future but it's always good to write two parallel tracks and timelines so that you know what you're most likely going to do depending where your score is and when you have to have stuff in for each timeline.


David D MD - USMLE and MCAT Tutor
Med School Tutors

Hi David, thanks for the reply! I am planning on taking the MCAT in January of the coming year! I can always push it back to March if I must! With your expertise what would be the minimum MCAT score for DO that would suffice for me?