Medical school chances

[Chewter]

Hi everyone,

I'm new to SDN but needed some answers so thank you in advance! I'll forego the passion and interest portion of why I want to go to medical school but I understand a lot of variables, issues, and responsibilities go along with that. My path has led me to wanting to be a doctor and I'm going to try for it until I fail.
My background is that I graduated with a bachelor's in political science, pre-law. I've done a lot of student organization leadership and volunteering (Hospital, a PT clinic, ESL, Youth Programs, YMCA, Red Cross and others), and have a variety of work experience. I just started doing a post-bachelor program to take the pre-requisite classes at a 4-year university. My current GPA is 3.33 and I am hoping to raise it to a 3.5~. A large issue is when I was in undergraduate, I had some serious health issues that led to 3 semesters of withdraws from classes. The health issue may possibly come back in the future but is currently not a problem for me.
Are there specific things I can do for medical school admissions to look over those withdraws/ is it plausible for me to still get in? I currently plan on finishing the post-bach program within 1.5 years. Could I get into a medical school with a 3.5 gpa and a good MCAT score? Would it be worth it staying in the post-bac program longer to raise my gpa higher?

Thank you!

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[workaholic181]

Hi everyone,

I'm new to SDN but needed some answers so thank you in advance! I'll forego the passion and interest portion of why I want to go to medical school but I understand a lot of variables, issues, and responsibilities go along with that. My path has led me to wanting to be a doctor and I'm going to try for it until I fail.
My background is that I graduated with a bachelor's in political science, pre-law. I've done a lot of student organization leadership and volunteering (Hospital, a PT clinic, ESL, Youth Programs, YMCA, Red Cross and others), and have a variety of work experience. I just started doing a post-bachelor program to take the pre-requisite classes at a 4-year university. My current GPA is 3.33 and I am hoping to raise it to a 3.5~. A large issue is when I was in undergraduate, I had some serious health issues that led to 3 semesters of withdraws from classes. The health issue may possibly come back in the future but is currently not a problem for me.
Are there specific things I can do for medical school admissions to look over those withdraws/ is it plausible for me to still get in? I currently plan on finishing the post-bach program within 1.5 years. Could I get into a medical school with a 3.5 gpa and a good MCAT score? Would it be worth it staying in the post-bac program longer to raise my gpa higher?

Thank you!

You can definitely get into medical school with a 3.5 and a strong MCAT. Whether or not you stay in to take more classes and boost your GPA should depend on how high that MCAT score is.

Are these Ws excused on your transcript due to illness? If not, maybe call your school and see if they can be. Either way, you can definitely explain that in essays and wont kill you.

Good luck OP.

 

[Chewter]

Thanks workaholic181! The withdraws are excused and documented by my university as I was on the Disability Resource program while I was there.

 

[Aroix 19]

Hi Everyone,
I'd like to get everyone's opinion on my application (ie: my chances of getting in);
So I'll be applying to medical school the next upcoming cycle. I am student who came from the middle east, during my entire child-hood I lived in a war torn country in the mid-set of ongoing war. My interest for medicine comes from a pain management aspect, which vastly due to the chaotic nature of events that I witnessed in my home country.
During undergraduate, I majored in Biochemistry and Immunology (Honors and Chancellors Distinction Award). My GPA was 3.71 (cGPA) and 3.76 (sGPA). I had extensive clinical and research experience. I had a total of over 300+ clinical work hrs. I was deeply interested in Palliative Care Medicine, and I started a shadowing program for the students in my undergraduate institute with the Director of Palliative Medicine at University of California, Irvine. Additionally during undergrad, I did extensive research (starting from my first year). I helped develop a complete protocol for one of the research work which got me multiple publications. Additionally I was granted an opportunity to become a research fellow at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), where I focused my clinical research on Sickle Cell Anemia, under the Director of Sickle Cell Branch at the NIH. After I graduated I decided to take a Hematology and Oncology Fellowship at the Harvard Medical School and the Broad Institute (Harvard and MIT Research Center) which I am currently pursuing. Through this fellowship I have published couple of papers in renowned journals like Blood, Nature Communications, Cell etc.
Through all this experience I do have some important people writing my letters ex; the Director of Sickle Cell Branch at the NIH, Director of Hematology and Oncology at Harvard Medical School, the Director of Palliative Medicine at University of California, Irvine. to name a few.

Now my overall goal is to incorporate Palliative Medicine and Hematology research in the long run. I think this favors to me considering the childhood experiences I've had. My only concern is my MCAT score, to which I scored a 495. With all these experiences and the letters I have do you guys think I've shot at MD or DO programs? I've give a lot of thought about DO programs and I quite believe the approach they have fits my intensions to pursue Palliative medicine, but I am also looking to MD programs as they give better options are residency. What are your guy's thoughts on my application

 

[Aroix 19]

Hi Everyone,
I'd like to get everyone's opinion on my application (ie: my chances of getting in);
So I'll be applying to medical school in the upcoming cycle. I am student who came from the middle east, during my entire child-hood I lived in a war torn country in the mid-set of ongoing war. My interest for medicine comes from a pain management aspect, which is vastly due to the chaotic nature of events that I witnessed in my home country.
During undergraduate, I majored in Biochemistry and Immunology (Honors and Chancellors Distinction Award). My GPA was 3.71 (cGPA) and 3.76 (sGPA). I had extensive clinical and research experience. I had a total of over 300+ clinical work hrs. I was deeply interested in Palliative Care Medicine, and I started/founded a shadowing program for the students in my undergraduate institute with the Director of Palliative Medicine at University of California, Irvine. Additionally during undergrad, I did extensive research (starting from my first year). I helped develop a complete protocol for one of the research work which got me multiple publications. Additionally I was granted an opportunity to become a research fellow at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), where I focused my clinical research on Sickle Cell Anemia and thalassemia, under the Director of Sickle Cell Branch at the NIH. After I graduated I decided to take a Hematology and Oncology Fellowship at the Harvard Medical School and the Broad Institute (Harvard and MIT Research Center) which I am currently pursuing. Through this fellowship I have published couple of papers in renowned journals like Blood, Nature Communications, Cell etc.
Through all this experience I do have some important people writing my letters ex; the Director of Sickle Cell Branch at the NIH, Director of Hematology and Oncology at Harvard Medical School, the Director of Palliative Medicine at University of California, Irvine. to name a few.

Now my overall goal is to incorporate Palliative Medicine and Hematology research in the long run. I think this favors to me considering the childhood experiences I've had. My only concern is my MCAT score, to which I scored a 495. With all these experiences and the letters I have do you guys think I've shot at MD or DO programs? I've give a lot of thought about DO programs and I quite believe the approach they have fits my intensions to pursue Palliative medicine, but I am also looking to MD programs as they give better options at residency. What are your guy's thoughts on my application

 

[Skiiiiiing]

Could I get into a medical school with a 3.5 gpa and a good MCAT score?

Yes