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- Feb 10, 2014
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Hello,
I am a "non-trad" Canadian student hoping to apply to US medical schools this year for the first time. My US GPA is 3.895 (science GPA is around the same). I have some questions regarding my path to medicine (bolded).
MCAT
I rewrote the MCAT three times: (PS/VR/BS)
1st (2011)- 11/7/14- total 32
2nd (2012)- 9/8/9- total 26 [while working full-time in research (lab)= 37.5 hours/week]
3rd (2013)- 12/7/10- total 29 [while working part-time jobs in research (one clinical and one lab)= equiv. to full-time job with 45+/week work hours]
I think my 2011 MCAT will expire when I apply for the 2014/2015 cycle. If you consider all three of my schools, there is a decreasing trend in my scores, which looks really bad. However, if you consider my last two MCAT scores, there is a increasing trend in my scores. I also plan on rewriting for the 4th time in June 2014 and I am going to work extremely hard to improve my verbal score! 1) When I apply this year, would US medical schools look at my "expired"/first MCAT score and red flag me for this? or Would they just look at my 2nd, 3rd and 4th MCAT scores? 2) Should I explain my poor MCAT scores in my personal statement? (i.e. worked a lot)
A little more background in terms of E/Cs: Tons of research (had/have 3 clinical and 2 basic science research assistant employment positions, did my undergrad thesis in a lab, 1 volunteering clinical research position, expecting two first author publications to be published this year (1 basic science and 1 clinical), 2-4 co-author papers (from 3rd to second last author), three submitted abstracts (as 5th+ author), founded a student club at my university (still involved with it since I have graduated), some 3-4 volunteering placements, several small student committees and etc. 3) What else I can do to improve my E/Cs? Would it be better to cut-down on research projects/placements and do more community-service type volunteering?
I plan on doing a course-based Masters in September. Before that (starting today/tomorrow), I will be studying for the June 2014 MCAT in addition to working 3-4 days/week in research. 4) Does this plan seem feasible with the MCAT and maybe some volunteering?
Lastly, which US schools should I apply to this year?
Thank you for your time! I've applied three times to several Canadian medical schools with no luck (due to my low VR score and the extreme competition in Canada- I got pre-interview rejected with a weighted 3.94 GPA at one school).
I am a "non-trad" Canadian student hoping to apply to US medical schools this year for the first time. My US GPA is 3.895 (science GPA is around the same). I have some questions regarding my path to medicine (bolded).
MCAT
I rewrote the MCAT three times: (PS/VR/BS)
1st (2011)- 11/7/14- total 32
2nd (2012)- 9/8/9- total 26 [while working full-time in research (lab)= 37.5 hours/week]
3rd (2013)- 12/7/10- total 29 [while working part-time jobs in research (one clinical and one lab)= equiv. to full-time job with 45+/week work hours]
I think my 2011 MCAT will expire when I apply for the 2014/2015 cycle. If you consider all three of my schools, there is a decreasing trend in my scores, which looks really bad. However, if you consider my last two MCAT scores, there is a increasing trend in my scores. I also plan on rewriting for the 4th time in June 2014 and I am going to work extremely hard to improve my verbal score! 1) When I apply this year, would US medical schools look at my "expired"/first MCAT score and red flag me for this? or Would they just look at my 2nd, 3rd and 4th MCAT scores? 2) Should I explain my poor MCAT scores in my personal statement? (i.e. worked a lot)
A little more background in terms of E/Cs: Tons of research (had/have 3 clinical and 2 basic science research assistant employment positions, did my undergrad thesis in a lab, 1 volunteering clinical research position, expecting two first author publications to be published this year (1 basic science and 1 clinical), 2-4 co-author papers (from 3rd to second last author), three submitted abstracts (as 5th+ author), founded a student club at my university (still involved with it since I have graduated), some 3-4 volunteering placements, several small student committees and etc. 3) What else I can do to improve my E/Cs? Would it be better to cut-down on research projects/placements and do more community-service type volunteering?
I plan on doing a course-based Masters in September. Before that (starting today/tomorrow), I will be studying for the June 2014 MCAT in addition to working 3-4 days/week in research. 4) Does this plan seem feasible with the MCAT and maybe some volunteering?
Lastly, which US schools should I apply to this year?
Thank you for your time! I've applied three times to several Canadian medical schools with no luck (due to my low VR score and the extreme competition in Canada- I got pre-interview rejected with a weighted 3.94 GPA at one school).
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