Need advice desperately

[C-swirl]

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Hey guys,

Looking for some honest advice here. Graduated in December of 2013 with a cgpa of about 3.15 and sgpa of roughly the same. I was a bio major so I already have all the pre reqs done so I can't retake any science courses. I took mcat twice and got 26 both times. I was avg about 31 this last time so this last score came as a shock. Looking for advice on the next to get into a school somewhere DO or post bac. Just want a fresh start! Thanks guys! Also as a note got off to a bad start in college as business major before changing to bio and basically just received a lot of b's. At a lost what I can do Improve!

 

[diiaa36]

Hey
Grades and MCAT are only one portion of the whole package. What are your Extracurriculars like? How much clinical exposure do you have? How much volunteer hours or organizations have you participated in? How are your letters? Do you really want to become a physician and why? All these things matter. People have gotten in with worse scores than you. You said DO but dont use that just as a cope out for lower MCAT. Have you shadowed a DO do you like what they do and why? On my DO interview they definitely wanted to know why osteopathic.

 

[kabead]

I would take some extra classes after graduation to pull the gpas up to AT LEAST a 3.3. You might get screened at a lot of places since your gpas are low. I would also suggest getting a LOR from a DO as many schools require them. Good luck!

 

[DaddyBex28]

If you refer to the Underdog thread on here, you will find many people with stats like yours have received interviews and acceptances.

However, to reiterate what @diiaa36 said, are you only thinking of DO because of your grades/MCAT?

Osteopathic schools are a bit more forgiving when it comes to grades and MCAT. However, they want to see that you have compensated through other facets of your life by extracurriculars, volunteering, shadowing/clinical work, research, jobs/careers, life experiences, etc.

If you have shadowed or interacted with a DO and believe in the philosophy behind the medical approach, then that's awesome. If not, then maybe you should look into it more prior to deciding to pursuing this path.

But basically, you would probably have a decent shot just based off your stats, but never hurts to improve the GPA and potentially the MCAT.

 

[PlaqueBuster]

What have you been doing since you graduated. You should have posted this like 8 months ago. My suggestion would be to get your GPA up to atleast 3.5 since your MCAT score is also on the low side. YOur MCAT score and GPA are very important so having both kinda low will hurt you. Retake courses and only retake MCAT is you really think you can score 28+. Also shadow DO physician and volunteer. Are you looking to apply next cycle 2015-2016?

 

[C-swirl]

Hey guys thanks for the responses. I have about 100 clinical hours shadowing two doctors. In college I participated in young life, amsa, and intramurals. I also held a job for 3 and a half years cause I'm not well off. Got a few waiver. I was looking at taking more classes but I didn't apply for fafsa so cost would be a factor and I live in a small town with only a community college and they don't offer any upper division bio courses I could take. not really any class's for me to retake in the science department cause I pretty much got a ton of b's like earlier but I had to work a lot and had a heavy course load to finish in time before my grant ran out.
The answer is yes do cause the lower mcat and I was studying for that after college but apparently that didn't help. I'm sure there's plenty of reasons to actually like osteopathic medicine so I'll look into it. Also not sure if my town even has a do to shadow in haha. I'm going to start volunteering at the hospital here soon. One last thing is I have a great personal statement.

 

[C-swirl]

Yes I know I want to a physician because I was both with severe club feet and because I moved to this town the doctors here weren't able to provide me with the necessary treatment. I mean the feet are ok for now but i would've preferred to have access to all the treatment I needed. So that's why I want to be a doc and return back someday if the dream isn't dead yet haha. Big hole though! Thanks again guys

 

[WalSlave]

You can still retake classes as a post-bacc. If your GPA is really bothering you, I'd recommend hitting up your community college and retaking any pre-reqs that you got C's in. I've got to disagree with the person above who said you need a 3.5. That's crazy and unreasonable unless you want to essentially go back to college for two years. In your instance, I personally think the MCAT is the most important. I'd dedicate 2-3 months of your life getting that MCAT up to a 28-30. Above all, med school is made up of a LOT of testing. If you can prove that despite the lowish GPA you can still pull it together and test well, then you're going to have a very decent shot.

 

[PlaqueBuster]

I suggested the GPA increase since his MCAT is low. Increasing one of them will help like you said.

 

[C-swirl]

You can still retake classes as a post-bacc. If your GPA is really bothering you, I'd recommend hitting up your community college and retaking any pre-reqs that you got C's in. I've got to disagree with the person above who said you need a 3.5. That's crazy and unreasonable unless you want to essentially go back to college for two years. In your instance, I personally think the MCAT is the most important. I'd dedicate 2-3 months of your life getting that MCAT up to a 28-30. Above all, med school is made up of a LOT of testing. If you can prove that despite the lowish GPA you can still pull it together and test well, then you're going to have a very decent shot.

 

[C-swirl]

Guys Idk what exactly I would retake I had to retake 4 classes my freshman year but those were before I even studied biology. Since then I only got 1 c in organic evolution and a's and b's in everything else. So should I retake the two classes I got b- in? I'm done with mcat attempts cause I no showed for one and voided another prior to my 26. Mcat has me down cause I was avg 31 before I took it. Choked lol.

 

[WalSlave]

You can write a letter to AMCAS petitioning for another MCAT retry. I could be wrong, but a 3.15 seems a little low for only having one C -- you may want to double check that you're calculating the GPA correctly. And no, I wouldn't be retaking B-'s unless you have time and money to burn, unless you have straight B-'s in your pre-reqs or something.

 

[TheBoneDoctah]

My advice is this:

Go to a community college and retake any grades lower than a "B" in any science course you took. This includes geology, nutrition, etc since these are calculated as "scienceGPA." This will at least show that you have put effort into raising your GPA. I would say you need to get your GPA up to at least 3.3 to have a solid chance (assuming you apply broadly and smart) with a 26. I have a friend who is at Western-Pomona who got a 24 on their MCAT, so a 26 IS NOT the death of your chances.

As far as D.O., like above posters have said, I would shadow a D.O. first before just "going D.O." Before I shadowed, I wasn't very aware of osteopathic physicians, but after doing research and shadowing a few I really fell in love with the osteopathic philosophy.

Again, the MCAT I think you are fine if you are going to be applying D.O. I would work on your science courses and get some shadowing, volunteering, and possibly a little bit of research exposure if possible.

Good luck!

 

[C-swirl]

Hey guys I appreciate the help. As far as the gpa goes I only one c in a science course which was organic evolution and I'm pretty sure they don't offer that here at Awc in yuma arizona. I just had a really bad freshman year with 3 cs two ds and two fs. None of which were sci courses. So I retook the 4 classes I did not pass and then once I was a bio major I got all as and bs and that one c. I wonder if they do research of any kind. I'll be looking for a do to shadow here but idk If they have one in town. Definitely want to avoid the new mcat it's too disheartening haha. What do guys think of smps or post bacc?