Need advice!

[dubiousmed]

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I've enjoyed reading the forums here over the past couple years, and now I need some advice myself.

I'm a 31 yo, 2007 grad in chemistry GPA 3.96 . MCAT: 34 (Taken Jan of 2015 before change of format)

For many schools, I think this is the last cycle in which my MCAT will be accepted. Wait till next year, and the score will be over 3 years old by the time of matriculation.

Now for the bad part...

While my stats above seem good, there are definitely some very serious caveats. Towards the end of my undergrad career, I was still getting all A's, but there are also some course withdrawals, and some terms during which I didn't take very many courses. I wouldn't be too concerned about that in and of itself, but it gets worse. After graduating in Aug '07, it was Aug '10 before I started grad school in organic chemistry. My GPA in grad school was solid (about 3.6-3.7); would have been higher, but was pulled down by my dropping out in the middle of the spring term '12. All of my coursework was done by that point, but I got dinged on seminar or something. It wasn't a complete loss, as I did get co-authorship on an academic paper and gained a very supportive LOR writer in the process.

In Jan '13, I started a job in the chemical industry as a tech, which I left on good terms in July '14. After that, I prepared for and took the MCAT in Jan 2015. Since then, nothing much to speak of.

Seems to me this record's just about enough to disqualify me from any MD program.

I would do my best to address these issues in a statement of purpose, and I very much prefer not to go into further detail on this forum.

I'm very disappointed in the past decade, and looking to move on to something serious and stable--the chem industry really just isn't, even for the engineers and PhDs--and I'd like to make some use of what I've done already. In general, my feeling is that I'd be much better suited to medicine than I was to chemistry, but I know full well I need shadowing/volunteer experience to be sure.

Do you think it's possible that I could apply this cycle to DO schools if I immediately began gaining such experience?

Thanks in advance

 

[GreenDuck12]

I'm confused by what exactly is disqualifying you from MD programs? Am I missing something?
- a downward trend towards the end of undergrad despite keeping a near 4.0 GPA
- dropping out of grad school despite a strong performance
- strong GPA /MCAT
Unless there is something that was not mentioned above you aren't disqualified from MD programs.

The two red flags that I can potentially see is 1) if you have extended periods of unemployment/not doing anything and 2) a lack of volunteer work and shadowing. The second piece you must get a handle on before applying to medical schools as you have to demonstrate you know what you are in for. Additionally, you want to make sure for yourself that medicine is actually a better fit for your than chemistry. If you want to apply to DO this cycle I'm sure you could find an admission somewhere if you start volunteering and shadowing immediately. As of now, it appears as though you would be a very competitive applicant for MD programs if you gain some more experience. I would spend the next year volunteering and shadowing physicians and then apply next cycle to MD programs. Your MCAT should still be ok as applying in '17 and matriculating in '18 would still be within 3 years (check this for yourself).

 

[futuremdforme]

Even if it's possible to apply for DO, I don't know that it's a wise choice for two reasons: 1) It doesn't seem like you have a lot of exposure to medicine through clinical experience, and you will want to prove dedication to the field. You'll also want to know for yourself that it is the right choice. Medicine is a fairly stable career, but it's challenging, and there are plenty of other well-paying, solid careers that someone as smart as you can excel in. Most of those other careers would not involve $200k debt and years of training - you'd be making a good salary within a few years.

2) I suspect you'd actually have a good chance at MD if you waited a year, got the experience. You probably wouldn't get in everywhere, but your stats are very good, and I'd be pretty surprised if you didn't get in any MD school. The "red flags" would be unemployment and lack of clinical exposure, etc, as @GreenDuck12 said, and I imagine DO and MD would have similar views of those.

I get not wanting to rewrite the MCAT, it's definitely a pain but if you did well once, you can do well again. And also, you should probably do something, ANYTHING! Med school is sooooo busy, it would look good if you can show that you can do multiple things at once. I wrote the MCAT in a more-than-full-time career job and did really well, and it reflected much more than if I'd quit my job to study for it and done one point better.

 

[DrMikeP]

Ditto all of the above. No reason you couldn't do MD but DO is good, so aim for both by doing shadowing and voltmeter wok to see if medicine is right or just another escape. Also it seems like there are some self issues that could use resolution, as med school has its own challenges. Perhaps you could benefit from speaking with a counselor or Psychologist.

Good luck

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk

 

[Crayola227]

you are very far from being able to successfully apply save your money

do more research into what med schools expect/want in matriculants on this site