Need some advice w/ my applying strategy

[Misunderstood Warlock]

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[monty55]

I would definitely wait to submit until those grades are in... Have everything ready to go and then as soon as your transcript is in, hit submit. It will be annoying to have to update every single school with your Spring grades after you've already submitted. Plus a couple weeks does not make much of a difference anyways and you will still be super early. Just use that extra time to prep secondaries.

 

[Misunderstood Warlock]

I would definitely wait to submit until those grades are in... Have everything ready to go and then as soon as your transcript is in, hit submit. It will be annoying to have to update every single school with your Spring grades after you've already submitted. Plus a couple weeks does not make much of a difference anyways and you will still be super early. Just use that extra time to prep secondaries.

I appreciate the advice! I'm not too concerned with doing the extra work if it improves my chances of admission, and I'm worried about having my application verified in potentially mid-to-late July if I send it in late. I'd only want to do it if I'd get screened out by my GPA and having the C- for my prereq if I don't.

 

[efle]

A lot of these schools are too picky to be on your list as a 3.1/34, imho. E.g. Boston, Case, Duke, Dartmouth, USC, Mayo, UCSF all need to be left for last and only applied to if you have the time and money afterwards.

 

[BombsAway]

A lot of these schools are too picky to be on your list as a 3.1/34, imho. E.g. Boston, Case, Duke, Dartmouth, USC, Mayo, UCSF all need to be left for last and only applied to if you have the time and money afterwards.

remove dartmouth from this piece of advice.

 

[Chromium Surfer]

remove dartmouth from this piece of advice.

yeah Dartmouth likes nontrads so I would apply to them cautiously.

 

[efle]

remove dartmouth from this piece of advice.

...why? Dartmouth medians are 3.8/515, 10th percentile GPA only goes down to 3.5. What makes it belong on the list of a 3.1/515 ORM with ECs that are not remarkable for Dartmouth at all?

 

[efle]

yeah Dartmouth likes nontrads so I would apply to them cautiously.

Did OP have a different career? I read this as someone that went straight from college into postbacc and is 1 year out of school?

 

[BombsAway]

...why? Dartmouth medians are 3.8/515, 10th percentile GPA only goes down to 3.5. What makes it belong on the list of a 3.1/515 ORM with ECs that are not remarkable for Dartmouth at all?

A few reasons. First, look at the difference between accepted and matriculant stats. Second, their screening process for interviews is way less stats based than people think. You just need two reviewers to think you're interesting. Third, they like non trads a lot. Seriously. Fourth, no school is going to be a stats match according to msar, they're all a "gamble". Dartmouth is a much better roll of the dice than many of the other schools on the list we aren't arguing about.

 

[Misunderstood Warlock]

For what it's worth, I put a lot of those tougher schools on my list because I was told that they reward reinvention

 

[Med Ed]

So with these things in mind, should I submit my application before my spring quarter grades come out or wait and submit in mid-to-late June? I feel like I'm leaning more towards submitting my application as soon as possible.

You should wait until your spring grades come out. It's not so much the slight bump in GPA, but racking up another quarter of solid grades in your AMCAS will look good for you, especially since you are performing academic rehab. If you submit AMCAS without those grades you will have to send them as a separate update, which will diminish their impact. Most of the adcoms I know don't like to sift through additional documentation.

Besides, submitting any time in June is still early in the cycle.

 

[Goro]

Current school list:
Albany Medical College
Boston University School of Medicine
Case Western
Rosalind Franklin
Creighton
Drexel
Duke
Eastern Virginia
Frank Netter @ Quinnipiac
Dartmouth
George Washington University
Georgetown
Lewis Katz @ Temple
Loyola Stritch
Mayo Clinic
Medical College of Wisconsin
New York Medical College
Oakland University William Beaumont
Saint Louis
Sidney Kimmel @ Thomas Jefferson
Tulane
UC Davis
UC Irvine
UCSF
University of Miami Leonard M Miller
Wake Forest

There are schools that reward reinvention. Of your list, I suggest the above, and add:

Hofstra
Any DO school

 

[Misunderstood Warlock]

There are schools that reward reinvention. Of your list, I suggest the above, and add:

Hofstra
Any DO school

Thanks! What do you think about me applying to MD schools first and then applying to 5 or 6 DO schools in August/September? I'll have an MD LOR, but would I need to get one from a DO? Any recommendations for good DO schools for me?

 

[Goro]

Thanks! What do you think about me applying to MD schools first and then applying to 5 or 6 DO schools in August/September? I'll have an MD LOR, but would I need to get one from a DO? Any recommendations for good DO schools for me?

You can split the timing of MD vs DO apps.

I have a high opinion of:
AZCOM
CCOM
DMU
KCOM
KCU
Nova
NYITCOM
PCOM
Touro-CA
TUNCOM
UNECOM
VCOM
Western (both)