Need some honest/objective advice

[loca Dr. chica]

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I've been goin thru a lot of posts abt bad gpas/mcat scores lately, but i feel like i'm somewhere in the middle and so can't really figure out wat's the best option.

1) Graduated from UT-Austin w/ Business Honors/Finance and PreMed
2) 3.51 overall, 3.2 BCpm, and 28 Q mcat
3) Lots of leadership experience, but not enuf healthcare experience and no research or anything

I'm currently workin rite now as a consultant mostly b/c i badly need the money to pay off undergrad loans and support myself.

Rite now I'm on waitlists at TCOM (DO) and UTSW (Q 4), but in all probability won't hear back from em till june or somethin, so i'm lookin at my options rite now:

1) Go to one of the top Carib schools: Ross, St.Georges
2) Georgetown and similar SMPs, but i really would rather not burn out before med school, with no guarantee of getting in even after completing the program
3) Tulane's Cell and Molec Bio Masters Program, which seems more flexible than Georgetown and is less expensive, and not as competitive
4) Dartmouth's CECS MPH
4) Take the EMT course and work as an EMT next yr., which really won't help my low gpa/mcat score.

I was thinking of taking mcat this aug again, but if i started reapplying this summer and schools won't get my scores til sept, i won't have the applying early advantage. Basically, i'm wondering if my mcat/gpa are ok enuf to where i can do the mph at dartmouth, or the masters at Tulane? will a high grad gpa sufficiently compensate for a mediocre mcat? or should i just not bother trying for another yr and go directly to the caribbean?

i'm kinda confused rite now, cuz i feel like no matter which one i pick, i will get screwed one way or the other...any ideas/suggestions/opinions will be greatly appreciated...

Thanks

 

[kenshinoro2004]

I'd say take the mcat again, and make sure its over 30 with over a 10 in verbal. Also get some more volunteer (hospital) experience and reaply. Carribean is not good unless you pretty much are fine with a general med residency, and being a Tex resident, your school are not super hard to get into, so next try you probably will. good luck

 

[peptidoglycan]

Apply to ACP at Tulane. Since you're on the waitlist of an American med school, you fit the criteria. You will take classes with the first years in an effort to prove that you belong there. It's a near guarantee that you will be accepted for the next year (and you won't be any further behind than your other options). Usually about 12/13 get in for the next year.

good luck

 

[Orchid 209]

I've been goin thru a lot of posts abt bad gpas/mcat scores lately, but i feel like i'm somewhere in the middle and so can't really figure out wat's the best option.

1) Graduated from UT-Austin w/ Business Honors/Finance and PreMed
2) 3.51 overall, 3.2 BCpm, and 28 Q mcat
3) Lots of leadership experience, but not enuf healthcare experience and no research or anything

I'm currently workin rite now as a consultant mostly b/c i badly need the money to pay off undergrad loans and support myself.

Rite now I'm on waitlists at TCOM (DO) and UTSW (Q 4), but in all probability won't hear back from em till june or somethin, so i'm lookin at my options rite now:

1) Go to one of the top Carib schools: Ross, St.Georges
2) Georgetown and similar SMPs, but i really would rather not burn out before med school, with no guarantee of getting in even after completing the program
3) Tulane's Cell and Molec Bio Masters Program, which seems more flexible than Georgetown and is less expensive, and not as competitive
4) Dartmouth's CECS MPH
4) Take the EMT course and work as an EMT next yr., which really won't help my low gpa/mcat score.

I was thinking of taking mcat this aug again, but if i started reapplying this summer and schools won't get my scores til sept, i won't have the applying early advantage. Basically, i'm wondering if my mcat/gpa are ok enuf to where i can do the mph at dartmouth, or the masters at Tulane? will a high grad gpa sufficiently compensate for a mediocre mcat? or should i just not bother trying for another yr and go directly to the caribbean?

i'm kinda confused rite now, cuz i feel like no matter which one i pick, i will get screwed one way or the other...any ideas/suggestions/opinions will be greatly appreciated...

Thanks

although the applied physiology at Rosalind Franklin U/ chicago med. school has a disclaimer that there is no guarantee, it's pretty much known among the students that there is a guarantee if you get a 2.96 GPA in the program (5 M1 classes totaling 38 units and 3 others totalling 11 units), so long as you don't behave like a complete dingus to the administrators or do something really stupid. Last year 77 students completed the program, 62 made the gpa, all 62 were offered acceptances, 58 chose to stay. It's just as hard as any other med program, but you're not competing to be top of the class or what not, just yourself to beat the gpa.

bad thing is: it cost just as much as an M1 year.

 

[notimetokill]

although the applied physiology at Rosalind Franklin U/ chicago med. school has a disclaimer that there is no guarantee, it's pretty much known among the students that there is a guarantee if you get a 2.96 GPA in the program (5 M1 classes totaling 38 units and 3 others totalling 11 units), so long as you don't behave like a complete dingus to the administrators or do something really stupid. Last year 77 students completed the program, 62 made the gpa, all 62 were offered acceptances, 58 chose to stay. It's just as hard as any other med program, but you're not competing to be top of the class or what not, just yourself to beat the gpa.

bad thing is: it cost just as much as an M1 year.

unfortunately i didn't apply to the Ros Franklin program. i believed the disclaimer and was told that the program's goals had changed this year. I'm curious though: do they accept you for the following year (i.e.no glide year), assuming of course that you have an acceptable mcat? What if you have to retake the mcat? Is it possible to do that while in the program...

thanks.