New Member Intro & SMP Advice?

[StericHindrance]

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Hey all,

I'm new here on SDN, but have been a viewer for a long time.

I'm a senior in undergrad this year, planning to graduate in May. I was a bit late in getting through all of my prereqs, and unfortunately my GPA dropped slightly during my junior year due to some slight depression and maturity issues. My current GPA not including the classes I'm currently enrolled in is:

cGPA: 3.42
sGPA: 3.27

ECs -- I've shadowed at a hospital for about 45 hours one summer, but haven't done much else as far as shadowing. I've been a teaching assistant leading my own discussion section for 4 semesters now for intro and upper-div biology classes (Biological Mechanisms , Evolution/Diversity, and Molecular Bio). Also, I've maintained employment throughout about half of my college career and I'm an officer for a club sport on campus (this year). I've been a member of the club sport and pretty involved for about 2 years now. I'm a member of a few honors societies on campus: National Society for Collegiate Scholars and Alpha Lamda Delta/Phi Eta Sigma. Although I'm not very active in these societies. As far as volunteering, I haven't done much at all, but have been applying as I get more and more time free. I realize this is a huge oversight on my part, but I'm hoping to catch up somehow. 🙂

I have not yet taken my MCAT, but am tentatively planning to take it in March/April.

My plan as of right now is to do an SMP to raise my GPA and stats for med school admission. I want to apply to the SMPs this winter, maybe right after Christmas and then to med school in the summer when AMCAS opens. I'm thinking as long as I do well enough on my MCAT my other stats should be okay to get into an SMP somewhere.

So, to continue this long-winded post, here is my question:

In order to take the MCAT this spring, I would have to be studying during my spring semester. This has been advised against, but my schedule this spring should be pretty light and I think I'll have time to do it. I'm not necessarily aiming for a really high score, just hoping to get into an SMP this year. So, would it be better to study during the school year and take the MCAT in the spring in order to complete my SMP apps and then retake if necessary at the end of the summer for med school apps? OR would I be better off to wait and take it initially at the end of the summer? I think most of the SMPs app deadlines are in the early-mid summer, so I'm thinking I have to take it and have my grades back by the app deadline. Ideally, I really, really don't want to take a year off if I can help it. '

Whew, sorry for the long post, but thanks for taking the time to read it and thanks in advance for any advice.

-Kevin

 

[chiddler]

This subforum doesn't seem very active.

I sent out some emails to some schools asking some information for myself that might be relevant to you. If you like, pm me an email and i'll let you know what I know when I start getting replies.

 

[StericHindrance]

Thanks, I'm hoping for some advice on the subject. Essentially I'm asking if I should go ahead and do the SMP if I'm able to get in, or should I take the extra year off in order to (hopefully) do better on the MCAT and increase my chances.

 

[deleted248403]

OP - you have relatively analogous stats to myself a few years ago, so i'll tell you what i did

I went to UPenn SSP, re-took the MCAT and took a glide year. I rocked it at SSP, improved my MCAT by 5+ pts, and got a clinical research job in the Philly area.

I applied early to MD and DO, and ended up getting 5 acceptances (4 MD + 1 DO; with 2 declined DO interviews) before Thanksgiving and withdrew all my other apps (except for my #1) as I had been accepted at my state school which was my #2.

I think you are one of the few who really benefit from the SS program. Your stats are borderline too high for an SMP, and the SSP is a lot lower of a risk. Provided you rock the MCAT and do well at UoP as well as working on your ECs (you can never have enough/good enough) then you should have a shot at US MD

 

[Innokus]

An SMP is highly risky and should be considered as a last resort. Ones such as BU MAMS, Georgetown SMP, Rosalind Franklin BMS, UCincy Physio, and EVMS allow you to take medical school courses and if you don't do well, that's your last shot stateside. If it is possible to bring up your GPA to a 3.5 and with a good MCAT score you should be in a much better position. Robflanker has the right idea but you'll need to figure out how many credits of A's that you'll need to bring it up. Regardless of your choice, make sure you are ready to give it 100% effort and you'll end up where you deserve to be.

 

[StericHindrance]

robflanker -- that sounds very interesting since I have some family very close to the Philly area. Can you tell me a little more about the SSP program and how it helped you get accepted?

EDIT: I was reading a bit about the SSP program and it doesn't say anything about needing the MCAT before applying but should have demonstrated standardized testing. Would the SAT count for that? I got a 2020 on my SAT in high school, so I'm hoping that would be competitive. Also, that would allow me to delay taking the MCAT until the middle/end of summer and focus solely on my classes next semester, so it is certainly intriguing.

Innokus -- Would you say that my stats make an SMP risky for me? I'd be more than willing to do the work and strive for an A, but they are also quite expensive, so other options would be good too. If I were to raise my GPA to a ~3.5 and do well on the MCAT, would you then suggest just taking a year off to prep my applications and work, etc? Or is there another path that would be a viable option?

Thanks for the help everyone!

 

[Innokus]

In a sense I could say our stats make the SMP risky. We've not shown a consistent trend of high and sustained performance, hence the SMP. But your stats do not make the SMP risky. The SMP is inherently risky since we have to take medical school courses and outperform medical students.

If it is possible in a year or two to bring your GPA up to a 3.5, get a 32+ on the MCAT, along with usual extracurriculars then I would say that is a less risky path. I'm in a similar situation but it'd take me 2 years to get to a 3.5 but I'm out of classes unless I attend another institution or become a Chem major. And of course, I wouldn't be able to pay for it. As a result, an SMP is more cost effective. There are multiple paths that we could take to improve our application and you just gotta figure out if you can do it, how quickly you want to do it, and how much you are willing to risk.

I view risk in this sense.
MD/DO->Post-bac->SMP->Caribbean(Big 4)