New member seeking advice

[BlueBlur06]

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Hey guys,

I've lurked around the forums throughout my undergrad, and now that I'm a senior getting close to applying, I was looking to get some advice specific to myself. I have been interested in becoming a doc since my sophomore year after meeting people and a few experiences. I was interested in emergency medicine, family medicine, general surgery, and orthopedics, but I am still pretty open to everything.

I was looking to apply DO/MD next cycle, but I just wanted some advice at what to do. I just got my mcat score, and it was lower than I would have liked. I was wondering if you guys can give me some advice on what to do. Here are my stats:

Major: Biology w/Medical Sociology Minor
cGPA: 3.72
MCAT: 25 (10/6/9)
Shadowing: ~100 hours shadowing MD Family Medicine
Volunteering: ~ 50 hours working with children with disabilities throughout last 3 years/Offered Board Position
EC: Honors Program Student, Vice President of Health Sciences Club, Board Member for my volunteering program, worked on campus last 3 years, Medical trip overseas


My main concern is my mcat. I was curious if anybody knew if schools screen for a certain score on each section. Anyways just wanted to get some feedback.

Thanks Guys,

Cheers

 

[DoctorSynthesis]

Hey guys,

I've lurked around the forums throughout my undergrad, and now that I'm a senior getting close to applying, I was looking to get some advice specific to myself. I have been interested in becoming a doc since my sophomore year after meeting people and a few experiences. I was interested in emergency medicine, family medicine, general surgery, and orthopedics, but I am still pretty open to everything.

I was looking to apply DO/MD next cycle, but I just wanted some advice at what to do. I just got my mcat score, and it was lower than I would have liked. I was wondering if you guys can give me some advice on what to do. Here are my stats:

Major: Biology w/Medical Sociology Minor
cGPA: 3.72
MCAT: 25 (10/6/9)
Shadowing: ~100 hours shadowing MD Family Medicine
Volunteering: ~ 50 hours working with children with disabilities throughout last 3 years/Offered Board Position
EC: Honors Program Student, Vice President of Health Sciences Club, Board Member for my volunteering program, worked on campus last 3 years, Medical trip overseas


My main concern is my mcat. I was curious if anybody new if schools screen for a certain score on each section. Anyways just wanted to get some feedback.

Thanks Guys,

Cheers

Focus on DO. KCUMB screens I think.

 

[IslandStyle808]

Focus on DO. KCUMB screens I think.

Correct

They screen pre-secondary. All sections need to be a 7 or above. However, if your GPA is above 3.25 for both science and cumulative, you may be able to pass the screen. If I recall correctly, you just need to be 2 for 3 to pass the screen. If OP has a science GPA above 3.25, he or she meets the 2 out of 3 requirements.

 

[BlueBlur06]

Hey guys, thanks for the advice and the quick responses.

I was mostly nervous with my verbal being so low compared to my PS and BS, and if a VR 6 would get my application filtered immediately.
I'm not exactly sure on my sGPA, but I calculated science and math with an online calculator to be 3.68.

Do you guys have suggestions at what schools I would be a competitive applicant for? I'm an Oregonian, first generation college student, underrepresented minority, looking to apply both DO and MD.

 

[PlaqueBuster]

With that mcat score you will be screened out of all MD schools. If you want to go MD I suggest you take the new MCAT in may (a month before your application) and attempt to score 30+. Hopefully your science gpa is 3.5+ if you are thinking of applying to MD schools. A 25 is on the lower side for DO schools since your verbal is 6. But with 25 I suggest you apply broadly to various DO schools (you can find the list in the school specific thread and look through those at other students stats). If you can get 28+ on mcat you will be a strong DO applicant. So I think your main decision now should be "do I have time and do I want to put in effort to study for the new mcat in may". That gives you 6 months which is plenty of time to study.

 

[yocharlie]

Correct

They screen pre-secondary. All sections need to be a 7 or above. However, if your GPA is above 3.25 for both science and cumulative, you may be able to pass the screen. If I recall correctly, you just need to be 2 for 3 to pass the screen. If OP has a science GPA above 3.25, he or she meets the 2 out of 3 requirements.

Forgot who it was but someone got an ii at KCUMB with a 6 in Verbal and it looks like that may be the more lenient section.

 

[BlueBlur06]

With that mcat score you will be screened out of all MD schools. If you want to go MD I suggest you take the new MCAT in may (a month before your application) and attempt to score 30+. Hopefully your science gpa is 3.5+ if you are thinking of applying to MD schools. A 25 is on the lower side for DO schools since your verbal is 6. But with 25 I suggest you apply broadly to various DO schools (you can find the list in the school specific thread and look through those at other students stats). If you can get 28+ on mcat you will be a strong DO applicant. So I think your main decision now should be "do I have time and do I want to put in effort to study for the new mcat in may". That gives you 6 months which is plenty of time to study.

That was my main concern about getting such a weak VR. My sGPA is around 3.68, but I was hoping to bump it up to at least 3.7 by the end of this year. I've been thinking schools and here is just a list of schools I've heard of that sound appealing.

WesternU both Lebanon and Pamona
PNWU
NOVA
ATSU-SOMA

Before I got my score I wanted to apply to OHSU, Drexel, Loma Linda, Reno and possibly New Mexico and Arizona, but by the sound of it, it might be a waste of tome and money with my low VR of 6. To be perfectly honest, I really didn't want to retake the mcat especially the new 2015. I had a pretty crappy summer of studying that took its tole on me, especially after dropping the ball in verbal so badly.

What do you guys think of my list and which others schools should I look at that I could be a good applicant for.

Thanks

 

[BlueBlur06]

Forgot who it was but someone got an ii at KCUMB with a 6 in Verbal and it looks like that may be the more lenient section.

Thats good to know haha, would you say that KCUMB is less or more competitive than other schools?

 

[IslandStyle808]

Forgot who it was but someone got an ii at KCUMB with a 6 in Verbal and it looks like that may be the more lenient section.

I think you are referring to @AlteredScale. I think he was accepted their also.

 

[Higherprimate]

I have a 25 VR was a 9 though. Lowest section was a 7. I have a 3.58 sGPA and a 3.66 cGPA. Nine interviews so far this cycle. If you can score higher and have the time then I would retake. I'm older and time is not on my side so I applied broadly.

 

[AlteredScale]

I think you are referring to @AlteredScale. I think he was accepted their also.

Forgot who it was but someone got an ii at KCUMB with a 6 in Verbal and it looks like that may be the more lenient section.

Daz me. I was accepted too.

I'm sure there are other hidden MCAT criteria involved ("will accept 6 if another subsection is above 10" perhaps) in the whole process. All I know is that if your other two subsections are good and your cumulative score is solid/minimum then you will be considered.

But again, there are so many factors involved for an interview invite outside of academics. So just know that if you have red flags in your EC's (no shadowing, volunteering, clinical exp) that it may be the final nail in the coffin to your application.

So far I've only been placed on hold at WesternCOM for an interview, but I have not been rejected anywhere else yet (did not apply to CCOM/Touro/AZCOM in heeding to @Goro 's general MCAT advice.

 

[BlueBlur06]

I know 25 is still workable with, but when I saw my VR 6 I started to worry. @Higherprimate I really don't want to retake that exam haha. I feel that this last test was the best possible situation for me to get a good score, and with the new one having so much extra stuff I haven't dealt with, its going to be pretty hard to do well. I was thinking that if I can work on building a solid application and applying early and widely next cycle I might have a chance.

As far as I can tell I have no major red flags in my application, besides that I have no real clinical experience and I haven't shadowed a DO.

@AlteredScale Congrats on your success and the acceptance. Would you mind sharing what schools I should be aiming at with my stats?

 

[wxman393]

Forgot who it was but someone got an ii at KCUMB with a 6 in Verbal and it looks like that may be the more lenient section.

I got a 6 in PS and received an II. Both GPAs were above 3.25 however.

 

[BlueBlur06]

I got a 6 in PS and received an II. Both GPAs were above 3.25 however.

So it doesn't seem like my application is automatically going to get thrown out with a 6 on one of the sections. I just used an AACOMAS gpa calculator and it has my cGPA at 3.729 and my sGPA at 3.725. With my mcat of 25 (10/6/9) my ECs, shadowing, and volunteering, do these stats seem alright?

 

[referee3]

Don't even bother applying to MD schools. Like others said that 25 will get you screened out immediately. Definitely shadow a DO and learn what Osteopathic medicine is about so that when you apply to DO schools you can write strong essays and know what you're taking about in ii's. I would try and get more clinical volunteer experience as well. And as always apply EARLY. If you do all that you should get a few ii's for sure if you apply to enough schools.

 

[BlueBlur06]

I learned what an Osteopath was about three years ago from a friend who is now MS1. I liked the idea of not only treating symptoms of illness, but treating the person as a whole, and I also thought learning more about the musculoskeletal was pretty sweet. I've always planned on applying to DO as well as MD and just choosing somewhere that felt was right. I've visited WesternU Lebanon twice and OHSU twice and I really liked how they seem to care about you at WesternU vs OHSU. I could hardly even get anyone to talk to me about the school at OHSU let alone give us a full tour of the school and demonstrate some OMM. Overall I think I'm much more of a people person and that seems to be more fitting, at least with my experience, to the DO philosophy. I wanted to get volunteering experience at the hospital for the clinical experience, but I really enjoy my current volunteering too much to give it up to fold bed sheets in a hospital lol. I think finding a DO is a good idea, but I'm going to have to look hard due to the small town I'm in right now. Thats one of the biggest things I've gotten advice on regarding my low mcat. I hope that with some hard work and a little luck I can at least get an interview from a school.

Thanks a lot you guys, I really appreciate all the help. Its hard to go through something so big like this without support, so I appreciate it a lot.

 

[AribaGirl]

So it doesn't seem like my application is automatically going to get thrown out with a 6 on one of the sections. I just used an AACOMAS gpa calculator and it has my cGPA at 3.729 and my sGPA at 3.725. With my mcat of 25 (10/6/9) my ECs, shadowing, and volunteering, do these stats seem alright?

PCOM screens out sub-8s so that's a no as well. I know PNWU, WVSOM, and LMU-DCOM have given people ii's with a 6 in verbal this cycle, so consider adding those schools to your list.

 

[reapplicanthelpme2014]

PCOM screens out sub-8s so that's a no as well. I know PNWU, WVSOM, and LMU-DCOM have given people ii's with a 6 in verbal this cycle, so consider adding those schools to your list.

PCOM does NOT screen out sub 8s...a couple people were accepted this cycle with 6 and 7s

 

[IslandStyle808]

PCOM does NOT screen out sub 8s...a couple people were accepted this cycle with 6 and 7s

From what I remember, if a student had a section with less than an 8, the score can be substituted with a score from a different MCAT. For example, if the most recent verbal score was a 6, then if the student had a score of 8 on the previous MCAT that can serve as a substitute. I am wondering if that was the case for those people accepted with sub 8 scores?

 

[reapplicanthelpme2014]

From what I remember, if a student had a section with less than an 8, the score can be substituted with a score from a different MCAT. For example, if the most recent verbal score was a 6, then if the student had a score of 8 on the previous MCAT that can serve as a substitute. I am wondering if that was the case for those people accepted with sub 8 scores?

At my interview, they told me that they look at the HIGHEST single MCAT score, they don't super score.

 

[IslandStyle808]

So it doesn't seem like my application is automatically going to get thrown out with a 6 on one of the sections. I just used an AACOMAS gpa calculator and it has my cGPA at 3.729 and my sGPA at 3.725. With my mcat of 25 (10/6/9) my ECs, shadowing, and volunteering, do these stats seem alright?

I have a simliar mcat breakdown. I am pretty sure you will get a secondary at least from KCUMB.

 

[IslandStyle808]

At my interview, they told me that they look at the HIGHEST single MCAT score, they don't super score.

I know what you mean. I was reading this on the forums in the past and have read from others that they seem to do this post-interview for those in borderline cases. I can't really confirm this.

 

[PlaqueBuster]

I learned what an Osteopath was about three years ago from a friend who is now MS1. I liked the idea of not only treating symptoms of illness, but treating the person as a whole, and I also thought learning more about the musculoskeletal was pretty sweet. I've always planned on applying to DO as well as MD and just choosing somewhere that felt was right. I've visited WesternU Lebanon twice and OHSU twice and I really liked how they seem to care about you at WesternU vs OHSU. I could hardly even get anyone to talk to me about the school at OHSU let alone give us a full tour of the school and demonstrate some OMM. Overall I think I'm much more of a people person and that seems to be more fitting, at least with my experience, to the DO philosophy. I wanted to get volunteering experience at the hospital for the clinical experience, but I really enjoy my current volunteering too much to give it up to fold bed sheets in a hospital lol. I think finding a DO is a good idea, but I'm going to have to look hard due to the small town I'm in right now. Thats one of the biggest things I've gotten advice on regarding my low mcat. I hope that with some hard work and a little luck I can at least get an interview from a school.

Thanks a lot you guys, I really appreciate all the help. Its hard to go through something so big like this without support, so I appreciate it a lot.

I think you need to shadow a DO. Because everything you mentioned is from a website and it isnt unique to the DO profession. This is (bolded) generally what a physician does, DO or MD. Honestly, there aren't much differences between a DO and MD except OMM. Everything else is what they like to say on paper but in practice its mostly similar practices.

 

[j4pac]

While I was at LECOM Bradenton (albeit 5 years ago)...I was told by staff members that they primarily cared about the Biology score because that was the only score that had any correlate to Med School success.

LECOM Bradenton knows what they are doing. They find many students that other programs overlook for trivial (and often insignificant reasons)...teach them PBL...and they see those same students go on to rock the USMLE/COMLEX and get great residencies.

OP...I would apply BROADLY this year to DO programs. You have a real shot of getting in. You need to get a DO recommendation/shadowing experience.

I would also plan on retaking the MCAT. If you don't get in this cycle...that may be the reason.

Something also of note...you may get waitlisted by a DO program (very likely scenario)...and if you can get an improved MCAT score you can submit that score to the program and it may push you over the top.

 

[BlueBlur06]

Hey guys been busy with classes!

Thanks for the additional advice.

@PlaqueBuster Haha reading this it looks pretty generic and not like I really care about being a DO. I guess I am trying to get at some of the ideology that a DO has. I think just from the physical exam, it is evident at how much more a DO looks at other things. When I was shadowing my doc she would tell me to follow other doctors with interesting cases, and I got to follow a few DO residents. The difference isn't extremely big, but I feel that DO attracts a certain type of person that, at least in my experience, are friendlier, caring, and interested in the patient's overall health. A lot of the MD ER docs I followed were ridiculously cynical, so much so that I didn't understand why they chose to be doctors. The DO doctor was always concerned about the patient, even if it was a pain at times. Most of the MD ER docs didn't even bother to give a full physical examination, often refusing to give a rectal exam, before admitting the patient. I know this could be just certain doctors that have become jaded, but something about giving that extra care makes me believe that patients was that much better off. On the other hand my MD doc was amazing. She was definitely a special person that sacrificed her own health to give the best possible care to all of her patients.

@j4pac That is definitely encouraging to know. So you think its worth a shot to apply this late in the current cycle(matriculate 2015)? I have had faculty, current classmates, and MS1 classmates tell me to apply to my state school this cycle.

My plan was to apply widely next cycle(matriculate 2016) early in the summer, and if I didn't have any luck retake the MCAT and reapply the next year(matriculate 2017). Its tempting to throw an application to a few schools late this cycle to see if I could get some feedback, and possibly even an interview. I would just have to really get to work on the application.