Non-Trad Reapp Advice

[DreamingofMountains]

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I am new to posting please forgive me if I posted in the wrong forum and made any big mistakes. I am looking for some advice on how best to continue my pursuit of medicine. I was pursuing dance until an injury changed my plans to medicine. Here are some of my stats:

UG (BFA in dance) cGPA:3.86
UG sGPA:3.84
PB( self directed at alma mater) cGPA: 3.85
PB sGPA: 3.81
MCAT : 25( Ps:7, V:8, BS:10) and 506 (124, 128, 128, 126)
Shadowing: 41 hours a variety of providers
volunteer: 125 hours, several experiences that were short term, many involved teaching dance.
I was a teaching assistant for a human anatomy lab for three year( 1800 hours)

My biggest area of weakness is clinical experience and I am working to correct that with a phlebotomy certification course. I plan on volunteering and finding employment using these skills in a clinic. I am also volunteering with CASA which requires at least a one year commitment. I am considering waiting until 2017 to reapply for a third time. I applied late the last two cycles because of serious self doubt in ability and depression. (I lost my father a couple of years a go and moved across the country and married within a short period of time which helped my grief transform into depression.) I had no II but sat on preinterview waitlists for most of the cycles. I did not apply DO because my husband's job offers opportunities to work abroad and since the DO degree is not recognized outside of the U.S. I didn't think it was a viable option. I am considering adding a few to my next round of apps. I don't want to dwell on the past mistakes but rather move forward to be a better applicant.

I was wondering if working on a two year master's in molecular and cellular biology would be a worth while addition to my application along with my plans to increase clinical and volunteer experience? Also, I know some adcoms have said retaking the MCAT a third time is harmful but I have seen other people post taking it three of four times and getting accepted. I'm considering retaking (only if practice test scores are well above a 510) in order to improve my physical sciences section. Is this a good idea? Also any other ideas to improve would be greatly appreciated. Thank you for your help and advice!

 

[GreenDuck12]

How late did you apply? Were you invited to any interviews?

Your GPA is great but your MCAT score is low, especially for applying late in a cycle for MD schools. While your GPA will put you in the higher percentile of medical school applicants, your MCAT score is below what is considered competitive for MD schools. My guess is the low MCAT combined with applying late is what made your application cycles unsuccessful. I would try to improve the MCAT score and apply early in the cycle. I would also broaden the range of schools that you are applying to.

I am new to posting please forgive me if I posted in the wrong forum and made any big mistakes. I am looking for some advice on how best to continue my pursuit of medicine. I was pursuing dance until an injury changed my plans to medicine. Here are some of my stats:

UG (BFA in dance) cGPA:3.86
UG sGPA:3.84
PB( self directed at alma mater) cGPA: 3.85
PB sGPA: 3.81
MCAT : 25( Ps:7, V:8, BS:10) and 506 (124, 128, 128, 126)
Shadowing: 41 hours a variety of providers
volunteer: 125 hours, several experiences that were short term, many involved teaching dance.
I was a teaching assistant for a human anatomy lab for three year( 1800 hours)

My biggest area of weakness is clinical experience and I am working to correct that with a phlebotomy certification course. I plan on volunteering and finding employment using these skills in a clinic. I am also volunteering with CASA which requires at least a one year commitment. I am considering waiting until 2017 to reapply for a third time. I applied late the last two cycles because of serious self doubt in ability and depression. (I lost my father a couple of years a go and moved across the country and married within a short period of time which helped my grief transform into depression.) I had no II but sat on preinterview waitlists for most of the cycles. I did not apply DO because my husband's job offers opportunities to work abroad and since the DO degree is not recognized outside of the U.S. I didn't think it was a viable option. I am considering adding a few to my next round of apps. I don't want to dwell on the past mistakes but rather move forward to be a better applicant.

I was wondering if working on a two year master's in molecular and cellular biology would be a worth while addition to my application along with my plans to increase clinical and volunteer experience? Also, I know some adcoms have said retaking the MCAT a third time is harmful but I have seen other people post taking it three of four times and getting accepted. I'm considering retaking (only if practice test scores are well above a 510) in order to improve my physical sciences section. Is this a good idea? Also any other ideas to improve would be greatly appreciated. Thank you for your help and advice!

 

[futuremdforme]

What do you think you can do to improve your MCAT? You'd have to bump it up significantly, and if you can do that, I think it would be valuable. What have you been doing for clinical experience throughout this year?

DO is recognized in certain countries, so you can take a look into that. Depending on your husband's job, you two might consider that your pursuit of medicine means that he will have certain countries off limits. Or, you might have to apply more broadly for MD even if that means a worse geographical area.

And next time, don't apply late!! Get the depression under control, and give yourself the time to get everything lined up before you apply again.

 

[Goro]

Your MCAT score is as much an issue as your weak clinical exposure. The latter can be fixed over time, but being a 2x MCAT taker with poor results both times suggests lethality for applying to MD schools, unless you live in a "lucky State" like TX, LA or MO.

I suggest that you do a little research to discover that DOs can practice in a lot of countries. If this is still an issue, than I suggest another career.

 

[DreamingofMountains]

Thank you all for your advice. I'll be sure to look into countries where DO's are able to practice and go from there.