Non Trad Student and AACOMAS

[DrLiver]

Hello All,
I will be reapply this year to DO schools but I have been out of school for 3 years. I'm just an average student 3.4, MCAT 3 times with the highest 22R. Totally sucks. What are the LOR requirements? I've been involved in liver research at UTSW and taking a few classes here and there at the grad school here.

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[mison]

Most DO schools require the usual pre-med committee letter of rec or individual letters from some professors and a letter from a DO. I think you have a pretty good shot at many of the DO schools. I would stick with TCOM and some of the private schools. Your MCAT is little low but a quick search on SDN and you'll see that many have gained acceptances with lower scores. Your research and committment to medicine will make your applicaiton that much better. However you say that youv'e taken the MCAT three times, did you apply DO in the past? If not they might worry a bit about your confidence in the DO philosophy. Can someone else answer that question?

 

[Amy B]

Hi DrLiver,

At a number of DO schools you will need a letter from a DO that you have either shadowed or who has interviewed you. It has been rough for alot of people this year to find a DO willing to let them shadow due to HIPPA. I met with one for 45 minutes and he interviewed me and then wrote my letter. I faxed him my personal statement and some of the secondary essay questions I had filled out so he could know a bit about me before we talked. I did know about DOs, having been treated by one for most of my childhood years.

I would strongly suggest you get the DO letter as one of your LORs, even for schools that don't require it.

Have you had any clinical volunteer experience where you have had direct contact with patients? You really, really need that and have a letter from them. Try your area's free health clinics. The ones that rely on volunteers to check patients in, etc. Otherwise hospitals or nursing homes are another place to get what you need.

Your stats are high enough to enable you to apply and be above the cutoff for most schools. You will need a great personal statement, great LORs and a good understanding about the DO education in order to raise above your stats.

Unless you tell the schools, usually they will not ask how many times you have applied to med school in the past, nor will they ask you if you have applied to DO schools in the past. At least when I interviewed they didn't ask.

I would suggest you read up on the following links. DO and MD are becoming very similar, except for OMM. However a huge amount of DOs don't even use OMM in their practice, so DO verse MD out in the real world is almost undistinguishable.

http://www.aacom.org/data/cib/index.html

http://archfami.ama-assn.org/cgi/co...red_search=&FIRSTINDEX=0&journalcode=archfami

http://www.aacom.org/data/annualreport/annualreport2002.pdf

http://www.kcom.edu/faculty/chamberlain/ranmcat.htm


Good luck, PM me if there is anything else you want to know.

 

[Monkeyguts]

The Osteopathic schools I applied to allowed an MD LOR in lieu of a DO LOR.

It helped me out 'cuz I didn't know a DO.

 

[Plinko]

I don't mean to offend you with this advice, but your MCAT sounds quite out of proportion with your GPA. Have you been tested for ADHD/ADD? If the times you took the MCAT you had issues with not finishing the different sections, particularly the Verbal Reasoning section, you may want to go to a psychologist and get tested. If you are diagnosed with ADD/ADHD, or something of the like, you would qualify for time and a half or even double time on the MCAT. There a many applicants that got into med school with a MCAT taken under these circumstances. I know of two people in my class that did. I say this only if time was an overwhelming obstacle on the MCAT. Of course, time is probably the number one factor for all who take the MCAT. But if you found yourself only having time to read half of the passages on a given section then I think this option would be one you might want to look into. Good luck.

 

[clumpymold]

Originally posted by Plinko
I don't mean to offend you with this advice, but your MCAT sounds quite out of proportion with your GPA. Have you been tested for ADHD/ADD? If the times you took the MCAT you had issues with not finishing the different sections, particularly the Verbal Reasoning section, you may want to go to a psychologist and get tested. If you are diagnosed with ADD/ADHD, or something of the like, you would qualify for time and a half or even double time on the MCAT. There a many applicants that got into med school with a MCAT taken under these circumstances. I know of two people in my class that did. I say this only if time was an overwhelming obstacle on the MCAT. Of course, time is probably the number one factor for all who take the MCAT. But if you found yourself only having time to read half of the passages on a given section then I think this option would be one you might want to look into. Good luck.

Hmm, that's interesting. Does it state clearly on your score results that you were given an extended amount of time?

 

[Megalofyia]

Originally posted by clumpymold
Hmm, that's interesting. Does it state clearly on your score results that you were given an extended amount of time?

It states you took the test with accomodations. It is one of the few standardized tests that still does this. GRE and SAT don't anymore.