Non-traditional nursing and math major - warning: long!

[BSNtoMD321]

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[Faha]

The difficulty with your strategy is that if you take the MCAT in August after your summer Organic Chemistry courses your score will not be available until September. You certainly can apply in August with a pending MCAT score but your application will not be reviewed until your MCAT score is available in September. At that point all the September and many of the October interview slots will have been filled which puts you at a disadvantage. It is also difficult to decide on what schools to apply to without knowing your MCAT score.

 

[cherrylemon9915]

Everything sounds good to me! You might have to work for a year or two as a nurse, I would take extra classes at that time if i were not accepted. Did you do any volunteering? I heard that's pretty big to medical schools. My advice is to apply to a few medical schools, as many as you can, and also make sure you study hard for the mcat to help overcome the gpa issues. I am not sure what your average gpa is with your 2.0 added in.

 

[7331poas]

So what is your total GPA right now?

 

[BSNtoMD321]

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[7331poas]

All your GPA points will count, so it doesnt matter if the old school GPA counts at your new school. That being said you will probably do fine when they look at your transcript.

 

[Faha]

Looks like my GPA will be a 3.6 - 3.65 when all is said and done, depending on how the next year goes. The bad GPA was in 2007-2008 and my current school GPA is not affected by transfer grades, so hopefully that helps a little bit...

As for volunteering, I have around 1500 hours of non-clinical volunteering, 100 hours of clinical volunteering, and 50 hours of shadowing. My nursing program has approximately 750 clinical hours, but I'm not sure if that counts. Non-clinical volunteering includes a month in Panama at a wildlife rescue center, taking care of cats at an animal shelter, tutoring GED students, and teaching/administrative work at ballet schools.

If I study for the MCAT enough on my own, could I take it in July without the organic 2 material? Or do you really need the full year of o-chem to do well?

It would help to have organic 2. When does organic 2 finish next summer?

 

[BSNtoMD321]

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[Faha]

The dates do not seem to be available for next year, but for the last three years the final day has ranged from August 6th to 9th. Perhaps Saturday, August 5th? Worst case it would be the 12th.

With those dates it should be fine to take the MCAT in late July. You could submit you AMCAS application in early August to one school and then when your score is available in late August add more appropriate schools based on your score. Give us an update next year.