Picking the right school

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Yehoshua24

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  1. Pre-Medical
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So I'm preparing to make a broad application attempt next cycle. So I compiled an excel spreadsheet of all allopathic and osteopathic schools in America (excluding Puerto Rico due to no hallo espanol).

So as a non-trad I have one main issue, which is that my cGPA is below 3.0, however my post-bac and current masters program I am a 3.5. Right now my last 60 credits my cGPA is a 3.45.

So what is he best way short of contacting all 150ish schools to find out which ones will look past my past?
 
Your stats are too low for MD. If you want to go MD, then you need to show mostly A's in a multi-year undergrad effort. Which you haven't yet. <3.0, 3.45, 3.5 isn't going to get the job done unless you get a strong MCAT and you're URM and you're in a state with a low threshold such as MI/MS/LA etc.

Calling schools for information would be, by far, the least effective way to get information. The person who gets paid to answer the phone needs to hear very simple questions. Yours isn't a simple question. The people who make admissions decisions, thus have the info you want, don't answer the phone.

You have free unlimited access to the shared experience of many thousands of students who were in your shoes and are now in med school, here on SDN. Search for "low GPA" and focus on nontrad, reapp and postbac. In postbac there's a thread about low GPA strategy with over 600,000 views.

DO schools are more difficult to research than MD schools, but research them you must. The pre-osteo and osteo forums on SDN are almost entirely shrill immature repetitive hysteria, but wade through it to find the bits of solid information that will help you understand what matters in choosing a DO school and what does not matter. A school that doesn't enable you to do away rotations 4th year: this matters. A school that is brand new and doesn't yet offer federal loans: this matters. A school that has trouble keeping faculty from quitting: this matters. A school that farms 3rd years out more than 50 miles away for rotations: this matters.

If you're an advanced and proficient researcher, you can add color to your understanding by looking at residencies for your specialties of interest, in areas where you want to live. Find the residencies that have mostly US MD's and one or two DO's every year. What schools are those DO's from. Look for trends. (This took me years to figure out.)

Best of luck to you.
 
Your stats are too low for MD. If you want to go MD, then you need to show mostly A's in a multi-year undergrad effort. Which you haven't yet. <3.0, 3.45, 3.5 isn't going to get the job done unless you get a strong MCAT and you're URM and you're in a state with a low threshold such as MI/MS/LA etc.

Calling schools for information would be, by far, the least effective way to get information. The person who gets paid to answer the phone needs to hear very simple questions. Yours isn't a simple question. The people who make admissions decisions, thus have the info you want, don't answer the phone.

You have free unlimited access to the shared experience of many thousands of students who were in your shoes and are now in med school, here on SDN. Search for "low GPA" and focus on nontrad, reapp and postbac. In postbac there's a thread about low GPA strategy with over 600,000 views.

DO schools are more difficult to research than MD schools, but research them you must. The pre-osteo and osteo forums on SDN are almost entirely shrill immature repetitive hysteria, but wade through it to find the bits of solid information that will help you understand what matters in choosing a DO school and what does not matter. A school that doesn't enable you to do away rotations 4th year: this matters. A school that is brand new and doesn't yet offer federal loans: this matters. A school that has trouble keeping faculty from quitting: this matters. A school that farms 3rd years out more than 50 miles away for rotations: this matters.

If you're an advanced and proficient researcher, you can add color to your understanding by looking at residencies for your specialties of interest, in areas where you want to live. Find the residencies that have mostly US MD's and one or two DO's every year. What schools are those DO's from. Look for trends. (This took me years to figure out.)

Best of luck to you.

DrMidlife: Thanks for the feedback. I'll do some reading.
 
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