Please advise: When Should I apply? Unique Circumstances

[orangeblue]

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I graduated with a 3.1 - 3.2 BCMP GPA with . in Biomedical Engineering from top-5 uni this May. I also spend a year in a peace-corps like situation which was funded.

It was advised to me by an admissions dean at a top ten medical schoool, that I take 30 credits of upper biology classes (i.e two semester) at local public 4-year college to demonstrate my academic abilities.

My questions are as follows:

1. How many classes per semester would be recommend that I enroll in: 3 or 4?
2. How strongly does medical schools adcoms prefer honors level upper biology classes at UH vs. standard biology courses at UH?
3. What factors should I consider when deciding to apply in June 12 (next year) or June '13?

Option #1: Study for the MCAT during Fall semester and take in Jan, and shoot to apply for '12.

Option# 2: I take the MCAT after I finish my post-bac in May 2012 and then apply early in june 13'. More time for dedicated MCAT study for 3-5 months.


Additional info: I studied for the MCAT last summer and was getting 28s.
I want to apply for TX schools as a resident and want to put together a strong application for a top 20 school. I have other "unique" background and factors and experiences.

Thank you very much for your time and consideration.

 

[ash914]

Why all the emphasis on rankings? It's not going to matter that your undergrad school was "top 5," and you should focus of being competitive overall, not in terms of "top 20" schools. Getting into the more competitive schools (not just top 20) is very difficult, and your gpa is below their averages by a lot. Focus on doing well in your coursework before getting ahead of yourself. As far as your questions, based on what I've picked up on these boards and elsewhere, I'll try to answer:

1) It depends on how much other work you will be doing. If your resume is up to par, you should still continue doing some volunteer work/employment/research, but you could probably take a typical course load. It also depends on the courses themselves and how difficult they are. If your plan is to take 30 credits overall, then split them evenly over the semesters so you are not overwhelmed at any point.

2) It usually doesn't matter, especially since it's not common for upper levels to have both options.

3) Taking a full courseload of upper-level science sources and studying for the mcat at the same time is lot to do. If you're really trying to prove you can do well academically, then splitting your attention isn't going to help. Depending on how strong your background is, it might be worth waiting. Most people on this site spend at least some time dedicated just to the mcat. That said, many people do take a June mcat and apply that same cycle. You wouldn't be late at that point, assuming you get your apps in without waiting for scores.

 

[trypanosomiasis]

Are you doing this as a post-bacc or just to take more courses on top of your bachelor's? Your description suggests both, but a post-bacc degree would be the way to go with your BCPM where it is.

If you want to finish 30 bio credits in two semesters, then you'd need to be taking 15 credits per semester, which at UofH I think will make for 4-5 classes per semester...

Can't answer #2 for you, you'd need to talk to a UofH student or adviser to find out what the difference is between "Honors" and regular, if one really exists.

Take the MCAT when you're ready. There's no better advice than that, and since your scores are good for three years at most schools, you can take it whenever you want in this timeframe you've presented.

Sector9's lovely "What are my chances?" graphs put you at about a 22% chance with a 28 on the MCAT and your GPA at 3.11. Your MCAT and GPA going up (from your post-bacc program) will certainly help your chances out, and PeaceCorps/ other service-oriented experiences will help out a lot at Texas schools (for sure at A&M and Tech, which love strong service applicants) and across the country, with strong clinical ECs.

 

[Pietrantonio]

I graduated with a 3.1 - 3.2 BCMP GPA with . in Biomedical Engineering from top-5 uni this May. I also spend a year in a peace-corps like situation which was funded.

It was advised to me by an admissions dean at a top ten medical schoool, that I take 30 credits of upper biology classes (i.e two semester) at local public 4-year college to demonstrate my academic abilities.

My questions are as follows:

1. How many classes per semester would be recommend that I enroll in: 3 or 4?
2. How strongly does medical schools adcoms prefer honors level upper biology classes at UH vs. standard biology courses at UH?
3. What factors should I consider when deciding to apply in June 12 (next year) or June '13?

Option #1: Study for the MCAT during Fall semester and take in Jan, and shoot to apply for '12.

Option# 2: I take the MCAT after I finish my post-bac in May 2012 and then apply early in june 13'. More time for dedicated MCAT study for 3-5 months.


Additional info: I studied for the MCAT last summer and was getting 28s.
I want to apply for TX schools as a resident and want to put together a strong application for a top 20 school. I have other "unique" background and factors and experiences.

Thank you very much for your time and consideration.

Why did you not ask these questions during your discussion with the admission dean?

 

[orangeblue]

Are you doing this as a post-bacc or just to take more courses on top of your bachelor's? Your description suggests both, but a post-bacc degree would be the way to go with your BCPM where it is.
.

I have all the pre-reqs for medical school admissions. I just need some upper level biology classes. The transcript will show that.

I don't need an official "post bac" program to do that. My alma mater can still write the commitee letters, etc.

 

[orangeblue]

Why did you not ask these questions during your discussion with the admission dean?

It was a 15 min interview. but I'm trying to talk to my premed advisor/ppl at admissions to see what they say.

 

[trypanosomiasis]

I graduated with a 3.1 - 3.2 BCMP GPA with . in Biomedical Engineering from top-5 uni this May. I also spend a year in a peace-corps like situation which was funded.

It was advised to me by an admissions dean at a top ten medical schoool, that I take 30 credits of upper biology classes (i.e two semester) at local public 4-year college to demonstrate my academic abilities.

...

Option #1: Study for the MCAT during Fall semester and take in Jan, and shoot to apply for '12.

Option# 2: I take the MCAT after I finish my post-bac in May 2012 and then apply early in june 13'. More time for dedicated MCAT study for 3-5 months.

Just had no idea whether you were in a post-bacc program or not. Usually you don't take courses for no reason after you get your degree, which is why I was confused. Why not get an M.S. and get a 4.0 doing that?

 

[orangeblue]

Why all the emphasis on rankings? It's not going to matter that your undergrad school was "top 5," and you should focus of being competitive overall, not in terms of "top 20" schools. Getting into the more competitive schools (not just top 20) is very difficult, and your gpa is below their averages by a lot. Focus on doing well in your coursework before getting ahead of yourself.

Thanks, I think you are right. I have been putting the cart before the horse for 2-3 years in my undergrad and that greatly esckewed things for the worst. And you are right: how competitive I am as an applicant matters overall, not the "reputation of my school" or any of that. That mindset only leads to destruction and puts me behind in the "race".

1) It depends on how much other work you will be doing. If your resume is up to par, you should still continue doing some volunteer work/employment/research, but you could probably take a typical course load. It also depends on the courses themselves and how difficult they are. If your plan is to take 30 credits overall, then split them evenly over the semesters so you are not overwhelmed at any point.

I want to get a solid LOR from a professor and/or researcher so that means that I'll have to find work on a research project. i also want to work 10 hrs or so on ECs that I find interesting/relevant to me.

I'll be taking BIOCHEM, GENETICS, Physiology, etc.

3) Taking a full courseload of upper-level science sources and studying for the mcat at the same time is lot to do. If you're really trying to prove you can do well academically, then splitting your attention isn't going to help. Depending on how strong your background is, it might be worth waiting. Most people on this site spend at least some time dedicated just to the mcat. QUOTE]


I guess, doing both will lead to burn out and back fire.
however, I had heard the argument from some people that i NEED to learn to "multi - task" and that if I can't stay for the MCAT while managing classes, then i wudnt be able to handle med school. What kind of crazy talk is that?

From my impressions, med school adcoms / deans don't really care -- they don't make excuses for you either or factor in something called "multi-tasking that heavily" . (Although even without the mcat, i'll be woroking an easy part time job (during which i hope i can study), research , ecs).
They just care about numbers and look at those numbers (GPA, MCAT) cold as proof of your academic intellect/ability. What are your thoughts?

That said, many people do take a June mcat and apply that same cycle. You wouldn't be late at that point, assuming you get your apps in without waiting for scores.

I guess, it's too early for to know concretly how things will go or should be by june '12. I can just re-visit and evaluate my situation in December and see how things are going. It's hard to know (and maybe even a mistake to) plan concretely for these plans with some much uncertain factors going on.

 

[orangeblue]

Just had no idea whether you were in a post-bacc program or not. Usually you don't take courses for no reason after you get your degree, which is why I was confused. Why not get an M.S. and get a 4.0 doing that?

M.S.= some of those classes are fluff, and not really hardly recognized by med school commitees or will help my case. Biochem, genetics, physio are standard courses that are easily known across the board.

Also, other thing is money. I mean, I didn't even look into it for those reasons.
If I can get a 4.0 in masters, then why not do it here?

 

[aSagacious]

Let's assume you take 15 credits per semester until your GPA is in the 'competitive range' (keeping in mind that the national average for matriculants is 3.67 and a 31 MCAT).

120 credits - 3.15 --> we'll assume that you get a 3.9 hereafter
135 credits - 3.23
150 credits - 3.30 --> if you were to apply in spring '12
165 credits - 3.35
180 credits - 3.40 --> if you were to apply in spring '13

As you can see, your GPA becomes increasingly robust to large changes with the accumulation of more credits (this is to your disadvantage). Take a look at this thread where you'll be able to approximate your chances based on your predicted GPA/MCAT. If I were in your shoes I'd take two additional years of undergraduate upper-level coursework, shoot for a spring '13 MCAT, and apply in the spring of 2013.

 

[orangeblue]

I have to re-cal my BCMP since some of the classes are 'engineering' and may not count.

i do think that 2 years its like OVER-kill and not necessarly. as long as this post-bac goes fine and with a solid score (with studying), '13 is a good place for me right now.

Again it's hard to say these things concertly and it's important to re-evaluate plan every semester or few months to see where I stand.

I think i would have taken all necessarly key-stone classes of bio by 2 semesters so really, anything over 2 semesters is overkill IMO. I would rather just do REALLY well these 2 semester and do the mcat + resume/ecs and apply.

 

[aSagacious]

^ Sure, no harm in giving it a shot after one year but what are you going to do during your application year? Boosting that GPA in the meantime couldn't hurt (just in case you need to reapply).

 

[orangeblue]

^ Sure, no harm in giving it a shot after one year but what are you going to do during your application year? Boosting that GPA in the meantime couldn't hurt (just in case you need to reapply).

I feel that it may be best for me to apply in '13, it's hard to work so so hard with so much uncertaintly and doubt. I would rather just apply once with my best foot forward you know?

I am thinking: take one year of post-bac classes and do well in them. hopefully wiht solid bio classes and strong grades (ie. straights A's), i am fine. i really have no desire to take another year of classes.

Then do something in the summer.
Sept-Dec: study for the mcat.
Jan: take the mcat

Feb-April: 3 months, get application together, continue on your ECs, maybe get a job/apply for jobs
May1-june1: submit applications, look for a job/start a job.

do the interview seasons. hopefully with an early application, things will be good, but I can't know the future, really. I'll figure out the details once i'm there based on the circumstances at that time.
go on my aboard travel adventure after this is over 🙂

 

[aSagacious]

Sept-Dec: study for the mcat.
Jan: take the mcat

Feb-April: 3 months, get application together, continue on your ECs, maybe get a job/apply for jobs
May1-june1: submit applications, look for a job/start a job.

This is just my opinion, but what you've described above looks like a horribly unproductive year and will not do you any favors if you end up re-applying.

 

[vin5cent0]

you have a really crappy gpa, regardless of how great your undergraduate was and what your major was. quit putting so much emphasis on getting into a top school, as it stands now you're less than ideal for even a bottom of the barrel Mediterranean school

 

[orangeblue]

you have a really crappy gpa, regardless of how great your undergraduate was and what your major was. quit putting so much emphasis on getting into a top school, as it stands now you're less than ideal for even a bottom of the barrel Mediterranean school

you mean carribean?

 

[orangeblue]

This is just my opinion, but what you've described above looks like a horribly unproductive year and will not do you any favors if you end up re-applying.

Thanks for the exchange of ideas.

Fall 2011-Spring 2012: Do the post-back work, get those 30 credits , show proof of academic excellence by doing well on those classes.

Summer 2012😀o something: research, ECs, etc. stuff that I'm passionate about.

Sept-Dec 2012: work part time, study for the mcats, prep for mcats

Jan 2013: take the MCAT.
Feb-april 2013: Work continue on things I am passionate about, prep for applications.

May 2013: Apply

I'm not sure if you got confused. i DON'T want to "give a half-assed shot in 2012, and then re-apply, yikes!" it's not for me.

 

[orangeblue]

I'm going to talk to some admissions folks,but with one year of strong performance + MCAT score, I ought to be oK..

 

[aSagacious]

Good, as long as you're keeping busy.

I do think you're overestimating the amount of time required for the MCAT and preparing applications. Yes they are time consuming, but it is quite possible to work full time (or an equivalent time-consuming activity) while sufficiently preparing for both.

 

[mokhoras]

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