Please, give it to me straight...

[munch1591]

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Hey everyone,

I am new to this forum and was wondering what my chances of being accepted to an average/decent Medical School, or DO school? Like the title says, I am only a going to be a junior this upcoming fall. I have completed 62 hours at my school, transfered and additional 21 hours. I have a total of 83 hours and still need 51 hours to graduate with my Major, one minor, and Honors.

Currently, I have a cGPA of 3.42 and a sGPA of 3.35. I have need to complete two more MCAT required classes, the second semester of Physics and second semester of Organic Chemistry. I took an old MCAT and scored a 25. That will not be my MCAT score for submitting applications! I have already begun studying (EK books) for the MCAT and believe I have increased my knowledge and can score higher.

My extracurriculars include:
- Alpha Phi Omega, national co-ed service fraternity, 3 semesters (2 active, 1 inactive), 50 service hours, elected Conference Representative, attended 2 conferences and 1 summer workshop, will be a member for 4 more semesters getting at least 40 hours a semester
- Alpha Epsilon Delta, pre-health honors society, 1 semester, 33 service hours, will be a member for 4 more semesters getting at least 30 hours a semester
- Student Foundations, will be a member starting this fall, will be a member for 4 semesters (this organization puts on all of the activities on campus, raising hundreds of thousands of dollars for scholarships, giving tours, holding campus visit days, parents weekend, and homecoming)
- Club tennis, 1 semester
- National Society of Collegiate Scholars, 3 semesters
- Eagle Scout, Boy Scouts of America
- 2 jobs, one in student chapel assisting chaplains and students (spring 2010), and another in the Human Physiology Labs as a lab assistant running the lab (fall 2010-spring 2011)
- American medical student association, 1 semester

I also have had 4-5 other jobs during the summers and high school, most at the same time.

So if I work harder to increase my GPA and get a higher MCAT score, what do you think my chances will be?

Thanks for you help!

 

[Catalystik]

I am new to this forum and was wondering what my chances of being accepted to an average/decent Medical School, or DO school? Like the title says, I am only a going to be a junior this upcoming fall. I have completed 62 hours at my school, transfered and additional 21 hours. I have a total of 83 hours and still need 51 hours to graduate with my Major, one minor, and Honors.

Currently, I have a cGPA of 3.42 and a sGPA of 3.35. I have need to complete two more MCAT required classes, the second semester of Physics and second semester of Organic Chemistry. I took an old MCAT and scored a 25. That will not be my MCAT score for submitting applications! I have already begun studying (EK books) for the MCAT and believe I have increased my knowledge and can score higher.

My extracurriculars include:
- Alpha Phi Omega, national co-ed service fraternity, 3 semesters (2 active, 1 inactive), 50 service hours, elected Conference Representative, attended 2 conferences and 1 summer workshop, will be a member for 4 more semesters getting at least 40 hours a semester
- Alpha Epsilon Delta, pre-health honors society, 1 semester, 33 service hours, will be a member for 4 more semesters getting at least 30 hours a semester
- Student Foundations, will be a member starting this fall, will be a member for 4 semesters (this organization puts on all of the activities on campus, raising hundreds of thousands of dollars for scholarships, giving tours, holding campus visit days, parents weekend, and homecoming)
- Club tennis, 1 semester
- National Society of Collegiate Scholars, 3 semesters
- Eagle Scout, Boy Scouts of America
- 2 jobs, one in student chapel assisting chaplains and students (spring 2010), and another in the Human Physiology Labs as a lab assistant running the lab (fall 2010-spring 2011)
- American medical student association, 1 semester

I also have had 4-5 other jobs during the summers and high school, most at the same time.

So if I work harder to increase my GPA and get a higher MCAT score, what do you think my chances will be?

Thanks for you help!

Right now, your cGPA, sGPA, and practice MCAT score are just a bit below the averages for entering DO students (3.47/3.36/26.49), so even if your grades don't improve and your MCAT turns out the same, you have a decent shot at a DO acceptance. For a better chance at MD schools, you'd ideally approach their averages for accepted students of cGPA 3.67, BCPM of 3.61, and MCAT 31.1. This is totally doable, as you have 1-2 more years before you would be applying (and with straight As for 2 years, you could get your cGPA to 3.7).

When are you planning to start getting clinical experience and shadowing physicians? Or have you already started this through a job or one of your volunteer gigs?

 

[munch1591]

Regarding clinical experience and shadowing, I did not get into the internships I applied for this summer. At my hometown, it is impossible to get shadowing experience if you're not the child or relative of a doctor. I have been calling and asking tons of doctors, stopping by their offices, with no luck. I have been asking to shadow doctors in fields I don't have any interest in also, with nothing coming up.

I was on an exclusive pre-medical study abroad trip in the fall 2010 with my school. They only selected 45 students out of the about 800 that applied. We took some classes that are taught by medical schools. In one of our classes we would be given a patient who would walk in complaining of "stomach pains" and we would have to create a diagnostic tree with the necessary tests. Our teacher would give us the results of those tests and we would have to determine what was wrong with the patient. The same professor (who has both a PhD and MD) taught us Human Pathophysiology. We also took Epidemiology, and Bioethics. So from all those classes I know how to do the basic clinical work-ups, write in charts, and do most things nurses know how to do.

Through Alpha Epsilon Delta, I've met physicians and had experience with them. We have what we call "Brown Bag Lunch" every week where a physician will come and eat lunch with us and talk about their practice, what they do, ect.

I am desperately trying to find other sources of medical experience to put in my application but it's getting harder and harder. I am hoping to get a shadowing gig in the Spring when I am not in classes and get into a good internship next summer.

 

[Catalystik]

Ask your doctor. Have your parents ask their docs. Ask physician parents of your friends. Even volunteer in a local private practice in exchange for some shadowing time. If you speak another language well, you can volunteer as a medical translator, which counts a shadowing and clinical experience.