Poor boy can only apply to ~15 schools. Help!!!!

[Shepadil]

Statistics

cGPA: 3.65
sGPA: 3.40 (I know, ouch!)

MCAT
34 (11/11/12)....on 3rd try. First two went 23, 25....--> 34, 12 months b/w 2nd & 3rd try

Clinical Volunteering/Shadowing
1000+ hrs as PEDS Volunteer
200 hrs volunteering at my GP's Practice + 100 hrs shadowing him over the course of a summer
HIV/AIDS Counselor

Non-Clinical Volunteering
120 hrs volunteering at Food Pantry
3 Summers as STEM Girls Camp Counselor

Research
1 Publication, 10 Poster Presentations, Funded Research in field of Anthropology
2 yrs as Neurobiology Research Assistant
1 summer Research Assistantship at Mt. Sinai Icahn School of Medicine

EC's
President of Biology Club, School Newspaper Reporter, Honor Council Judge

Employment
Resident Advisor, Girl's Parochial School Head Chemistry teacher during application year

LOR's
1 Science Professor
2 Research Supervisors (1 only has a M.A., will that be a problem?)
1 Non-Science Professor
1 Volunteer Supervisor

P.S.
My Personal Statement is about reinvention. Reinventing myself, my life as a Parochial School teacher, and my ambition to research during Medical School


Problems w/ $$$
I'm planning on only applying to around ~15 schools because I am a poor teacher. I live in Georgetown, and my rent is around $1800 (trying to illustrate that my lifestyle, probably through self-selection, is pretty pricy). I am planning on enrolling at UDC to do a post-bacc and raise my Science GPA, and I don't expect much love at all during this cycle, so I want to keep it light. I have a main list, and then schools I am considering. If you think that I should remove a school from my main list, and replace it with a consideration, I would find that amazingly helpful.

Main List
EVMS
Rosalind Franklin
Quinnipac
Virginia Tech
Oakland Beaumont
Tulane
Loyola
Wake Forest
Albany
New York Medical College
Dartmouth
Tufts
Illinois MD/PhD
UT San Antonio MD/PhD
UVA MD/PhD

Considering
Western Michigan
Commonwealth
Florida Atlantic
Drexel
Rush
Hofstra
Cooper
Penn State
Cincinnati
Creighton
MCW
Jefferson
George Washington
Georgetown
VCU
USF
UMass MD/PhD
Emory MD/PhD

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[kevinsword91]

What is your state of residence?

 

[Shepadil]

What is your state of residence?

District of Columbia

 

[Faha]

UVA, San Antonio and Illinois are very low probability for an acceptance since you are not a resident of those states. Add Western Michigan, Commonwealth, Drexel, Rush, Hofstra, Penn State, Creighton, Jefferson, GW and Georgetown. You need to apply to a lot of schools because of your stats. Some schools may average your MCAT scores.

 

[Shepadil]

UVA, San Antonio and Illinois are very low probability for an acceptance since you are not a resident of those states. Add Western Michigan, Commonwealth, Drexel, Rush, Hofstra, Penn State, Creighton, Jefferson, GW and Georgetown. You need to apply to a lot of schools because of your stats. Some schools may average your MCAT scores.

UVA, San Antonio and Illinois are for MD/PhD programs -- residency does not matter.

I called everyone on my list and they do NOT average MCATs.

And that's the thing, I can't add so many schools, I literally don't have the $$$ and can't take out loans for this purpose alone.

 

[kevinsword91]

Have you looked into FAP?

Have you considered waiting a cycle while you do your post-bac? Applying before your application is optimized may be a waste of money.

 

[gyngyn]

Apply once, well.

 

[Goro]

Here is a more realistic list. Forget about MD/PhD

EVMS
Rosalind Franklin
Quinnipac
Virginia Tech
Oakland Beaumont OR Rush
Tulane
Loyola
Wake Forest
Albany
New York Medical College
Tufts
Drexel OR Jefferson OR Temple
Hofstra
TCMC OR Cooper
VCU
SLU OR MCW

 

[candbgirl]

Will you continue to teach next year? Why are you applying before your post bac? You really only want to apply one time with the best possible package. You haven't listed any DO schools. Have you investigated DO schools. You have a really nice jump on your MCAT but the schools will forever see all of your scores. Some take the latest/best and some average all of your scores.. Your GPAs are below average for MD schools and actually DO school averages go up every year so... Look into the lovely DO grade replacement option. (MD schools don't have this. )
IMO you should probably wait another year and develop.the best app possible. You also don't want to be a reappear.

Sent from my KFOT using Tapatalk 2

 

[Shepadil]

Here is a more realistic list. Forget about MD/PhD

EVMS
Rosalind Franklin
Quinnipac
Virginia Tech
Oakland Beaumont OR Rush
Tulane
Loyola
Wake Forest
Albany
New York Medical College
Tufts
Drexel OR Jefferson OR Temple
Hofstra
TCMC OR Cooper
VCU
SLU OR MCW

Thank you, I think I will go with this list Oakland/Drexel/Cooper/SLU.

I'm in the odd mix of not wanting to wait and also thinking I'm good enough to get into an MD school as is.

 

[Shepadil]

Will you continue to teach next year? Why are you applying before your post bac? You really only want to apply one time with the best possible package. You haven't listed any DO schools. Have you investigated DO schools. You have a really nice jump on your MCAT but the schools will forever see all of your scores. Some take the latest/best and some average all of your scores.. Your GPAs are below average for MD schools and actually DO school averages go up every year so... Look into the lovely DO grade replacement option. (MD schools don't have this. )
IMO you should probably wait another year and develop.the best app possible. You also don't want to be a reappear.

Sent from my KFOT using Tapatalk 2

I will continue to teach. I'm currently in my senior year. Next year will be my first year out, so I will start my DIY Post-Bacc then.

In an ideal world, I do want to go to Medical School a year from this September. So, I think if I select 10-15 schools I'd be a good fit in, and see my chances, I might get lucky.

If not, I'm going to save up and apply to 30-40 schools the year after.

 

[Shepadil]

And perhaps this is not the place to ask, but this cycle I did get admitted to 1 school. I'm doing a year "abroad" in Puerto Rico. It's a Marine Mammal course, so I'm taking about 6 Marine Biology Classes, assistant teaching at a Catholic School, and currently doing research at the Universidad Central Del Caribe School of Medicine. All of our marine lectures are held at the campus, and taught my professors that came over with us, and live with us in Student Housing (kind of boring since I only have 2 professors for all of my classes).

Some of the Research Assistants I was working with during my preliminary Lab rotation over the summer were from the mainland as well. They were all applying to our host school, and I just wanted to see what the AMCAS was like. I was under the impression that if I submitted to one school, I wouldn't be considered a reapplicant -- and yes, in my application next year, I'd only be a reapp to Caribe I believe. I also took this as a chance to apply to FAP, which I was awarded...so applying didn't cost me much at all. Because I'll be making about 50K next year, I do not think I will be eligible for FAP.

I'm not a native spanish speaker. At the beginning of the year I knew no Spanish except pleasantries. After living here on and off for some months, I'd say I'm an Intermediate speaker. But -- I've sat in on Med School lectures, and I cannot keep up, too fast for me. I was given an interview, and I was accepted to the Medical School. It caught me off guard to say the least.

Pros
I got accepted to a medical school
Puerto Rico is beautiful
Low cost of living
Scholarship awarded
I get to be fluent in Spanish
PR Schools are LCME accredited

Cons
I'm not sure if there is a bias against PR grads?
I'd have to rely on english lecture print-outs and take the spanish intensive class on top of my Med School classes
Clinical years require Spanish all day everday




This was not a position I saw myself being in, so it's nuts. I have about 2 weeks to let them know.

 

[gyngyn]

PR grads are great.

 

[candbgirl]

You've been accepted? Why aren't you going to go in the fall? Acceptance+scholarship = you can be a doctor for sure.

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[Shepadil]

You've been accepted? Why aren't you going to go in the fall? Acceptance+scholarship = you can be a doctor for sure.

Sent from my KFOT using Tapatalk 2

I don't want to make a decision because I haven't seen any match lists and I know very little about how PR grads fare in the match

 

[gyngyn]

I don't want to make a decision because I haven't seen any match lists and I know very little about how PR grads fare in the match

Puerto Rican schools are LCME accredited. They have all the respect one would give any such institution.
I think we have already established that the ability to analyze a match list is difficult for anyone but the Senior Student Affairs Dean at the school in question! Only they will know where each applicant hoped to match.

 

[Shepadil]

Puerto Rican schools are LCME accredited. They have all the respect one would give any such institution.
I think we have already established that the ability to analyze a match list is difficult for anyone but the Senior Student Affairs Dean at the school in question! Only they will know where each applicant hoped to match.

Right, and I doubt I have much ability to decipher it either. But a simple statistic, percent matched vs unmatched would be very helpful to me.

I've said this to friends who've gone the carib route that I'd rather teach for the rest of my life than it be 50/50 whether or not I land a residency. I can't spend 4 years doing something with it being so up in the air.

So if Central Caribe was able to tell me there's a 90% chance of me getting a residency if I do what's needed, I would go there.


Maybe it's just something I can't move past, but something stateside seems like a better bet to me.

 

[gyngyn]

Right, and I doubt I have much ability to decipher it either. But a simple statistic, percent matched vs unmatched would be very helpful to me.

I've said this to friends who've gone the carib route that I'd rather teach for the rest of my life than it be 50/50 whether or not I land a residency. I can't spend 4 years doing something with it being so up in the air.

So if Central Caribe was able to tell me there's a 90% chance of me getting a residency if I do what's needed, I would go there.


Maybe it's just something I can't move past, but something stateside seems like a better bet to me.

The Puerto Rican schools, though geographically in the Caribbean, are not considered Caribbean medical schools! You are a US Senior with all the rights and privileges inherent in that title.

 

[LaceyMD]

Right, and I doubt I have much ability to decipher it either. But a simple statistic, percent matched vs unmatched would be very helpful to me.

I've said this to friends who've gone the carib route that I'd rather teach for the rest of my life than it be 50/50 whether or not I land a residency. I can't spend 4 years doing something with it being so up in the air.

So if Central Caribe was able to tell me there's a 90% chance of me getting a residency if I do what's needed, I would go there.


Maybe it's just something I can't move past, but something stateside seems like a better bet to me.

If match statistics are what you need, then contact the school to get those. But keep in mind also that if you turn them down and reapply next year, you may not be a reapplicant to the schools you choose, but you will be asked on the application if you have ever been accepted to a U.S. medical school, and you will have to say 'yes' - so you'll need to have a very good explanation for why you are reapplying instead attending.

 

[Shepadil]

If match statistics are what you need, then contact the school to get those. But keep in mind also that if you turn them down and reapply next year, you may not be a reapplicant to the schools you choose, but you will be asked on the application if you have ever been accepted to a U.S. medical school, and you will have to say 'yes' - so you'll need to have a very good explanation for why you are reapplying instead attending.

Oh crap...really?

I'm going to drop by admissions tomorrow and see my counselor.

 

[candbgirl]

If you weren't okay with attending the school you shouldn't have applied. Research before applying would have been a good idea!

 

[Shepadil]

If you weren't okay with attending the school you shouldn't have applied. Research before applying would have been a good idea!

It's a Puerto Rican school, I'm not even Hispanic, nor do I speak spanish. I did my research haha because I never thought I stood a chance!

I wanted this to be more experiential, so I'd have a run through before the big show.