PS advice and red flag

[raf1ki]

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My situation is pretty unique so I don't want to give away too many details - but I'm wondering where I'm standing and how much my previous grades/IA will damage my chances.

I racked up about 2 years of F's but switched schools, grew up, and achieved a 3.7 with a strong upward trend over 5 years at the new university. Including the old GPA, my cumulative would be around 2.99 but science would be about 3.5. Thankfully, TMDSAS does not include foreign GPA, but I imagine each school will still do the calculations as a matter of procedure. I take the MCAT in May and am aiming reasonably for a 515. I have very diverse ECs - my WARS score puts me around 85 (the highest level!!) if I calculate it using the 3.7 and 515. Using the 2.9 my WARS score drops to the lowest level. One of my letter writers, my science professor turned Dean, says I'm the strongest candidate she's supported and hoped the letter conveyed it.

Is it still reasonable for me to apply outside of Texas, knowing how my GPA would be calculated by AAMC? Do I get to have any reach schools? Seeing how competitive I would be without my initial failure makes me really wonder if I have a shot at top 20. Would adcoms forgive a period of immaturity right out of high school?

Then there is also the IA issue - academic code violations from 6+ years ago, but unintentional. Still, I own up to it and take full responsibility, and I think that the period of time + the specific circumstances make it mostly forgivable. You'd have to read my essay for more details.

With all this in mind, does anyone want to critique my personal statement and optional essay (which I make about turning over my new leaf)? To protect my anonymity I would prefer to only send it to med students or above, but I would also send it to very well known premed posters.

Any thoughts on my situation? Do I have a shot for mid-high tier or should I stick just to Texas?

 

[raf1ki]

Oh, and I forgot to even ask the question which spurred me to make this thread. How does it look to give a patient a pseudonym? It would make it a lot easier to make callback references to my opening story and help the whole narrative flow more, but it seems awkward to write "...this patient, who we will henceforth call Bob..."

 

[Goro]

My situation is pretty unique so I don't want to give away too many details - but I'm wondering where I'm standing and how much my previous grades/IA will damage my chances.

I racked up about 2 years of F's but switched schools, grew up, and achieved a 3.7 with a strong upward trend over 5 years at the new university. Including the old GPA, my cumulative would be around 2.99 but science would be about 3.5. Thankfully, TMDSAS does not include foreign GPA, but I imagine each school will still do the calculations as a matter of procedure. I take the MCAT in May and am aiming reasonably for a 515. I have very diverse ECs - my WARS score puts me around 85 (the highest level!!) if I calculate it using the 3.7 and 515. Using the 2.9 my WARS score drops to the lowest level. One of my letter writers, my science professor turned Dean, says I'm the strongest candidate she's supported and hoped the letter conveyed it.

Is it still reasonable for me to apply outside of Texas, knowing how my GPA would be calculated by AAMC? Do I get to have any reach schools? Seeing how competitive I would be without my initial failure makes me really wonder if I have a shot at top 20. Would adcoms forgive a period of immaturity right out of high school?

Then there is also the IA issue - academic code violations from 6+ years ago, but unintentional. Still, I own up to it and take full responsibility, and I think that the period of time + the specific circumstances make it mostly forgivable. You'd have to read my essay for more details.

With all this in mind, does anyone want to critique my personal statement and optional essay (which I make about turning over my new leaf)? To protect my anonymity I would prefer to only send it to med students or above, but I would also send it to very well known premed posters.

Any thoughts on my situation? Do I have a shot for mid-high tier or should I stick just to Texas?

What were the IAs???

Most MD schools outside the Lone Star state rarely accept Texans unless they're superstars, because they know from historical data that very few Texans leave TX

 

[bluemamba7]

What were the IAs???

Most MD schools outside the Lone Star state rarely accept Texans unless they're superstars, because they know from historical data that very few Texans leave TX

That's tough lol

 

[Prometheus123]

My situation is pretty unique so I don't want to give away too many details - but I'm wondering where I'm standing and how much my previous grades/IA will damage my chances.

I racked up about 2 years of F's but switched schools, grew up, and achieved a 3.7 with a strong upward trend over 5 years at the new university. Including the old GPA, my cumulative would be around 2.99 but science would be about 3.5. Thankfully, TMDSAS does not include foreign GPA, but I imagine each school will still do the calculations as a matter of procedure. I take the MCAT in May and am aiming reasonably for a 515. I have very diverse ECs - my WARS score puts me around 85 (the highest level!!) if I calculate it using the 3.7 and 515. Using the 2.9 my WARS score drops to the lowest level. One of my letter writers, my science professor turned Dean, says I'm the strongest candidate she's supported and hoped the letter conveyed it.

Is it still reasonable for me to apply outside of Texas, knowing how my GPA would be calculated by AAMC? Do I get to have any reach schools? Seeing how competitive I would be without my initial failure makes me really wonder if I have a shot at top 20. Would adcoms forgive a period of immaturity right out of high school?

Then there is also the IA issue - academic code violations from 6+ years ago, but unintentional. Still, I own up to it and take full responsibility, and I think that the period of time + the specific circumstances make it mostly forgivable. You'd have to read my essay for more details.

With all this in mind, does anyone want to critique my personal statement and optional essay (which I make about turning over my new leaf)? To protect my anonymity I would prefer to only send it to med students or above, but I would also send it to very well known premed posters.

Any thoughts on my situation? Do I have a shot for mid-high tier or should I stick just to Texas?

I'm a random pre-med on the internet, but my story has some similarities to yours, and I located all the rocks in the harbor last cycle with the bottom of my boat, so PM me a draft of you want and I'll take a look soon.

 

[raf1ki]

I PM'ed Goro, and he says my IA shouldn't be a big deal.

I'm a random pre-med on the internet, but my story has some similarities to yours, and I located all the rocks in the harbor last cycle with the bottom of my boat, so PM me a draft of you want and I'll take a look soon.

I PM'ed you too.

 

[Prometheus123]

I PM'ed Goro, and he says my IA shouldn't be a big deal.



I PM'ed you too.

Oh good. I was about to tell you that I do not have the experience to help you, so you should try to get some advice from @Goro or @gonnif on this.

I left you some comments on the draft. Keep in mind that I have no idea what I'm talking about and I'm really just parroting things I've read people like Goro and gonnif write. If you have any doubts or questions about the potential concerns I pointed out, I would try PMing those specific sentences to Goro or gonnif for an expert opinion.

You sound to me like you'll make a good physician one day, for what it's worth.

 

[Prometheus123]

One more thing: I know you're a reader of SDN, so you probably already know this, but just in case, I'd suggest searching the forum for "reinvention" (it's on my to-do list too). I believe this is one of @Goro's concepts. You'll find many threads with invaluable advice and info for non-trad students like us, including lists of schools that "reward reinvention (@Goro)".

Pretty much anything written by @gonnif is also useful, as he has many years of experiencing helping atypical non-trad students like us present ourselves in the best possible light.

Lots of other people on SDN have useful advice and info for students like us too, but gonnif and Goro seem to specialize in helping students like us, which is why I'm mentioning them specifically.

 

[gyngyn]

Last year, only 232 TX applicants (of 4,515) matriculated OOS.
For comparison, CA had 1,469 (of 5,984) applicants go OOS.

TX candidates that are interviewed OOS tend to be recruitment material.

 

[raf1ki]

And outside of Texas, my GPA will be around 3.0 off the bat, whereas in-state I should be noticed at 3.7 before the schools decide whether they should factor in my previous transcript. State law prohibits TMDSAS from using foreign coursework in GPA but I'm not sure if that also applies to the calculations done by each school once they receive everything. It's just such a shame that this process is so numbers driven, since I have an otherwise extremely competitive app. To be clear, I have 5 years of full time science-heavy credits that average 3.7, with a strong upward trend culminating in years of 4.0s. Great EC's that hit every mark and then some extra on top of that.

Truth be told, after starting where I have, I'll be grateful just to get in anywhere, but I don't want to have any regrets from not aiming high enough. Maybe I'll throw some hail mary's at high level schools once I see my MCAT score.

 

[Goro]

Last year, only 232 TX applicants (of 4,515) matriculated OOS.
For comparison, CA had 1,469 (of 5,984) applicants go OOS.

TX candidates that are interviewed OOS tend to be recruitment material.

What my learned colleague is politely saying is that Texans who get accepted OOS are superstars.

 

[Prometheus123]

I should clarify that when I said "potential concerns" in my previous post, I was referring to how a couple of things were phrased in his draft PS, and since I don't have enough experience with phrasing such things well, I referred the OP to the experts. I did not mean to imply any kind of concerns about his candidacy in general. I apologize for any confusion I may have caused about that.

Good luck on the MCAT, OP. If it's anything like mine was, it will be one of the most painful and most rewarding experiences you'll ever have.

My advice: Take into account that the AAMC has an agenda. The MCAT is a selective instrument, not a simple test. They seem clearly interested in selecting for applicants who have previously demonstrated some interest in understanding and working towards cures for one or more chronic diseases. I believe their slogan at least used to be literally "Tomorrow's Physicians, Tomorrow's Cures". This agenda shapes most questions on the real MCAT.

Based on our conversation, I think this might be the kind of person you are, although to be honest I don't know you well enough to tell for sure yet. If you are, you will have an easier time answering a subset of questions than most applicants, which will give you a competitive advantage. My hope that you might be such a person is the reason why I'm giving you advice, even though it's not in my self interest.

Also, keep in mind that almost every MCAT question has two solutions: the "Oh I got lucky and they asked me a fact I memorized" solution, and the backdoor, first principles, logic-based solution. If you can do the second, and/or if you're really interested in what you wrote about in your PS as you seem to be, my guess is that you will wind up scoring better than you feel like you did after the test. (Then you have to make peace with whatever happened for a month before you finally learn how you did, which is a test in and of itself.)

In brief, your first principles and what you know about chronic diseases can set you apart on the MCAT. Keep in mind the AAMC's agenda behind their questions, and the answers will sometimes become clearer.

Good luck.