question for newly accepted and current DO students

[stevo23]

Hello

This is directed at new and current DO students. I'm sorry that it is another "how likely am I to be accepted scenario" but I figure most of you have talked to fellow students and gotten their story or any unusaul academic circumstances that still warranted admission. I graduated in '04 with a 2.9 overall and 2.8 science gpa as I'm embarrased to say. Im sitting for my MCAT's this spring and currently work at Johns Hopkins in cancer research. I have 3 publications thus far with hopefully a few more to come. I am starting a masters in biotech at hopkins this summer. With 6 or so classes under my belt (hopefully all A's) and 5 or so publications, do you think I have a decent shot at matriculating in the fall of 06'? I know it is important to do well on my MCAT's. I consent patients and routinely spend time in the OR. I also volunteer at Shock Trauma at UMD. I have everything I need to succeed. Will this be enough to compensate for my less than perfect gpa? I am also awaiting test results to confirm that I may have ADD and shed some light on my academic hardships in college. So there is my life story! Thanks so much for your input and best of luck to all of you in your medical school endeavors.

Sincerely,
Stephen

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[Frazier135]

Hello

This is directed at new and current DO students. I'm sorry that it is another "how likely am I to be accepted scenario" but I figure most of you have talked to fellow students and gotten their story or any unusaul academic circumstances that still warranted admission. I graduated in '04 with a 2.9 overall and 2.8 science gpa as I'm embarrased to say. Im sitting for my MCAT's this spring and currently work at Johns Hopkins in cancer research. I have 3 publications thus far with hopefully a few more to come. I am starting a masters in biotech at hopkins this summer. With 6 or so classes under my belt (hopefully all A's) and 5 or so publications, do you think I have a decent shot at matriculating in the fall of 06'? I know it is important to do well on my MCAT's. I consent patients and routinely spend time in the OR. I also volunteer at Shock Trauma at UMD. I have everything I need to succeed. Will this be enough to compensate for my less than perfect gpa? I am also awaiting test results to confirm that I may have ADD and shed some light on my academic hardships in college. So there is my life story! Thanks so much for your input and best of luck to all of you in your medical school endeavors.

Sincerely,
Stephen

Stevo,

It sounds like you have pursued many honorable options during your undergraduate and post-grad career. With regards to your grades, they will be questioned during interviews and you will have to make up for them in other areas, such as the MCAT and extracirriculars. My grades weren't that great in college for the simple fact I did too much outside the classroom, with organizations and friends, but I was still accepted. The reason I believe I was accepted was because I got a competitive MCAT score and showed many positive characteristics learned outside the classroom. But it sounds like that your graduate work will be able to compensate for your undergraduate GPA's, and with a competitive MCAT, you should have no problem convincing them of your intellectual integrity.
If you have any other questions or concerns, please let me know. Good luck in the coming months.

 

[lemurlover]

Hey there,
I hear you about struggling....i got through my BA and two years of math/sci/premed before i discovered i have a learning disability. My grades were really good except timed tests. The AAMC is not generous (or in my opinion, reasonable) about granting test accomodations. Try to get them if you can. A private room might make a huge diff if you have ADD.
Sounds like you have gone the extra mile with your research and grad work. It could go great. Just do the best you can right now and i think you have a good shot.

 

[jonb12997]

My advice... work really hard and show them that you can do well on the MCAT, and especially on the graduate level science courses and it should be fine. Get some good letters of recommenation to... Volunteered at Shock Trauma? I'm SO jealous!!

 

[calisurfdoc]

Stepen... did you graduate from Hopkins in 04 too? I did research and worked at the hospital in gettomore also. Anyways... just to let you know of my own experiences... I had a 2.0 after the first year and managed to bring that to a decent 3.3 when i left. I had pretty low MCATs, but the Hopkins name will bring you much further than you'll imagine. I'll be in med school and wish you the best of luck in the upcoming cycle.

 

[seacatch]

Something else to consider... if you want to up your undergrad GPA, try retaking a few of your low grade classes. AACOMAS will wipe out your initial grade and count only the new one. AMCAS counts them both. My GPA was much improved by my post bac classes. You make a very good case as is but getting your GPA up (over 3.0) would help... I did and now I'm accepted at a DO school.

Good luck.

 

[stevo23]

Thanks so much for everyone's imput. Callisurfdoc, I did not graduate from Hopkins. I graduated from James Madison in VA this past year. I got a kick out of hearing "ghettomore"....the harbor is nice, but that's about it. I'm hoping that my time here will go a long way. To address another point, I was planning on just taking science classes (biochem, cell, molecular, etc) as part of a graduate program. Do you think that would suffice in place of re-taking undergrad classes in which I received low grades? I could always re-take an Orgo II or genchem II (2 C's i have) but I've heard it's more advantageous to take grad classes. I was unaware that AACOMAS wiped the old grade out. The good thing is that here at Hopkins, I can take the classes for free. I'm taking Kaplan right now, and think it has been a great help so far. Anyways I appreciate everyone's honest suggestions and wish you all great success in medical school. Thank you! Steve

 

[kota315]

Thanks so much for everyone's imput. Callisurfdoc, I did not graduate from Hopkins. I graduated from James Madison in VA this past year. I got a kick out of hearing "ghettomore"....the harbor is nice, but that's about it. I'm hoping that my time here will go a long way. To address another point, I was planning on just taking science classes (biochem, cell, molecular, etc) as part of a graduate program. Do you think that would suffice in place of re-taking undergrad classes in which I received low grades? I could always re-take an Orgo II or genchem II (2 C's i have) but I've heard it's more advantageous to take grad classes. I was unaware that AACOMAS wiped the old grade out. The good thing is that here at Hopkins, I can take the classes for free. I'm taking Kaplan right now, and think it has been a great help so far. Anyways I appreciate everyone's honest suggestions and wish you all great success in medical school. Thank you! Steve

Steve....The thing about your grades is it is school dependent.....If you want to get into the more prestigious schools, they will require the higher GPA and MCAT scores....They don't want to lose the competative edge that is afforded to them by being able to advertise "our average MCAT and GPA is blah blah blah"....I will be the first to tell you that I thought medicine was out of my grasp when I failed to get in with two sub par MCAT's and an average GPA. I took the back door into healthcare via the nursing route, made a lot of friends and got some great recommendations. I took my third (and thankfully my last MCAT) in April of 04' and scored 4pts higher overall. That combined with my work experience turned out to be the difference in my application.....Who knows, for sure though, the whole process is arbitrary if you don't have the perfect scores/GPA combination. Just keep the faith and plug away....if this is what you want, it will happen!

Good Luck