My gpa is a 2.4 as of this point and I have already taken my mcat this summer. I got a 33 (12, 9, 12). As far as application cycle goes, I am considering applying the summer of 2014. I can get my gpa up to a 2.9 by this summer. Also, I have failed organic chemistry once which is the my gpa fell so much. I am also planning on retaking it this summer. I plan on applying early to have the best chance. My question is should I continue with this goal to apply or should wait another year to complete graduation, get my gpa around a 3.05 and apply the following year. I am open to DO and carribean schools as well. Please advice.
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- Thread starter fre3play
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DO is your only realistic option. Some Caribbean schools will accept you, but you would likely never be able to practice in the US as a doctor with one of their degrees (if they didn't fail you out after you got a hundred thousand or so in debt). MD schools will take much, much longer to become competitive. DO schools practice grade replacement, meaning if you re-take all your low grades, your GPA as far as they are concerned will only count the most recent attempt of each course, meaning your GPA can rise much faster for them than for MD schools (which count every attempt of every course taken at the college level toward your GPA.)
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Congrats on your MCAT! A 33 is solid!
One thing I will tell you is your options should, at this point in time, never include the Caribbean. Years ago it was a perfectly acceptable way to obtain your medical degree but this is no longer the case. There are many threads on this forum that discuss the current state of affairs for students pursuing their degree from such schools and the outlook is bleak (high cost of living on the islands, significant possibility of not matching into a US residency and being stuck with six figure debt and no good plan to pay it off).
If you're willing to go to a DO school (which will still make you a US-educated DOCTOR), retake the premedical requirements you did poorly in, as DO schools offer grade replacement rather than averaging the old grade with the new grade as MD schools do. Take some more upper division science classes (genetics, cell bio, whatever tickles your fancy) and, assuming you get lots of As and Bs as I'm sure you will, you will be on your way to being competitive for a DO school.
I can only speak to this because I've had a friend or two in the same situation and this is what worked for them. I have no point of reference in properly assessing your MD chances so maybe someone else can. Either way, you'll end up exactly where you need to be. Good luck!
One thing I will tell you is your options should, at this point in time, never include the Caribbean. Years ago it was a perfectly acceptable way to obtain your medical degree but this is no longer the case. There are many threads on this forum that discuss the current state of affairs for students pursuing their degree from such schools and the outlook is bleak (high cost of living on the islands, significant possibility of not matching into a US residency and being stuck with six figure debt and no good plan to pay it off).
If you're willing to go to a DO school (which will still make you a US-educated DOCTOR), retake the premedical requirements you did poorly in, as DO schools offer grade replacement rather than averaging the old grade with the new grade as MD schools do. Take some more upper division science classes (genetics, cell bio, whatever tickles your fancy) and, assuming you get lots of As and Bs as I'm sure you will, you will be on your way to being competitive for a DO school.
I can only speak to this because I've had a friend or two in the same situation and this is what worked for them. I have no point of reference in properly assessing your MD chances so maybe someone else can. Either way, you'll end up exactly where you need to be. Good luck!
I took a look at the following table and it shows that 87/211 applicants got admitted with stats similar to mine. Its a 41% acceptance rate. I know its not the best but at least don't say I have no chance at MD schools. Correct me if I'm wrong but there is a possibility of my admittance.
https://www.aamc.org/download/321516/data/2012factstable25-3.pdf
Thanks! As far as Caribbean schools are concerned, I will take them off my list. I read threads about the lack of residencies available and the matching problems students from those schools incur. About retaking my classes I did poorly in, should I retake a C+ in pre-reqs like physics and gen chem? I was thinking about taking other classes and just doing well in those.
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I didn't say you had no chance. Remember that of those with low stats that were admitted, there are amazing stories and accomplishments, low income childhood, coming from an underserved area, etc. etc. boosting those numbers that you can see by looking at the table. Obviously if you have some/all of those factors working in your favor you will have a better chance at MD admission than I indicated. The fact remains that your GPA being under a 3.0 will mean many schools won't even set eyes on your application, since you will be auto-screened out most places. Since you indicated DO was an option, that is probably your safest bet to re-take the courses you did poorly in and apply DO with a very strong MCAT and an acceptable GPA. Trying to become competitive for MD schools will take much longer.
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This is like saying that there's a chance you can win the lotto too. Does that mean we should all run out and buy tickets?
Correct me if I'm wrong but there is a possibility of my admittance.
This is why a course in statistics is useful. That chart is meaningless because you can't apply these stats to an individual schools. For a a random school, the odds of you getting in are <10%, and in reality, schools have minimum cut-offs, which would mean that you'd get auto-rejected.
Those magic are what we call "legacies" or "specials". They got accepted because they had a large donation check in hand, or were related to deans, faculty, or alumni, or did a great SMP but had such UG GPA damage that even the SMP couldn't rescue the cGPA.
realistically speaking, you have no chance no at MD schools, and very poor at DO programs (you'd be autorejected at mine).
The advice you've received here is very good.
Correct me if I'm wrong but there is a possibility of my admittance.
This is why a course in statistics is useful. That chart is meaningless because you can't apply these stats to an individual schools. For a a random school, the odds of you getting in are <10%, and in reality, schools have minimum cut-offs, which would mean that you'd get auto-rejected.
Those magic are what we call "legacies" or "specials". They got accepted because they had a large donation check in hand, or were related to deans, faculty, or alumni, or did a great SMP but had such UG GPA damage that even the SMP couldn't rescue the cGPA.
realistically speaking, you have no chance no at MD schools, and very poor at DO programs (you'd be autorejected at mine).
The advice you've received here is very good.
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Actually, about 16% got in with stats like yours (GPA of 2.4 and a 33-35 MCAT). You say you can bring it up to 3.09, which would improve your chances significantly, but given that you've already failed orgo once, and got C+'s in physics and gen chem, I really do not suggest counting your chickens before they hatch. Bring up your GPA, then talk about how competitive of an applicant you are.
Personally, I don't buy the 'I failed orgo and that's why my GPA is so low'. If you were acing all your classes and just did badly in orgo, you'd still have a 3.0 or better. In reality, you have a C+ average. If you start to do awesome and get As, you'll have an upward trend that might get you into some lower-tier MD schools. Until then, grade replacement is your best option, but you should figure out what you did wrong the first time so that it doesn't happen again.
I should work to my full potential this year and come back to this forum after getting my gpa increased. This is why I mentioned caribbean in the beginning by which I only mean St. George, Ross, or AUC. I wouldn't consider any other school out there. Are these schools bad too in terms of match rate? They advertise a 95% + match rate into US residencies but the numbers are most likely a fluke in their favor.
I think you should look into a postbacc or smp to boost your GPA because your mcat score is very solid and I don't think you should be settling for low tier DO schools and I especially do not think anyone should be using the Caribbean medical school as a crutch. If you do well in a postbacc or smp you could be looking into mid tier MD schools and top tier DO schools. In the end, you still should aim to get into the best medical school possible because you want to have many options for residencies and specializing in the future.
I totally agree with you on that but I don't want my mcat score to expire. Also, from what I've researched, postbacc is a better option since it gives me the opportunity to increase my undergrad gpa whereas a smp is a masters program. One last thing, are these programs a year long? So I would end up applying in the summer of 2015 for admission to the Fall of 2016 class? In this case, how would medical schools know how I did in my postbacc program?
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The numbers are artificially inflated by kicking people out, I believe. I've heard stories of people not being allowed to take step if they don't think they will pass, and not being allowed to graduate if they don't think they will match. All anecdotal evidence, but still quite scary.
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If I were you, I would do a postbac after re-taking pre-reqs that you got a C in, and then apply really broadly to MD and DO - having by that time done a lot of extra service. I think you can find a post-bacc that would add to your undergrad GPA and would allow you to take a bunch of extra science classes outside of the basic premed stuff. Problem is, you these programs are usually crazy expensive and you might not get in to an MD program in the end. But, if you do well you'll have your pick of many DO schools, and you'll be a doctor!
Try to pick a postbacc in a state with less competitive or resident-heavy MD programs, and establish residency there...also try to find a program that places a lot of its students into its own MD program.
Who knows, you have a good MCAT score - it may work.
Try to pick a postbacc in a state with less competitive or resident-heavy MD programs, and establish residency there...also try to find a program that places a lot of its students into its own MD program.
Who knows, you have a good MCAT score - it may work.
I looked at postbacc programs. Some only have the prereqs along with the calculus class. Should I avoid these ones and look for programs that have upper level biology classes? Also, Shouldn't I wait to retake my prereqs until the postbacc? That way, I can get everything done at once and apply. Financially, I'm not worried about the costs. If a year of postbacc can drastically increase my chances, its a good investment.
Are there any good postbacc programs out there? I am willing to work hard but at the same time, I don't want to end up getting all B's in these science classes. Any advice?
When exactly did you take your mcat? They expire 3 years after it was taken from what I remember.
Georgetown has a strong smp program which is basically a postbacc + masters degree. The UCs also seem to have a strong postbacc. I have a friend doing the Georgetown smp and he loves it. Apparently it is only one year so you should be fine doing it and then applying.
I took it August 16th this summer. I looked at this program and it sounds great. Do you think I have a good chance of being admitted at such a prestigious school?
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For students accepted into Georgetown's SMP the average undergrad GPA is 3.3 and MCAT is 31-32. To get into the SMP they recommended that students have a 3.0. If you could get your GPA up to a 3.0 that would be great. Your MCAT is solid. SMPs were pretty much made for students in your situation (strong MCAT, weak GPA)
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I've never heard of a single class dropping a cGPA by the amount of points you've alluded to. Also, are you talking about grade replacement for previous poor performance, or is the hypothetical 2.9 including those past grades in the average? If the latter, how is it that you'll make up five-tenths of a point (unless I'm being dim-witted right now)?
Finally, a word to the wise - don't overestimate what your grades for the summer classes could be.
Yeah. Your mcat shows that you are capable of doing well. Just make sure you take the app seriously and research the school. It will be good prep for secondary applications in the future.
I just hope I can do well in these postbacc programs. I was reading about temple's postbacc program which sounds the best to me as it guarantees a seat to medical school but how hard is it to maintain a 3.5 in a postbacc? Also, what are other great postbacc programs out there? Should I retake my prereqs before applying to these postbacc programs or just complete them in the postbacc since many offer them as well?
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