Reapplicant, should I apply to Carib?

[tassadar723]

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Hey so I'm from CA and graduated UCLA with a 3.67. I have a really strong trend, freshman year I got 3.1 and the rest of the years I got 3.8s. MCAT is 31M. I have done 1.5 years of shadowing a surgeon during clinic, 8 months of shadowing anthes. in OR, 2 years of volunteering w/ homeless, a year of cancer research and 6 months of volunteering at a CT surgery research lab. I am a reapplicant. From last year I've improved my GPA slightly and improved my ECs a lot. When I applied last I had only 6 months of shadowing and I didn't mention the homeless volunteering...stupid I know. I still got 3 interviews and I'm still waitlisted in all of them. Anyone know if my chances are solid this time around? I am considering applying to the Caribbean and DO schools but I'm not sure if it is worthit. Thanks

 

[Chuckwalla]

Apply earlier this next application cycle and to more schools. Also work on your interview skills which seem to have sunk you.

You are more than competitive for MD, you would not have gotten interviews if you weren't. You do not have to apply to DO and certainly not Caribbean. I would never recommend the Caribbean to anyone.

 

[Chuck's Right Foot]

Hey so I'm from CA and graduated UCLA with a 3.67. I have a really strong trend, freshman year I got 3.1 and the rest of the years I got 3.8s. MCAT is 31M. I have done 1.5 years of shadowing a surgeon during clinic, 8 months of shadowing anthes. in OR, 2 years of volunteering w/ homeless, a year of cancer research and 6 months of volunteering at a CT surgery research lab. I am a reapplicant. From last year I've improved my GPA slightly and improved my ECs a lot. When I applied last I had only 6 months of shadowing and I didn't mention the homeless volunteering...stupid I know. I still got 3 interviews and I'm still waitlisted in all of them. Anyone know if my chances are solid this time around? I am considering applying to the Caribbean and DO schools but I'm not sure if it is worthit. Thanks

DO maybe. Carribean, no. If you apply broadly this year you should be good. Hopefully you will get off a waitlist this year.

 

[tassadar723]

Why are the carib schools such a bad idea? Also how difficult is it to transfer from DO to MD?

 

[Chuckwalla]

Why are the carib schools such a bad idea? Also how difficult is it to transfer from DO to MD?

First of all you got good stats and just had a bad cycle. You should really give American MD another shot with the things I recommended. Certainly get more advice than just mine.

Why does the Caribbean suck? A few reasons.

1) They are extremely expensive, they are for-profit institutions that know very well that their students have nowhere else to go.
2) They fail out a large proportion of their students. As opposed to American MD and DO schools where you actually have to put effort into sabotaging yourself. If you fail out you have all that debt and nothing to show for it.
3) They have a hard time matching into American residencies. DO's have a much easier time than Caribbean grads.

Then there are less obvious factors like you are away from your friends and family in a Spanish speaking country, etc.

About the DO transfer thing, you cannot really do that. If you graduate from a DO school you will have DO instead of MD after your name for the rest of your life. I am sure some have transferred from DO to MD during med school but it would be incredibly rare and difficult.

You are being way too pessimistic about this. Caribbean should not even cross your mind and DO should be a back-up.

 

[MilkmanAl]

Agreed. You'll be fine this time around.

 

[tassadar723]

Ah ok. Thanks for the input guys.

 

[JLC]

seriously man, I thought you were going to have a less than 3.0 gpa and an mcat of 20. You're a solid applicant, you have average numbers and solid ecs...you will get into a US md no problem