Reapplicant

[MaesterOfTheNorth]

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I am planning on reapplying next cycle. The stats I graduated with last year were cGPA 3.51, sGPA 3.28 (upward trend), 500. I applied really late last time, but was able to get waitlisted at Touro NY. I am planning to retake the MCAT. I wanted to know if it is a waste of time/money or worth it to take some upper level science classes to raise my science GPA a bit? I was thinking of taking anatomy for one of the classes and two other, and hopefully raise it by .1 assuming I get A's. Or should I just focus on my full time job working at a hospital?

 

[DrStephenStrange]

Worth it if you take classes that will ease you into your pre-clinical years. Classes like Anatomy, physiology, immunology, developmental biology, microbiology ect... Other than that I don't see any other benefit to this. I don't think raising your GPA by 0.1 is really gonna have much of an effect on your app. Raising your MCAT to a 505+ will though.

Edit: Also if you do take those classes, you gotta make sure you do well in them because you don't want your GPA to go down either.

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[Faha]

You should apply broadly in the next cycle. You could receive interviews at any of these schools with your stats so apply to all of them:
ACOM
ARCOM
NYIT-Arkansas
ICOM
BCOM
UIWSOM
WCU-COM
LMU-DCOM
UP-KYCOM
WVSOM
LUCOM
CUSOM
VCOM (all 3 schools)
PCOM Georgia and South Georgia
LECOM (all schools)
Apply on June and submit all your secondaries by July.

 

[PapaGuava]

You are in a fair position to apply to DO schools, and if you plan to re-take the MCAT, make sure you are ready for it. The last thing you would want is to score lower than your 500. Would you have a DO recommendation letter as well? @MaesterOfTheNorth

 

[MaesterOfTheNorth]

You are in a fair position to apply to DO schools, and if you plan to re-take the MCAT, make sure you are ready for it. The last thing you would want is to score lower than your 500. Would you have a DO recommendation letter as well? @MaesterOfTheNorth

I have a letter from an MD that I shadowed and knows me well. Would it be better for me to try to shadow a DO and get a letter from them?

 

[PapaGuava]

I have a letter from an MD that I shadowed and knows me well. Would it be better for me to try to shadow a DO and get a letter from them?

Most DO schools are okay with just an MD letter, but a few require a letter from a DO so make sure you look up the requirements for each school. I would recommend at least trying to shadow a DO so you can speak on it a little during an interview. There are plenty of people that get into osteopathic schools without a letter from a DO, but hey, if you can add more to your application why not you know? In my case, I submitted both a DO and MD letter.

 

[mariposas905]

I am planning on reapplying next cycle. The stats I graduated with last year were cGPA 3.51, sGPA 3.28 (upward trend), 500. I applied really late last time, but was able to get waitlisted at Touro NY. I am planning to retake the MCAT. I wanted to know if it is a waste of time/money or worth it to take some upper level science classes to raise my science GPA a bit? I was thinking of taking anatomy for one of the classes and two other, and hopefully raise it by .1 assuming I get A's. Or should I just focus on my full time job working at a hospital?

how late did you apply? did you get any IIs?

 

[MaesterOfTheNorth]

how late did you apply? did you get any IIs?

I think it was Dec/jan. I had a pretty hectic semester, which I didn't expect. I ended up only applying to 8 schools. And I got 1 interview. This time around, I will apply more broadly and earlier.

 

[PapaGuava]

I think it was Dec/jan. I had a pretty hectic semester, which I didn't expect. I ended up only applying to 8 schools. And I got 1 interview. This time around, I will apply more broadly and earlier.

Be sure to stick around SDN, there is plenty of people/resources that can help you along the way!

 

[DrStephenStrange]

I think it was Dec/jan. I had a pretty hectic semester, which I didn't expect. I ended up only applying to 8 schools. And I got 1 interview. This time around, I will apply more broadly and earlier.

Yeah, that's pretty late. You're lucky you even got an interview invite. Next time you're applying DO make sure you apply by September for the best outcome. But usually before Thanksgiving should be fine as well.

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[gensurghopeful]

Apply early enough and you don't need MCAT re-take, as long as you are ok with being limited to middle-lower tier DO schools.