Reapply or no?

[Azmkv]

---

Members do not see this ad.

Hi guys I am currently in a dilemma in making decision to reapply or not. Before I elaborate on my dilemma, here is my current status:

GPA: ~3.94
MCAT 1st take - 498 (128/120/127/126)
MCAT 2nd retake 503 (129/122/126/126)
MCAT 3rd retake - 512 (130/125/129/128)

Research exp: 2 years of full-time research. One second author pub in a reputable journal (PNAS), and another 2nd author pub [hopefully] at eLife (not sure if they will accept it or not at the moment, but it's submitted and we are just waiting).

Clinical hours: 11 months of part-time Medical assistant at a doctor's office. Not so many hours because I only worked on Saturday while doing research.

Volunteering hours: Plenty. Worked with undeserved communities and volunteer at my church. Was also a volunteering coordinator at my college for 3 semesters (1.5 yrs). I also love volunteering in general 😛

TA at my undergrad: 2.5 yrs

A good number of leadership positions. Involved in a good number of organizations at college. Great recommendation letters (have 7).

ORM


Here is my dilemma I need help on:
Last cycle, I applied to both MD and DO schools and received 0 ii from MD and one acceptance letter from a DO school, which I am very thankful of. I think the issue was that I applied with my first two MCAT scores. I recently retook my 3rd MCAT because I wasn't receiving any love from neither MD nor DO, and ended up doing relatively better than my previous 2 attempts (although my CARS still sucks. I could never improve significantly on CARS because English is my 2nd language and was never a fervid reader... so my comprehension is a bit slower than native speakers :/ ). After my score was released, I got an acceptance letter from a DO school.

I am wondering if I should reapply to MD or just take the DO position. I have no problem attending a DO school; it's just annoying that I studied so hard for my 3rd mcat for no reason If i were never to reapply ugh.. Anyway, I am particularly interested in Interventional radiology or Radiation Oncology, which both of the fields are highly competitive.. Although I am very grateful of DO acceptance and ready to work really hard for those dreamy specialties, I am just afraid that I will never make it cut through because It's simply not an MD degree 🙁
Any thoughts? I am also not sure how schools will look in to my 3 attempts of MCAT with still sub-par CARS score lol..

 

[Kyle Broflovski]

You have great app, do you have an in state MD school option? I think your chances of getting in MD are 50/50. 512 won’t wow anyone and your retakes are a red flag. I would take the DO acceptance and run with it, but I don’t want rad onc. If you truly want rad onc and can’t see yourself doing primary care then it might be worth the risk to try again for the MD.

The DO school that accepted you matters as well, not all DO schools are created equal IMO.

 

[concernedsponge]

Surprised you only received 1 acceptance for DO, how many did you apply to?

 

[Azmkv]

You have great app, do you have an in state MD school option? I think your chances of getting in MD are 50/50. 512 won’t wow anyone and your retakes are a red flag. I would take the DO acceptance and run with it, but I don’t want rad onc. If you truly want rad onc and can’t see yourself doing primary care then it might be worth the risk to try again for the MD.

The DO school that accepted you matters as well, not all DO schools are created equal IMO.

Thanks for your opinion. We have only one state MD school that highly favors in-state residents. According to MSAR, ~65% matriculated students were in state residents. The DO school I got in is one of the original 5 schools - part of reason why it makes my decision difficult :/

 

[Azmkv]

Surprised you only received 1 acceptance for DO, how many did you apply to?

I applied to ~30 MD and 3 DO

 

[Kyle Broflovski]

Thanks for your opinion. We have only one state MD school that highly favors in-state residents. According to MSAR, ~65% matriculated students were in state residents. The DO school I got in is one of the original 5 schools - part of reason why it makes my decision difficult :/

I think your best shot is your in-state MD school. Sounds like your DO option would be a good choice as well. Just realize if you take the DO acceptance you will be fighting an uphill battle to match a competitive specialty. Check the match list of your DO school, they have any students matching radiology or rad onc?

This is a super tough choice, if your MCAT was a 516+ I’d say reapply MD. A 512 is borderline though, I had around a 512 and didn’t get much MD love outside of my state school.

 

[concernedsponge]

"A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush" Go DO, you don't want to be in the same position next year with no MD admission and having a rejected DO offer.

 

[GTown]

Hi guys I am currently in a dilemma in making decision to reapply or not. Before I elaborate on my dilemma, here is my current status:

GPA: ~3.94
MCAT 1st take - 498 (128/120/127/126)
MCAT 2nd retake 503 (129/122/126/126)
MCAT 3rd retake - 512 (130/125/129/128)

Research exp: 2 years of full-time research. One second author pub in a reputable journal (PNAS), and another 2nd author pub [hopefully] at eLife (not sure if they will accept it or not at the moment, but it's submitted and we are just waiting).

Clinical hours: 11 months of part-time Medical assistant at a doctor's office. Not so many hours because I only worked on Saturday while doing research.

Volunteering hours: Plenty. Worked with undeserved communities and volunteer at my church. Was also a volunteering coordinator at my college for 3 semesters (1.5 yrs). I also love volunteering in general 😛

TA at my undergrad: 2.5 yrs

A good number of leadership positions. Involved in a good number of organizations at college. Great recommendation letters (have 7).

ORM


Here is my dilemma I need help on:
Last cycle, I applied to both MD and DO schools and received 0 ii from MD and one acceptance letter from a DO school, which I am very thankful of. I think the issue was that I applied with my first two MCAT scores. I recently retook my 3rd MCAT because I wasn't receiving any love from neither MD nor DO, and ended up doing relatively better than my previous 2 attempts (although my CARS still sucks. I could never improve significantly on CARS because English is my 2nd language and was never a fervid reader... so my comprehension is a bit slower than native speakers :/ ). After my score was released, I got an acceptance letter from a DO school.

I am wondering if I should reapply to MD or just take the DO position. I have no problem attending a DO school; it's just annoying that I studied so hard for my 3rd mcat for no reason If i were never to reapply ugh.. Anyway, I am particularly interested in Interventional radiology or Radiation Oncology, which both of the fields are highly competitive.. Although I am very grateful of DO acceptance and ready to work really hard for those dreamy specialties, I am just afraid that I will never make it cut through because It's simply not an MD degree 🙁
Any thoughts? I am also not sure how schools will look in to my 3 attempts of MCAT with still sub-par CARS score lol..

I think you can reapply and get into your state or lower tier md or better DO. But just had to say IR and Radonc are not impossible for DOs. Know 5 radonc that are DO. IR and radonc are hard for everyone, harder for DO. But not impossible.

Good luck whatever you decide, I think you’ll be fine!

 

[Azmkv]

Thanks for your opinions guys! This is certainly a hard decision to make :/

 

[Isoval]

My school matched at least three people into Interventional Radiology programs this year and we traditionally match at least ten into diagnostic every year.

At UT Southwestern, U of Miami FL, and Mayo Clinic FL.

I say at least because I’m going off of a Facebook match page. There may be more that didn’t post or I didn’t see.

 

[gyngyn]

This thread can be followed here: Help me make decision- should I reapply or no?