Retake?

[M00se]

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I am a grad student in NV who is applying for a spot in the 2000 entering class. I went to school on a academic scholarship for 4 yrs. Then after an incident where my mentor committed suicide, I went into a sport. I got an athletic scolarship for 4 more years and was really only going to school to stay on scholarship and go all over the country, so my grades suffered. In my last year I watched a guy in front of me get hit head on by a drunk driver and it changed my life. I was able to get him breathing again when the cops told me he was dead. I graduated and went back to school to get a masters and improve my GPA, which I know now was a mistake. I do have nearly a 4.0 for my masters but it doesn't apply to my undergrad of ~3.0.
So I took the MCAT and got an 8-v, 9-p, 12-b. I applied late last year mostly to get some feedback from the MD schools. There is no DO school here but there is an MD school so I applied to allopathic schools. My first choice is the MD school here, because I can come back to LV for my last 2 yrs. However, I really do prefer DO schools. UN med school wants me to retake the MCAT with only a month to study(while working as a teacher). I am afraid of hurting my chances at DO school by retaking if I do worse. I know I can do better on the verbal, it was my best preMCAT score but I got distracted and ran out of time. But I did get a 12 in Bio. They also want me to take upper division undergrad classes in bio to bring up my science GPA which I plan on doing. Please help! I am applying now to AACOMAS and I am unsure of what to do.

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Jim

 

[justwannabadoc]

First, a clarification. When you refer to your "mistake," you are referring to your undergrad and not your Master's program (like it sounds), correct?

In terms of wanting to do your rotations in LV, you should probably call up the individual DO schools and find out whether there are any that have 3rd and 4th year sites there. Is it a must to do your rotations in LV because if not, it would certainly expand your options.

Is your M.A. in a science? If it is, great. If not, and your undergrad science GPA was less than stellar, I understand why UN would want you to prove you can handle difficult science courses. If you retake the MCAT and do worse, it will hurt your chances at both DO and MD schools. If you're not ready, I wouldn't take it. It's not a test you want to go into unless you're confident you're going to do well. My point is that if you are flexible about your rotation sites, do not retake the MCAT because your scores are good enough to get you an interview at a DO school. I won't say get you in because that depends on how you do at the interview.

 

[M00se]

My mistake was graduating. My grad coursework is being mostly overlooked even thoough it is in biology and chemistry. The admissions people I talk to say that everybody gets A's in grad school so they only care about my undergrad GPA. If I am a solid interviewee, which I believe I am, should I just skip it and apply to DO schools exclusively?

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Jim

 

[justwannabadoc]

First, get out those primaries (AACOMAS, AMCAS, or both) ASAP. The sooner you get them in, the sooner you will interview and the better your chances since there are more slots open.

It's interesting that the admissions people you spoke with said that all grad students get A's. This is completely untrue, though I suspect they say this because getting a B is considered failing in many programs. The thing to do is call up the MD schools you are interested in and ask to speak to the dean of admissions. Don't speak to the secretary because more often than not, they are not that helpful. Tell them you situation and ask them for advice (i.e. whether or not you should retake, how much significance will be given to undergrad performance). If they tell you not to bother applying, then you probably shouldn't.

It is true that DO schools tend to look at the overall package more than MD schools. So, if you screw up as an undergrad but excel as a grad student, they will look upon that highly which in your case, means you will have a better chance at a DO school versus an MD school. If all MD schools say that you don't have much of a chance, then you probably should go DO exclusively, as long as you will be happy being a DO. Just make sure you apply to several and not just a few.

 

[turtleboard]

If you truly want to go into osteopathic medicine, go to an osteopathic medical school and become a DO. Unless you go to UN-Reno's medical school, I doubt any other school out there will allow you to do the entire third and fourth years in hospitals not affiliated with your school to begin with.

The ultimate question should be: How important is it that you stay in LV? If it's very important -- bordering on life-altering -- then you should and must do everything prescribed by the UN-Reno med admissions committee. If you only prefer to stay in LV for whatever non-life-altering reason, but would rather be a DO, then go for a DO school. The closest school, if my geography hasn't entirely escaped me, would be in California (WUCOMP) or Arizona (MWU-AZCOM).

Good luck. By the way your MCATs sound good (29 composite is decent), but your undergrad GPA is not so good. I'd say you could land interviews if your personal statement focused on some of the reasons why your GPA is low, but all the while not ignoring the fact that you must make a case for your desire to be an *osteopathic* physician.

Tim of New York City.

[This message has been edited by turtleboard (edited August 02, 1999).]