Secondary advice

[jmart]

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So there are a few secondaries that give room to include anything else that we have no had a chance to include yet. My gpa is below a 3.4 and my mcat is below a 28. I feel like my low scores are the elephant in the room and I should address them however, should I avoid drawing extra attention to this fact. I don't have a great reason why these are low, I struggled in my first year with gen chem and got 2 more Cs in advanced bio classes. I took the MCAT twice and improved but it still not where I wanted to be. I was trying to use this essay to explain my non-traditional path and play my experiences while acknowledging my less than stellar performance. I also found research talking about the predictability of success of students based upon these scores and I wanted to quote the article in which it says there are a wide range or scores that succeed. I quoted the title of the article and the direct quote is this enough without a reference at the bottom?

Should I mention acknowledge my less than stellar stats? Can I quote the article and research in which it says a wide variety of scores succeed?

Thanks in advance!

 

[DAPI]

So there are a few secondaries that give room to include anything else that we have no had a chance to include yet. My gpa is below a 3.4 and my mcat is below a 28. I feel like my low scores are the elephant in the room and I should address them however, should I avoid drawing extra attention to this fact. I don't have a great reason why these are low, I struggled in my first year with gen chem and got 2 more Cs in advanced bio classes. I took the MCAT twice and improved but it still not where I wanted to be. I was trying to use this essay to explain my non-traditional path and play my experiences while acknowledging my less than stellar performance. I also found research talking about the predictability of success of students based upon these scores and I wanted to quote the article in which it says there are a wide range or scores that succeed. I quoted the title of the article and the direct quote is this enough without a reference at the bottom?

Should I mention acknowledge my less than stellar stats? Can I quote the article and research in which it says a wide variety of scores succeed?

Thanks in advance!

This seems like a terrible idea. Adcoms know that there are a wide range of scores that can succeed and for you to feel the need to point that out to them seems ridiculous.

I think it would be okay to talk about your non-traditional path to medicine if you can incorporate your strengths in there and how they will help you be a better doc. As for the lower GPA and MCAT, I would not mention it at all if you don't have a reason for them being lower, which it doesn't seem you do.

 

[MedPR]

Don't.

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[mcloaf]

Don't.

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x2. It doesn't sound like you have the sort of extenuating circumstances that would make it worth bringing up.

 

[RegisBioMedMS]

I disagree, I think you absolutely need to address your academic shortcomings. Explain clearly what you will change so they have an idea as to why you won't continue this trend in medical school. Ad coms use your stats to try to predict your academic success. From what you have described, they have no reason to imagine that you will be successful in their program, so you need to change that. Tell them exactly what you will do to improve. And then be ready to kick it into high gear academically and MCAT wise for the next year to prove it. You'll have a much better chance as a re-applicant if you do.

And next year, get them in early... you're way late!

 

[Geebeejay]

So there are a few secondaries that give room to include anything else that we have no had a chance to include yet. My gpa is below a 3.4 and my mcat is below a 28. I feel like my low scores are the elephant in the room and I should address them however, should I avoid drawing extra attention to this fact. I don't have a great reason why these are low, I struggled in my first year with gen chem and got 2 more Cs in advanced bio classes. I took the MCAT twice and improved but it still not where I wanted to be. I was trying to use this essay to explain my non-traditional path and play my experiences while acknowledging my less than stellar performance. I also found research talking about the predictability of success of students based upon these scores and I wanted to quote the article in which it says there are a wide range or scores that succeed. I quoted the title of the article and the direct quote is this enough without a reference at the bottom?

Should I mention acknowledge my less than stellar stats? Can I quote the article and research in which it says a wide variety of scores succeed?

Thanks in advance!

Don't mention this research. It is too easy for someone with low scores to state that scores don't predict success in medical school, and you'll probably come off as self-absorbed. That and there also exists research that made the opposite conclusions.

 

[ilikevegetables]

Don't mention this research. It is too easy for someone with low scores to state that scores don't predict success in medical school, and you'll probably come off as self-absorbed. That and there also exists research that made the opposite conclusions.

I agree with not mentioning the research, but actually since this is potentially something you'd want to mention to all the schools you apply to, I'd mention it in the personal statement instead of the secondary. Maybe not as a defensive or apologetic thing but explaining what factors contributed and how you dealt with them/how you'd be able to deal with them in the future. Good luck!