Seeking advice for an underdog's 2nd application
Started by yellowpepper
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This. A few more MCAT points would help.
Can we agree that this won't be for a 2014-2015 MD app? Please? I beg you.
In other words, yes, retake, but it won't help you this year. Take it by April.
Tough call, since you got interviews. There are boatloads of people in SMPs with your stats.
Watch out for student debt. If you borrowed for one masters already, that's a lot.
Note that SMP apps open starting in October and close starting in February. Be ready.
Usually premed advisers are completely out of their depth once things don't go perfectly. You'll get better advice from SDN. Just don't take any one opinion too seriously.
My vote: get a job for this year, focus on the MCAT retake, maybe take a couple classes, and keep up clinical volunteering. Apply to SMPs starting in the fall so you have that option. Be ready with a freshened app in June '15.
Unfortunately grad work in the humanities doesn't do anything to help your lower stats, so I advise against reapplying for this cycle. You don't have a different app yet.
Best of luck to you.
Thank you for your thorough response! I really appreciate it and will take all of it into consideration.
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were your interviews at MD or DO institutions? both? How are you applying this year? Are you submitted? I want to believe I received more interviews because I applied earlier. My stats aren't as good as yours, but I was able to get into a DO school. I would say if you are doing MD exclusively, take the MCAT again and merck it. Think about a SMP for next Fall if you have to.
On second thought, you've received interviews already. There is something about your app that they like. Have you thought about how your interviews went and how you can improve upon that?
All the best. You'll be in soon enough.
On second thought, you've received interviews already. There is something about your app that they like. Have you thought about how your interviews went and how you can improve upon that?
All the best. You'll be in soon enough.
The easier path will be going the DO route.
If not, the MCAT is close to circling the drain, and I suggest a retake. I susepct it was your wonderful rising trend that got you the interviews.
You may have been told the interviews were fien merely out of politeness. No one is going to tell you to your face that you bombed an interview. I sugegst that working on interview skills is one more thing to work on.
If you going to reapply, then you need some improvement.
If not, the MCAT is close to circling the drain, and I suggest a retake. I susepct it was your wonderful rising trend that got you the interviews.
You may have been told the interviews were fien merely out of politeness. No one is going to tell you to your face that you bombed an interview. I sugegst that working on interview skills is one more thing to work on.
If you going to reapply, then you need some improvement.
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GPA is a little low for a lot of MD schools, but I don't think it's a killer. It will also be difficult to raise significantly, and pretty much impossible to bring up to a point that it will really be a strength. Additionally, you said you had a strong upward trend with a legitimate reason as to why your GPA isn't as high as you want it to be. However, your MCAT is a much easier fix provided you are capable of scoring higher and there aren't really good reasons for low MCAT scores. This is probably why you keep hearing schools tell you to retake the MCAT. Obviously shoot for the moon with your score, but I would guess that if you could hit a 32 or higher you wouldn't have a problem getting into an MD school next time around.
You obviously know to apply early and broadly, and are a decent candidate if you got 3 interviews. Personally, I think you'd benefit more from finding a health-related job where you can do some research and get published than you would from an SMP. I think it would add something new to your app instead of spending thousands of dollars on trying to improve something that isn't a major issue. Another consideration is the DO route. If you're not gung ho about going MD/aren't totally against the possibility of not specializing, you would be a strong candidate at almost any DO school. Either way, you seem to be on the right track so long as you stay committed.
You obviously know to apply early and broadly, and are a decent candidate if you got 3 interviews. Personally, I think you'd benefit more from finding a health-related job where you can do some research and get published than you would from an SMP. I think it would add something new to your app instead of spending thousands of dollars on trying to improve something that isn't a major issue. Another consideration is the DO route. If you're not gung ho about going MD/aren't totally against the possibility of not specializing, you would be a strong candidate at almost any DO school. Either way, you seem to be on the right track so long as you stay committed.
Masters coursework counts separately
