Should I continue to pursue?

[longlife]

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Hi guys/girls,

I'm a very unfortunate student in that I have a very low gpa and first mcat score (3.0 & 14).

I don't know whether or not to pursue my dream of becoming a doctor or not. What do you guys think are my chances of getting to any school? I know I can do better once I get into med school. My undergrad sux due to several circumstances. I just wish I can start over my undergrad and get the grades I need. I need some advice or opinion on what to do right now meanwhile studying for the August MCAT. I want to be sure that I will do much better next time.

This is my first post so please don't make fun of me. Any tips would be appreciated.

 

[Kazema]

With a 14 you have virtually no chance of getting accepted; I don't want to be mean or anything but that's just the reality. I'm sure someone knows someone who knows someone who got in with a 14, but if so that person was probably the only one. I would recommend not applying this year.

It seems like you understand that you need to improve your MCAT and are retaking. If you can raise your score by 10+ points you'll improve your chances greatly; then you can focus on raising your GPA by either doing a post-bacc or a special master's program. The good news is that with a 3.0 already your post-bacc path will be shorter than if you had a ~2.5 or something. How high you need to raise your GPA depends on how well you do on the MCAT. If you score a 25 or so you may need close to a 3.5 if not higher; if you can get a 29 or 30 you could probably stop once you get to a 3.3. The most important thing is to show that you have the academic ability now, and you do that by getting all A's (and maybe a few B's) in all your coursework from now on. The specific numbers only matter (I think anyway) in grabbing adcoms' attentions and making them go through your application in greater detail.

Meanwhile, make sure you don't ignore your ECs and be sure to accumulate clinical experiences and strong LORs. You want the rest of your application to be very strong.

 

[discover]

Hi guys/girls,

I'm a very unfortunate student in that I have a very low gpa and first mcat score (3.0 & 14).

I don't know whether or not to pursue my dream of becoming a doctor or not. What do you guys think are my chances of getting to any school? I know I can do better once I get into med school. My undergrad sux due to several circumstances. I just wish I can start over my undergrad and get the grades I need. I need some advice or opinion on what to do right now meanwhile studying for the August MCAT. I want to be sure that I will do much better next time.

This is my first post so please don't make fun of me. Any tips would be appreciated.

Hey longlife....

First of all I would say to not give up on your dream.
With that said, as you know your MCAT is extremely low, for any med school in the US MD/DO...SO this should be your first area, I would think with a lot of hard work you can drastically improve....as far as your GPA well you could improve that with a post bac or taking a bunch of hours and getting real good grades...If you can improve your GPA to even a 3.4 or so and double your MCAT then you should be fine,,,but of course that would take some work and some time...DO admissions is competitive and it would also really help you if you shadow a DO and get a good letter...some may say that caribean is a valid option, but I would say to do your best to get in DO/MD in the states first.....good luck

 

[AcousticDoc]

I'm going to make the assumption that you have poor MCAT study habits. With that in mind, it might be helpful to enroll in an MCAT course. Don't give up your dream longlife...you've got a "long life" to see them through. 😀

 

[longlife]

Thanks for the replies guys/girls.

What are some of the post-bac classes or program should I consider? Taking junior college courses or what?

I just graduated as a bio bs.

I'm pretty sure I can double my cat score next time. I took Kaplan prep courses before and I scored way higher than what I had. I was a bit surprised about my first score. I was pretty satisfied when I finished the first MCAT, but I don't know what went wrong; maybe i need to improve my mad test taking skill.

 

[TRAUMEDDR]

I'm really surprised that u took a Kaplan course and ur score was lower than 20. Make sure u do ALL the extra assignments and take every possible practice MCAT. I had ppl in my prep course that didnt goto every class and skipped assignments and wondering why Kaplan wasn't helping their score. Don't get lazy on the MCAT....remember most of the time adcoms see GPA and MCAT on same level or even give more weight on MCAT since that correlates with board scores somehow.
Like Kazema said I would skip this application cycle since u'd be applying real late (unless u got 30+ on Aug MCAT). 👍 Good luck though, I know u can do it 🙂

 

[skypilot]

Thanks for the replies guys/girls.

What are some of the post-bac classes or program should I consider? Taking junior college courses or what?

I just graduated as a bio bs.

I'm pretty sure I can double my cat score next time. I took Kaplan prep courses before and I scored way higher than what I had. I was a bit surprised about my first score. I was pretty satisfied when I finished the first MCAT, but I don't know what went wrong; maybe i need to improve my mad test taking skill.

You might have miss bubbled your answers.

 

[jvphd]

You might have miss bubbled your answers.

I agree. I think it is pretty unlikely that you took a Kaplan course and scored that low. Either that, or you suffered from text anxiety and killed your test taking performance. Don't give up.

 

[espbeliever]

maybe you were just freaking out on test day. who knows. i know ppl who never prepared for the mcat, and lacked many courses tested over in it, and still scored over a 20. so i think if you get lower than that, then something very wrong happend. if you have no idea what that is, the best you could do is just take as many tests as you can. grab all the past mcats and take them. make sure you take them under timed conditions just like in a real life setting... oh an this time be sober hehe j/k 🙂

 

[mastamark]

I know your GPA is pretty low to be competitive, but I do know a couple of people that have gained acceptance with the 3.0. The MCAT score needs to come up. I would retake the beast, get a higher score, then try applying that way before I would try bringing up my grades in a post-bacc. I don't know about you or how you are academically, but whatever caused your lower GPA will probably rear it's ugly head in post-bacc work that you don't really want to do. For me the desire would dwindle a little and my morale would be low in a graduate program. The 3.0 might get you in by the grace of God, but it will most definitely nit be guaranteed. Hey, I got a buddy get into CCOM with 2.9(no Lie). His MCAT was 25M. This was about 4 years ago.

Do it your way though.

 

[DD214_DOC]

Hi guys/girls,

I'm a very unfortunate student in that I have a very low gpa and first mcat score (3.0 & 14).

Looks like you're up fart creek without a paddle. 3.0 isn't necessarily, "very low" for DO schools, but the MCAT is going to hurt. Were I in your shoes, and I sort of am, I would take some more science courses to pad your GPA. Why science? Because it will raise both GPAs with one course. See if your uni offers any online courses.

Also, retake the MCAT. If you can get all this in before September/October, I would go ahead and apply.

One more thing, it's not that you're unfortunate, it's that you didn't really try. I've been there.