Should I continue with apps?

[vrt1110]

Hi everyone - I've been reading some of the different stories and I sympathize with all of you who are facing the seemingly difficult challenge of med school admissions. I'm a reapplicant and was wondering what some of you feel about my situation.

I applied last year, got wait-listed at two schools (the only two that I interviewed at) and decided to re-take the MCAT this august. I went down a point in the verbal section (9 to 8) and went up a letter in the writing section (S to T; though I get the feeling that the writing section doesn't count for much), leaving my bio and phys scores the same (10, 10). Overall, I went from a 29S to a 28T. I started the AMCAS process already and was hoping to show improvement on the MCAT to offset my weak GPA (3.2). I have all the misc things - lots of ECs, great recs, research experience in both academia and industry with a few publications on the way.

What do you think . . . continue with secondaries, think about getting a Masters to improve my GPA, take the MCAT again? Other suggestions?

Thanks in advance.

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[vrt1110]

Hey none, I applied to over 25 schools last year ranging from all "tiers". I knew going in that my MCAT was decent but worried that my GPA would be damaging (despite the exponential rise from frosh year to senior year ... you can imagine how pathetic my frosh year was). I have a WIDE range of ECs ranging from political organizations to the Red Cross to music groups (two of which I started) which I hoped to boost my status, but that didn't seem to happen.

My main question is that with my lack of improvement on the MCAT, am I in a considerable worse position than last year? Or should I roll the dice again and see what happens? Thanks

 

[none]

Ack, sorry...realized how confused my post was. Apparently not in time. Yes, you are in a worse position regarding the MCAT alone. But it's not your MCAT keeping you out. It may be that GPA...

 

[sandflea]

i was in a very similar position to you not too long ago--i am a reapplicant this year too. what i did (and what i would recommend doing) was to pursue a masters degree to raise my GPA. i too had great ECs, a lot of research experience, publications, the whole works, but unfortunately that isn't enough. there are many schools out there that won't even consider your app if you don't have a decent GPA/MCAT, so the ECs never come into play. i'd say your MCAT scores are fine as long as you raise your GPA. spend a year (or two) working on a masters--and ace every single course--and then reapply. based on my impressions with other friends who have applied and been accepted to med school in years past, your GPA matters more than your MCAT score--it really needs to be competitive, so i would focus on raising it.

hope that helps.

 

[Ceelo]

hmmm...how can you go about raising your GPA in grad school when you have a low undergad GPA? don't you need good grades to get into grad school?

 

[drdrtoledo]

The minimum to get in to grad school is usually 3.0. Grad school is usually far less competetive than med school (of course not counting the top tier programs). Just stay away from courses YOU are not too confident about.