Should I even try taking the MCAT or go do a post bacc

[calixd123]

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3.3c GPA
B.S. neuroscience w/ minor in bioinformatics
My GPA sucks cause of some problems I had in Freshman/Soph year..My cumulative GPA for Jr/Sr year is probably like 3.5-3.6 if I had to guess.

Year and a half of undergrad biology research, though no publications
Lots of community service work

100 ish hours of shadowing (not much), applying to be a scribe.

Not trying to go to the Caribbean, HMI, etc.



I know I sound like every whiny & annoying pre-med undergrad in the U.S., but I know in my heart that medicine is where I belong. What do you guys think I should do? Thanks!

 

[Faha]

If you can score at least 500 on the MCAT you would be have a chance for some DO schools, mainly the newer ones. If you score greater than 505 you have a chance for the majority of DO schools. You would need a MCAT of at least 515 to have a 50% chance of a MD acceptance.

 

[Pebby8656]

3.3c GPA
B.S. neuroscience w/ minor in bioinformatics
My GPA sucks cause of some problems I had in Freshman/Soph year..My cumulative GPA for Jr/Sr year is probably like 3.5-3.6 if I had to guess.

Year and a half of undergrad biology research, though no publications
Lots of community service work

100 ish hours of shadowing (not much), applying to be a scribe.

Not trying to go to the Caribbean, HMI, etc.



I know I sound like every whiny & annoying pre-med undergrad in the U.S., but I know in my heart that medicine is where I belong. What do you guys think I should do? Thanks!

Ask your pre-med advisor.

 

[Scrubs101]

In reference to the above poster, I believe the SDN consensus is that pre-med advisors tend to give out more bad advice than good advice. This is obviously dependent on your pre-med advisor, but I believe OP came the right spot to look for advice if not a second(third, fourth,fifth,...) opinion. No reason to just defer someone seeking some potentially helpful opinions.

OP what kind of volunteering have you done? And if i may ask how much? If you have a year or so till you apply I would suggest getting some experience taking care of sick people, volunteering in a nursing home/ER is good, working as an EMT or CNA would be great. Obviously not necessary but I've always thought of it to be a great way to see if this is the field you want to be in.

The upper trend is great and I think if you can score 505+ you could be a good candidate for DO school, a DO LOR would help with this as well. 510+ MCAT and doing extremely well in an SMP will give you a shot at MD.

So it all depends what you want. However if you haven't started studying for the MCAT yet I would suggest doing a post-bacc anyways since I wouldn't suggest rushing to take it this cycle. I've always enjoyed the potentials of a DIY post-bacc, but I would suggest giving SMP vs DIY some thorough research as that is outside of my knowledge. I do know some SMP's have MCAT prep involved so that could be a plus! As well as school linkage.

You could potentially take a diagnostic practice MCAT and see where you are and if you're some sort of pre-req retaining critical thinking genius and think you're prepared enough go for it.

Best of luck!

 

[calixd123]

Ask your pre-med advisor.

The one at my university imo gave me some pretty horrible advice. She basically said I am on the edge of having an acceptable GPA to net some interviews, though she said it could just as easily be a waste of a ton of money applying. Like the above poster said I would prob need something in the 90 percentile range on the MCAT to get on the radar.

In reference to the above poster, I believe the SDN consensus is that pre-med advisors tend to give out more bad advice than good advice. This is obviously dependent on your pre-med advisor, but I believe OP came the right spot to look for advice if not a second(third, fourth,fifth,...) opinion. No reason to just defer someone seeking some potentially helpful opinions.

OP what kind of volunteering have you done? And if i may ask how much? If you have a year or so till you apply I would suggest getting some experience taking care of sick people, volunteering in a nursing home/ER is good, working as an EMT or CNA would be great. Obviously not necessary but I've always thought of it to be a great way to see if this is the field you want to be in.

The upper trend is great and I think if you can score 505+ you could be a good candidate for DO school, a DO LOR would help with this as well. 510+ MCAT and doing extremely well in an SMP will give you a shot at MD.

So it all depends what you want. However if you haven't started studying for the MCAT yet I would suggest doing a post-bacc anyways since I wouldn't suggest rushing to take it this cycle. I've always enjoyed the potentials of a DIY post-bacc, but I would suggest giving SMP vs DIY some thorough research as that is outside of my knowledge. I do know some SMP's have MCAT prep involved so that could be a plus! As well as school linkage.

You could potentially take a diagnostic practice MCAT and see where you are and if you're some sort of pre-req retaining critical thinking genius and think you're prepared enough go for it.

Best of luck!

In my college-town there is a pretty huge homeless population so there's always lots of volunteering opportunities available both through the town itself and my university. I am in a local fraternity and together we volunteer at a lot of soup-kitchens/clothing-drives at the local shelters. Aside from that we also clean up the local beaches, around town, even the school (big public university). Habitat for Humanity is also very active in the area so I have been a part of quite a few houses hehe.

Thanks for the advice, I haven't even considered a SMP really. I have been told by some of my peers that doing a masters and proceeding to not do outrageously stellar can basically wreck you, so that's why I was opting for the more lax route of the post-bacc. But I guess schools would probably appreciate the harder coursework.

 

[yayayaok]

1) have you finished your prerequisites?
-If yes study hard for the MCAT and get a job in the hospital. Don't scribe everyone does that. Get something hands on where you are the caregiver, where you are accountable.. Ekg tech,pct...etc
-if no get them done and study for the MCAT.

2) get post bacc out of your head. Most not if all post bacc programs require an MCAT score and all prerequisites. Formal post bacc programs cost 30k then add on 25k for living expenses. Probably the dumbest thing you could do. If you ended up spending 100k on a post bacc and no MCAT, then took the MCAT and realized you couldn't get a good score you are screwed.

3) take the freaking MCAT. Trust me everyone here including myself in the past are always was looking for the easiest way to post pone taking it. The post bacc is a really good excuse to postpone taking it. It's scary and hard to study for. Ball up and get it done. You I'll have a 0% chance of knowing your odds of getting into school if you don't take it.


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[yayayaok]

In reference to the above poster, I believe the SDN consensus is that pre-med advisors tend to give out more bad advice than good advice. This is obviously dependent on your pre-med advisor, but I believe OP came the right spot to look for advice if not a second(third, fourth,fifth,...) opinion. No reason to just defer someone seeking some potentially helpful opinions.

OP what kind of volunteering have you done? And if i may ask how much? If you have a year or so till you apply I would suggest getting some experience taking care of sick people, volunteering in a nursing home/ER is good, working as an EMT or CNA would be great. Obviously not necessary but I've always thought of it to be a great way to see if this is the field you want to be in.

The upper trend is great and I think if you can score 505+ you could be a good candidate for DO school, a DO LOR would help with this as well. 510+ MCAT and doing extremely well in an SMP will give you a shot at MD.

So it all depends what you want. However if you haven't started studying for the MCAT yet I would suggest doing a post-bacc anyways since I wouldn't suggest rushing to take it this cycle. I've always enjoyed the potentials of a DIY post-bacc, but I would suggest giving SMP vs DIY some thorough research as that is outside of my knowledge. I do know some SMP's have MCAT prep involved so that could be a plus! As well as school linkage.

You could potentially take a diagnostic practice MCAT and see where you are and if you're some sort of pre-req retaining critical thinking genius and think you're prepared enough go for it.

Best of luck!

There are hardly any post bacc programs with likage agreements that don't require an MCAT score for admission score. Imo the only programs with linkages that are remotely worth it are ones offered by actual medical schools. They expose you to the faculty that will end up accepting you.


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