Should I take it or wait a year?

[AndyK83]

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My MCAT score is a 509, 80th percentile. I also got a 97th percentile on the bio section.
I have 450 volunteer hours at a home health clinic and 80 shadowing hours with a DO.
My GPA is terrible, 2.95 cumulative and 2.82 science. This is because of my first semester at college, I practically flunked every class. I'm in my senior year of undergrad and I'm doing well in classes so far. I don't think I'll get a seat in DO for Fall 2016. I did however, get an interview from American University of the Caribbean. My question is, if I get a seat in AUC, should I take it or should I get an MS during Fall-Spring 2016 and reapply for med school for Fall 2017? I've read that AUC doesn't have terrible residency matches, 85%, but everyone says to avoid Caribbean schools like the plague.

 

[GrapesofRath]

Those residency match rates are laughably fabricated and/or misleading. In reality, closer to 1/3 of those who go down south end up placing into a residency. Don't be another who falls victim to it and comes out a couple years from now 200k in debt with nothing to show for it and no ability to practice medicine.

The dangers of the Caribbean are really worth emphasizing here because you really aren't that far off from a much better alternative. Your MCAT score is solid for DO programs. Ace this year, then re-take any C/D/F's in your transcript and go the DO route. Considering your upward trend and ability to re-take some classes from a long time ago, if you pursue that you really should be a rather competitive DO candidate. And that is a much much much better alternative to the Caribbean.

 

[NNPham]

I am also wondering if I should try to apply next cycle or get a MS. I have a 3.5 cGPA and a 3.2 sGPA.

 

[candbgirl]

I am also wondering if I should try to apply next cycle or get a MS. I have a 3.5 cGPA and a 3.2 sGPA.

Start your own thread and give us more info to work with.

 

[Faha]

If your GPA is over 3.0 after your senior year you should be able to receive some DO interviews next year. Apply in June and submit all your secondaries by July. Also apply broadly to at least 20 schools and include all the newer schools (there will be several more opening by 2017). Your MCAT is competitive for any DO school so you just need to raise your GPA over 3.0. Where did you apply for DO this year?

 

[AndyK83]

If your GPA is over 3.0 after your senior year you should be able to receive some DO interviews next year. Apply in June and submit all your secondaries by July. Also apply broadly to at least 20 schools and include all the newer schools (there will be several more opening by 2017). Your MCAT is competitive for any DO school so you just need to raise your GPA over 3.0. Where did you apply for DO this year?

I applied to 14 DO programs, but I haven't gotten any interviews. I did apply late though, I submitted my app near the end of October.

 

[AndyK83]

Those residency match rates are laughably fabricated and/or misleading. In reality, closer to 1/3 of those who go down south end up placing into a residency. Don't be another who falls victim to it and comes out a couple years from now 200k in debt with nothing to show for it and no ability to practice medicine.

The dangers of the Caribbean are really worth emphasizing here because you really aren't that far off from a much better alternative. Your MCAT score is solid for DO programs. Ace this year, then re-take any C/D/F's in your transcript and go the DO route. Considering your upward trend and ability to re-take some classes from a long time ago, if you pursue that you really should be a rather competitive DO candidate. And that is a much much much better alternative to the Caribbean.

Is there any proof that those numbers are fabricated?

 

[GrapesofRath]

I applied to 14 DO programs, but I haven't gotten any interviews. I did apply late though, I submitted my app near the end of October.

You need to raise your GPA to some extent but that's very doable. You can recover from the mistakes you've made in the past through grade replacement rather easily. If you go down the Caribbean path; you won't be able to recover from that mistake and will have a) probably destroyed your chance of ever practicing medicine by not getting a residency there b) wasted 4 years of your life c) wasted over 250k.

 

[GrapesofRath]

Is there any proof that those numbers are fabricated?

The 85% match rate is a laughable statistic. What they won't tell you is that over half the class fails out the first two years. And they don't always just fail out because they didn't study enough; you do poorly on one test or anything like that, often times that is enough to get the boot. Many others who don't fail out explicitly won't be allowed to sit for Step 1 which in turns means they can't do anything. Furthermore, clinical training during 3rd year is not going to be very good at Caribbean schools. And in the process, more will get kicked out. So by the time you get to 4th year you've lost many many many students. And even then, when talking about matching, there are many qualifiers Caribbean schools put on those statistics they claim. They'll gladly list "85% matched" but it's a rather selective group and they'll exclude people such as those they discouraged from trying to match due to low qualifications.

Seriously go through a particular Caribbean class. You might have 120 incoming students. Maybe 30-40 make it through medical school and end up matching. It's a joke and even if you do get through it all residency directors know about Caribbean programs and the stigmas attached to it. You'll have ADCOMs on here who also are involved in residency admission who will tell you as big of a red flag as anything is a Caribbean student with strong Step 1 scores. That means there is often seriously something wrong with them they are trying to hide that made them go the Caribbean route.

You have a rather simple alternative. Re-take some classes you did poorly in and go the DO route. About 95+% of DO's who enter will end up matching somewhere(and many who don't left the field for voluntary reasons). IT really is an absolute no brainer which route to pursue.