MD Should I wait? What are my chances?

[Statusintubatus]

• Upcoming Senior, BA physiology, music minor
• USA, South Dakota Resident
• 17 total schools - Albert Einstein COM, Case Western, Creighton, Loma Linda, Loyola, Medical College WI, NY Medical College, Rush MC, Sanford (South Dakota), Thomas Jefferson, UMN-Twin Cities, UMKC, U Pittsburg, U Rochester, Wake Forest, Washington U
• cGPA 3.5, sGPA 3.2 or so (ugh, still have 30 credits of upper level science courses to go..will probably go up during senior year. Only thing on transcript are lots of Bs from the weed out classes)
• MCAT - Took May 6th, expecting upper 500s (507 or 508)
• Research - One summer clinical research at level I trauma center
• Volunteering - Volunteer EMT for 2 years senior HS and freshman college
• Physician shadowing - 60 hours total, EM, Neurology, Stroke, Family medicine
• EC - VP of Communications for Student Group, lots of time with campus orchestras and wind ensembles (top level graduate ensembles)
• Work hx - 1 summer direct support professional for pediatric autism clients (~900 total hours), 1 full time year as critical care paramedic (~2400 total hours). Also have Flight Paramedic - Certifed (FP-C) pass, (4% of medics in MN have this cert)
• Family in medicine, lots of family RNs, mother is a pharmD
• Interest in primary care, rural medicine and emergency medicine

I know my GPA and MCAT are meh, but I'm hoping my work experience will make up for those gaps. The FP-C cert is a big deal in the industry (out of 2000 paramedics in MN, only 80 have this cert), so I'm hoping that it can float me up the rankings pool a bit.

I'm still kind of torn on if I should apply this year or not. I think it really depends what MCAT score I get back in June that will sink or swim my application

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[ERDOC555]

First, I think it's too early to say anything without an MCAT score. If you get a 504, MD may be a challenge. If you get a 515 you'll probably have a great shot.

Assuming you get a 507/508, I think your list is a little top heavy. U-Pitt, Wash U, Case etc. are all most likely out of your range.

If you get a decent MCAT score back, than I highly recommend applying very broadly and mostly to schools where your GPA/MCAT is around median or even slightly higher.

Fasted way to throw money down the drain is by applying to schools with an average MCAT 4-5 points above whatever you have, that and applying to OOS schools that take very few or no OOS applicants (this part doesn't apply to you). These seem like common sense, but I've seen it happen here and in real life almost every year.

 

[Statusintubatus]

First, I think it's too early to say anything without an MCAT score. If you get a 504, MD may be a challenge. If you get a 515 you'll probably have a great shot.

Assuming you get a 507/508, I think your list is a little top heavy. U-Pitt, Wash U, Case etc. are all most likely out of your range.

If you get a decent MCAT score back, than I highly recommend applying very broadly and mostly to schools where your GPA/MCAT is around median or even slightly higher.

Fasted way to throw money down the drain is by applying to schools with an average MCAT 4-5 points above whatever you have, that and applying to OOS schools that take very few or no OOS applicants. These seem like common sense, but I've seen it happen here and in real life almost every year.

Yeah, this cycle will really depend on what score I get back. And I'm not sure I'll want to try to take a late MCAT to enter in this cycle later in the summer, in that case I'd probably just defer a year and apply next cycle.

All the schools I picked have a decent OOS chance, and I tried to exclude any schools that cater heavily to in state.

Thanks for the top heavy comment, I hadn't even thought of that yet. Planning on going through and seeing what schools are reaches and maybe slim the list accordingly.

 

[gyngyn]

Without regard to your anticipated MCAT score:
Does S Dakota have a contract with WWAMI? If not delete U of WA (I'm guessing that is what you meant by Wash U).
UMKC's OOS matriculants are largely part of a special program.
Loma Linda is a misson-based school.

 

[GrapesofRath]

Only 17/166 South Dakota applicants matriculated OOS last year. A number of those from what Ive understood are actually to North Dakota med. Ive heard Creighton has a track record of taking some from the Dakota's as well(wouldnt surprise me if Iowa also has a track record of taking Dakota applicants although I have no direct knowledge of this).

Point is your MD odds are largely tied to a few schools, specifically Sanford. The few applicants from South Dakota who dont matriculate at either Sanford, ND, or a school like Creighton are probably mostly either URMs or have top notch stats. You are in neither position. While you can apply to some OOS MD schools with stats in your range, set expectations accordingly.

As for South Dakota matriculants specifically your stats are on the low end for South Dakota matriculants. Last year they were at 3.8 cGPA 3.7 sGPA 31 MCAT(surprisingly these were much higher than ND). Sanford actually has an unofficial screen set at 3.1 so you barely make that out from the sGPA stand point. Your sGPA is also <10th percentile for them

All in all, unless you hit >512 on the MCAT I tend to lean towards waiting a year( and even then I might wait). If in fact you hit around 507-508, I think it would benefit you to wait a year and apply with a sGPA closer to 3.4-3.5 than the 3.2 you currently have.

 

[Mr Giggles]

I would add UND

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