Some Feedback Please! Help!

[Thorp]

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It's scary how similar my situation is to many other applicants in this forum - let's get to the meat:

I. I have a undergrad GPA of 3.1 / MCAT (taken in '03) of 30

II. I have seven years of bench research in immunology. I began my labwork very early on in my undergrad career. I have a lot of publications.

III. I am now working two jobs, one in the pharmaceutical industry (doing labwork) and one in that same immunology lab.

IV. I have made two unsuccessful attempts to get in to school in the consecutive 2005 and 2006 cycles.

V. I have several years of meaningful clinical and community service volunteering, which are ongoing. I also have volunteer tutoring experience at the undergraduate level.

VI. My LORs right now are: 2 from Post-Docs I worked closely with, 2 from MDs that have mentored me and 2 from professors who I have worked under. I do not have LORs from professors I have taken classes from and I am now a little too far out (graduated in '03) to collect two from hard science professors.

VII. My top school requires MCATs that are no older than three years at the time of matriculation.

Should I do a SMP? A Post-Bacc/record enhancer? Another undergraduate degree? Some upper division science classes? To repeat or not repeat? Take the GRE and do a traditional masters program? Retake the MCAT and do nothing in terms of my academic record? Should I have explicitly delt with any weaknesses in my academic record in my PS, even at the risk of having a negative tone? Is it worth it to jump through the hoops of getting a committee letter at this stage?

I have absolutely, positively no doubt that this is what I want to do - and I have the inner-city clinical experience to assure that statement. So I would really appreciate any advice you could give me to try and minimize my long way 'round.

Gracias,
Thorp

 

[relentless11]

Your EC's are fine (research, clinical experience, volunteering, etc). But like many people, the EC's are usually the easiest to build up, but the problem is your GPA. Rarely does research, or any other EC make up for a low GPA. Here in CA, a 3.1 might barely get your a secondary, but more than likely, you would be screened out. Your MCAT is decent, but on the average. Most schools treat MCAT and GPA equally so doing well in one does not make up for the other.

Therefore you answered your own question. You need to do some sort of GPA enhancing program. Post-bacc programs would bring your GPA up while SMPs may work if they are well known to the schools you are applying to. You should have held off reapplying until your GPA is past 3.3 and/or have a considerable upward trend. Of course you will have to retake the MCAT too.

Lastly, did you even call up the med schools to ask why they rejected you? No offense, but if it didn't work out the first time, I would've put effort into working on my weaknesses. A 3.1 GPA isn't exactly strong considering the national average is around the 3.4-3.6 range. Here in CA, its around a 3.7, and an MCAT score of 33. All your EC's and letters of recommendations are icing on the cake. LORs won't even be read until the secondaries, and if the school screens out your application, LORs are meaningless. So yea, work on getting your GPA up. Also have you considered DO schools?

 

[RxnMan]

Unless your low grades were part of a learning experience that also leads into medicine, then don't waste precious PS space on explaining bad grades. Time for that will come along soon enough.

Easiest and fastest two things to do now is to apply to a large number and range of schools (25+) and retake the MCAT. With a 3.0+ GPA you won't be auto-screened out at most places and a high MCAT will get you noticed. Then you just play your chances (your apps) and see what happens.

Or you could take the longer view and plan out a few years. Take your prerequisites over again. That would boost the GPA and prepare you for a better MCAT. Armed with better numerical stats, you'd have better chances and a shot at having choices of places to go.

 

[QofQuimica]

You will definitely have to re-take the MCAT, because yours has expired at almost all schools by now. If your UG major was in science, probably a formal post bac is not the way to go; I think those are really geared toward people who haven't ever studied the sciences. An SMP might be a good idea, but it's going to cost you plenty. I agree with the previous posters; you will probably need to cast a wide net. I'm not sure how many schools you applied to last time, but you probably need to add more, and also focus on schools that aren't highly stat-driven. Your stats aren't horrible, but like relentless said, they are average or even lower than average for many schools. It's also not a bad idea to look into DO schools, which tend to be non-trad friendly and more willing to consider the applicant's total package. And you should definitely contact EVERY school that rejected you to get feedback on how to improve your app for next time. They won't all be particularly forthcoming and helpful, so don't be too discouraged if the first school or two doesn't give you much useful advice.

 

[Thorp]

*Lastly, did you even call up the med schools to ask why they rejected you?

No, I didn't is the short answer. I added more ECs and rewrote my PS between the two application cycles. I will definitely contact them after this cycle. I applied to 5 schools my first try and about 15 or so my second try.

I was a molecular biology major and the grades do show a considerable upward trend as I learned how to study. I was also one of those people that would rather be doing science in a lab than learning it in a classroom.

*Also have you considered DO schools?

No. I hadn't up until now - I will look into them.

 

[Thorp]

Thank you RxnMan! I'm trying to get into CU too.

Unless your low grades were part of a learning experience that also leads into medicine, then don't waste precious PS space on explaining bad grades. Time for that will come along soon enough.

Easiest and fastest two things to do now is to apply to a large number and range of schools (25+) and retake the MCAT. With a 3.0+ GPA you won't be auto-screened out at most places and a high MCAT will get you noticed. Then you just play your chances (your apps) and see what happens.

Or you could take the longer view and plan out a few years. Take your prerequisites over again. That would boost the GPA and prepare you for a better MCAT. Armed with better numerical stats, you'd have better chances and a shot at having choices of places to go.

 

[relentless11]

Or you could take the longer view and plan out a few years. Take your prerequisites over again. That would boost the GPA and prepare you for a better MCAT. Armed with better numerical stats, you'd have better chances and a shot at having choices of places to go.

Just building on this. Retaking pre-reqs help the most if you:

1) If you're applying to DO schools since they take the best grade. Therefore you can retake them (assuming the undergrad schools let you) to replace any grade.

2) If you got below a C in those classes, if you are applying to MD schools. MD school's take into account both grades, regardless of outcome. Therefore doing average work (C) and getting an A the second time isn't too impressive since you've obviously had average knowledge of the material in the first place. Getting an A the second time is pretty much expected out of you. Therefore it may be better to take an advanced version of that course to prove you can grasp harder material. For example, if you got a C in physiology, you can always take some advanced physiology course that goes into more details about the organ systems.

Ultimately the choice you make in terms of applying will be up to you. You can leave it up to the shotgun approach, improve your stats, or both. I'd do the third one 🙂

 

[OctoDoc]

I was also one of those people that would rather be doing science in a lab than learning it in a classroom.

I hope you didn't say this in your personal statement or interviews!