sticky situation, need advice

[upandaway]

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I have a bcpm of about 3.42 and overall of 3.5X (haven't calculated it). I took the mcat the first time and scored 27N (9,9,9). I decided to retake it and in hopes of improving my score. My scores came out today and it dropped by 2 points, 25M (9P, 8V, 8B)

I also have 2 years of research, lots of clinical and volunteer experience. I am a california resident, so applying to my state schools won't help me. I am not applying disadvantage. I will be applying to DO schools. My question, is should I even bother applying to md schools? thanks in advance. I know this is bad, but how bad is it exactly?

 

[BigChubbyMD]

If your research has publications, then you might apply to MD schools as reaches (you might have a chance at places like Creighton). It won't hurt to throw some in. If you really want MD, it might be a good idea to take a year off. Find a clinical research job or something, take an MCAT class, (or pay $40 for some books on craigslist and study like hell) then retake the test and apply next year.

 

[Mobius1985]

I agree it's possible for ECs to trump low stats and you didn't really detail yours so we could judge, but still an MD acceptance seems unlikly in your case.

Can you realistically get straight As going to classes full-time in the next year to raise your GPA? If you didn't take a formal prep course for the MCAT you might consider shelling out the big bucks to do so (and if you did, Kaplan gives a guarantee that your score will improve or you can retake the course again, don't they?). If all this work doesn't seem worth it, then go the DO route, where I think you'll be a competitive candidate.

It might be good if you knew your true AMCAS application GPA. Here is a calculator for that purpose: http://medschool.ucsf.edu/postbac/pdf/AMCAS%20GPA_Calculator%20Version%204%20Final.xls

 

[upandaway]

I have just recently graduated and will be taking a year off. I pretty much won't be able to raise my gpa unless I do a post-bacc. As for research, my PI has said he has put my down on a paper (not first author), but I do not think the paper will be published anytime soon. In terms of volunteer activities, i have 200 hours of volunteer in the ER. I have spent 2 years volunteering for an organization that does free health screenings for the underserved population. In my year off right now, i'm also volunteering for a hepatitis B organization that advocates for this disease and spreads awareness in the underserved community. I'm also continuing the same research I have been doing the last 2 years. And hopefully I'll get some kind of paid clinical or research assistant job in the next few months.

Anyway, thanks for the reply guys. I appreciate it. I know realistically I'm a long shot from an md. But i think i'll go ahead in this cycle and apply to few md schools as reaches and apply mainly to DO schoools and see what happens. I just want to be a doctor so the it doesn't matter if I end up as md or do.

 

[Mobius1985]

Your ECs look good. Depending on how involved you were with the health screening activity, like whether you took a leadership role, and how many hours were involved, that has the potential to be a great activity. Your research will stand out too. I would definitely continue with an altruistic activity and something clinical through the application year and mention those activities in update letters. Good Luck.