Swallowing my Pride

Discover Your Odds of Getting into Medical School
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Always Hopeful

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After an unsuccessful application year (only one interview, still no word), I am asking for any and all advice to improve my application for c/o2010. Here is some of my basic info:
Graduated top school, Undergrad overall gpa: 3.41
Sci GPA: 3.13 (2 C's in Intro Bio, 1 in Physics II)
note: i've take 64hrs of science and gotten higher grades in higher level bio course
EC's (just to name a few): Men's Lacrosse manager 2yrs
Philathropy Commitee of sorority
Executive Board of Sorority
Residence Hall Association- board member
Organic Chemistry Student Instructor
Local volunteer work (habitat, Ronald McDonald)
Interned at a well known cancer institute
Currently do cancer research, go on rounds 1x/week, shadow surgeons
And other volunteer work

Mcat first time: 25M, second time: 26O
Yes i have signed up to retake it one more time. Anything else I can do to be more competative? How do I look for DO?

Thanks for your help!
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I think your application will be competitive at DO medical schools. Your stats are low for all MD medical schools, and to have a good chance, I think you'd need an MCAT score of 33 or better. Your low science GPA might be OK if you have recent upper-level science coursework that you got good grades in. Your leadership, community service, shadowing, and research look fine. You don't detail your clinical experience, so I can't comment on the quality/quantity.
 
Always Hopeful said:
After an unsuccessful application year (only one interview, still no word), I am asking for any and all advice to improve my application for c/o2010. Here is some of my basic info:
Graduated top school, Undergrad overall gpa: 3.41
Sci GPA: 3.13 (2 C's in Intro Bio, 1 in Physics II)
note: i've take 64hrs of science and gotten higher grades in higher level bio course
EC's (just to name a few): Men's Lacrosse manager 2yrs
Philathropy Commitee of sorority
Executive Board of Sorority
Residence Hall Association- board member
Organic Chemistry Student Instructor
Local volunteer work (habitat, Ronald McDonald)
Interned at a well known cancer institute
Currently do cancer research, go on rounds 1x/week, shadow surgeons
And other volunteer work

Mcat first time: 25M, second time: 26O
Yes i have signed up to retake it one more time. Anything else I can do to be more competative? How do I look for DO?

Thanks for your help!
Click to expand...

If you're set on MD schools ... the MCAT is your NUMBER 1 priority. You're GPA is a little on the low side (especially science), but you know this ... and don't need it repeated to you, but in my opinion (for what it's worth) a cgpa of 3.4+ from a top school with plus trend in harder/higher bio classes can definitely be confirmed as legit with a 32+, maybe even 33+ MCAT.

Also, I can't recommend enough checking out Osteopathic Medicial schools. If it's not something you are interested in ... then beef up that MCAT, if you want to become a physician ... I suggest checking it out. PM me with any DO questions. Good luck.

BTW: was your interview a state school?? If so, what state (it helps with figuring out the 'chances' thing)?
 
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JaggerPlate said:
If you're set on MD schools ... the MCAT is your NUMBER 1 priority. You're GPA is a little on the low side (especially science), but you know this ... and don't need it repeated to you, but in my opinion (for what it's worth) a cgpa of 3.4+ from a top school with plus trend in harder/higher bio classes can definitely be confirmed as legit with a 32+, maybe even 33+ MCAT.

Also, I can't recommend enough checking out Osteopathic Medicial schools. If it's not something you are interested in ... then beef up that MCAT, if you want to become a physician ... I suggest checking it out. PM me with any DO questions. Good luck.

BTW: was your interview a state school?? If so, what state (it helps with figuring out the 'chances' thing)?
Click to expand...
I agree with what JaggerPlate said. Your GPA is holding you back but your MCAT is REALLY holding you back. Do you have any clinical exposure? Did you do any shadowing? A masters program might help but I think if you can get your MCAT up you might have a shot at your state school. I would definitely consider DO schools as well because you would be more competitive there. Good luck!
 
First of all, thanks for all of your input so far,I can't express how much I appreciate it.
My clinical experience thus far is as follows:
- Worked in a geriatric neuropsych ward for ~8 months as a unit assistant
- shadowed a private practice neurologist for 1 wk
- interned at the transitional learning center for traumatic brain injury rehabilitation for one summer (assisted in neurological assessment, PT, OT, TR, the whole shebang)
- interned at south miami hospital for 80hrs- saw lots of surgery, kept up data base on cancer progression
- one semester, aided in Urological research at my university; went into the clinic and talked to with patients
- currently, go on rounds with Oncologist 1x/week (starting back in August), also get to see his surgeries

I'm a TX resident, and the one interview i got was from a public school in florida

Again, I AM open to any advice!!!! Thanks!!!
 
Your clinical experience is nicely varied and what I'd call "meaty." Your ECs as a whole are very good. Frankly, looking at your stats, I'm surprised you got that one MD med school interview, but they must be one of the rare few that look at the whole applicant, not just the numbers. Good Luck getting an acceptance from that school. It's not over yet.
 
You are already FAR ahead with that one interview with that stats. But I would say retake the MCAT and see if you can hit 30+, if not, try DO.
 
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