angel03 said:
Yeah I am applying to all the schools in Florida, seeing as we are lucky enough to have 4! Also, I have finished premed in two years...how do you think that affects me? And another questions...my science mcat scores weren't as high as they might want, but I am going to be a study session leader for the teaching center at the University this fall for Biology. This job will make me review the material...so does having that on my resume help me out you think? One more thing haha, I am working at a pharmacy right now during the summer, do you think that might look good as well?
Sorry about all the questions, I am basically the only person of my friends and family that wants to go to med school.
Well they are slightly lower then the average scores, but not too shabby. They are both above 8, so that's ok. I would talk to Mr. Larkin. He'll be able to give you good insight. There are 3 ways you can contact him:
A. This message board: he posts as REL
B.
[email protected]
C. call his office by looking up the number on USF website.
For UF: Like I said:
A. email Robyn Sheppard
B. Call her
They'll give you the best bet.
For FSU, your scores seem perfect and near their averages. In the past years they have had averages of 25 with no lower then a 7 in a section.
Here's the MSAR data from the 2005-2006 book
So this is the data for 2003-2004 entering class:
USF for 2003 entering class: MCAT scores: PS: 9.9 V:9.5 BS: 10.1
UM for 2003 entering class: MCAT scores: PS 9.3 V: 9.5 BS:10.3
UF for 2003 entering class: MCAT scores: no breakdown given but avg = 30.75 for overall score.
FSU for 2003 entering class: MCAT scores: PS: 9.1 V:7.9 BS: 9.7
Oh and the MSAR has all the contact info for all the Fl. schools.
For you the good thing is that you are applying early. Applying early will make it easier to gain a chance to acceptance then a later applicant.
Also, make sure you have decent ECs such as shadowing and volunteering or some other kind of work in a medical field.
USF absolutely requires that you have had some exposure to the medical field and does not really like people who have no direct patient contact, etc.
Miami's Dr. Hinkley told me this is how they scale applicants to rank them at a medical school forum (If you've been to UF's MCF or MSF, you've probably heard this too)
But here it goes:
about 50 pts = MCAT +GPA
20 pts = direct clinical contact with patients (i.e. volunteering or working in medical field)
10 pts = significant difficulties, if you had any that you had to overcome.
15 pts = letters of recommendation
15 pts. = All other ECs outside of clinical stuff + clinical stuff.
Initial UM screening involves having to have minimum 3.2 gpa or 3.5 postbac if instate. Once secondaries are handed, they are now looking for the more competitive applicants such as the 3.5 and above GPA candidates. Oh and by 3.5+ I mean postbac for those of you who have low overalls but high postbac. For those of you with no postbac, that means your first gpa.
These are the things I've gathered from medical forums attended.
UF: well hate to say it, but your alma mater isn't ever really helpful in telling what they want. Not from most talks I've had with people at these forums and all.
FSU: They look for a diversity of people, but primarily they hope most will go into primary care, etc. to fulfill their mission statement.
Oh and I should probably mention that your alma mater is definitely the hardest Fl. school to get into. I've heard from quite a few former UF grads and USF undergrads that they love love love to put people on hold and then never get back to them about whether they are waitlisted or accepted or rejected. However, that said, I still do know a few people with 28's that got in. So you never know.
Good luck. Hope that gave you some good insight. By the way what are your ECs like? Were you in their AED or AMSA chapter??? Did you have any volunteering at places like Shands or shadowing etc.?? That might give some better perspective.
