*^~*~^* The Official What Are My Chances/Where to Apply Thread

[Barbarossa]

---

Members do not see this ad.

deleted

 

[OncDoc19]

36 MCAT
3.5-3.6 GPA depending on this semester
research for 3 years.
CA resident
Should I seriously aim for top 20 school or are they out of my reach?
Thanks

I don't know about "aiming" for the top 20, but you should definately apply to top 20 schools, especially because they tend to be research oriented and you have significant research experiance. However, your GPA is a little low compared to the average accepted applicant GPA for these schools. Part of your competitiveness will depend on your other ECs and LORs. It's wonderful to shoot for the top 20 school, but you should definately apply outside of the top 20 as well. Apply to schools where your GPA is around the average accepted applicant at that school in addition to the top 20 schools. Good luck!

 

[jacksmind]

This is for my first-time, next year app:

MCATs: Year to study (and starting with a gusto)
male/hispanic
will have Ph.d in experimental physics GPA: 3.5
Ugrad GPA: 3.19 (it was so long I forgot it was so low 🙁 ) philosophy/physics/math
Have volunteer experience, first author papers, and plenty of research experience. Will have a year of hospital volunteering/shadowing or whatever I need to do. Will have good LORs, have fellowships, and other awards.

The way I see it:
The Ph.d will make little difference. (Either way, I should act like it doesn't matter.) The triple major doesn't matter either, because it just shows I can't master 3 subjects at once. After realizing that they separate Ugrad and grad GPAs in the AAMC app, and even with a year to study for the MCAT (assuming that I do well) I will be most likely be immediately precluded from most schools because of my low uGrad GPA, and there's nothing I can do about it. Also I wasn't aware of in-state preference. I DO NOT want to continue to live in the state a currently reside, I'd like to go to any school on the east coast (preferably NYC, DC) or California.

It is unfortunate that a late-blooming dream should be squashed because I had to support myself through ugrad, or bad study habits, or whatever it was. A 39 on the MCAT would be the only thing that saves me (yeah right!) I'll probably go through the process--I think it will make me a better person, and, after all, a guy can dream, right?

Any words of inspiration?

Thanks for all your help!

 

[pcu]

BA film studies U of Pitt 2002 gpa-2.64. Bout of depression leading to a lack of interest in school combined with need to work 20+ and on and on but I won't bore you.

Floundered in restaurant for a year. Decided next best thing to get some experience doing some other then film was AmeriCorps. Interviewed for a position and they actually hired me at the same rate AmeriCorps kids were paid but they didn't ahve any opening right then. I had to wait a few months. So a few months roles by and I'm hired to be a manager for the next group of AmeriCorps volunteers (which I was supposed to be one of). I couldn't really turn that down. So for two years I oversaw day to day activities of these kids, managing their schedules, coordinating where they needed to be and lots of other random stuff.

Still it wasn't what I wanted and one day a flash came and I just thought health care, why have I never even entertained the thought? So I did and it lead me to nursing. It just made the most sense. Hadn't taken a science/math course in 8 years and I wasn't particularly fond of them back then (uhhh they are time consuming, I had other things to do, lol). Plus it wasn't an overwhelming committment (22 months and no tuition if you work for them for 2 years). So now I am 8 months away from graduating as an RN (note-not a BSN but I do have the BA) with a 3.3 nursing gpa (averages both degrees to about 2.9 undergrad gpa). I have realized theres just no other way around it, I will never be satisfied unless I am a physician. I'm 28 and nows as good a time as ever so here goes.

When I finish in December I will spend the next Spring/summer/fall at Pitt taking gen req's (19 credits) and then do the same the next year (20 credits) all the while working 36 hours/wk as a nurse.

The goal of course is a 4.0 in all to raise my overall to at worst hopefully 3.0 and BCMP 3.8 (55 credits) or better, Pitt-2.64, Nursing 3.33, post back 3.8+. Lofty I know but I have mapped it all out and it appears to be attainable with a lot of hard work ad persistence.

Of course I will be banking on a high MCAT, gotta think I'm going to need 32+. I will have a few months to study to take it for the spring which would allow me to apply in early summer I believe hoping for acceptance for Fall 2011. I would turn 33 that November.

My nursing experience should help out extensively I believe. If you ask me it should have a more significant impact then many other careers including many of the other typical types of health care experience (phlebotimist, cna etc). I am going to have a pretty good (admittedly nursing) working knowledge of labs, tests, pathophyisiologies, pharmacology etc. It will also allow me to get some great physician LOR's. I will be working at UPMC Presby most likely and will most certainly be hoping for Pitt so perhaps that will be another little networking thing going my way. I doubt its much influence but I'm jonesing for all that influence I can get!

Well guys and gals gimme what you got!

 

[Rikkye]

The entire admissions process is just so weird.... you just can't tell. My friend has a 31 and a 3.8 from CUNY Brooklyn College (a pretty low-level school), and got an interview at HARVARD!!!! And, I know someone with a 35 MCAT, 3.5 GPA that hasn't gotten even 1 interview invite this entire season (he did apply a little late though, but still... 35...). Also, look on MDapplicants: Penn State accepts pretty darn low MCAT scores. Finally, I got accepted with a 29...

crizazy.

Thank you, your comment give me hope, my stat is basically GPA 3.84 but a 29P (even 29), and I'm scare of not getting accepted

 

[Blair]

Hey guys,

I could really use some advice from premeds who know what's up. Most of my friends are non-premed and don't understand my constant obsession with "OMG AM I GOING TO GET IN?" I've had a number of breakdownish episodes about my chances... So, if some of you could let me know how you [honestly] feel about my stats, I would greatly appreciate it.

My cummulative GPA is a 3.3 right now; my science GPA is higher, however I'm not solid on the exact number. My MCAT is a 35 (12 Phys/12 Bio/11 Verb) and an "R" on the writing. Next year is my last year.

I'm a Texas resident and will be applying everywhere in Texas. I want to apply out of state as well, but I'm unsure as to where my chances are the greatest.

Thanks for your help!
Love, Blair

 

[TheManinaHat]

Hey guys, you know the drill.

I'm at the end of my Sophomore year and I'm soon to be entering the dreaded Junior year. Up till recently, it was in my intention to go into research. I've pretty much lived my college career with that in mind. I'll spare you the boring details about my change of heart.

So here are the raw stats:

I'm 20
Cum GPA of 3.3 (Now), I'm hoping to boost it a tenth or so...but we'll see. It has a decent upward trend. 2.9 Freshmen to a 3.3 End of Soph. It should continue through Junior year.
Science GPA of 3.7 or so, but let's call it a 3.5....just for fun
I've worked in a research lab for 2 semesters, but I honestly haven't done too much. There's a very slim chance that I'll have my name on a publication. Very slim. I should get an alright LOR out of it. Nothing groundbreaking, though.

That's what I have as of now. Next semester I'm going to try to volunteer/work in some sort of clinical setting. I hope to volunteer at a Psychiatric Rehabilitation Center during the summer if I can manage. Hopefully I can get a couple of LORs from these places. I'm also possibly going to join a pre-med club at my university.

I'm going to study my rear off to pull a decent MCAT. For the sake of argument, let's say I get a 30.

I realize that I don't have a snowflake's chance in hell to get into a place like Hopkins or WashU, but what about a more modest school like Florida State, Brody, Mercer, or Southern Illinois (Found these schools through Medical School Search tool http://www.studentdoc.com/medfind.html).

Thanks in advance 🙂

 

[OncDoc19]

This is for my first-time, next year app:

MCATs: Year to study (and starting with a gusto)
male/hispanic
will have Ph.d in experimental physics GPA: 3.5
Ugrad GPA: 3.19 (it was so long I forgot it was so low 🙁 ) philosophy/physics/math
Have volunteer experience, first author papers, and plenty of research experience. Will have a year of hospital volunteering/shadowing or whatever I need to do. Will have good LORs, have fellowships, and other awards.

Planning ahead with your MCAT studying is great. You might want to think about taking it in January, if you are ready. I took it then and was very happy to have my score back early so I could start thinking about where to apply. Plus if you had to retake you could do so and still turn in you app early. Its also good that you are plannig ahead and going to do get some clinical experiance and shadowing before applying. This is very important.

The way I see it:
The Ph.d will make little difference. (Either way, I should act like it doesn't matter.) The triple major doesn't matter either, because it just shows I can't master 3 subjects at once. After realizing that they separate Ugrad and grad GPAs in the AAMC app, and even with a year to study for the MCAT (assuming that I do well) I will be most likely be immediately precluded from most schools because of my low uGrad GPA, and there's nothing I can do about it. Also I wasn't aware of in-state preference. I DO NOT want to continue to live in the state a currently reside, I'd like to go to any school on the east coast (preferably NYC, DC) or California.

It is unfortunate that a late-blooming dream should be squashed because I had to support myself through ugrad, or bad study habits, or whatever it was. A 39 on the MCAT would be the only thing that saves me (yeah right!) I'll probably go through the process--I think it will make me a better person, and, after all, a guy can dream, right?

Your undergrad GPA is a little low and a higher GPA is expected for grad school because grad school grades tend to be inflated (B average instead of C). I would start calling schools or look at the MSAR and find out which places are receptive to non-traditionals and which would not throw out you app because of the low UGrad gpa. I think your research experiance will really help you out at research-heavy med schools.

Don't get so down on yourself. If you apply smartly and broadly you will do fine!

Any words of inspiration?

Thanks for all your help![/quote]

 

[OncDoc19]

BA film studies U of Pitt 2002 gpa-2.64. Bout of depression leading to a lack of interest in school combined with need to work 20+ and on and on but I won't bore you.

Floundered in restaurant for a year. Decided next best thing to get some experience doing some other then film was AmeriCorps. Interviewed for a position and they actually hired me at the same rate AmeriCorps kids were paid but they didn't ahve any opening right then. I had to wait a few months. So a few months roles by and I'm hired to be a manager for the next group of AmeriCorps volunteers (which I was supposed to be one of). I couldn't really turn that down. So for two years I oversaw day to day activities of these kids, managing their schedules, coordinating where they needed to be and lots of other random stuff.

Still it wasn't what I wanted and one day a flash came and I just thought health care, why have I never even entertained the thought? So I did and it lead me to nursing. It just made the most sense. Hadn't taken a science/math course in 8 years and I wasn't particularly fond of them back then (uhhh they are time consuming, I had other things to do, lol). Plus it wasn't an overwhelming committment (22 months and no tuition if you work for them for 2 years). So now I am 8 months away from graduating as an RN (note-not a BSN but I do have the BA) with a 3.3 nursing gpa (averages both degrees to about 2.9 undergrad gpa). I have realized theres just no other way around it, I will never be satisfied unless I am a physician. I'm 28 and nows as good a time as ever so here goes.

When I finish in December I will spend the next Spring/summer/fall at Pitt taking gen req's (19 credits) and then do the same the next year (20 credits) all the while working 36 hours/wk as a nurse.

The goal of course is a 4.0 in all to raise my overall to at worst hopefully 3.0 and BCMP 3.8 (55 credits) or better, Pitt-2.64, Nursing 3.33, post back 3.8+. Lofty I know but I have mapped it all out and it appears to be attainable with a lot of hard work ad persistence.

Of course I will be banking on a high MCAT, gotta think I'm going to need 32+. I will have a few months to study to take it for the spring which would allow me to apply in early summer I believe hoping for acceptance for Fall 2011. I would turn 33 that November.

My nursing experience should help out extensively I believe. If you ask me it should have a more significant impact then many other careers including many of the other typical types of health care experience (phlebotimist, cna etc). I am going to have a pretty good (admittedly nursing) working knowledge of labs, tests, pathophyisiologies, pharmacology etc. It will also allow me to get some great physician LOR's. I will be working at UPMC Presby most likely and will most certainly be hoping for Pitt so perhaps that will be another little networking thing going my way. I doubt its much influence but I'm jonesing for all that influence I can get!

Well guys and gals gimme what you got!

It goes without saying that working as a full time nurse and taking 19 hours a semester will be VERY difficult. Lets say, for the sake of argument, that you able to raise you cumulative GPA to a 3.0. I think you would be better off applying to DO schools because this will likely be too low to make the cutoff at Allo schools. You should definately call schools or look at the MSAR and find out if the schools you are interested in have GPA cutoffs. Pitt is a top 20 school, if I remember correctly, and you would be competing against people who have much higher GPAs. The MCAT will be very important for you and I would try for at least a 33. You have a long road ahead of you so just try to be as prepared as possible for the application process (be an informed applicant and only apply at places where you meet their cuttoffs). Good Luck!

 

[OncDoc19]

Hey guys,

I could really use some advice from premeds who know what's up. Most of my friends are non-premed and don't understand my constant obsession with "OMG AM I GOING TO GET IN?" I've had a number of breakdownish episodes about my chances... So, if some of you could let me know how you [honestly] feel about my stats, I would greatly appreciate it.

My cummulative GPA is a 3.3 right now; my science GPA is higher, however I'm not solid on the exact number. My MCAT is a 35 (12 Phys/12 Bio/11 Verb) and an "R" on the writing. Next year is my last year.

I'm a Texas resident and will be applying everywhere in Texas. I want to apply out of state as well, but I'm unsure as to where my chances are the greatest.

Thanks for your help!
Love, Blair

Your GPA is low, but probably not low enough to exclude you from most schools. Top 10 is probably out of reach though. The MCAT is good (but I'm biased since I got the same 😀 ) I don't know much about Texas applications, but outside of texas you should apply to mid-range schools because of your GPA. It a little hard to say how competitive you will be because I don't know anything about your ECs. Look through the MSAR find some schools that look interesting to you then call them up and make sure you meet their min GPA.Your MCAT will be competitive anywhere, so I think it comes down to you other activites and how they make up for a weak GPA.

 

[majs87]

hey 🙂
im a freshman at a communitycollege
my major is biology
i'm not a straight-A student, but get As in courses like eng, public speaking. rest of the courses, usually get by easily w/ Bs/B+
just wondering..if i continue on like this, & end up with an over-all 3.5 undergrad GPA, & an average MCAT score (say 30), & lots of extra curricular activities, volunteer work, internship/job experience, etc, will i have a good chance of getting into med school? 😕
I know it's sort of early to be worrying, but I want to know now whether I am cut for med school or not, so i can change my major & all if i have to
need a reply asap!

 

[OncDoc19]

Hey guys, you know the drill.

I'm at the end of my Sophomore year and I'm soon to be entering the dreaded Junior year. Up till recently, it was in my intention to go into research. I've pretty much lived my college career with that in mind. I'll spare you the boring details about my change of heart.

So here are the raw stats:

I'm 20
Cum GPA of 3.3 (Now), I'm hoping to boost it a tenth or so...but we'll see. It has a decent upward trend. 2.9 Freshmen to a 3.3 End of Soph. It should continue through Junior year.
Science GPA of 3.7 or so, but let's call it a 3.5....just for fun
I've worked in a research lab for 2 semesters, but I honestly haven't done too much. There's a very slim chance that I'll have my name on a publication. Very slim. I should get an alright LOR out of it. Nothing groundbreaking, though.

See my previous comments in regard to the GPA. Trends are great, but only if a human looks at your app and this will vary school to school. Not sure why you want your science GPA to be 0.2 lower than it is (I hope your classes are not going badly). The research is good, but it worries me that you say you haven't done much. Depending on how much time per week you worked in the lab, I would have thought you would have accomplished something. Don't worry about the publications. I have a ton of research and no pubs. Research is a lot of luck and picking the right lab if you want a pub. You don't sound too enthusized about your LOR from your PI, which isn't good. You should try to work on this if you can.

That's what I have as of now. Next semester I'm going to try to volunteer/work in some sort of clinical setting. I hope to volunteer at a Psychiatric Rehabilitation Center during the summer if I can manage. Hopefully I can get a couple of LORs from these places. I'm also possibly going to join a pre-med club at my university.

I'm going to study my rear off to pull a decent MCAT. For the sake of argument, let's say I get a 30.

Start as early as you can with the volunteer and clinical exposure. LORs from these experiances are nice, but you also need good ones from professors, so keep that in mind. In my opinion, LORs can make or break an application with border-line stats. Only join this pre-med club if they actually do stuff. I know at my school the pre-med club is a joke. Try to find something where you can really get invovled in the community or a club with a cause you care about. The pre-med club is a little cliche.

I realize that I don't have a snowflake's chance in hell to get into a place like Hopkins or WashU, but what about a more modest school like Florida State, Brody, Mercer, or Southern Illinois (Found these schools through Medical School Search tool http://www.studentdoc.com/medfind.html).

Thanks in advance 🙂

Not everyone will go to hopkins or washu, in fact most won't so don't worry you are in good company. Its good to see that you are trying to be realistic about your app. I don't know much about those schools in particular or about the website you quoted. I just put in my stats on that thing and found it a little confusing to interpret. I think a better source would be the MSAR. Look at the copy from your school's library or pre-med counseling office and find places where your GPA is within 0.2 of the average accepted applicant. Also look for places with MCAT scores around 30. Start your list from there. Don't forget to throw in a few reach schools. You never know what can happen!

 

[OncDoc19]

hey 🙂
im a freshman at a communitycollege
my major is biology
i'm not a straight-A student, but get As in courses like eng, public speaking. rest of the courses, usually get by easily w/ Bs/B+
just wondering..if i continue on like this, & end up with an over-all 3.5 undergrad GPA, & an average MCAT score (say 30), & lots of extra curricular activities, volunteer work, internship/job experience, etc, will i have a good chance of getting into med school? 😕
I know it's sort of early to be worrying, but I want to know now whether I am cut for med school or not, so i can change my major & all if i have to
need a reply asap!

First I would ask why you are at CC? If it is because of financial hardships then that's ok (obviously you will have to tranfer after your second year though). However, if it is for most any other reason you are looking at a bit of an uphill battle. CC classes are looked down upon by ADCOMs as being much easier than university classes. Its really not good to take all of your pre-med reqs at a CC. Also your grades need to be as high as possible. It sounds like you may be slacking off a bit because you say you are easily betting Bs and B+s. Coming from a CC you will have to work even harder to show that you are a medical school caliber student, and Bs won't cut it. Whether you are cut out for med school in part depends on whether you are able to bump up your studying and start getting As to show ADCOMs that you can hack it in med school. As far as your major goes, pick something you like. If you like biology, do that. If not, pick something that you and enthusiastic about. More importantly though, I would think about transfering to a 4 year school if you can.

 

[Funky]

hey 🙂
im a freshman at a communitycollege
my major is biology
i'm not a straight-A student, but get As in courses like eng, public speaking. rest of the courses, usually get by easily w/ Bs/B+
just wondering..if i continue on like this, & end up with an over-all 3.5 undergrad GPA, & an average MCAT score (say 30), & lots of extra curricular activities, volunteer work, internship/job experience, etc, will i have a good chance of getting into med school? 😕
I know it's sort of early to be worrying, but I want to know now whether I am cut for med school or not, so i can change my major & all if i have to
need a reply asap!

A 30 is just average? Geez...everyone's a gunner 🙄

 

[OncDoc19]

A 30 is just average? Geez...everyone's a gunner 🙄

Haven't you read the "New MSAR Highs and Lows" thread? Aparently its now up to 31-32 (be sure to read the fine print)

 

[Mister Pie]

Major: Engineering with an emphasis in physics
GPA: haven't really calculated- it's 3.63 overall and I think my BCPM is a bit higher
MCAT: 37R (scores were pretty evenly distributed if it matters-- the one extra pt went into PS if it matters)
Extracurriculars: years of teaching (got to run my own "class" in physics and chemistry where I lectured and wrote worksheets as well as acting as a teacing assistant in a public health class), a semester of shadowing (got to sit in on many surgeries), one summer of work in lab, fairly typical community-service type work.

My perceived self-weaknesses: most of my B+ type grades were in my bio/biochem courses and my A's were in my math/physics. I can't imagine this being good at all.

VERY little research experience, though I feel like my summer experience was pretty worthwhile (they let me run a lot of things on my own).

My LOR will be all over the place for sure: my boss whom I work with will write me a great one and will probably include evaluations from the students I have taught, and my english prof will probably write me a good one too. I'm SUPER iffy on my science recs.

I feel like my numbers are okay to get into a med school (and that's of course the main goal) but I'm not all that sure. I feel like I'm kind of low on the 'intangibles'.

 

[majs87]

First I would ask why you are at CC? If it is because of financial hardships then that's ok (obviously you will have to tranfer after your second year though). However, if it is for most any other reason you are looking at a bit of an uphill battle. CC classes are looked down upon by ADCOMs as being much easier than university classes. Its really not good to take all of your pre-med reqs at a CC. Also your grades need to be as high as possible. It sounds like you may be slacking off a bit because you say you are easily betting Bs and B+s. Coming from a CC you will have to work even harder to show that you are a medical school caliber student, and Bs won't cut it. Whether you are cut out for med school in part depends on whether you are able to bump up your studying and start getting As to show ADCOMs that you can hack it in med school. As far as your major goes, pick something you like. If you like biology, do that. If not, pick something that you and enthusiastic about. More importantly though, I would think about transfering to a 4 year school if you can.

yeah im in a cc because of financial hardships 🙁. & i was planning on transferring after my second yr, but from what ur telling me, i should get out of here asap??
& if i get out of cc w/ a 3.6 gpa will that be good enough? because from the looks of it, thats prolly what it's gonna be - i.e. 3.6

 

[cabot]

Hi,

I graduated last year from a small liberal arts college in the east coast. My cumulative GPA is 3.6 and science GPA is 3.5. It should have been higher only if I had not got 2 F's in my two science classes, one in Biology and the other in Genetics, during my sophomore year. My biology professor accused me of plagiarism for borrowing the definition of "basal ganglia" from the text book, and from there things went downhill. Since I suffer from dystonia, I was going through a pretty severe phase of muscle spasms during that term. I also suffered bouts of depression because I was an international student and had just gone through a traumatic experience where some guy outside college was making threatening calls and wanted to hurt me. This was brought to the Student's Life as well as Security's attention, but I kept receiving the threatening calls.

So, the term was a pretty bad one...felt like the sky had landed on my head. I went to see a counsellor at my college to get some help, but it was not that great, and I kept suffering immensely and went through excruciating pain. At the end, I ended up failing two classes. The one in biology was an automatic failure for plagiarism, and the other was just a rather shocking surprise because until the second to last class, the genetics professor had told me I was doing well.

Sorry for the long description, but I felt it was needed in order to seek your advice. After that term, I went and volunteered to work (interned) with a professor who was a specialist in dystonia. That helped me tremedously as I learnt more about the disorder as well as got the opportunity to participate in self-help groups and enroll in active therapy sessions.

After that, I went back to college with an unwavering determination to pursue pre-medical program, and got A's in all classes until the end of college except for one C and two Bs. I also took the two classes I got F's in and got an A and a B.

Presently, I have been doing reserach for a year in neuroscience and working my way towards publishing some papers before applying to a medical school. Since I work in a hospital, I have had ample opportunities to shadow doctors and I have been more than ever determined to pursue the field of neurology.

I have loads of extracurricular activities and have volunteered for over 270 hours. Please let me know how I stand in getting to a medical school. I don't care, which one, I just wish to get into one, and work harder than ever. And, I have strong faith and trust myself that I shall never let the miseries brought by life to get me distracted, no matter what. I have learnt it the hard way.

Do you think the 2F's that I got (but which I did retake and got a B and an A) will severly affect my chances of getting into a med school?

I got 35S in my January MCAT.

Hope to hear from you all.

Cabot🙂

 

[dasudaman]

I was just wondering what other schools I could/should be looking at for this upcoming admissions cycle?

http://www.mdapplicants.com/viewprofile.php?myid=7852

Any help would be appreciated 😀

 

[lizt]

hello,

i am a female finishing my junior year at a large public university. i am a biology major, and i'll be taking the mcats in june. i've been getting between 31-34 on practice tests so far, i need to study more. i have a 4.0 gpa, though im not sure i will be keeping that this semester, and am in the honors program at my college.

i have 2 semesters experience in analytical chemistry lab, 2 semesters in a physiology and neurobiology lab, and was accepted to a fellowship program to do research at a medical school this summer that involves some clinical experience as well. no publications.

a few of my letters of recommendation probably won't be great because i go to such a large school, my professors don't know me that well.

i am an emt-b, and i volunteer in an ambulance company, i've done since summer 06 on and off. i volunteered in a rehab center one summer a few times a week. i tutored school children one semester. ive tutored foreign exchange students in english weekly for 3 semesters. im in phi beta kappa. i shadowed an obgyn for a whole summer, he let me help him in his office a little also and let me watch some surgeries. i was also a mentor for incoming freshman at the university this year.

what are my chances?

 

[ImmunoNut]

I promised myself I wouldn't do this but...oh well, I lied? lol.

29 MCAT (9 PS, 10 V, 10 BS, Q)

4.0 GPA, majored in bio and minored in chem

Almost 3 years working in a hospital (phlebotomy)

Leadership positions in two clubs

A few miscellaneous volunteer experiences, but nothing that I continuously did

Completed honors research and defended honors thesis which dealt with a subject in biochemistry.

zero research.

I'm applying EDP to my state school. (KU) Do you guys think it is a mistake to apply early? Do you think it will hurt me that I mostly worked instead of volunteering or researching? I did so because I had to put myself through school, parents made too much for me to qualify for grants but they didn't pay for any of it.

 

[OncDoc19]

Major: Engineering with an emphasis in physics
GPA: haven't really calculated- it's 3.63 overall and I think my BCPM is a bit higher
MCAT: 37R (scores were pretty evenly distributed if it matters-- the one extra pt went into PS if it matters)
Extracurriculars: years of teaching (got to run my own "class" in physics and chemistry where I lectured and wrote worksheets as well as acting as a teacing assistant in a public health class), a semester of shadowing (got to sit in on many surgeries), one summer of work in lab, fairly typical community-service type work.

Your grades are good, probably a little low though for the top 10/15. MCAT is excellent. Depending on what type of communit service you did and for what length of time you may need more clinical exposure. I would also try to get in some more shadowing.

My perceived self-weaknesses: most of my B+ type grades were in my bio/biochem courses and my A's were in my math/physics. I can't imagine this being good at all.

VERY little research experience, though I feel like my summer experience was pretty worthwhile (they let me run a lot of things on my own).

My LOR will be all over the place for sure: my boss whom I work with will write me a great one and will probably include evaluations from the students I have taught, and my english prof will probably write me a good one too. I'm SUPER iffy on my science recs.

I feel like my numbers are okay to get into a med school (and that's of course the main goal) but I'm not all that sure. I feel like I'm kind of low on the 'intangibles'.

I don't think your grades will be a problem as long as you aren't getting lower than B+s and you do have a few As in bio courses (depending on how many you took). The 12 in the MCAT bio section certainly shows you know the material. You research experiance is slim, but that's really only important if you want to get into a top 20 school because they tend to be research heavy. You should of course still apply because you never know what can happen. Its good to have a nonscience letter and a letter from someone who knows you outside of the classroom but science recs are VERY important! Do anything and everything you can to make sure you get a good one and don't take it if you sense hesitation on the part of the professor. In my opinion LORs can make or break and application.
I really can't stress how important the intangibles are. For example, my boyfriend applied to med schools this year. He had around a 3.6 in biomedical engineering and a 37R MCAT, but very few ECs and letters from professors who didn't really know him that well. He applied broadly to 17 schools and only got one interview - our state school. He did get in there and it is a top 30 school, but still with his stats he should have done better and probably would have if he had had the "intangibles". Of couse this is just one anecdote, so take from it what you will.

 

[OncDoc19]

yeah im in a cc because of financial hardships 🙁. & i was planning on transferring after my second yr, but from what ur telling me, i should get out of here asap??
& if i get out of cc w/ a 3.6 gpa will that be good enough? because from the looks of it, thats prolly what it's gonna be - i.e. 3.6

If you are able to claim economic hardship on the AMCAS application then its ok to stay at CC. The most important thing for you to do once you leave is to take some upper level science classes and do well in them. If you can afford to go to a university next year then do so, but if it means working full time and taking classes your grades will suffer and that won't be good either. I guess what I'm saying is there is no easy answer and I don't know the details of your situation well enough to give you specific advice. All I can say is that if you can prove economic hardship for the AMCAS application then you should be ok with CC provided you do well in upper level courses at a university. Check out the "instructions book" on this link for the AMCAS determinationof economic hardship.
http://www.aamc.org/students/amcas/amcas2008.htm

 

[OncDoc19]

Hi,

I graduated last year from a small liberal arts college in the east coast. My cumulative GPA is 3.6 and science GPA is 3.5. It should have been higher only if I had not got 2 F's in my two science classes, one in Biology and the other in Genetics, during my sophomore year. My biology professor accused me of plagiarism for borrowing the definition of "basal ganglia" from the text book, and from there things went downhill. Since I suffer from dystonia, I was going through a pretty severe phase of muscle spasms during that term. I also suffered bouts of depression because I was an international student and had just gone through a traumatic experience where some guy outside college was making threatening calls and wanted to hurt me. This was brought to the Student's Life as well as Security's attention, but I kept receiving the threatening calls.

So, the term was a pretty bad one...felt like the sky had landed on my head. I went to see a counsellor at my college to get some help, but it was not that great, and I kept suffering immensely and went through excruciating pain. At the end, I ended up failing two classes. The one in biology was an automatic failure for plagiarism, and the other was just a rather shocking surprise because until the second to last class, the genetics professor had told me I was doing well.

Sorry for the long description, but I felt it was needed in order to seek your advice. After that term, I went and volunteered to work (interned) with a professor who was a specialist in dystonia. That helped me tremedously as I learnt more about the disorder as well as got the opportunity to participate in self-help groups and enroll in active therapy sessions.

After that, I went back to college with an unwavering determination to pursue pre-medical program, and got A's in all classes until the end of college except for one C and two Bs. I also took the two classes I got F's in and got an A and a B.

Presently, I have been doing reserach for a year in neuroscience and working my way towards publishing some papers before applying to a medical school. Since I work in a hospital, I have had ample opportunities to shadow doctors and I have been more than ever determined to pursue the field of neurology.

I have loads of extracurricular activities and have volunteered for over 270 hours. Please let me know how I stand in getting to a medical school. I don't care, which one, I just wish to get into one, and work harder than ever. And, I have strong faith and trust myself that I shall never let the miseries brought by life to get me distracted, no matter what. I have learnt it the hard way.

Do you think the 2F's that I got (but which I did retake and got a B and an A) will severly affect my chances of getting into a med school?

I got 35S in my January MCAT.

Hope to hear from you all.

Cabot🙂

First regarding the Fs...You will have to report the F in bio on the AMCAS under "institutional action". I don't think medical schools will look too kindly upon this and you should definately talk about the incident and that semester as a whole in regards to what you have learned. Try not to sound defensive, just focus on the lessons learned. You can also talk about your dystonia in the personal statement. Med schools will average your grades in these two classes, which will make one a C and the other a C-/D+ for computing your GPA. I'm not sure if you have that factored into your GPA already. "Loads" of ECs are good, especially if you have red flags on your app. Just make sure you have medical and non-medical volunteering. You need to apply broadly and early. Your GPA and the red flags will most likely preclude you from the top 20, but it doesn't sound like you are hung up on med school prestigue. I look at the MSAR and apply mainly to schools where your GPA is slightly above average because of the potential problems with your app. Be sure though to apply to a few reach schools - you never know what will happen!

 

[OncDoc19]

I was just wondering what other schools I could/should be looking at for this upcoming admissions cycle?

http://www.mdapplicants.com/viewprofile.php?myid=7852

Any help would be appreciated 😀

Looking at your list I am a little confused. You are applying to 3 schools in the top 10 and 5 in the top 20, yet also to Hawaii and NYMC, both mid to lower tier schools. It is important to apply broadly, but I think you would be better off applying to 1, maybe 2, top 10 schools and dropping Hawaii and NYMC for more upper-mid tier safety schools. On top of this, since you are a CA resident, your state schools are not safety schools, which I assume you know. Your GPA is good, but if you look at this year's MSAR you will notice that the top schools have average GPAs in the upper 3.8s. You MCAT is also going to be a problem at the top tier schools. A 35 is great, but your first test throws up red flags and depending on the school, this could realy hurt you, especially the 6 in verbal. Your research is a plus. Looking at your MDApps I would suggest more community service, school involvement and shadowing. You also call a couple of your LORs average and if this is the case I wouldn't use them.

 

[OncDoc19]

hello,

i am a female finishing my junior year at a large public university. i am a biology major, and i'll be taking the mcats in june. i've been getting between 31-34 on practice tests so far, i need to study more. i have a 4.0 gpa, though im not sure i will be keeping that this semester, and am in the honors program at my college.

i have 2 semesters experience in analytical chemistry lab, 2 semesters in a physiology and neurobiology lab, and was accepted to a fellowship program to do research at a medical school this summer that involves some clinical experience as well. no publications.

Gpa is great, keep up the MCAT studying and I'm sure you will do fine. Try to submit your AMCAS during the time you are waiting for your score then add more schools once you get your score back. Research experiance is good and varied. This is especially important for the top schools.

a few of my letters of recommendation probably won't be great because i go to such a large school, my professors don't know me that well.

Not good. There is no reason you couldn't have gotten to know a few professors, especially if you knew you needed letters. I go to a Big Ten university which isn't small either, but you just have to work hard to find a few professors that you like and then get to know them. Unfortunately its probably too late for that. In my opinion a LOR can make or break an application. A letter that tells the ADCOMs nothing more than what they can already see on your primary and secondary (good grade in certain class) is not good. This is a chance for the ADCOMs to hear what you are like as a student and a person and you need to shine in these. Don't take a LOR from a professor who hesitates to write one for you. Be sure to ask "would you be able to write a strong letter of recommendationf or me" - that way they have a way out.

i am an emt-b, and i volunteer in an ambulance company, i've done since summer 06 on and off. i volunteered in a rehab center one summer a few times a week. i tutored school children one semester. ive tutored foreign exchange students in english weekly for 3 semesters. im in phi beta kappa. i shadowed an obgyn for a whole summer, he let me help him in his office a little also and let me watch some surgeries. i was also a mentor for incoming freshman at the university this year.

what are my chances?

The biggest issue I see in your ECs is that you have only done one consistently for a significant length of time (at least on year). It would be good if you could get some more shadowing. Leadership activites are also good things to have. I'm not sure what to say about your ECs because you have a nice range but each is for such a short time. ADCOMs really like to see commitment and consistency.

You have good stats, which builds the foundation of any good app. I would focus on doing anything you can to shore up good LORs. Definintely gets your app in asap and apply to a range of schools, depending of course on your MCAT. Let's say you get a 34 (your to ppractice score), you should apply to a couple top 10s, 10ish top 20-30 and a three or so top 50s. This would give you a good range I think.

 

[OncDoc19]

I promised myself I wouldn't do this but...oh well, I lied? lol.

29 MCAT (9 PS, 10 V, 10 BS, Q)

4.0 GPA, majored in bio and minored in chem

Almost 3 years working in a hospital (phlebotomy)

Leadership positions in two clubs

A few miscellaneous volunteer experiences, but nothing that I continuously did

Completed honors research and defended honors thesis which dealt with a subject in biochemistry.

zero research.

GPA is good, MCAT is borderline. Its possible that your MCAT score could call into question your GPA in terms of possible grade inflation at your school. Leadership is great and hopefully the clubs are active so you have something to talk about. You really need shadowing, consistent volunteering and clinical experiance. I'm a little confused when you say no research and yet say you did an honors research project leading to a thesis in biochemistry. Was this not benchwork? What exactly did you do?

I'm applying EDP to my state school. (KU) Do you guys think it is a mistake to apply early? Do you think it will hurt me that I mostly worked instead of volunteering or researching? I did so because I had to put myself through school, parents made too much for me to qualify for grants but they didn't pay for any of it.

I don't know enough about KU to say if you are a strong applicant for that school. I do know that for EDP you should be an outstanding applicant in relation to the normal applicant to that school. Look at the MSAR and see what their averages are or call up the school and ask what they think about you applying EDP. If you don't get in, it could have a major effect on your application because you couldn't apply to other schools before October 1, which is very late. This is a very big decision and you should do all the research you can about what KU is looking for and try to objectively judge your chances at getting in early.
I do think that not having more ECs will hurt you. You can certainly explain your situation in your personal statement, but its up to schools to decide how much slack they will give you.

 

[OncDoc19]

I think the name of this thread should be changed to "ask OncDoc19 what your chances are/where to apply" Anyone out there lurking want to start answering some of these? I should be studying for finals (procrastination) plus in a few days I will be in germany 😀 enjoying the biergarten instead of SDN.

 

[AvengingNarwhal]

Hi guys, newbie here and I was just curious about my chances because I've never spent all that much time with other premeds (I actually wasn't premed for the longest time, but stayed the course since I was a science major). Well, here goes nothing:

I'm actually completely dumb to the process since I never had any similar peers to compare my progress to. I fear that my MCATs are a bit low for Top 10 schools, but I'd love to get to a school within the top 15... Any and all suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

Edit: Thanks for your comments, guys!

 

[Funky]

Hi guys, newbie here and I was just curious about my chances because I've never spent all that much time with other premeds (I actually wasn't premed for the longest time, but stayed the course since I was a science major). Well, here goes nothing:

Male Asian-American Junior Biology major at an Ivy League University, Applying MD/MPH or MSTP in Anthropology of Medicine/History of Medicine

MCATS: 35Q- 12PS, 12BS, 11VR
(Actually really disappointing because VR had always been my strongest subject-- no less than 12 on any practice)
GPA: 3.82 Cumu, 3.73 Sci
Definite increasing trend, since I started out with a 3.5 first frosh sem

ECs:
- Editor-In-Chief of big public health journal
- Lots of student publications work as editor, publisher, writer, journalist, productions, arts coordinator
- Founding member of on-campus Global Health Awareness Week
- Spent year fundraising and researching to rennovate abandoned hospital in Western Nepal (will be going to work at site this summer)
- Taught health education to low-income HS students frosh year
- 4 summer fellowships for research
- Volunteer at free primary health care clinic run by med school students-- Work as social worker/ Spanish Translator. Lots of patient contact (one-on-one interviews) and shadowing opportunities
- One small publication as second author, but in Synthetic Organic Chemistry (not medicine related), larger publication in same field pending.
- Summer of research in synthetic organic chemistry
- 1.5 years of neuro research at med school, undergrad presentation award

I'm actually completely dumb to the process since I never had any similar peers to compare my progress to. I fear that my MCATs are a bit low for Top 10 schools, but I'd love to get to a school within the top 15... Any and all suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

It's hard to say if you will make it into a top 15 or not. I believe if you have a strong interview then you would have a fairly good chance to get in. Numberswise you are great but everything's a crapshoot in this process. I think you are ok.

What do we know about admissions anyway 🙄

 

[wisguy]

I think the name of this thread should be changed to "ask OncDoc19 what your chances are/where to apply" Anyone out there lurking want to start answering some of these? I should be studying for finals (procrastination) plus in a few days I will be in germany 😀 enjoying the biergarten instead of SDN.

Dear OncDoc19,
What do you think my chances are/where should I apply?

PS- Where are you going/what are you doing in Germany? That sounds fun!

 

[OncDoc19]

Dear OncDoc19,
What do you think my chances are/where should I apply?

PS- Where are you going/what are you doing in Germany? That sounds fun!

Hey Wiseguy,
Nice to see someone from the MSTP boards on here! I think the most important thing for you to be doing at the moment is deciding between MD-only and MD/PhD. Which one of these you choose will help to narrow down where you should apply. I think you would be a strong MD/PhD candidate, but if you choose MD-only I would try to get in some more patient contact experiance. If you apply MD/PhD, I think you could use a few more saftey schools because of your GPA and first MCAT bio score. Looking at your MDApps you are planning on applying to 5 of the 10 top 10 schools and almost all of your schools are top 20 schools. I'm not saying you don't have a good app, because you definately do and your Fulbright will help a lot. I would add some schools that are is the 30s and maybe take out a couple top 20s (if you don't want to apply to so many schools). I don't think you should apply to more than 20 schools, unless you have lots of time and money.
If you apply MD only, you should take out most of your out-of-state public schools because the rate of OOS acceptace at top 20 public schools is so low. Replace these with private schools in the top and mid-top tiers.
I think your chances are great for an acceptance. For MD/PhD though you really need to be convinced yourself that this is the path for you otherwise you won't be able to convince the ADCOMS and that will really hurt you.
See you around the MSTP boards - its going to be an exciting year for us both I'm sure!


Re: PS - I will be in and around Munich until June 1st, then its back home for a pre-MD/PhD summer program. Part of the time I am going to be shopping/sitting in cafes/sitting in the biergarten/tourist activites with friends and for the other two weeks I will be with an orthopedic surgeon full time for shadowing and "helping" in surgery (not sure what this means to him, but I think I may get to do some cutting 😀 ) yes, major surgery nerd here. I also need to work on my essays while I'm there, so it should be a fun and busy time!

 

[OncDoc19]

It's hard to say if you will make it into a top 15 or not. I believe if you have a strong interview then you would have a fairly good chance to get in. Numberswise you are great but everything's a crapshoot in this process. I think you are ok.

What do we know about admissions anyway 🙄

Thanks docfunk!

 

[Funky]

Thanks docfunk!

glad to be a help.

 

[Mister Pie]

Your grades are good, probably a little low though for the top 10/15. MCAT is excellent. Depending on what type of communit service you did and for what length of time you may need more clinical exposure. I would also try to get in some more shadowing.


I don't think your grades will be a problem as long as you aren't getting lower than B+s and you do have a few As in bio courses (depending on how many you took). The 12 in the MCAT bio section certainly shows you know the material. You research experiance is slim, but that's really only important if you want to get into a top 20 school because they tend to be research heavy. You should of course still apply because you never know what can happen. Its good to have a nonscience letter and a letter from someone who knows you outside of the classroom but science recs are VERY important! Do anything and everything you can to make sure you get a good one and don't take it if you sense hesitation on the part of the professor. In my opinion LORs can make or break and application.
I really can't stress how important the intangibles are. For example, my boyfriend applied to med schools this year. He had around a 3.6 in biomedical engineering and a 37R MCAT, but very few ECs and letters from professors who didn't really know him that well. He applied broadly to 17 schools and only got one interview - our state school. He did get in there and it is a top 30 school, but still with his stats he should have done better and probably would have if he had had the "intangibles". Of couse this is just one anecdote, so take from it what you will.

Thank you for your honest appraisal! 👍

 

[ImmunoNut]

GPA is good, MCAT is borderline. Its possible that your MCAT score could call into question your GPA in terms of possible grade inflation at your school. Leadership is great and hopefully the clubs are active so you have something to talk about. You really need shadowing, consistent volunteering and clinical experiance. I'm a little confused when you say no research and yet say you did an honors research project leading to a thesis in biochemistry. Was this not benchwork? What exactly did you do?

It was not benchwork, it was an indepth analysis of research being done on a certain food additive and the effects on our population. My alma mater is VERY small and unable to support real research, unfortunately, so that is the big reason I do not have research. Honestly I'm not exactly sure how to explain this project because it was a research paper, but I did not do bench research, just combed the journals.

I did my sophomore year at a much better known university and finished a lot of my prereqs there. (genetics, cell bio, orgo 1&2) so hopefully that will back up that my grades are not due to an easy school.

For the record, my MCAT is low because I came down with a major respiratory infection the week before. I could have retaken but decided against it because it's not so bad that it's worth risking a lower score, imo. I worked in a hospital for 3 years, is that not clinical experience?? what else can I do?? And I forgot to mention that I have shadowed two docs, one general surgeon and one primary care, so I think i have the shadowing covered, although I could always do more, I would really like to but then I don't want it to look like I'm just doing it to pad my application.

I have a chance to move into research and development at my current company, does it still count if it is not done at a university?

I don't know enough about KU to say if you are a strong applicant for that school. I do know that for EDP you should be an outstanding applicant in relation to the normal applicant to that school. Look at the MSAR and see what their averages are or call up the school and ask what they think about you applying EDP. If you don't get in, it could have a major effect on your application because you couldn't apply to other schools before October 1, which is very late. This is a very big decision and you should do all the research you can about what KU is looking for and try to objectively judge your chances at getting in early.
I do think that not having more ECs will hurt you. You can certainly explain your situation in your personal statement, but its up to schools to decide how much slack they will give you.

I have heard that typically they want a 28 MCAT for EDP, so I'm hoping my 29 won't be too frowned upon. But who really knows? 🙁 Good idea to call the school, though, it never even occurred to me that I could do that!

thanks for your advice oncdoc 🙂 I know you're helping a lot of us scared applicants out!

 

[OncDoc19]

It was not benchwork, it was an indepth analysis of research being done on a certain food additive and the effects on our population. My alma mater is VERY small and unable to support real research, unfortunately, so that is the big reason I do not have research. Honestly I'm not exactly sure how to explain this project because it was a research paper, but I did not do bench research, just combed the journals.

Coming from a small school is certainly a liegitimate reason why research was not available there. Although to play devil's advocate I would say, if you were really interested in resaerch why didn't you seek out summer research fellowships are larger institutions? I'm just trying to come at it from and ADCOM's point of view.

I did my sophomore year at a much better known university and finished a lot of my prereqs there. (genetics, cell bio, orgo 1&2) so hopefully that will back up that my grades are not due to an easy school.

Depending on the school this may or may not help you. There are so many big universities in the country it is impossible for every ADCOM to know the rigor of the academics at every school, even the big ones. Hopefully this school has a good repuatation at kansas though (or maybe it was kansas).

For the record, my MCAT is low because I came down with a major respiratory infection the week before. I could have retaken but decided against it because it's not so bad that it's worth risking a lower score, imo.

You can certainly explain this is your primary or secondaries, just don't sound whiny.

I worked in a hospital for 3 years, is that not clinical experience?? what else can I do?? And I forgot to mention that I have shadowed two docs, one general surgeon and one primary care, so I think i have the shadowing covered, although I could always do more, I would really like to but then I don't want it to look like I'm just doing it to pad my application.

Sorry, I must have completely glossed over that 😳. Phlebotomoy is a clinical experiance and doing this for three years shows good committment. As LizzyM would say, you are close enough to "smell" the patients. As long as you shadowed both of these physicians multiple times shadowing should be covered.

I have a chance to move into research and development at my current company, does it still count if it is not done at a university?

At this point its probably too late to make much of a difference on your primary. It does count, although part of it depends on whether you are coming up with your own ideas or follwing orders from a supervisor.

I have heard that typically they want a 28 MCAT for EDP, so I'm hoping my 29 won't be too frowned upon. But who really knows? 🙁 Good idea to call the school, though, it never even occurred to me that I could do that!

Is 28 the minimum or the average accepted applicant for EDP? That makes a big difference. If its a minimum, I would think long and hard about EDP because you are only one point above that. I'm sure talking to the school will give you a better feeling about your competitiveness for EDP at KU.

thanks for your advice oncdoc 🙂 I know you're helping a lot of us scared applicants out!

No problem, happy to help, especially now that my finals are over till Monday.

 

[okay]

If you have any advice regarding

1. schools I can add to my list
2. MD vs. MD/PhD

I would appreciate it.

http://www.mdapplicants.com/viewprofile.php?myid=6754

 

[jochi1543]

cumulative - 3.51
BCPM - 3.27 (busting my ass to get an A in Orgo I now to raise it to 3.37 by the time I submit AMCAS)
MCAT - waiting for scores (5/16), consistently scored 10-10-10 on all practice tests, so let's say 29-31?



Did 2 years in Economics with B/B+ GPA, then switched to foreign language and had 3.7-3.8 for my junior and senior year. However, I took very few science courses (still not done with my pre-reqs, though I will be by end of this year) and the fact that I goofed around in physics and stats my freshman year (C+ and B, respectively) is REALLY dragging down my BCPM. The upside is that any good grade can really pull it up, but still, the numbers are low.


ECs:
1 semester abroad

3 years as a patient educator in a community clinic (reproductive health/family planning)

volunteer ESL teacher for 1 semester

helped plan a trip for Katrina relief (organizing fundraising event), went on the relief trip

volunteer for senatorial campaign (ended abruptly because my senator died in a plane crash 😱 )

political science research internship

logistics internship

worked on campus for 4 years, including tutoring

volunteered at a hospital 20 hrs a week for 3 months

member of a student investment club on campus for 2 years

Japanese Language Achievement Award

Dean's list (4 semesters once I dropped Econ )




Can't think of anything else off the top of my head.





And here comes the kiss of DEATH: I'm an international applicant. Canadian permanent resident, Russian citizen. However, I did my undergrad and high school in the US (just moved to Canada a year ago).


I am currently finishing up some pre-reqs and this fall I will be doing a year post-bac with a focus on science courses to pull up my BCPM in (the very likely) case that I don't get in for 2008.




I'd apply DO in the blink of an eye, but as a non-citizen, I have to keep my options open if I end up having to return to Canada, and unfortunately, in Canada you can only practice family med as a DO. I AM interested in family med, but I would obviously prefer to keep my options open with an MD. With an American MD, you have a decent chance of matching into Canadian residencies if you do some electives there, and if you do a US residency, you can practice in nearly any specialty without any concerns upon return.



I'm hoping for some love from University of Minnesota, since I went to undergrad in Minnesota.

 

[TerryLo]

Hi, I just finished my junior year at a large public university. Here's my situation. I'm a biochemistry and molecular biology major with a cumulative gpa of 3.49. My science gpa is around a 3.1 or so, I believe. I received 3 C+'s in bio 1 and 2, and biochemistry. There was a bit of improvement this spring semester as far as grades are concerned, but nothing too fantastic...i did manage to get a B in cell biology. I have not yet taken the mcat, but have registered for the july date. As far as extracurriculars go, i am president and founder of a club; i've got a good number of volunteer hours at a hospital and dialysis center; i've also been involved in some research for about a year. i'm also a FL resident.

anyways, i'd appreciate any advice/input as to whether or not i should go ahead and apply to med school in june or wait it out and get my masters first. do you think it's at all possible to get into an allopathic school for this cycle with these 3 C's? also, any advice as to what schools i should apply to? Thanks! 🙂

 

[wisguy]

Hey Wiseguy,
Re: PS - I will be in and around Munich until June 1st, then its back home for a pre-MD/PhD summer program. Part of the time I am going to be shopping/sitting in cafes/sitting in the biergarten/tourist activites with friends and for the other two weeks I will be with an orthopedic surgeon full time for shadowing and "helping" in surgery (not sure what this means to him, but I think I may get to do some cutting 😀 ) yes, major surgery nerd here. I also need to work on my essays while I'm there, so it should be a fun and busy time!

I'm applying MD-only to ~20 schools. Even though I won't be doing MD/PhD, I am still interested in research, so the research rankings are relevant to me. I will probably try 3-4 top 10, 7-8 from the 10-25 and the remainder somewhere between 25 and 50. I made a few changes on MDapps to reflect that breakdown.

That sounds like a cool time in Munich! Have you been there before? I was there for Oktoberfest and had a really great time. PM me if you need any ideas about things to see. The shadowing sounds like a great opportunity as well. Have fun!

 

[Ssar]

Hey all,
Here's my situation. I graduated high school with a very low GPA , not even enough to go to state college. I've been to community college for three years, and academically have not done well.(I won't go into the reasons) .I've always wanted to go to medical school, but my hopes fizzled out after years of low grades.I took a EMT-B class this semester and during clinical hours in the ER is when it hit me.I want to go medical school. Here's my question, I love english and want to major in it, but for the purposes of medical school would it be better for me to choose a science major (Ex: math). I have yet to take lot of req science courses , so the possibility of bringing up my science GPA is also not too remote. How do medical schools look at people with non-science majors? To boost my application, I also plan to work as an EMT-B (hospital or ambulance) during these years of school.Do I even have a slight chance considering I do well in the MCAT.
Thanks,
K

 

[OncDoc19]

If you have any advice regarding

1. schools I can add to my list
2. MD vs. MD/PhD

I would appreciate it.

http://www.mdapplicants.com/viewprofile.php?myid=6754

I don't think you should add any schools to you rlist. In fact you probably have too many, depeding of course on how much money and free time you have. 25 is a lot of schools for someone with almost a 3.9 and a 39 MCAT. If you are going to apply MD only you do need to remove some public schools from your list. Except for UCSF, the CA public schools are almost impossible to get into if you are OOS. Same goes for Washington, Michigan and I would assume UNC. Also if you are applying MD only, you could use some more shadowing and some non-medical related activities. You have a huge list of scholarships/awards, which is great, but after skimming them the only one that has any national name recognition is the Howard Hughes Scholarship. You have to keep in mind that ADCOMs can't possibly know of all the local scholarships given at your school, or even keep up on most national scholarships. I would lump these together into a few categories for your AMCAS - 1. University-based scholarships and awards, 2. National scholarships and awards, besides Howard Hughes and 3. Howard Hughes. Put the music prize in with your description of that activity.
You asked about MD/PhD vs MD, and honestly I think only you can answer that question. Its all about where you see yourself - patient care or academic medicine/research. You have had one lengthy research experiance, which is necessary both for MD/PhD and for research heavy MD programs. Try to find some MD/PhD student at your school and talk to them about the program and their motviations for going into it. I am applying MD/PhD because I love history of medicine research and I want to be involved in this as well as in teaching. The money will even out no matter what you choose, so pick what you like best. If you can't wait to get into lab every day, then go MD/PhD. If pipetting gives you nightmares, go with MD. Okay, so its not that simple, but relaly you have to do some soul searching.

 

[OncDoc19]

Wow, really long post, but I'll do my best.

cumulative - 3.51
BCPM - 3.27 (busting my ass to get an A in Orgo I now to raise it to 3.37 by the time I submit AMCAS)
MCAT - waiting for scores (5/16), consistently scored 10-10-10 on all practice tests, so let's say 29-31?

Your GPA is really borderline, especially your BCPM. A 30 will help, of course depending on the average MCAt at the schools you apply to.

Did 2 years in Economics with B/B+ GPA, then switched to foreign language and had 3.7-3.8 for my junior and senior year. However, I took very few science courses (still not done with my pre-reqs, though I will be by end of this year) and the fact that I goofed around in physics and stats my freshman year (C+ and B, respectively) is REALLY dragging down my BCPM. The upside is that any good grade can really pull it up, but still, the numbers are low.

Trends are nice, but most of the time a computer will screen your app for secondaries. You need to make sure your BCPM GPa is about the cuttoff at the schools you apply to.

ECs:
1 semester abroad

3 years as a patient educator in a community clinic (reproductive health/family planning)

volunteer ESL teacher for 1 semester

helped plan a trip for Katrina relief (organizing fundraising event), went on the relief trip

volunteer for senatorial campaign (ended abruptly because my senator died in a plane crash 😱 )

political science research internship

logistics internship

worked on campus for 4 years, including tutoring

volunteered at a hospital 20 hrs a week for 3 months

member of a student investment club on campus for 2 years

Japanese Language Achievement Award

Dean's list (4 semesters once I dropped Econ )

Nice range of ECs, although I don't see any shadowing , which is a MUST. Some more clinical experiances would be good and be sure to explain your change from Econ to pre-med/forgein language and how these fit into your future goals as a docotr because you have a lot of poli sci-related ECs.

And here comes the kiss of DEATH: I'm an international applicant. Canadian permanent resident, Russian citizen. However, I did my undergrad and high school in the US (just moved to Canada a year ago).


I am currently finishing up some pre-reqs and this fall I will be doing a year post-bac with a focus on science courses to pull up my BCPM in (the very likely) case that I don't get in for 2008.

That is a problem! Apply to schools that explicitly say they will take international studdents. I saw somewhere that you were going to apply to canadian schools too and I just don't know if that's a good idea. Canadian schools are MUCH more competitive than US schools, especially for internationals because there are so few spots. I am going to apply to McGill (I'm an Canadian-US dual citizen) and I know there that there a very few spots for OOP or international students and that the min GPA is 3.5 and the MCAt cutoff is 30. I urge you to investigate these cuttoffs for other canadian med schools. I would also urge you to wait to apply till after your post-bad. You app is strongest year after you finish and you could get in some more ECs this coming year too.

I'd apply DO in the blink of an eye, but as a non-citizen, I have to keep my options open if I end up having to return to Canada, and unfortunately, in Canada you can only practice family med as a DO. I AM interested in family med, but I would obviously prefer to keep my options open with an MD. With an American MD, you have a decent chance of matching into Canadian residencies if you do some electives there, and if you do a US residency, you can practice in nearly any specialty without any concerns upon return.

I'm hoping for some love from University of Minnesota, since I went to undergrad in Minnesota.

Have you researched the American MD to Canadian residency thing. It was my understanding that this was not the case - that it is fairly easy to go Canadian MD to US residency but not the other way around. Do some more research on this to make sure. Check out the MSAr for the OOS acceptance rate at Minnesota. My feeling is that you may have better luck at a mid to lower tier private school.

 

[blargh]

hi there.

here's my mdapps link: http://www.mdapplicants.com/viewprofile.php?myid=6888

any feedback on my school list and my chances would be appreciated. my mcat score is really worrying me. my GPA is primarily hurting from my first quarter in freshman year. i got a 3.25 then, but it's been straight A's since. will that make a difference?

also, this whole "it's harder for asians in california" thing is kind of scaring me...

 

[Old ortho]

hi there.

here's my mdapps link: http://www.mdapplicants.com/viewprofile.php?myid=6888

any feedback on my school list and my chances would be appreciated. my mcat score is really worrying me. my GPA is primarily hurting from my first quarter in freshman year. i got a 3.25 then, but it's been straight A's since. will that make a difference?

also, this whole "it's harder for asians in california" thing is kind of scaring me...

As I made a comment on you before, I really think you have very strong stats. As an Asian from Cali, my suggestion is make your list of schools, and then add five more low/mid tier private schools for safety, and apply early. You spent another $500 and it is worth it.

I know an Asian from UC-Berkeley in the 2005 cycle with GPA 3.96 and MCAT of 34R, and did not get accepted by any med school. He applied late and not broadly enough. He applied again in 2006 and got in finally. http://www.mdapplicants.com/viewprofile.php?id=4273

 

[bluesTank]

Just thought I would pop my stats up here to see how I stand. I am taking my MCAT May 16th, and I am veeerry worried about my verbal score. The HIGHEST I have gotten on a practice test (granted my last one was 2-3 weeks ago) was a 7 VR. My other sections are OK, but that verbal is going to kill me.

Just looking for a little advice, most of my stats are under my MDApps.

I can speak Spanish pretty well, but I wouldn't say completely fluently. Assuming I get a 7VR 10PS and 12 BS or around that, what are my chances?

I plan on applying everywhere in Texas.

 

[OncDoc19]

Just thought I would pop my stats up here to see how I stand. I am taking my MCAT May 16th, and I am veeerry worried about my verbal score. The HIGHEST I have gotten on a practice test (granted my last one was 2-3 weeks ago) was a 7 VR. My other sections are OK, but that verbal is going to kill me.

Just looking for a little advice, most of my stats are under my MDApps.

I can speak Spanish pretty well, but I wouldn't say completely fluently. Assuming I get a 7VR 10PS and 12 BS or around that, what are my chances?

I plan on applying everywhere in Texas.

If you can't claim english as a second language, the 7 in veral is REALLY going to hurt you. Your grades are really good, but that kind of score puts up some major red flags. I would even consider pushing the test back and focusing manily on verbal (try examkrackers if you are using something else) because a 7 in a section could really tank your app. I don't know much about the texas system but I know that a 7 would not pass the screening cutoffs at many allo schools.
Other than that, everything looks good, which is a nother reason not to let that verbal score bring you down. Depending on how long your shadowing experiances and hospital volunteering were for, I would maybe suggest some more clinical experiance. Strategic grouping of your ECs on the AMCAS is going to be really important for you. Follow the advice I gave to "okay" a few posts ago.
Good luck on your test!

 

[OncDoc19]

Hi, I just finished my junior year at a large public university. Here's my situation. I'm a biochemistry and molecular biology major with a cumulative gpa of 3.49. My science gpa is around a 3.1 or so, I believe. I received 3 C+'s in bio 1 and 2, and biochemistry. There was a bit of improvement this spring semester as far as grades are concerned, but nothing too fantastic...i did manage to get a B in cell biology. I have not yet taken the mcat, but have registered for the july date. As far as extracurriculars go, i am president and founder of a club; i've got a good number of volunteer hours at a hospital and dialysis center; i've also been involved in some research for about a year. i'm also a FL resident.

anyways, i'd appreciate any advice/input as to whether or not i should go ahead and apply to med school in june or wait it out and get my masters first. do you think it's at all possible to get into an allopathic school for this cycle with these 3 C's? also, any advice as to what schools i should apply to? Thanks! 🙂

First decide what schools you are interested in then look at the MSAR or call the schools and find out what their BCPM cutoff is. If you don't make the cutoff at a significant number of the schools then I would get a masters or do a post-bacc. You should also think about applying DO, if that interests you. Regardless, a BCPM of 3.1 is not gong to be "competitive" at any allo school. I don't think this is a question of 3 C's - its certainly possible to get in with 3 Cs, but you have to offset this with higher grades in upper level science classes. Unfortunately since you are not taking the MCAT till July, you won't be able to apply early. In your case, the MCAT is going to be extremely important. If you do apply this year, have your app submitted before you get your MCAT score back but only send it to one school. Add more based on your score or pullout if you have to. I wouldn't apply allo unless you are getting scores of at least 30 consistently on practice tests.

 

[OncDoc19]

Hey all,
Here's my situation. I graduated high school with a very low GPA , not even enough to go to state college. I've been to community college for three years, and academically have not done well.(I won't go into the reasons) .I've always wanted to go to medical school, but my hopes fizzled out after years of low grades.I took a EMT-B class this semester and during clinical hours in the ER is when it hit me.I want to go medical school. Here's my question, I love english and want to major in it, but for the purposes of medical school would it be better for me to choose a science major (Ex: math). I have yet to take lot of req science courses , so the possibility of bringing up my science GPA is also not too remote. How do medical schools look at people with non-science majors? To boost my application, I also plan to work as an EMT-B (hospital or ambulance) during these years of school.Do I even have a slight chance considering I do well in the MCAT.
Thanks,
K

There is nothing wrong with being a non-science major, provided you do well in your science pre-reqs. In fact, I would argue its better not to be the typical pre-med biology major. Its hard to comment on your future chances of med school without knowing what your current GPA is, how many credit hours you already have and of course no one knows how you will do in the future. Working as an EMT is great clinical experiance, but you will need to do other ECs as well. A good score on the MCAT will be essential for you because of your low GPA.