Too late to apply?

[tautomer]

Hey everyone, I need your help!

I will be a college senior in the fall. I originally planned to apply to medical school NEXT spring (basically take a year off) in order to factor in my senior GPA (currently: sGPA: 3.33, overall: 3.52) and be able to apply right off the bat in early June for the best chances of acceptance. You see, I decided in April to put off the MCAT until August (now), and decided that I would wait a year to apply because I had heard all the horror stories about how the August MCAT severely affects your chances if you apply the same year you take it. I guess I figured I would maximize my chances of getting into the best school I possibly could.

However, I've been thinking about just going ahead and applying for this go-around. What do you think my chances would be? I've been scoring around 28-30 on my practice MCATs, and the rest of my application is pretty much already complete (except my PS). I just thought it would be nice to be able to go off to medical school (if I got in) straight out off college instead of having to wait a year, however; I was planning on doing cancer research in my year off, so not all bad.

So basically, why I'm still reluctant to apply:

my mediocre stats
the late-ness of my AMCAS submission
the cost of applying if I don't get in
having to click "YES, I have applied to medical school before" on my AMCAS if I don't get in

Any thoughts?

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[Medikit]

What state are you from? If you know for certain that you can raise your GPA I would wait. I actually did wait and ended up double majoring and scored much higher on the MCAT than I would have had I taken it earlier.

 

[drmota]

If I were you I would wait. But realize that there's no right or wrong answer to your question. Your GPA is very mediocre (coming from someone with a very similarly mediocre GPA: 3.54 overall, 3.23 science). You said you haven't worked on your personal statement at all...I want to let you know that in order to make a dynamite personal statement you need at LEAST a couple weeks... I thought I could crank it out in under a week and ended up spending over a month on it, it was the hardest "paper" I've ever had to write. I would go ahead and wait so just in case you don't break 30 on your MCATs (you really want at least a 30) you can take it again in april with not as much pressure and then apply early. good luck
-mota

 

[Medinsane]

I'm in the same situation. Taking the August mcat and just waiting next year to apply. I mean I really want to optimize my chances and I figured I could up my GPA and make my senior year a little more worth while rather than worry about med aps. And the fact that you have plans the year after college is excellent. Good luck!

 

[Pewl]

Hey guys, this is the first time I've ever seen this site. Pretty cool stuff. This is kinda a long post, but if you could bear with me I'd really, really appreciate it.
So yeah, all this is new to me, and I'm applying to DO and MD schools right now. Could someone tell me what my "chances" are for MD and DO schools? Here are my numbers

UCLA undergrad (psychobio major) 3.4 gpa, 3.3 science
UCLA grad (biomedical physics) gpa 3.6
MCAT V11 P10 B9 Q

Experiences:
-hospital volunteering
-ridiculous amount of community service
-currently the chief medical physicist of ucla's veterinary radiation oncology
-3 clinical rotations, including stereotactic spinal radiosurgery
-IMRT, IGRT, immunoradiotherapy thesis research

I read somewhere on this forum that schools like to focus on undergrad gpa's because they don't know how "hard" grad classes are? Do they look at it on a program by program basis at least?? I mean the biomedical physics program at ucla was friggin' rough for me! It's one of 10 AAPM accredited programs in the entire nation and I thought I was gonna lose my mind my first year here haha.
But anyway, any feed back about my chances for med or do school would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks!!!

 

[crazy_cavalier]

Hey guys, this is the first time I've ever seen this site. Pretty cool stuff. This is kinda a long post, but if you could bear with me I'd really, really appreciate it.
So yeah, all this is new to me, and I'm applying to DO and MD schools right now. Could someone tell me what my "chances" are for MD and DO schools? Here are my numbers

UCLA undergrad (psychobio major) 3.4 gpa, 3.3 science
UCLA grad (biomedical physics) gpa 3.6
MCAT V11 P10 B9 Q

Experiences:
-hospital volunteering
-ridiculous amount of community service
-currently the chief medical physicist of ucla's veterinary radiation oncology
-3 clinical rotations, including stereotactic spinal radiosurgery
-IMRT, IGRT, immunoradiotherapy thesis research

I read somewhere on this forum that schools like to focus on undergrad gpa's because they don't know how "hard" grad classes are? Do they look at it on a program by program basis at least?? I mean the biomedical physics program at ucla was friggin' rough for me! It's one of 10 AAPM accredited programs in the entire nation and I thought I was gonna lose my mind my first year here haha.
But anyway, any feed back about my chances for med or do school would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks!!!

alright, this is the third time you posted this block of text. no one really knows what their chance is until they apply. who knows what might happen? statistically, your MCAT of 30 should give you good leverage, even if the gpa is somewhat low. somewhere somehow, you'll get into an MD or DO school.

now post something different so we can get to know you better

 

[tank you]

alright, this is the third time you posted this block of text. no one really knows what their chance is until they apply. who knows what might happen? statistically, your MCAT of 30 should give you good leverage, even if the gpa is somewhat low. somewhere somehow, you'll get into an MD or DO school.

now post something different so we can get to know you better

i like how you said it so tactfully

 

[Pewl]

i like how you said it so tactfully

Heh, well I'm gonna block post it in several places to ensure it is seen and that it gets responses from different people in each area of the forum =P

What else do you want to know?

I'm a diehard Pacers and Colts fan

And I tend to distrust forums in general because there's almost always a ton of BS to sift through.

 

[tautomer]

I'm from Ohio (so that's good), and it's good to hear I'm not the only one in this situation. My friend is really kind of in the same boat as I am: mediocre stats and August MCAT, but he IS going ahead and applying for this current cycle. I guess I felt that I would be a little disappointed if he got in since it would be a pretty good realization that I probably could have gotten in somewhere this time as well.

Oh well, I think I'm going to wait. I think that those senior grades will come in pretty handy and your right about the PS: I probably wouldn't be able to start working on my PS until after the MCAT, so my app wouldn't be in until September. Not such a good idea now that I think about it. I guess after four years of being a pre-med, I was just ready to figure out where I would be going.

 

[bess]

Hi everyone,

I plan to take the august MCAT and still working on my personal statement. I feel discouraged already that I may not get a fair chance since I'm applying this late. I get so worried about it to the point that I cannot really study. I do not know what to do. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

 

[ezmoney1]

yep too late to apply, sorry

 

[Marieish]

I was working as an MCAT prep course teacher during the last year and got to speak to an admissions dean at a state allo school. One of the things that he told us that sort of struck me was that applying very early (June/early July) could actually work against you. What he said was that many of the "super candidates (3.8/4.0's, 35+) apply early, and, as a consequence, a lot of borderline applicants look worse in comparison and get voted against by the adcom, when they would otherwise be offered an interview. On the other hand, though, I know that the class at this school was full by January, and that everyone interviewing in Jan/Feb was interviewing for the waitlist, so it's a little up in the air. I don't think it's too late to apply now, if your heart is set on applying this year. But, then again, boosting your GPA with good senior year grades and having MCAT scores handy when choosing which schools to apply to couldn't hurt. Good luck on making your decision!

 

[dopaminesurge]

I was working as an MCAT prep course teacher during the last year and got to speak to an admissions dean at a state allo school. One of the things that he told us that sort of struck me was that applying very early (June/early July) could actually work against you. What he said was that many of the "super candidates (3.8/4.0's, 35+) apply early, and, as a consequence, a lot of borderline applicants look worse in comparison and get voted against by the adcom, when they would otherwise be offered an interview. On the other hand, though, I know that the class at this school was full by January, and that everyone interviewing in Jan/Feb was interviewing for the waitlist, so it's a little up in the air. I don't think it's too late to apply now, if your heart is set on applying this year. But, then again, boosting your GPA with good senior year grades and having MCAT scores handy when choosing which schools to apply to couldn't hurt. Good luck on making your decision!

I mean, that's interesting and it's something I've wondered about, but it's just what you said - if the positions are all filled by Jan, you might as well give actually getting in a shot, no?

 

[gujuDoc]

I'm from Ohio (so that's good), and it's good to hear I'm not the only one in this situation. My friend is really kind of in the same boat as I am: mediocre stats and August MCAT, but he IS going ahead and applying for this current cycle. I guess I felt that I would be a little disappointed if he got in since it would be a pretty good realization that I probably could have gotten in somewhere this time as well.

Oh well, I think I'm going to wait. I think that those senior grades will come in pretty handy and your right about the PS: I probably wouldn't be able to start working on my PS until after the MCAT, so my app wouldn't be in until September. Not such a good idea now that I think about it. I guess after four years of being a pre-med, I was just ready to figure out where I would be going.

It isn't too late to apply, and if you are from Ohio, then you are probably in a good position cuz they have a huge number of med schools, and schools like MCO, for instance, might give you a good shot at acceptance based on their stats and screening requirements.

Go ahead and apply if you don't want to waste a year. but if you feel ok about waiting a year, then wait. I knew several people, here in Florida, that got in and applied late because of August MCAT scores. It is all relative, and no one really knows the answer to whether or not it will completely be detrimental. All is dependent on the rest of your application, how it stacks up against other applicants, and how the adcoms are feeling that day when they review your application.

 

[n2egc5sm1s]

I'm in the same situation. Taking the August mcat and just waiting next year to apply. I mean I really want to optimize my chances and I figured I could up my GPA and make my senior year a little more worth while rather than worry about med aps. And the fact that you have plans the year after college is excellent. Good luck!

Not going this year? Looking back, I think it would have been a good idea to wait one more year. While doing my secondaries, I feel like a much better applicant than last year. Man, I was lost. Then again, why don't you apply to a few select schools? The worse case scenario is that you will gain some experience. Or maybe you can do the Peace Corps like our co-workers.