My main questions are this: If I had a decent MCAT score and good EC's, what are my GPA expectations for mid-tier MD and DO schools?
Sorry, Jordan. Let me redirect to your actual question. I can't give you a hard number on GPA, but yes, if you have a solid application, don't make more than, say, 1 major screwup in your prerequisites, and GO TO YALE, then yes, you will get interviewed and accepted at MID-TIER MD schools, to say nothing of osteopathic (no disrespect meant to them, just trying to answer his question).
Obviously assuming other things equal, maximum effort, and broad applications, you can take the thought of not being accepted anywhere out of your mind. So you don't have to worry about that.
Again, like I said, what I WOULD worry about is loan burden. Have a heart-to-heart with your parents (easy to say, I know). One thing that I didn't think of at your life stage (my parents didn't know either) is how paying good money for tuition, etc. would affect their ability to help me with internships, summer opportunities, lag times in the first years after graduation, etc. (Answer: they couldn't.) In their world (and these are well-to-do and cosmopolitan people by the standards of their community, which is not exactly a remote hamlet), a college student is supposed to hustle in the summers, etc. at a regular non-fancy job. This is a worldview that I personally share, but...
If you have the chance to go to Yale or a similar place, you will see a lot of people whose parents (fortunately) are ALSO able to underwrite their internships, etc. I don't want to say they can do it "without blinking" because I don't know their private financial details. But let's just say you'll be with a lot of people who can easily, no question, take the volunteer lab job or the
pay-to-volunteer sexy overseas opportunity. This will probably not impact your core strength as a candidate--I mean, Admissions is not composed of total idiots, really--but it will almost definitely result in classmates whose applications have a lot more bells and whistles than yours.
That said, if your hometown is the kind of place that has "spiffy" summer opportunities, and/or it's a place from where you could reasonably conduct a coastal job search during the down times that will inevitably come, then your parents don't have to have quite as much cash on hand, because you can live at home while (say) doing research in the summer.
Bottom line: mid-tier MD or DO? Absolutely. Just know what's up before you commit.
