Unsure about how/when to apply to D.O. schools..

[premed88910]

My cgpa is a 3.30 and my sgpa is a 3.22, so those aren't great but there's significant upward trend in the past 1.5 years. My E.C.'s, clinical experience, and shadowing are pretty solid. I will also be getting a D.O. letter in a few weeks.

I first took the MCAT almost 3 years ago, and did not prepare well at all. Scored in low 20's. I was basically just young and foolish at age 19, and I definitely won't make that mistake again. I did the Kaplan prep course and have scored 29+ on all my recent practice tests, so I am really hoping to score at least that when I take the real thing on July 12th.

So my question is this: When should I submit my primary application? Should I apply with my older MCAT score and then update with the July score? Would some schools reject me due to the low score even if I indicate that I am retaking it?

Or, should I just wait for the new score before submitting anything? Will my application be considered late if I don't apply until I receive my MCAT score in mid-August?

Also, I am retaking 2 chemistry classes this fall that I did poorly in a few years back (a C in one, a D in the other), and doing so (assuming A's) would raise my cgpa to a 3.4 and my sgpa to a 3.5. How would I go about updating medical schools of my GPA at that time? Is that done through ACCOMAS or would I have my university send my updated transcripts directly to medical schools that I am interested in? And would they see just the grades that I made in those classes, or would they see my new, recalculated GPA with the retakes?

If anyone knows the answer to any of the questions, I would appreciate your input so very much. I've talked to pre-med advisers at my school but received a lot of conflicting information from them, and I think someone that has been through/is going through the application process might be able to offer more accurate information.

Thanks a lot for your time

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[chizledfrmstone]

What year did you take the previous MCAT? It might be expired.

I would have the application prepared and ready to submit as soon as you get the new score.

You can send it in now and update the MCAT but I personally think it's a better idea to submit with the new MCAT. Applying mid August won't hurt you at all.

 

[premed88910]

What year did you take the previous MCAT? It might be expired.

I would have the application prepared and ready to submit as soon as you get the new score.

You can send it in now and update the MCAT but I personally think it's a better idea to submit with the new MCAT. Applying mid August won't hurt you at all.

Thanks a lot for your response. This September will make 3 years since I have taken it.

Also, I have seen a few people talk about applying to just one school to get verified, and then apply to other schools later with updated information. Does that really speed up the process any? Would that perhaps be beneficial in my case, or would the other schools receive my completed application at the same time either way?

 

[DoctorKrieger]

Update AACOMAS of your retakes, and send updated transcripts to them, not the schools. AACOMAS will take care of any gpa updates if you filled it out correctly.

Read this, it will answer most any question you will probably have in the app process: http://www.aacom.org/Documents/AACOMASInstructions.pdf

Also, use the internet and SDN as your new pre-med advisor. Most school advisors know little about applying to MD schools and even less about DO schools.

 

[DreamingDoc]

Go ahead and apply as soon as you are able to with your current scores. It will take a few weeks for your application to be verified, and you'll still have to submit secondary applications before you can be fully complete. If you want, you can wait to send in the secondaries until you receive the new scores (or you can notify schools to review your app after receiving the new scores), and that way everything else in your application will be good and ready to go. Good luck!

 

[jaguar33]

I would definitely wait until you get your score back. I recommend applying to 1 school with your current MCAT in order to get verified early (one you don't care about as much). Once you get your new MCAT score back (considering you are happy with it) apply to the other schools you are interested in. In my opinion, first impressions are extremely important. Especially since ADCOMS need to read through so many applications. It is risky to hope they will review your file again when you submit the new score.

 

[BestDoctorEver]

I would definitely wait until you get your score back. I recommend applying to 1 school with your current MCAT in order to get verified early (one you don't care about as much). Once you get your new MCAT score back (considering you are happy with it) apply to the other schools you are interested in. In my opinion, first impressions are extremely important. Especially since ADCOMS need to read through so many applications. It is risky to hope they will review your file again when you submit the new score.

^This...