Upward Trend?

[turnaround]

Hey everyone! I'm a longtime lurker, first time poster in need of some help.

I'm debating whether or not to take the MCAT in June. I'd like to apply this year for admission 2012, but I'm not sure if it would be better to wait a year.

I have a pretty low GPA and a LOT of W's. Last spring I started treatment for depression and have managed to turn my life around. This past year I took 37 units a semester (full time at a CC for science pre-reqs, and full time at my state school to finish my psychology BA) and managed a 4.0. However, my cGPA is still a 3.18 but my sGPA is 3.87.

My EC's aren't spectacular, since I've only really had a year. I have a little over 500 hours of volunteer time at my local hospital, but that's mostly clerical work. I have about 100 hours of volunteering as a dental assistant at a free family clinic, where I take a patient's medical history and blood pressure. I have a year of research, although it is in psych, and was part of a class. I've worked as an administrative assistant at the same company for about 9 years while putting myself through school.

I've also run 4 half marathons for various charities and volunteer at a bunch of 5k's in my town, but I don't know that med schools care so much about that.

I know you can't do much without an MCAT score, but do you think this would be enough to get me into a school with a decent MCAT score? I'd love to go to a state school, but I live in CA so I figure that's a little harder than other state schools. I wouldn't mind a DO but I haven't shadowed a DO or anything.

So do I take the MCAT and apply this year? Is my much-improved senior year enough? Or do I wait a year, study some more, and get some more experience? Thoughts?

Thanks

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[Catalystik]

I think you should wait a year, as an adcomm would be more reassured after your rocky early years to see sustained excellence in academics beyond a single year.

Since you've taken all your sciences at a CC, it would be nice to see some As in upper-level Bio at the 4-year school, if at all possible, through some postbac coursework. It will also be essential that your MCAT score be strong to prove the rigor of your CC coursework.

Further, the average applicant has 1.5 years of clinical experience (direct interactions with sick people being an important part of that) and 50 hours of physician shadowing. It would be to your advantage to have a DO physician among them.

That your research is in psych is fine. The marathon interest makes you interesting. List other hobbies, too.

Be aware that if you retook any classes with very low grades, that the AACOMAS DO schools only count the most recent earned when calculating the application GPAs, provided the credit hours are the same or greater. Would that raise the GPA for DO applications for you?