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biorenaissance

biorenaissance

Full Member
10+ Year Member
So I have really really liked dentistry but the more I take classes like A&P and Genetics the more I want to do research but I really messed up in early college high school. Would it be possible to get into DO/PhD combined with a 3.35cu and 3.7sci? How high would my MCAT have to be? Also I have maddddd Dental clinic hours can I use these at all?
 
biorenaissance said:
So I have really really liked dentistry but the more I take classes like A&P and Genetics the more I want to do research but I really messed up in early college high school. Would it be possible to get into DO/PhD combined with a 3.35cu and 3.7sci? How high would my MCAT have to be? Also I have maddddd Dental clinic hours can I use these at all?
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Going the MD route might be the path of least resistance if you're only interested in research. DO schools aren't known for putting an emphasis on research and none have the grant money of even a mid tier allopathic research program. I'm pretty sure only 5 DO schools even offer the combined DO/PhD degree, and the ones that do are mostly associated with state univ. and are thus very in-state friendly. The few DO/PhD people I've heard of completed their PhD either before or after med school.

To pull an MD acceptance, you're prolly gonna need a 30+ MCAT, and with your gpa (good sci but low cum) a SMP would be a good idea. Also, schools will want to see some medicine clinic/research hours to know that you're serious about medicine as a career. If you're still set on DO though, you can retake your bad classes so your GPA won't hold you back too much and then add a 27+ MCAT and some medicine related hours. Good luck
 
Your dentistry clinical hours really won't help you. Try shadowing physicians to help you out there or volunteer in the clinical setting.

Also, DO/PhD is fairly uncommon from what I understand. You will really limit yourselves as to what schools you can apply to if you're wanting to do the combined degree program (I honestly don't even remember seeing one when I was researching schools), which is not something you want to do when applying. You need to apply broadly if you are concerned about your chances. So the MD route is probably your best bet, but the 3.35 cum GPA might hurt you, so I would recommend retaking the classes you didn't do well in, or taking more classes to boost the GPA. If you really kill the MCAT (30+) you should be in good shape, as long as the rest of your application is beefed up and your LORs are solid. Good luck! 🙂
 
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