Ouch Cheshyre, a little harsh, MCATs are not the end-all/be-all. My MCATs aren't stellar either, but I'd like to think they would look at my GPA, ECs, leadership experience and other accomplishments considering it takes more than a good test taker to be a good physician. Keep your head up Sumo12, even tho we may be competing for a spot in school I still wish you the best of luck.
I'm not trying to be harsh - sorry if it comes off that way. Hm. I must've been feeling pretty irritated that day. My apologies to all.
The chances are still slim, but yeah, I would agree now that Sumo has a chance of getting into a DO school. If you can afford the cash, it won't hurt.
EDIT:
IMO, here are the criteria, in order of importance from the perspective of admissions committees, for getting into medical school (DO or MD). Again, this is my opinion it's not set in stone. Feel free to chime in on this.
1) GPA
2) MCAT
3) LOR. Good LOR, especially from someone with some influence in the medical realm, can help. A bad LOR, IMO, will ruin your app. They gave you the chance to pick whoever you wanted for your LORs and you chose somebody who doesn't like you. Doesn't look good. Side note - don't do something stupid. Your LOR writers are putting their reputation on the line for you. Do something bad (like lie on your application) and it looks bad on them too.
4) Clinical Experience (volunteering w/ patient exposure, shadowing, working in the field, etc). I would say that having a lot of this doesn't necessarily increase your chances of getting in, but not having this will be really detrimental... plus, if you have no idea what it actually means to be a doctor, you need to rethink your career goals.
5) Volunteering, Research. Long term (>1 year duration) is better. Short term volunteering makes it look like you were trying to pad your application... which you probably were. Volunteering does NOT have to be medical. I like to cook so I ended up volunteering for a while at a local soup kitchen. It was awesome and way better than fighting other pre-meds for spots at the local hospital. Research is more important for MD applications. I've been told by a DO admissions officer that they simply treat it as another extracurricular at their school.
6) Extracurricular Activities. Med schools like to see well-rounded students, but, they've been known to take bookworms fairly frequently as well. In any case, it can only help to be good at something. It may be the source of a leadership role and you can talk about it during interviews.
7) Personal Statement. As long as you don't write something insane, it's fine. There's no objective way to grade these.
for your mcat score
