What are my chances? + Advice

[mohsy90]

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I am currently a Junior and looking to apply to Med school this summer. I currently have a 3.3 overall gpa and 3.23 BCPM. I'm scheduled to take the MCAT this April, but i did score a 32 on my diagnostic. I have done about 40 hours of volunteer work and 50 hours of clinical shadowing (neurologist).

 

[logjammer]

slim to no

also fake personality does not help

just because you watched the most mainstream
show or hobby does not give you depth

 

[mohsy90]

slim to no

also fake personality does not help

just because you watched the most mainstream
show or hobby does not give you depth

"Fake personality"????

Dont be a prick, keep your ignorant comments to yourself. I'm looking for real advice.

 

[bucks2010]

Please ignore logjammer's remarks.

I'm sorry to hear about your family issues. Having to provide for your family and work full time while in school would definitely qualify you as economically disadvantaged in my mind. Kudos to you, btw - I couldn't imagine working full-time and taking a pre-med courseload. I'd say you've done an admirable job so far.

Your GPA would really benefit from a boost. Current AAMC stats give you a 39% chance of acceptance to an MD program with a GPA of 3.2-3.4 and an MCAT of 30-32. Get your GPA to the 3.4-3.6 range and your odds increase to 56%. Maybe you could forecast how high you could get your GPA if you do really well in your senior year. If you're not able to raise it very much, you could either take some post-bacc classes (if so, consider delaying graduation) or pursue DO schools and take advantage of their grade replacement policies for GPA's. If I were you, I would study a lot for the MCAT this summer with plans of applying in June 2012 or 2013.

Some more volunteer work would help as well - but not as much as a higher GPA and MCAT.

 

[Catalystik]

-3.3 overall gpa
-3.23 BCPM.
-I'm scheduled to take the MCAT this April, but i did score a 32 on my diagnostic.

-I have done about 40 hours of volunteer work
-50 hours of clinical shadowing (neurologist).
-I've been working about 25-40 hours a week (worked 2 jobs during sophomore year) for the last 3 years

1) i am considering to apply my self as underrepresented (economically disadvantaged).

2) i manage all of the home finances and care for him as well (appointments, prescriptions and cover some of his work shifts). So as you can see i haven't really lived the normal college student life.

3) What are my chances for acceptance for 2012, or should i wait till after my senior year when hopefully my GPA will be higher.​

4) I would like to apply to schools close to home, so pretty much any schools in New York.​

5)Also, should i talk about my brothers death in personal statements and interviews? I had read another thread where someone had said that, "that story has been used to death." I don't want to give off the impression that i am making excuses for low grades, though unfortunately that is the case and the truth.

1) I believe that "Disadvantaged Status" refers to 0-18 years of age only. "Underrepresented" refers to groups that don't have enough physicians proportionate to their numbers in the general population, like Black, Hispanic, and Native American.

2) Caring for your dad might be used as part of the expected Clinical Experience you'll need to list on your application, but has the drawback that you might be asked how you can leave home for medical school when your family can't manage without you. So you'll need a good answer to that question.​

3) I think you'd be better off waiting at least an extra year for some GPA repair and to establish an upward grade trend in the sciences (by getting As in upper-level Bio and Biochem, for example), even if you have to drop down to part-time or minimum full-time school hours to make that happen. Adcomms will want that reassurance that you have what it takes to survive the science-intense curriculum of their med school. But keep in mind that there's no rush to apply to med school. Folks in their late 20s, and 30s throgh 50s also apply. So consider waiting until your application is the best it can be and possibly until after your family is doing better and can manage without you.​

4) Applying to a small number of med schools when you have sub par numbers and ECs isn't a good idea. I'd suggest you also look into the local DO schools to widen your pool since you are geographically limited.​

5) It's OK to mention the impact of your brother's situation on your decision to go into medicine, and even your dad's story, but the essay shouldn't be all about them. It needs to cover not just your motivation to consider medicine, but also how you tested medicine as a vocation and made sure it was right for you. This is why gaining more clinical experience is important and why physician shadowing of several specialties will help make your application stronger.​