What are my chances? the same question as everyone else...

[hopeful2008]

I've been reading posts on here for a while and you all seem to give some pretty good advice. I'd love some input about my application - mdapps profile (#10492).

I applied for 2008, but since I'm currently waitlisted at two schools I'm trying to start thinking about applying for 2009.

Brief overview:
BCPM GPA - 3.31 --> awesome positive trend, though (2.5, 3.33, 3.6, 3.71)
Overall GPA - 3.55

MCAT - 29P (I'm going to take it again in August if I don't get in for 2008)

I graded undergrad in 2007 and I'm currently in an SMP program. My GPA in the SMP is about a 3.60.

Lots of volunteering (400+ hours)
EMT work (300+ hours)
Various honors

Let me know what you think!! Thanks!

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[SketchLazy]

I've been reading posts on here for a while and you all seem to give some pretty good advice. I'd love some input about my application - mdapps profile (#10492).

I applied for 2008, but since I'm currently waitlisted at two schools I'm trying to start thinking about applying for 2009.

Brief overview:
BCPM GPA - 3.31 --> awesome positive trend, though (2.5, 3.33, 3.6, 3.71)
Overall GPA - 3.55

MCAT - 29P (I'm going to take it again in August if I don't get in for 2008)

I graded undergrad in 2007 and I'm currently in an SMP program. My GPA in the SMP is about a 3.60.

Lots of volunteering (400+ hours)
EMT work (300+ hours)
Various honors

Let me know what you think!! Thanks!

If you're thinking about reapplying this year, retaking in august is kind of late. You won't get your results back until Sept, so your application won't be done until then. I think you should think about cramming and retaking sooner and having your application complete in July. It might be impossible to do that, so you should think about taking a step back for a year and improving your application. Ask the schools that rejected you what your weaknesses were. Some will be receptive and tell you in what areas you can work on in your application. Either way you have to score significantly better on the MCAT (if you retake), and do extremely well for the remainder of your SMP courses.

 

[hopeful2008]

hey thanks for the reply!

in terms of taking the mcat in august: i'm thinking that its better to take it a little later and do really really well rather than cram and not really improve that much. im not even done with my smp classes yet, so the odds of me being able to start studying in the next couple of weeks is pretty slim. i feel like if i try to start studying for the mcat during my smp finals then ill just end up screwing myself over twice - bad smp grades and lower mcat because i crammed....

 

[SketchLazy]

hey thanks for the reply!

in terms of taking the mcat in august: i'm thinking that its better to take it a little later and do really really well rather than cram and not really improve that much. im not even done with my smp classes yet, so the odds of me being able to start studying in the next couple of weeks is pretty slim. i feel like if i try to start studying for the mcat during my smp finals then ill just end up screwing myself over twice - bad smp grades and lower mcat because i crammed....

You've got something going for you this year in terms of change because of your SMP. Doing well in that and keeping your current commitments should keep you in good shape for reapplying.

You really have to be positive about scoring higher otherwise retaking is a waste of time. When you are at 29, each extra point puts you up about 5 percentile. With about 67,000 people taking the test each year, that's about 3,350 people you have to score better than to earn each point above 29. You could try not informing schools in your primary application that you are retaking. That way you can finish your applications early. If you get your score back, and you are happy with it, you can always update all the schools that you applied to. I don't know if there are any negatives to this strategy so you might want to call some admissions offices to ask first.

Good luck with those waitlists though. There's still hope for that.

 

[scarletgirl777]

hey thanks for the reply!

in terms of taking the mcat in august: i'm thinking that its better to take it a little later and do really really well rather than cram and not really improve that much. im not even done with my smp classes yet, so the odds of me being able to start studying in the next couple of weeks is pretty slim. i feel like if i try to start studying for the mcat during my smp finals then ill just end up screwing myself over twice - bad smp grades and lower mcat because i crammed....

That makes a lot of sense. You could try asking schools what was wrong with your application, but chances are they'll say it was your MCAT (unless you also had terrible essays or letters of recommendation--it's worth checking). Another thing to consider is that if you take the exam in August, when are you going to write your secondaries? Maybe you can apply to schools with screened secondaries pre-MCAT and then add other secondaries post-MCAT? You can prewrite them the week after the MCAT maybe so you have quick turnaround time.

 

[hopeful2008]

That makes a lot of sense. You could try asking schools what was wrong with your application, but chances are they'll say it was your MCAT (unless you also had terrible essays or letters of recommendation--it's worth checking). Another thing to consider is that if you take the exam in August, when are you going to write your secondaries? Maybe you can apply to schools with screened secondaries pre-MCAT and then add other secondaries post-MCAT? You can prewrite them the week after the MCAT maybe so you have quick turnaround time.

Thanks for the advice!

I think that I'll just try to do my best to get in my secondaries as fast as I can after I finish taking the MCAT. Since I applied last year, I definitely have some essays that I can use as a starting point (although they will all be revised), so I'm sure that will help me out a lot. Also, I'm going to try to look up secondary questions that other people post before schools even send me their secondaries so that I get a bit of a head start.

Do you think that if I could really improve that MCAT score that I have a shot this time around....?

 

[scarletgirl777]

Thanks for the advice!

I think that I'll just try to do my best to get in my secondaries as fast as I can after I finish taking the MCAT. Since I applied last year, I definitely have some essays that I can use as a starting point (although they will all be revised), so I'm sure that will help me out a lot. Also, I'm going to try to look up secondary questions that other people post before schools even send me their secondaries so that I get a bit of a head start.

Do you think that if I could really improve that MCAT score that I have a shot this time around....?

Yes. The SMP has taken care your GPA. If you could improve the MCAT by 4+ points, it would be worth it. Assuming your volunteering is in a hospital, your ECs are all kind of the same thing...but if you apply broadly you will definitely get in somewhere, hopefully several somewheres.