what are my chances?

[drugPorter]

I got my college in degree in chemical engineering from Yale with a pretty low UGPA (3.1), went on to do a PhD in biomedical engineering at Yale and am currently nearing completion. I got Honors in all 10 graduate courses I took in the PhD program (Yale grades graduate courses using a Honors/High Pass/Pass/Fail system), volunteered in the hospital and shadowed a physician. As an undergrad, I cofounded a journal, sang in a choir, did community service, and published 3 papers (2 first authorships). I've published another 3 as a PhD student and presented my work at several conferences. I took the MCAT recently and scored a 42S.
Am I competitive enough? If so, where?

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[nu2004]

serious response:

this would be better received in the pre-allo "what are my chances?" thread. that's where most of the other forehead-slappingly stupid posts end up.

care bear response:

yes, you will be competitive at most schools. your undergrad GPA will hurt you a little bit, but your graduate work will go a long way to offset those numbers. as long as your BCPM is at least above a 3.1 (hopefully higher?) you should be in good shape. at this point, focus heavily on writing a great PS, and get plenty of people to look over it. last, don't make the mistake that other people with high grades and high MCATs make - apply broadly.

 

[drugPorter]

geez, if you thought my post was "head-slappingly silly", why did you even bother to give a response?
to be honest, i find such pretentiousness disgusting. i'm a newbie to these forums; and i would not have posted in this section had i not seen similar postings below.

 

[DrMidlife]

geez, if you thought my post was "head-slappingly silly", why did you even bother to give a response?
to be honest, i find such pretentiousness disgusting. i'm a newbie to these forums; and i would not have posted in this section had i not seen similar postings below.

Shake it off. We work for free here, and we see the same questions 4 million times. I got harshed on my first post too, didn't see it coming, got torqued, posted angry, got harshed some more, and I still resent it. Be smarter than me.

 

[gman33]

I disagree with some of the above posts.
You should be competitive at some schools, but it's not such a sure thing as was implied. To be a competitive applicant you need a high UG gpa and a good MCAT score. You obviously have a great MCAT score. Congrats on that. Your UG gpa is way below competitive. Unfortunately, your grad work and gpa will count for almost nothing. That's just the way it works.

What is your UG BCPM?
If this was higher than your overall UG gpa, that would help your case.

I do think that you have a unique application and if you apply broadly to enough schools have will get some acceptances. Don't fall into the thinking that your MCAT and PhD will make you a slam dunk for anywhere you apply. It's not that you said this, it's more that I think some people will try to tell you this is the case. If you are interested in the really competitive schools, go ahead and apply, but make sure you apply to a high number of less competitive schools as well.

Good

 

[nu2004]

geez, if you thought my post was "head-slappingly silly", why did you even bother to give a response?
to be honest, i find such pretentiousness disgusting. i'm a newbie to these forums; and i would not have posted in this section had i not seen similar postings below.

because in general, i try not to flame people without at least being helpful.

but yeah, great, welcome to SDN. let us know how we can hold your hand through the med school admissions process.

 

[chup12682]

Hello all! I'm a post bacc student, struggling with the rest of you non-trads, and trying to get into a medical school! I'm currently at that point where I'm vacillating between applying for a masters program to continue my education before medical school or apply straight into a medical program. My situation is that I, like many non-trads, performed poorly in my BCPM's in undergrad, however, after working a few years and gaining the motivation to go back to school and hopefully go to med school, I decided to enter a post bacc program to better my GPA. I now have, at the current institution, a 3.98 GPA with 3 semesters worth of full time status (by the way when I saw my tuition bill for a full-time student status, I nearly croaked!!!). I know that AMCAS will average my grades, but even so, my averaged GPA will only come out to about 3.4 or 3.5. So my question is this... Do some medical schools place more emphasis (and I mean any at all) on later and improved school work? If they do not, does this put me in a position where I should forego my application process for medical school and go straight onto a masters program? My MCAT scores have been decent (29, 31, 30 and my last diagnostic 33... we'll see how I do on the May test!!!) Thanks for reading such a long post. I would really appreciate your helpful adivce. Cheers everyone! It's good to know that there's a community of people who are freaking out about the same things that I am.

 

[nu2004]

Do some medical schools place more emphasis (and I mean any at all) on later and improved school work? If they do not, does this put me in a position where I should forego my application process for medical school and go straight onto a masters program? My MCAT scores have been decent (29, 31, 30 and my last diagnostic 33... we'll see how I do on the May test!!!) Thanks for reading such a long post. I would really appreciate your helpful adivce. Cheers everyone! It's good to know that there's a community of people who are freaking out about the same things that I am.

My impression is that they do, but I don't know for certain.

What I do know is that hitting that 33+ will go a considerable ways toward easing their minds about your preparedness.

 

[futureboy]

because in general, i try not to flame people without at least being helpful.

but yeah, great, welcome to SDN. let us know how we can hold your hand through the med school admissions process.

Flaming someone with a Ph.D from Yale and a 42 MCAT? Wow. No doubt you have two Ph.Ds from Harvard and a 45 MCAT...

 

[njbmd]

Hello all! I'm a post bacc student, struggling with the rest of you non-trads, and trying to get into a medical school! I'm currently at that point where I'm vacillating between applying for a masters program to continue my education before medical school or apply straight into a medical program. My situation is that I, like many non-trads, performed poorly in my BCPM's in undergrad, however, after working a few years and gaining the motivation to go back to school and hopefully go to med school, I decided to enter a post bacc program to better my GPA. I now have, at the current institution, a 3.98 GPA with 3 semesters worth of full time status (by the way when I saw my tuition bill for a full-time student status, I nearly croaked!!!). I know that AMCAS will average my grades, but even so, my averaged GPA will only come out to about 3.4 or 3.5. So my question is this... Do some medical schools place more emphasis (and I mean any at all) on later and improved school work? If they do not, does this put me in a position where I should forego my application process for medical school and go straight onto a masters program? My MCAT scores have been decent (29, 31, 30 and my last diagnostic 33... we'll see how I do on the May test!!!) Thanks for reading such a long post. I would really appreciate your helpful adivce. Cheers everyone! It's good to know that there's a community of people who are freaking out about the same things that I am.

Yes, post bacc work that is excellent will can help to offset an earlier poor academic performance. You get some points for developing maturity and focus in this process. Post bacc can raise a below-average uGPA which is one of the major criteria for admission to medical school. Graduate work will not do this and thus entering a masters program other than a SPM (Special Masters Program) that is designed for grade enhancement for medical school (and doing outstanding) is not going to get you closer to medical school.

I also hope that you do not have multiple MCAT scores but that those are just diagnostic scores (not actual test scores) because multiple MCATs can kill you. If you take the test once, you need to score significantly higher on a retake and retake only once. If those are your actual MCAT scores, you are going to need to be very high on the May exam.

If those are diagnostic test scores, I recommend studying as hard as you can because the MCAT can go in any direction from the diagnostics (hopefully you will go up) and you want to maximize your chances of an above average (greater than 31) score on the actual exam since you are going to be a bit below average on your uGPA.

 

[Blade28]

Agree with the above.

Unfortunately doing well in a grad program only counts as a good extra-curricular - these grades won't help increase your cumulative GPA. Post-bac work or an SMP are your best bet.

Best of luck.

 

[chup12682]

Thank you all (NJBMD and Blade28) for your words of advice. I definitely know that if a masters programs is going to happen, an SMP is the ONLY masters program I would consider if medical school is still in the picture. Well, my diagnostics have been decent and I've got a month left before my MCAT date. So it's time to buckle down (right... like I wasn't doing so before). If you have any other pieces of information, I would be greatly appreciative. Thanks again for sharing your thoughts through experience or knowledge.

 

[Blade28]

Thank you all (NJBMD and Blade28) for your words of advice. I definitely know that if a masters programs is going to happen, an SMP is the ONLY masters program I would consider if medical school is still in the picture. Well, my diagnostics have been decent and I've got a month left before my MCAT date. So it's time to buckle down (right... like I wasn't doing so before). If you have any other pieces of information, I would be greatly appreciative. Thanks again for sharing your thoughts through experience or knowledge.

If you've brought up your cumulative GPA to 3.5, you're in much better shape. Your upward trend in grades will definitely help as well.

But now you just gotta rock the MCAT! That's your #1 priority right now.

Best of luck.

 

[Nasrudin]

I got my college in degree in chemical engineering from Yale with a pretty low UGPA (3.1), went on to do a PhD in biomedical engineering at Yale and am currently nearing completion. I got Honors in all 10 graduate courses I took in the PhD program (Yale grades graduate courses using a Honors/High Pass/Pass/Fail system), volunteered in the hospital and shadowed a physician. As an undergrad, I cofounded a journal, sang in a choir, did community service, and published 3 papers (2 first authorships). I've published another 3 as a PhD student and presented my work at several conferences. I took the MCAT recently and scored a 42S.
Am I competitive enough? If so, where?

Hey Bro. Welcome to academic skid row. Our manners are atrocious. You've got some advisers here...blade, njbmd.

Yeah so the thing is your kind of sporty...f'n biomed engineering phd from Yale, multiple pubs, ridiculous MCAT score. But your gpa is the big buzzkill.

If I was you, I'd get me the uh...MSAR book apply widely with extra emphasis on private schools in competition with considerable state schools from areas where students are lower on the stat range and flash them your fancy credentials. I bet somebody will take you. Your a potential marquee player. They get real hard ons for potential Dr. Sanjay Gupta's and the like that will make them look good and bring in the rent money.

Good luck.