I am in a slightly similar situation with a 29S MCAT (7 VR, 11 PS, 11 BS) and science GPA of 3.53 (3.92 as a doctoral student) non science GPA of 3.3. I have a Ph.D. in Neuroscience with 3 first author publications and very good extracurriculars (I have worked 2 years at a hospital and have shadowed 3 physicians, all MDs). I also volunteered at a hospital for several months. I applied to 8 DO schools and 8 lower tier MD schools. What are my chances of being admitted?
What are my chances?
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I wouldn't call this a 'similar situation' but ok. Your GPA is fine, your MCAT is a bit low. The 7 in VR is particularly damaging. Any chance of getting this up? If you get that up to a 10, you have a solid all around score.
Ok, so I'm going to be a bit honest, so don't take it personally. Disregard the graduate GPA, I'm pretty sure it doesn't count for anything. We get guaranteed As for many of our credits. I also wouldn't count those ECs as being exceptional. In fact, those are kind of odd ECs for a grad student to undertake - you'd have been in a position to start a collaboration with MDs as a grad student, shadowing them seems a bit odd.
There are a few other things that matter that you didn't mention: where did you do grad school? Where were your publications accepted? How long did your PhD take?
I think you have a good shot at admissions, but there are a few things you have to address. Why the PhD? Was it a backup, or were you accepted somewhere that you couldn't turn down? Will your advisor (and committee chair) write you a great letter? Given your strong science background, why didn't you blow at least one of the MCAT science sections out of the water?
Thanks for being brutally honest. I did my doctoral work at the University of Idaho. It was my first choice since I am an Idaho resident. It took me 4 years to complete the Ph.D. and the papers were accepted into low to mid level journals, Developmental Biology..........etc. We do not have a state medical school hence no MDs to collaborate with, much to my detriment I think. I did the Ph.D. because I want to go into academic medicine and specialize in Ophthalmology. I also knew that my undergraduate work was less than stellar and my best bet was to do the Ph.D. first then consider and MD after completing. My advisor and several of my committee members have written strong letters for me. I'm not sure what happened on the MCAT. Generally, I did well on the practice exams (AAMC and Kaplan) scoring above 35 on most of them. I went to speak with a medical school advisor for the WWAMI program which is the closest thing we have to a state medical school in Idaho ( actually in Seattle, WA) about this very damaging score. His advice was not to retake it. Has he hung me out to dry?
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Sorry for the Hijack, but I don't know how to move all of the comments to a new post. If a mod can do that, I'll be eternally grateful!
As far as the MCAT, that's a personal call. It isn't a terrible score, but it also isn't stellar. If you've been scoring consistent 35+ scores on practice tests, I'd consider retaking it. I wouldn't say that the advisor has hung you out to dry, it might be the case that you're within the range that they consider to be acceptable.
Did you apply to any med schools before doing the PhD? That might help your cause - you can show that med school isn't an afterthought, that it's been the plan all along. You can spin it such that you really just wanted to extra experience / opportunity before dedicating yourself to medicine.
For DO schools and lower tier MD schools, your stats are pretty good PLUS you have the PhD. Have you considered applying to any of the mid-tier schools? You might actually stand a good chance at schools that 'like' research but aren't necessarily biomedical powerhouses. I get the feeling that most of these schools don't get many PhD applicants, so you may stand out a bit more. You're a great number for them to put on their MSAR for next year!
During your grad school, did you teach often? How many presentations did you give? These are all great things to put on an app that most undergrads don't have meaningful experience with. I know of very few undergrads that have had to really defend their research to a panel of experts in their field. I think there are a lot of ways that you can make the story pretty compelling. Anyhow, I'll stop crowding someone else's post. I'm in a similar situation now, feel free to PM me if you want to talk more.
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lol similarity fail. this is completely different.
op...no top 20-25 (or any other) school will make up for that gpa/mcat. im sure you realize this and that is why you signed up for a postbacc. I'd say you need an above average mcat to help make up for the gpa... dont even apply this cycle.. you will need all the extra credits of A's you can get. i think 3.3-3.4 overall would put you in a good spot coupled with a high mcat. prep for and retake the mcat when you are hitting mid to upper 30s consistently. then apply early and broadly to mid to low "tier" schools.
you say you have good ecs.. just continue to rack up clinical experience and research if you can. also continue/find unique ECs ..it couldn't hurt..so long as you can maintain good grades...keep shooting for 4.0s! gl.
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I think you have an excellent chance of an acceptance to a DO school, but despite the terrific "Activity" that your PhD represents, that verbal score of 7 will be a problem for you in the MD application process. I agree that your extracurriculars look pretty good and have the potential to trump your stats, but you aren't a shoo-in by any means. Good luck.
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Don't even need a 10. An 8 is a significant improvement from 7, and will prevent screening at many schools.
Agree with Mobius that DO is a great alternative plan.
