Medical What are my realistic chances this cycle?

[TheBoneDoctah]

Hello. I would appreciate a realistic understanding of what my chances are of getting into an MD program this cycle. I am hoping to apply July 1st as I will be taking some summer classes. I'm currently a junior with a cGPA of 3.58 and sGPA of 3.40. I have not taken my MCATs yet but am studying really hard to maximize my score. Both my cGPA and sGPA have seen an upward trend. Due to COVID, I have not been able to gain a lot of shadowing hours but I do have quite a lot of virtual shadowing hours. As for clinical experience, I have very limited hours due to volunteering opportunities being quite scarce throughout my sophomore and junior years (again with COVID). I have applied to some jobs that will get me more clinical experience this spring semester so I hope to add that to my list of experiences. I have around 400 hours of research experience. I have also been a TA for a biology lab for 1 year so far but hope to continue. I have asked my professors for LORs already and have had good relationships with them so I expect strong letters. I have received an F due to a strange situation recently but my other grades have never strayed below a B-. Primarily, I would really appreciate some advice on how strong (or weak) of an applicant I will be. Also, do you think that my F would be a big red flag and that interviewers would ask me about this? Thank you.

You need to absolutely make sure you have a good amount of clinical and non-clinical volunteer hours. Do not apply without them. If for some reason you cannot get them by the time you apply, it may be better to take a gap year. Your GPA are borderline low for MD (but ok for DO). With a good amount of EC hours and 505+ on MCAT I think your chances are good for DO. You will need a pretty high MCAT to have a good chance for MD IMO just because of the GPA but I don’t think you are out of the running.

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[GoSpursGo]

A couple of things:

1) It's basically impossible to give an accurate assessment of your chances without an MCAT score. If you got a 520, obviously you're looking much better than if you got a 500.

2) That GPA is an even bigger problem because you presumably have a downward trend since that F was "recent." Yes, it's a big red flag.

3) Along the same lines you said that the F was due to a "strange situation." If that situation actually is an IA, then all bets are off and you need to start planning on some gap years because you need some time as an upstanding citizen.

4) Even beyond the cold, hard stats, it doesn't seem like you really have checked all of the boxes to be a competitive applicant. I'm sure you have some very good reasons for that given the pandemic, but you have to be able to show that you have some idea of what you're getting yourself into.

Bottom line, I really struggle to imagine you being ready to apply this year.

 

[Goro]

A recent F will indeed be a major red flag, and in fact prevent you from getting to the interview stage.

On the surface, saying it was due to a "strange situation" telegraphs that you are not owning this either.

Finally, getting into an MD program is 100% on you. We can only advise on chances of getting IIs. And that's impossible without an MCAT score.

 

[TheBoneDoctah]

Do you want to explain the F situation?

 

[TheBoneDoctah]

Thank you for asking. Goro has already thankfully given me some great advice in regards to my F situation but I’d love some more insight. Last semester, when Covid cases spiked in my area, my school transitioned online and my math final was unexpectedly moved online. For the final, we had to write our answers on our own paper and take photos of these papers and submit through email. I had made a really big mistake that I’ll never not regret. I did some of my calculations like reducing fractions, multiplication and addition, on scrap paper because I had assumed since it’s not related to the unit, I can just do it on a separate piece of paper to stay neater. Bottom line, I had forgotten to send in my scrap paper as part of my exam and due to inconsistencies within my work, my professor suspected me of academic integrity violations. He had unfortunately not recorded the zoom video so I had absolutely no evidence that I didn’t cheat and in fact just made a really big careless mistake in not turning in all my work. My institution did not take any actions since this was considered minor and nothing was reported on any records of any sort but I did have to sign a form to show that I accept the course penalty of getting an F and take it as a warning. At this point, my advisors and the prehealth committee mentioned that I should not report this situation as an IA since it was just between my professor and me but in order to be complete honest and transparent with my potential schoolS I will report this as an IA and explain the circumstances surrounding it. I know I made a mistake and especially in a math class, should have been careful to include all of my work but I can only show growth from it.

If this is not on the record as an IA why would you report as an IA?

 

[TheBoneDoctah]

Because I was under the impression that IAs have to be reported regardless of whether they are on record or anything of that sort. Am I wrong? I’m just trying to avoid being dishonest on the applications.

My apologies...I misunderstood/misread your post. I would disclose and explain yourself fully.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

My own opinion, when did this occur? In the spring, summer, or fall of 2020?

I say this because the pandemic really scrambled everyone when it came to integrity issues. I don't know if the school really had anything legally to back up the professor on the charge but I'm also not sure it is worth getting through the process to find out. That said your advisors gave you advice that I think is sound, and work with the administrators involved with student conduct at your school to get the precise wording for any disclosure you make.

That said, back to your question: I know the pandemic shut down a lot of clinical opportunities but aside from virtual shadowing, what patient-centered opportunities in a clinical and non-clinical setting have you completed?

 

[AlteredScale]

Okay thank you, that’s what I’m planning on doing. Do you think if I explain myself fully like I did in this thread and obviously elaborate more on what I learned from the situation, it will lessen the effect of the IA and not be as big of a red flag?

Yes if you fully explain what happened and the lessons learned I think you should be fine. Because the F may def get pulled up in interviews. But would have to agree it’s hard to say how you’ll fair without an Mcat.

 

[AlteredScale]

Thank you for your advice. I’m planning on explaining what happened and taking full responsibility of making the mistake of not turning in all my papers. However, as I didn’t cheat, i can’t really take responsibility for cheating on the exam. That said, if you had read my reflection and explanation, would you still hold my IA against me?

Also, I’m actually planning on taking my mcat in May and if I don’t get a score I am happy with, I think I will hold of on applying this cycle because I understand that my application is not quite as strong as it should be.

I cannot really speak for adcoms because each one will respond differently to the explanation, but given the circumstance I would lean on the side of understanding so as long as you really reflect on how to prevent a similar occurrence from repeating itself.