What are my realistic chances?

[Denilson]

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I'm finishing my PhD in toxicology and i'm applying to med schools (allopathic and osteopathic)...my undergrad GPA is a 3.3 and grad is 3.4...my mcat is 30 8v, 12ps, 10bs, O writ...what are my chances?..i'm applying to 24 allopathic schools and 5 osteopathic schools and i'm a NY resident. i also volunteered at inner city elementary school for 3 years and taught sunday schools for 3.5 years...i also have 5 published paper, but i wonder if i should have done something in health care (volunteer)..in addition, i speak 4 languages fluently (portuguese, spanish korean and english)..i'm just a little paranoid cuz i apllied in 94 and didn't get in anywhere...please let me know...

 

[Col_4:14]

tomelee, I know you are new but you must undestand that the SDN is flooded with questions like this (especially from new members). There is no magic ball. Everyone is different. You show me some students with less credentials (than you) and I will show you some who made it in and some who didn't. Same goes for credentials better than you.

 

[Denilson]

thanks!i'll just sit back a realx until it's all over 🙂

 

[Col_4:14]

I know tomelee, its tough. If I had known about the SDN during my wait this site would have been flooded with "What are my chances?" questions 😀

 

[AJM]

tomelee,
You might want to consider getting involved in something in healthcare over the next few months. Not necessarily volunteering in the ER -- you could shadow a physician or spend some time in a free clinic as a few examples. The point of these is not necessarily to pad your applications, but so that you get a good idea of what medicine is about, why you want to do it, some of it's downsides, etc. As a PhD student applying to med school, it will be very important to be able to explain in a convincing way why you want to do medicine rather than continue in your current field. It helps to have some recent first-hand experience in medicine so that you will be prepared for questions by your interviewers as to why you are changing fields.

It will also help you make sure that you really want to do med school -- if you volunteered 8 years ago when you first applied, and you felt volunteering then was a good experience, you might have changed since then, and not even realize it. It's always good to have some up-to-date experiences in your field of choice.