What do I have to do.........

[unthockey20]

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Ok so I am about to apply to medical school for the 3rd time. I really only consider it to be 2.5 times since the first time I applied was the last day applications were excepted. My undergrad GPA was 3.2 with a 26 MCAT. The last time I applied I had my stuff turned in about 3 weeks after the cycle started. Now I know that my GPA is low but that is because I went to school to play hockey and did not decided to try for med school until I was in my third year. It suffered alot in the first couple of years but climbed alot after I decide on pre-med. I have worked for the past year in the ER one on one with a ton of physicians. Until this coming cycle I have only applied to Texas schools but with no luck so far. What the hell should I do. I just retook the MCAT and I think I did well but we'll see. I am applying to the IMS program at Drexel but is there something I am missing. How bad does a class C misdemeanor for marijuana possession 5 years ago affect your application? Any advice would be appreciated.

 

[atisha]

The class C misdemeanor does matter. And to make up for your GPA your MCATS will have to be 30+ at the very least unless you come from an extremely disadvantaged background (ie parents only have a 6 grade education etc). Do you have any other pertinent experience other than the ER? If thats the only experience you've had I would consider taking another year to improve your application- a postbac might be good for you. If you are dead set on applying this cycle apply very very broadly write killer essays and turn everything as quickly as humanly possible- that might get you a shot but you have to be realistic, there are students with great MCATs and nearly perfect grades that are rejected every year. hope that helps

 

[arlingtondoc]

Ok so I am about to apply to medical school for the 3rd time. I really only consider it to be 2.5 times since the first time I applied was the last day applications were excepted. My undergrad GPA was 3.2 with a 26 MCAT. The last time I applied I had my stuff turned in about 3 weeks after the cycle started. Now I know that my GPA is low but that is because I went to school to play hockey and did not decided to try for med school until I was in my third year. It suffered alot in the first couple of years but climbed alot after I decide on pre-med. I have worked for the past year in the ER one on one with a ton of physicians. Until this coming cycle I have only applied to Texas schools but with no luck so far. What the hell should I do. I just retook the MCAT and I think I did well but we'll see. I am applying to the IMS program at Drexel but is there something I am missing. How bad does a class C misdemeanor for marijuana possession 5 years ago affect your application? Any advice would be appreciated.

first you may want to consider waiting to apply to try to boost your academics. your numbers are low for MD programs, but not unreasonable for DO programs. take some time to boost your gpa. the drexel program is a good option, many many other schools offer similar programs. some give you the chance to interview at the school associated with the program. they often offer mcat prep to boost scores too. retaking the mcat is good especially if you boost the score. to be blunt, i don't think adcoms look much past the 3.2 when they have a mountain of apps in front of them. for comparison i had a 3.2 undergrad, 3.6+ post bacc and a 30 MCAT with 13 years in EMS and still had some difficulty even getting interviews. i think that the 3.2 still hurt me.

if you do not want to wait a year or two to apply, my advice would be to apply far and wide. all over the country and at osteopathic schools as well as allopathic. this year i applied to 48 schools total (and a mix of both degrees), interviews at 6, into 2 and waitlisted at the rest. be realistic about how you compare.

also what are the chances you can find get access to a pre-med advisor at your undergraduate school? you need to have someone to talk to who knows more about the process than you do. failing that, talk to the docs you have worked with and ask them for advice about the process. i applied twice to get in, once i largely did it alone failed. the second time i asked two advisors, a couple of docs, and as many people as i could find to read my essays.

good luck.

 

[theserbatron]

first you may want to consider waiting to apply to try to boost your academics. your numbers are low for MD programs, but not unreasonable for DO programs. take some time to boost your gpa. the drexel program is a good option, many many other schools offer similar programs. some give you the chance to interview at the school associated with the program. they often offer mcat prep to boost scores too. retaking the mcat is good especially if you boost the score. to be blunt, i don't think adcoms look much past the 3.2 when they have a mountain of apps in front of them. for comparison i had a 3.2 undergrad, 3.6+ post bacc and a 30 MCAT with 13 years in EMS and still had some difficulty even getting interviews. i think that the 3.2 still hurt me.

if you do not want to wait a year or two to apply, my advice would be to apply far and wide. all over the country and at osteopathic schools as well as allopathic. this year i applied to 48 schools total (and a mix of both degrees), interviews at 6, into 2 and waitlisted at the rest. be realistic about how you compare.

also what are the chances you can find get access to a pre-med advisor at your undergraduate school? you need to have someone to talk to who knows more about the process than you do. failing that, talk to the docs you have worked with and ask them for advice about the process. i applied twice to get in, once i largely did it alone failed. the second time i asked two advisors, a couple of docs, and as many people as i could find to read my essays.

good luck.

there's a lot of good advice here, and i would only reiterate what was already said. pay particular attention to what's in bold.. and good luck!

 

[unthockey20]

Thanks to all thast replied. I was planning on applying to 25 schools this cycle. Is that too little tto much?

 

[arlingtondoc]

again, think about waiting a year or two to improve things.

if you don't want to wait a year then apply to as many as you can. if 25 is all you can swing than so be it. just make sure they are both DO and MD, geographically spread out and a mix of selectivity (ie not all like hopkins and duke).

if money or time to complete secondaries is an issue remember when you apply to look for schools that screen for secondaries and add them to the list. you can save yourself the fee iand the effort f they screen you out, and if they ask for a secondary you have made it past one of "cuts."

 

[Blade28]

Thanks to all thast replied. I was planning on applying to 25 schools this cycle. Is that too little tto much?

Have you been working on improving your GPA since you first applied, via post-bac classes or retakes?

The average GPA for matriculants is around a 3.65, so you really need to pull that 3.2 GPA up.

In addition, if you can afford it, applying to at least 25 schools is DEFINITELY not too much. I had average stats when I was a pre-med and still applied to around 30 schools.

Widely and early.

 

[gman33]

What is your BCPM gpa?
Unless it is a lot higher than your overall GPA, you have a very low probability of getting into any MD schools.

The IMS program at Drexel would be a good start. You need to do something to improve your academic credentials. Reapplying without doing anything to improve your application is a bad idea.