What MCAT do I need for DMU with my gpa?

[eosinophil14]

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Hello everyone,

I'm a MN resident and ideal school would be DMU for geographic proximity to family, good vibe from shadowed DO alumni, and great impression of campus and people during tour. I also have family in IL so CCOM would be great, but DMU is my dream school. I will take the MCAT in April. I'll be applying early and broadly this cycle, but what absolute minimum MCAT would I need with a 3.19 cGPA and 3.34 sGPA to be considered at DMU? Non-trad, ~60 hours shadowing, excellent letters, lots of ECs, minimal research, upward trend of 3.5+ last 5 semesters, won highest employee award from 2nd largest healthcare system in state for volunteer service and establishing community outreach initiatives in my area. Thank you all in advance.

Also what do you guys think of my school list so far? (**top choice)
DMU**, CCOM**, MSUCOM, UMN-Duluth** (worth it since in-state?), KCUMB**, MU-COM, NSU-COM, OSU-COM, ATSU-KCOM** & SOMA, WVSOM, VCOM-VC & CC, OU-HCOM, LECOM, AZCOM.

 

[Howisbabbyformd]

Hello everyone,

I'm a MN resident and ideal school would be DMU for geographic proximity to family, good vibe from shadowed DO alumni, and great impression of campus and people during tour. I also have family in IL so CCOM would be great, but DMU is my dream school. I will take the MCAT in April. I'll be applying early and broadly this cycle, but what absolute minimum MCAT would I need with a 3.19 cGPA and 3.34 sGPA to be considered at DMU? Non-trad, ~60 hours shadowing, excellent letters, lots of ECs, minimal research, upward trend of 3.5+ last 5 semesters, won highest employee award from 2nd largest healthcare system in state for volunteer service and establishing community outreach initiatives in my area. Thank you all in advance.

Also what do you guys think of my school list so far? (**top choice)
DMU**, CCOM**, MSUCOM, UMN-Duluth** (worth it since in-state?), KCUMB**, MU-COM, NSU-COM, OSU-COM, ATSU-KCOM** & SOMA, WVSOM, VCOM-VC & CC, OU-HCOM, LECOM, AZCOM.

I think their avg. is 27.7, so 28 or 29 should get you some love from them. I don't think you would be expected to score in the 90th percentile (33ish) just because your GPA is on the low end for DMU especially with your upward trend, although it certainly wouldn't hurt you to score that high.

 

[Temperature101]

hello everyone,

i'm a mn resident and ideal school would be dmu for geographic proximity to family, good vibe from shadowed do alumni, and great impression of campus and people during tour. I also have family in il so ccom would be great, but dmu is my dream school. I will take the mcat in april. I'll be applying early and broadly this cycle, but what absolute minimum mcat would i need with a 3.19 cgpa and 3.34 sgpa to be considered at dmu? Non-trad, ~60 hours shadowing, excellent letters, lots of ecs, minimal research, upward trend of 3.5+ last 5 semesters, won highest employee award from 2nd largest healthcare system in state for volunteer service and establishing community outreach initiatives in my area. Thank you all in advance.

Also what do you guys think of my school list so far? (**top choice)
dmu**, ccom**, msucom, umn-duluth** (worth it since in-state?), kcumb**, mu-com, nsu-com, osu-com, atsu-kcom** & soma, wvsom, vcom-vc & cc, ou-hcom, lecom, azcom.

29+

 

[as1212559]

29+ should make you as competitive as possible.

I had a 29 and roughly your GPA (the opposite trend though, sgpa lower than cgpa) and got love from KCUMB and OSU. Not from DMU or KCOM.

Aim high. With low GPAs you need to get as high a score as possible.

 

[Lys Ile Glu Leu]

3.3 across the board and 29. Got me in. Just do your absolute best on the MCAT. Good luck.

 

[eosinophil14]

Thanks for everyone's input so far. I am aiming for 30+ MCAT of course, but I just wanted to be more certain what an acceptable score would be in case I get lower. Does my gpa rule me out for my instate MD? Should I go for it with 30+ mcat or just save my money? Thanks again!

 

[Lys Ile Glu Leu]

Thanks for everyone's input so far. I am aiming for 30+ MCAT of course, but I just wanted to be more certain what an acceptable score would be in case I get lower. Does my gpa rule me out for my instate MD? Should I go for it with 30+ mcat or just save my money? Thanks again!

I'm on hold at my in state allo. With that said, my interview sucked and I was very awkward. It's possible. To be thorough and fair, I have some very solid clinical ECs (11k+ hours work exp). That has been my biggest selling point.

 

[Eiot]

I'm actually really surprised by the answers here.

 

[as1212559]

I'm actually really surprised by the answers here.

Why is that?

 

[eosinophil14]

I'm also interested why you were surprised...

 

[Howisbabbyformd]

I'm also interested why you were surprised...

probably because many ppl on SDN believe that a GPA below the school's average means you need an MCAT 5+ points above their average.

 

[TwinsFan]

The reason is because being "competitive" usually means an above average shot at an acceptance and also being above the school's Lizzy score.

DMU = 3.6-3.7gpa and 27-28 MCAT, so Lizzy score of about 64

With a 3.3 you want to be above a 64, which is a 32 MCAT, this seems about right.

For ORM
27-29 = a shot
30-31 = good chance, especially if upward trend in grades and good ECs
32+ = very competitive

 

[Howisbabbyformd]

The reason is because being "competitive" usually means an above average shot at an acceptance and also being above the school's Lizzy score.

DMU = 3.6-3.7gpa and 27-28 MCAT, so Lizzy score of about 64

With a 3.3 you want to be above a 64, which is a 32 MCAT, this seems about right.

For ORM
27-29 = a shot
30-31 = good chance, especially if upward trend in grades and good ECs
32+ = very competitive

Not really, 3.6 - 3.7 is their average, it's not a minimum. Everyone can't be above average. I highly doubt that the ppl who get accepted there with the highest GPAs have the lowest MCAT scores (as a group) which would be necessary by this logic.

 

[as1212559]

Everyone can't be below average either, which pre-osteo often gets hung up on. The UD thread is awesome but it sometimes creates lousy advice.

The OP is interested in several DO schools that all have relatively high GPA and MCAT averages. These schools get a lot of good applications. If the OP is serious about getting into these schools a strong MCAT is going to be important to make his/her application stand out. This is good advice. I would not have an acceptance where I do with my GPAs and only a 25/26.

I would imagine the above poster is surprised because pre-osteo tends to say "24+ and you're good for DO schools". The OP is a special case. He/she has a list of good schools to apply to that is doable with a strong MCAT and maybe not doable without.

 

[TwinsFan]

Not really, 3.6 - 3.7 is their average, it's not a minimum. Everyone can't be above average. I highly doubt that the ppl who get accepted there with the highest GPAs have the lowest MCAT scores (as a group) which would be necessary by this logic.

The idea is to be above the matriculant average to be competitive whether allo or osteo (the Lizzy score helps for GPA and MCAT comparisons) and no one said 3.6 was a minimum. And if you ever get to see a distribution of matriculants at a particular school (I have seen this at 1 school for 1 class) the higher gpa students tend to have lower MCAT scores and vice versa with the overall majority being close to average stats for the school.

 

[Howisbabbyformd]

The idea is to be above the matriculant average to be competitive whether allo or osteo (the Lizzy score helps for GPA and MCAT comparisons) and no one said 3.6 was a minimum. And if you ever get to see a distribution of matriculants at a particular school (I have seen this at 1 school for 1 class) the higher gpa students tend to have lower MCAT scores and vice versa with the overall majority being close to average stats for the school.

Really? That is a bit surprising to me.

 

[Eiot]

probably because many ppl on SDN believe that a GPA below the school's average means you need an MCAT 5+ points above their average.

Pretty much this.

 

[as1212559]

A 29 is only 1-3 points over most of those schools, not 5+. Especially considering a few of the schools listed are OoS publics, I stand by my advice..

 

[Howisbabbyformd]

A 29 is only 1-3 points over most of those schools, not 5+. Especially considering a few of the schools listed are OoS publics, I stand by my advice..

I wasn't referring to your advice. I was referring to the general idea on here that most ppl believe in that if one's GPA is below a schools avg., that they must have an MCAT well above the avg. of that school. 5+ points was used for emphasis.

 

[TwinsFan]

Really? That is a bit surprising to me.

This is in the context of a given school not for all MCAT examinees, for all examinees I would assume there is some correlation between a high GPA and MCAT.

So for a school with a Lizzy score of ~64 many of their 3.8+ students will have an average to below average MCAT for that school (24-28). Yes there will be some 30+ scorers, but many with a high GPA and MCAT will go to a school with a Lizzy score average closer to their own score.