What to do now...

[gborogirl17]

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I applied last year to Medical school. I only applied to 3 schools: UNC, East Carolina and Wake Forest. I was waitlisted at UNC and rejected from the other two.

I went to Harvard and had a 3.15 GPA for both science and non science.
I had a 29Q Mcat 8/11/10
I had extensive volunteer work, directing a tutoring organization and also working at a camp for chronically ill children.
I didn't have a lot of clinic experience, just some shadowing hours.

NOW.
I am working as a clinical research coordinator at UNC (lots of clinic experience)
Have applied to volunteer at the hospital
Took a physics class at UNC and got an A-
Re took the Mcat, heres the kicker, I got a 30P but I split 7/11/12

How did that happen? Should I retake the MCAT in April (I didn't get a practice test even close to a 7 on PS).

Any other advice?

 

[CrepesofWrath]

Did you update your application during the current application cycle with this year's activities? If you did, you will need substantial changes before adcoms will consider you a second time. In your next application cycle, you should definitely apply to a lot more schools (which is good since they've never seen your application before).

The biggest thing holding you back seems to be your GPA. With a 29/30 MCAT, you need a very good GPA to get past initial screening. Unfortunately, I don't think a 3.15 is going to do it. Average GPA for matriculants is ~3.6. Doubly unfortunately, the MCAT is supposed to be the "equalizer" in terms of the difficulty of undergraduate institution - your MCAT score only reinforces the idea that you deserve your GPA. If there is any way you can swing some postbac undergrad classes to bring that up, go ahead and do them, but consider taking an additional year off to buff your credentials.

Also, you should be aware that some schools have section minimums for the MCAT. You should check the MSAR to find out if that's the case.

 

[gborogirl17]

Did you update your application during the current application cycle with this year's activities? If you did, you will need substantial changes before adcoms will consider you a second time. In your next application cycle, you should definitely apply to a lot more schools (which is good since they've never seen your application before).

The biggest thing holding you back seems to be your GPA. With a 29/30 MCAT, you need a very good GPA to get past initial screening. Unfortunately, I don't think a 3.15 is going to do it. Average GPA for matriculants is ~3.6. Doubly unfortunately, the MCAT is supposed to be the "equalizer" in terms of the difficulty of undergraduate institution - your MCAT score only reinforces the idea that you deserve your GPA. If there is any way you can swing some postbac undergrad classes to bring that up, go ahead and do them, but consider taking an additional year off to buff your credentials.

Also, you should be aware that some schools have section minimums for the MCAT. You should check the MSAR to find out if that's the case.

i am not applying this application cycle--this is my extra year off to "buff up" my application. my activities have definitely been updated with my research, volunteer work, and classes. i have taken classes in my weak areas to improve my GPA, however nothing is going to substantially improve it, and in meeting with the dean of ECU he didn't think it was an issue.

i didn't score below a 10 on PS on any of my practice tests so I literally have no idea what happened.