Which DO schools that are not too late for me to apply now

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omegaz

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I just took the MCAT yesterday, so the score will be ready in a month. Which DO schools won't put me in a disadvantage for applying this late? I finished my MD application already so my PS and LOR are all ready.

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Get your application in now, it is going to take some time for them to verify your transcripts and whatnot. Apply to just one school that you dont care about so the application can go through, but you wont care about if you get rejected (you could be without an MCAT). Then when you get your scores in early October, add all of the schools you are interested in and attach your MCAT to it. Beginning of October does not cut you out of the running. During this next month pre-write the secondaries so you can send them back within 24 hours when you get them. If you do that, you will be solid.

You will still be on time enough for consideration at all schools. But again, I would not submit to any schools you care about until the score is back, just in case they auto reject you. There is some funky business that occurs sometimes for those without their application completely finish at the time of applying.
 
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Get your application in now, it is going to take some time for them to verify your transcripts and whatnot. Apply to just one school that you dont care about so the application can go through, but you wont care about if you get rejected (you could be without an MCAT). Then when you get your scores in early October, add all of the schools you are interested in and attach your MCAT to it. Beginning of October does not cut you out of the running. During this next month pre-write the secondaries so you can send them back within 24 hours when you get them. If you do that, you will be solid.

You will still be on time enough for consideration at all schools. But again, I would not submit to any schools you care about until the score is back, just in case they auto reject you. There is some funky business that occurs sometimes for those without their application completely finish at the time of applying.

It's gonna be tough finding a school that I don't care about. I hold no prejudice against any school and would be glad to be admitted to any school.

Should that school be a school that's really competitive or really easy to get in?
 
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It's gonna be tough finding a school that I don't care about. I hold no prejudice against any school and would be glad to be admitted to any school.

Should that school be a school that's really competitive or really easy to get in?

Seriously? Just pick your least favorite one.
 
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I mean literally just any school. The idea is that you have to have a school on your primary application in order for it to be processed and verified (which takes weeks- a month). But once it is processed and sent out to the schools on your list, you have no control over whether they just auto reject you because your application is technically not complete. So it doesnt matter what school it is, so long as its not one of the ones that you have really high hopes for attending.

When October rolls around and you get your MCAT score, you will update it on your application, then once that is done, attach the REAL list of schools you want to apply to, and then update/resubmit the application. It will go through roughly instantly because it will have already been verified and stuff. So within several days it will go out to all of the schools. This is compared to what you would otherwise be doing which is applying in October and it not getting verified until like November.
 
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It's gonna be tough finding a school that I don't care about. I hold no prejudice against any school and would be glad to be admitted to any school.

Should that school be a school that's really competitive or really easy to get in?
2¢: Are you from Michigan? If not (and if I were in your situation) I would pick it since the school has a large in-state bias.
 
No, but I'm from the upper Midwest so they might prefer me since my state doesn't have a DO school?
 
It's gonna be tough finding a school that I don't care about. I hold no prejudice against any school and would be glad to be admitted to any school.

Should that school be a school that's really competitive or really easy to get in?

You can't be serious. Please re-read what Awesome Sauceome wrote. Any DO school that uses rolling admissions (which as far as I know is all of them) will put you at a disadvantage for applying late. Verification itself will take over a month which means your application won't be sent out to schools until mid-October even if you sent in your application right now.
 
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No, but I'm from the upper Midwest so they might prefer me since my state doesn't have a DO school?
Just so MSU or OSU. Because you shouldnt try and go to MSU anyways since their OOS tuition is like 80K a year. And then OSU will reject you anyways since they legally have to take in something like 85-90% of their applicants from in-state.

So get everything on your application completely set to go. Pick one of those schools. And submit within the next couple of days. It will take 2-6 weeks for them to go through your transcripts and stuff to make sure everything is squared away. For every school you have on this list, the longer it will take. This is because they have to check the course requirements with your transcripts for every single school separately. So just pick one school and get the application through the system.

Work on your secondaries through the month of September.

Resubmit with your new scores and with your new list in October. This verifiction will take a fraction of the time it took in September because your transcripts and stuff will have already been verified and you will already be in their systems. So it is literally just them checking with your new school like. If all goes well you could have your application sent out to the schools by mid october. You will likely get secondaries very soon after that. Return the secondaries as fast as you can (which is why pre-writing helps). You could possibly start getting interviews by late October and early november. It is a little late, but thats how you do it.

If you wait to submit everything until October, you will be very late because you wont even have your primary application verified (so not even sent to the schools) until like mid november. The schools will have half of their ranks filled by then.
 
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Everyone in here is giving you the best advice. Also, I was just verified and it took over 7 weeks so you're looking at almost 2 months just to get verified. At that rate, you'll actually have your MCAT before your app is even verified meaning schools won't ever see your app without a MCAT. Submit your primary NOW.
 
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You can't be serious. Please re-read what Awesome Sauceome wrote. Any DO school that uses rolling admissions (which as far as I know is all of them) will put you at a disadvantage for applying late. Verification itself will take over a month which means your application won't be sent out to schools until mid-October even if you sent in your application right now.
So your advice is to wait until next cycle to apply? Thanks, I'll definitely consider it.
 
Just so MSU or OSU. Because you shouldnt try and go to MSU anyways since their OOS tuition is like 80K a year. And then OSU will reject you anyways since they legally have to take in something like 85-90% of their applicants from in-state.

So get everything on your application completely set to go. Pick one of those schools. And submit within the next couple of days. It will take 2-6 weeks for them to go through your transcripts and stuff to make sure everything is squared away. For every school you have on this list, the longer it will take. This is because they have to check the course requirements with your transcripts for every single school separately. So just pick one school and get the application through the system.

Work on your secondaries through the month of September.

Resubmit with your new scores and with your new list in October. This verifiction will take a fraction of the time it took in September because your transcripts and stuff will have already been verified and you will already be in their systems. So it is literally just them checking with your new school like. If all goes well you could have your application sent out to the schools by mid october. You will likely get secondaries very soon after that. Return the secondaries as fast as you can (which is why pre-writing helps). You could possibly start getting interviews by late October and early november. It is a little late, but thats how you do it.

If you wait to submit everything until October, you will be very late because you wont even have your primary application verified (so not even sent to the schools) until like mid november. The schools will have half of their ranks filled by then.

Should I just wait until next cycle to apply? If I get rejected for being late, then I'll have to bear with the disadvantage of being a reapplicant next cycle.
 
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Should I just wait until next cycle to apply? If I get rejected for being late, then I'll have to bear with the disadvantage of being a reapplicant next cycle.
That's always a possibility. Have you discussed your particular situation with Goro? He was extremely helpful to me last year when I first applied.

BTW, you are only a reapplicant on those schools you applied to before. Therefore, if you applied to CCOM this year but not PNWU, you would not be considered a reapplicant at PNWU next app season, but would be at CCOM if you applied there again next year.
 
I mean thats up to you man. If I was you, I personally would. But that is because I would rather be on the front end of this whole process rather than feeling overwhelmed and under prepared.

In fact I DID do this. So far it has worked out for me.

The extra time of the extra year helps you boost your ECs and your app, and allows you to get your crap in order and then be able to get it all in on day one next cycle. I would argue that this will allow you to get into a better school.

But then again, I am only 24 so I am cool with this. Others are not so cool with it and would rather at least take a shot at it. People in your situation have definitely gotten in (depending on your stats). But again, I imagine it is a lot more stressful and you wont have as high of a shot at some of the better schools, and in the end you will likely have little to no choice in what school you attend. You will end up taking what you can get.

AND if you DO get accepted to a school but then decline it and try and apply next year (to ANY school), it is a big black mark on your application. So while you may say that you are cool going to any school, there are massive differences in price, quality, mission, and location at all the schools. These differences can cause even the most positive people to feel unhappy if they are clearly in the wrong situation.

So with all of that stuff in mind, I ended up postponing my application last year until the next cycle (this cycle). I got my crap together day one and so far already have 4 interviews lined up. I feel pretty good about my chances of getting in and I feel good about the fact that I will hopefully have some choice in the matter of where I will attend. I would give up 9 months of waiting for the security I have this cycle, any day.
 
Apply now. You will be fine if your stats are good.
 
I mean thats up to you man. If I was you, I personally would. But that is because I would rather be on the front end of this whole process rather than feeling overwhelmed and under prepared.

In fact I DID do this. So far it has worked out for me.

The extra time of the extra year helps you boost your ECs and your app, and allows you to get your crap in order and then be able to get it all in on day one next cycle. I would argue that this will allow you to get into a better school.

But then again, I am only 24 so I am cool with this. Others are not so cool with it and would rather at least take a shot at it. People in your situation have definitely gotten in (depending on your stats). But again, I imagine it is a lot more stressful and you wont have as high of a shot at some of the better schools, and in the end you will likely have little to no choice in what school you attend. You will end up taking what you can get.

AND if you DO get accepted to a school but then decline it and try and apply next year (to ANY school), it is a big black mark on your application. So while you may say that you are cool going to any school, there are massive differences in price, quality, mission, and location at all the schools. These differences can cause even the most positive people to feel unhappy if they are clearly in the wrong situation.

So with all of that stuff in mind, I ended up postponing my application last year until the next cycle (this cycle). I got my crap together day one and so far already have 4 interviews lined up. I feel pretty good about my chances of getting in and I feel good about the fact that I will hopefully have some choice in the matter of where I will attend. I would give up 9 months of waiting for the security I have this cycle, any day.

I'm already on my gap year and am having trouble finding a job with a mere microbiology bachelor's degree, so now I kinda want to avoid taking a 2nd gap year, especially more so after seeing friends moving on with their lives going to grad, dental, medical schools. I have average stats, 3.6 GPA, and averaged 30 on the AAMC practice tests but didn't feel good about my MCAT yesterday so I probably got around the upper 20's. If accepted to just one school, I won't decline it and will gladly attend any medical school. Location doesn't matter for me, and quality should be similar for all the accredited DO schools. Obviously I'll only apply to the normally priced schools instead of MSU which you said cost 80K for OOS.
 
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That's always a possibility. Have you discussed your particular situation with Goro? He was extremely helpful to me last year when I first applied.

BTW, you are only a reapplicant on those schools you applied to before. Therefore, if you applied to CCOM this year but not PNWU, you would not be considered a reapplicant at PNWU next app season, but would be at CCOM if you applied there again next year.

So how many DO schools should I apply to this year as a first time applicant? Which schools are "less rolling" than other schools? Which schools won't punish me as much for applying late?
 
So how many DO schools should I apply to this year as a first time applicant? Which schools are "less rolling" than other schools? Which schools won't punish me as much for applying late?
That I really don't know. I just assumed all were rolling admissions (which I really think is the case for all DO schools) and applied as early as I could press send on opening day.

I would suggest you ask those questions to Goro, who is an adcom himself. He knows best the timeline issues with applying later in the game. Good luck!
 
Everyone feels like crap after their MCAT. I am sure you did right around your AAMC averages +/- 2 points.

So if your average was a 30 lets go with worst case scenario, you got a 28.

A 3.6gpa and a 28 MCAT is pretty good.

While you are applying kinda late, your stats are decent. So honestly I personally say there is no harm in trying IF you can get your application in within the next couple of days. If you are having to wait even a few more weeks then I would say wait.

So yea, get your stuff together. Apply to maybe 15 schools with a range of low-high tier. If you were applying at the beginning of the cycle you would only need like 7 or 8 schools, but since you are now starting to get late, basically double it if you want the best chance at getting in.
 
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As far as I know all schools are fair game. Most DO schools have spots even into June. The bigger question is which schools do you have the best shot at based upon regional preference and stuff. But you can figure that out after your primary is submitted. Spend the weekend and crank out your application. Every day you wait the length of time it takes to get verified grows because more applicants jump in line.
 
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And worst comes to worst, you do get rejected, so just keep working on making your application stronger and apply early next year if it doesn't work out. I think if you get on this stuff right now and apply to a good mix of schools you have a good shot.
 
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I'm already on my gap year and am having trouble finding a job with a mere microbiology bachelor's degree, so now I kinda want to avoid taking a 2nd gap year, especially more so after seeing friends moving on with their lives going to grad, dental, medical schools. I have average stats, 3.6 GPA, and averaged 30 on the AAMC practice tests but didn't feel good about my MCAT yesterday so I probably got around the upper 20's. If accepted to just one school, I won't decline it and will gladly attend any medical school. Location doesn't matter for me, and quality should be similar for all the accredited DO schools. Obviously I'll only apply to the normally priced schools instead of MSU which you said cost 80K for OOS.
How much does it cost to get a CNA in your state? During my gap year I couldn't find a job as a biochemist, so I found a 300-dollar CNA course, completed it in three weeks, and two weeks after that was CNA certified and working at a nursing home. The pay, of course, is not super high, but some stable income > no income, and it doubles as clinical experience (especially if you work in a hospital setting). Plus you get to be close to the patient and their families and meet some very cool people. That 300 dollars was money well spent, in my opinion, and will serve you well even if you apply this year.
 
And worst comes to worst, you do get rejected, so just keep working on making your application stronger and apply early next year if it doesn't work out. I think if you get on this stuff right now and apply to a good mix of schools you have a good shot.

I know MD schools tend to flag re-applicants so you need to improve a lot from last year to get accepted. Thus, making first time applicant more likely to get accepted than re-applicants. I would assume this is true for DO as well right?
 
How much does it cost to get a CNA in your state? During my gap year I couldn't find a job as a biochemist, so I found a 300-dollar CNA course, completed it in three weeks, and two weeks after that was CNA certified and working at a nursing home. The pay, of course, is not super high, but some stable income > no income, and it doubles as clinical experience (especially if you work in a hospital setting). Plus you get to be close to the patient and their families and meet some very cool people. That 300 dollars was money well spent, in my opinion, and will serve you well even if you apply this year.

Thanks for the advice! I'm also considering scribe.
 
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Just pick Liberty!!!!
 
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I know MD schools tend to flag re-applicants so you need to improve a lot from last year to get accepted. Thus, making first time applicant more likely to get accepted than re-applicants. I would assume this is true for DO as well right?
sure you want to improve your application. But if you take a couple extra courses (and heck even just have your fall grades on), and then do even one meaningful activity, and apply early, that's enough. Schools will ask "what did you do to make your application better?" and to that you will be able to say: I took some more courses, got my GPA up, did this volunteer or work activity, and tried to be much more on top of applying early. That's a good enough update.

So you can definitely apply, but then stay the course just in case you don't get in.
 
Thanks for the advice! I'm also considering scribe.
yea do scribe

The jobs you get from CNA are worse and they typically pay about the same or less. I too am a CNA and I wish I had known about scribe. You spend a lot more time with physicians. In my months of doing the nursing assistant thing, I only saw one physician. Your clinical experience is about getting in contact with patients and getting in contact with physicians.
 
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yea do scribe

The jobs you get from CNA are worse and they typically pay about the same or less. I too am a CNA and I wish I had known about scribe. You spend a lot more time with physicians. In my months of doing the nursing assistant thing, I only saw one physician. Your clinical experience is about getting in contact with patients and getting in contact with physicians.
Sure, if he cab find a job as a scribe do scribe. In my state, there are one scribing position for some ten premeds, while CNA positions are plentiful. If he is hurting for money, the investment to become a CNA while searching for a job as a scribe is well worth it.

Additionally, being a CNA is more about the patient interaction than the physician. If you already have significant shadowing experience, being a CNA rather than a scribe won't hurt your chances.

I loved being a CNA. I got to help a lady who couldn't walk to be able to do so while holding on to your hands. That is an experience I will always remember. Sure, I didn't get to see gunshot wounds, people bleeding to death etc that you see as a scribe i the ER, but my CNA experience was instrumental in convincing me that "yeah, medicine is awesome and wort the trouble!"
 
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I have been a CNA for 5 years now, I am only 22, nearing 23, and I can tell you I have experienced some of the most delicate and heart-felt moments as well as some of the most gruesome scenes in the ED's of some major hospitals. Most people attribute CNA's to nursing homes and assisted living facilities, but in reality a CNA is much more than that. I have worked in many big hospitals and only one assisted living facility. The hospital is where my heart is and that is where I made the decision that I wanted to be a Doctor. As far as not getting any time around physicians? I see 20+ doctors in a 12 hour shift and that is the lower end of the spectrum. Doctors are humans, too, they talk to the CNAs and Nurses like we are friends and are delighted to share any insight you may seek to hear about. I love it and I can guarantee that I have more clinical experience that most applicants my age. Win win
 
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That's because you work in an ED. I would like to see the percentage of CNA grads that end up in the ED or a hospital setting. I would argue it is a drastically low number. Of like the 30 people in mt CNA program, maybe like 4 or 5 that I know of ended up in a hospital.
 
That's because you work in an ED. I would like to see the percentage of CNA grads that end up in the ED or a hospital setting. I would argue it is a drastically low number. Of like the 30 people in mt CNA program, maybe like 4 or 5 that I know of ended up in a hospital.
I agree, most CNA's do end up not in a hospital setting. But is a valid - and arguably quicker - alternative to scribing or being an EMT. OP has plenty of good options to get patient interaction and good pay at the same time with any of these jobs.
 
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I've decided not to apply this cycle because I have not yet shadowed a DO and obtained his LOR yet. Thanks for all your help!
 
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I've decided not to apply this cycle because I have not yet shadowed a DO and obtained his LOR yet. Thanks for all your help!
Sounds good man. Good luck! I imagine you will be a really solid applicant next cycle. Personal message me if you ever need any advice over the next year.
 
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Just so MSU or OSU. Because you shouldnt try and go to MSU anyways since their OOS tuition is like 80K a year. And then OSU will reject you anyways since they legally have to take in something like 85-90% of their applicants from in-state.

So get everything on your application completely set to go. Pick one of those schools. And submit within the next couple of days. It will take 2-6 weeks for them to go through your transcripts and stuff to make sure everything is squared away. For every school you have on this list, the longer it will take. This is because they have to check the course requirements with your transcripts for every single school separately. So just pick one school and get the application through the system.

Work on your secondaries through the month of September.

Resubmit with your new scores and with your new list in October. This verifiction will take a fraction of the time it took in September because your transcripts and stuff will have already been verified and you will already be in their systems. So it is literally just them checking with your new school like. If all goes well you could have your application sent out to the schools by mid october. You will likely get secondaries very soon after that. Return the secondaries as fast as you can (which is why pre-writing helps). You could possibly start getting interviews by late October and early november. It is a little late, but thats how you do it.

If you wait to submit everything until October, you will be very late because you wont even have your primary application verified (so not even sent to the schools) until like mid november. The schools will have half of their ranks filled by then.
I tried to do this and apply to MSU but it wouldn't let me pay and submit because it said not complete?? anyone know why? my MCAT scores arent back yet, but i thought i could apply to have my application verified like everyone said on here?
 
I'm trying to do the same . My scores release in a month. Would my application go through without the mcat score
 
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