Will my dream remain deferred or is there a chance?

[Grapes4u85]

Hi guys! Happy Holidays to everyone.

I'm a 31 year old junior at a pretty decent private college with a Cgpa 3.98 Sgpa 4.00.
Took a lot of upper level science and math class - all with lab. Got a 40R on my MCAT this past spring. Worked as a medical assistant for 2 yrs, currently accumulating 30 hours of shadowing an MD doctor, and did one year of research with a professor. Will do another year of research or maybe a undergrad summer research program.

However, I took some classes when I was 18 and because of personal family problems, I had to stop. During that time, I had about 7 Unofficial Withdrawals, 1 F. 1 C and 1 ABF. The F and C were General Chem I & II classes which I retook 2 years ago and obtained an A on both. Essentially, I was working and did not even attend any classes. Thereafter, I worked at a Fortune500 company. I'm fluent in Filipino, Spanish, Japanese, Portuguese, and Mandarin Chinese. Play the piano and violin and performed at community outreach events.

Getting right to the point....

I am aware that DO adcoms will probably not see the lower grades but I am focused on MD or MD/PhD programs which will definitely take those marks into consideration. With those grades from more than a decade ago, my Cgpa and Sgpa will definitely go down. I am considering taking a masters in biomedical science for 2 years at Mount Sinai just to increase my chances. I am worried and lost. Please kindly advise. Thanks guys!!

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[DrMidlife]

I think you're selling yourself short. Your cumulative GPA will be lowered by your youthful indiscretions, sure, but it doesn't sound that bad to me. Nicely delineated into "things you did when you were a teenager" and "different things you do as a grownup". That MCAT score will kick open a bunch of doors. Get ready to apply broadly on June 1, to MD schools.

Have you figured out your cumulative GPAs?

Best of luck to you.

 

[Prncssbuttercup]

If you're planning on applying to Harvard, maybe it's a problem... but not for every other school...

 

[sazerac]

Wait, so are you in the top 1% of medical school matriculants, or the top 0.1%? Lol, apply already.

 

[Jas1360]

You should apply if you want to be a doctor! You will do fine, numbers wise. However, I think you are miscalculating your GPA at least for MD programs. If you had one C and one F and the rest are all As you would probably have a 3.75-3.85 depending on total number of credit hours. That would still be a good GPA. If you earned a few Bs than it might be a little lower.

AMCAS uses every single class you have taken and they do not do grade replacement. For DO schools, they do grade replacement so the numbers you have for GPA are probably correct.

I'm only letting you know this in case you did calculate incorrectly, I wouldn't want you to be shocked after your application was verified. Anyways, even if you only have a 3.5 you did great on the MCAT and obviously have a huge upward trend so you'll be fine.

 

[Jas1360]

Actually, I see that you put down 4.0 sGPA and the C and F were chemistry, so I am sure that you miscalculated, for MD schools.

 

[Bluesun]

Actually, I see that you put down 4.0 sGPA and the C and F were chemistry, so I am sure that you miscalculated, for MD schools.

I was thinking this as well. MD schools do not allow for grade replacement, so your old C's and F's still count towards your sGPA.

From your introduction, I don't see why you are asking if there is a chance. You basically just listed top-ish tier credentials... am I missing something? A near 4.0 cumulative GPA and a 4.0 sGPA with a 40R on your MCAT, and you're asking what your chances are?

If you look at some of the acceptance data on AAMC, you can clearly see that, regardless of race, those are great credentials.

 

[anguisette]

Calculate your cGPA and sGPA, but like everyone else is saying, you're probably fine. Your recent grades and MCAT score will make up for that one semester when you were 18. You should be fine for MD. As for MD/PhD, I suspect your stats will be fine, but I don't know if you'll have had enough research to be very competitive. It may just depend on your current research responsibilities and how you sell it.