Your feedback please.

[buomyta]

Took the mcat on the 17th. Not sure what my score will be. Not confident at this point. Science GPA 3.2. Accum GPA 3.0. Prior military experience (Medic 6 years AF), have been Registered Nurse since 1997. Taking some classes this summer. Looking only at DO schools. Love the philosophy etc...

1. I see that a lot of individuals have Masters. Do I need to do a 1 year.

2. Who was able to get in without a masters with minimum stats?

3. When I went to visit TCOM last winter, the counselor told me my military experience would count as my volunteer? Would this be true of other schools?
Should I do an overseas volunteer adventure. I have been looking at the IMC. This would fulfill one of my personal goals.

4. If you had minimum stats, what did you do to stand out on your app or interview. Thanks.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[DORoe]

Took the mcat on the 17th. Not sure what my score will be. Not confident at this point. Science GPA 3.2. Accum GPA 3.0. Prior military experience (Medic 6 years AF), have been Registered Nurse since 1997. Taking some classes this summer. Looking only at DO schools. Love the philosophy etc...

1. I see that a lot of individuals have Masters. Do I need to do a 1 year.

2. Who was able to get in without a masters with minimum stats?

3. When I went to visit TCOM last winter, the counselor told me my military experience would count as my volunteer? Would this be true of other schools?
Should I do an overseas volunteer adventure. I have been looking at the IMC. This would fulfill one of my personal goals.

4. If you had minimum stats, what did you do to stand out on your app or interview. Thanks.

1. I don't think you HAVE to do a Masters. It couldn't hurt though.
2. My GPA wasn't all that steller ~3.2 cum and I was able to gain admission without having a Masters.
3. I don't see why being a medic in the military would not count as health care experience. I think what schools are looking for is clinical knowledge and familiarity. Obviously as a medic and a nurse you won't have any problems in this area. If one of your goals is to go oversees on a volunteer mission I would say go for it! Nothing wrong with doing something because it makes you happy.
4. I think my MCAT helped me out a little, although it wasn't spectacular. I really believe that writing a strong personal essay and secondary essay's really helps out your application. I really don't have a lot that sets me apart from many other applicants. The only thing that I noticed during interviews was how the adcom's kept talking to me about my personal essay and my secondary essays. I think that that really helped me out as far as getting interviews goes. As far as getting the acceptence, I think that the actual interview was what did it for me. I felt after the interview that I had made my position clear, had answered the questions honestly and thoughtfully, and when I left I felt confident.

 

[Thousandth]

Don't worry so much. I was in a similar situation grade wise and am ex-mlitary. I think that the DO schools actually looked for a background like that. I wouldn't worry about doing a masters unless you are dead set on shooting for a MD school. So long as you do well on your MCAT you should get several interviews. I was had a 3.3 GPA and got a 27,O MCAT along with 6 years Navy and I got 3 interviews (out of 6 DO schools) and got accepted.

 

[buomyta]

thanks both of you. congrats on your acceptances. By the way, what schools did you get accepted to?

 

[DORoe]

I got accepted to OUCOM and WVSOM.

 

[UltimateDO]

The PCOM adcoms both highly value non-traditionals, especially if coming from a health care background. So long as you can express confidence in your essay/interview in being able to handle the academics your prior experience will go much further than your MCAT score (so long as it's not too low). I would definitely push the fact that you are a RN and AF medic. PM me if you have any specific questions about PCOM, I know Deb and Tammi pretty well.

 

[Amy B]

Military duty is a great thing to have and an honorable thing to have done for your country

Do you want to do the masters or are you thinking you need to do it in order to get an acceptance? Although your gpa is on the low side, if you do well on the MCAT (22 or above), it shouldn't be too much of an issue, when combine with your exprience as a nurse and the military duty. That is the kinds of life experiences that DO schools LOVE!!!!!

 

[DireWolf]

Although your gpa is on the low side, if you do well on the MCAT (22 or above)

Whoa! Wait a minute. Now you're telling people their GPA is too low and setting MCAT cutoffs?

 

[Claymore]

I think you stand a very reasonable shot at getting some interviews. My two pieces of advice would be to apply to as many schools as you can afford (and would realistically attend if accepted) and get your applications in as early as possible. I think this gives you a great advantage by applying so early...all spots are open at every school and once the interviews/acceptances start arriving you can be more selective about where you choose to go. Having an acceptance or two early on in your back pocket puts you in an excellent position throughout the entire application season. Good luck!

 

[Amy B]

Whoa! Wait a minute. Now you're telling people their GPA is too low and setting MCAT cutoffs?

I said "On the low side"..... not too low. There is a difference.

 

[(nicedream)]

Score over a 25, shadow a DO, write good essays, get good letters, and you're money.

 

[s42brown]

If you want to go to medschool MD/DO you better be shooting for higher than a 22. That doesn't cut it at KCOM.

 

[DireWolf]

If you want to go to medschool MD/DO you better be shooting for higher than a 22. That doesn't cut it at KCOM.

And here we go again...

I think I'll stay outta this one.

 

[Amy B]

Must fight urge to respond to s42brown.

Slowly......backing.......up.....out.........of........the.......thread.

 

[DNA-RL]

Took the mcat on the 17th. Not sure what my score will be. Not confident at this point. Science GPA 3.2. Accum GPA 3.0. Prior military experience (Medic 6 years AF), have been Registered Nurse since 1997. Taking some classes this summer. Looking only at DO schools. Love the philosophy etc...

1. I see that a lot of individuals have Masters. Do I need to do a 1 year.

2. Who was able to get in without a masters with minimum stats?

3. When I went to visit TCOM last winter, the counselor told me my military experience would count as my volunteer? Would this be true of other schools?
Should I do an overseas volunteer adventure. I have been looking at the IMC. This would fulfill one of my personal goals.

4. If you had minimum stats, what did you do to stand out on your app or interview. Thanks.

I think with your GPA, you might need a mcat of 26+, however, you have great experiences and that will definetly play in your favor. Try not to have any 6s or anything lower than a 7 on any section of your mcat. Deb from PCOM said that doesn't look good even if you're overall mcat is good. Getting a masters will help you out a bit with admissions but it'll help you out even more with residency, especially if you're thinking about doing something competitive like derm, ortho, or ENT. Also if you happen to get a publication out, thats definetly worth a extra year. Also try to apply to as many DO schools as you can and apply early. I know it gets expensive but whats a few hundred dollars in the grand scheme of things doc.

 

[DNA-RL]

That doesn't cut it at KCOM.

Why does this not surprise me

 

[Aaron Earles]

Took the mcat on the 17th. Not sure what my score will be. Not confident at this point. Science GPA 3.2. Accum GPA 3.0. Prior military experience (Medic 6 years AF), have been Registered Nurse since 1997. Taking some classes this summer. Looking only at DO schools. Love the philosophy etc...

1. I see that a lot of individuals have Masters. Do I need to do a 1 year.

2. Who was able to get in without a masters with minimum stats?

3. When I went to visit TCOM last winter, the counselor told me my military experience would count as my volunteer? Would this be true of other schools?
Should I do an overseas volunteer adventure. I have been looking at the IMC. This would fulfill one of my personal goals.

4. If you had minimum stats, what did you do to stand out on your app or interview. Thanks.

Hey buomyta,

1. I have a Masters degree, but it is not necessary. My masters degree was in the second career choice if medical school didn?t work out. So, I think that you are good to go without a masters. However, it would not hurt you.

2. My MCATs were not that great. I had a good GPA and work in a hospital. As long as you have had experience seeing what a DO does in their practice and can get you one to write a LOR, you are fine.

3. I honestly don?t know anything about TCOM, other than it is a good school. You could contact the school and ask them if the military experience would count. I would think that it would most definitely. By the way, Thank you for serving in the military for our great country!

4. I think that just being yourself during your interview and having a good application is the best. I personally feel that you will not have a major problem getting into medical school, especially if you get decent MCAT scores.

Good luck to you and let me know if you need any more advice or questions answered. Take it easy.

Aaron