Any guaranteed program I could get in to? Low GPA...

<p>So, here are my stats: </p>

<p>GPA: UW 3.6 (3.3 Freshman year, 3.6 Sophomore Year, 3.9 Junior Year)
W 4.4 (4.1 Freshman Year, 4.4 Sophomore Year, 4.8 Junior Year)
ACT: 35
Ethnicity: Indian (Asian)
Gender: Female
State: Illinois
APs: 11 APs, 11 Honors, 5 Regular (all electives)
ECs: Swim Team
Classical Indian Dance for 14 years
French Club President
Board Member for Future Health Professionals
Citizenship Club Member
Volunteer at Hospital (~200 hours)
Will do an internship over the summer at Northwestern Memorial for 6 weeks
Northwestern Medical Explorers
NHS
FNHS</p>

<p>I'm really not picky. I'm just not sure because I screwed up really bad freshman year! Any college would do. I visited Toledo, and the dean there told me I would probably get in, but I'd rather not go there because all the people I know who go there hate it. So... anything worth even applying to?</p>

<p>Also, I’m not picky in terms of MD or DO</p>

<p>it depends on your sat, that gets your foot in the door</p>

<p>she took the ACT topher14 and got a 35. no need to take the SAT?</p>

<p>i got into one with a 3.5, and got the supplement for another (aka rejected cause of EC’s). Of course it’ll hurt you, but just apply smart. </p>

<p>Some have a minimum requirement of 3.8’s so look for that.</p>

<p>Idk what nhs, the internship, and fnhs are, but your EC’s arent all that strong (compared to the pool) and might hurt you more than your GPA. Try to get at least some shadowing in there. I’m not sure what the northwestern internship is like, but if its a real internship (not a pay to do work), it sohuld help.</p>

<p>thanks awesomesauceness!
nhs= national honors society
fnhs= french national honors society</p>

<p>the internship is one where I get paid. i get to choose a department, and then basically be an intern for that doctor. it’s at northwestern memorial hospital, and i get paid about minimum wage. hopefully that helped.</p>

<p>also, i’m doing an internship at my local hospital as part of my schedule next year. that one has no money involved either way.</p>

<p>also, if you don’t mind me asking, where did you get in?</p>

<p>3 programs come to mind.</p>

<ol>
<li><p>St. Bonaventure/GWU - Note GWU is super expensive med school, but its location (Washington DC) & opportunities are quite attractive.</p></li>
<li><p>Univ. of South Alabama. Quite laid back UG. Although they may have preference for students from Alabama & service areas in Florida and Mississippi, they do admit students from other states. Their Med school costs are reasonable for OoS students. However, noticed very little ethnic diversity at their UG campus. </p></li>
<li><p>Michigan State University (MSU), College of Osteopathic Medicine (COM), Osteopathic Medical Scholars Program (OMSP). [MSUCOM:</a> Osteopathic Medical Scholars](<a href=“http://www.com.msu.edu/admissions/scholars.html]MSUCOM:”>http://www.com.msu.edu/admissions/scholars.html)
Little known but quite worthwhile. Though it is not a guaranteed program (so it is not binding!), word is that in the past, all OM scholars have been admitted preferentially to MSU’s COM. In order to get into this program, you may want to shadow Osteopathic doctors and understand their emphasis on patient doctor relationship (PDR). MSU COM pays significant attention and takes pride in offering a special course in PDR. Also the OMSP selection committee pays special attention to applicants’ humanistic related ECs. You must be admitted to MSU in order to apply to this program. With high ACT score, you will very likely be invited to Alumni Distinguished Scholarship (ADS) exam conducted by MSU. There is a likelihood of getting some scholarship to overcome (some or all of) OoS tuition/fees. Roughly 1100-1200 student applicants take this exam. 15 students are offered full ride, 20 get full tuition. The advantage of getting admitted as a OM scholar is that at MSU they have good Premed advisors for those who are interested in applying to regular Allopathic (MD) medical schools; in addition, the OM scholars get close guidance in preparing them to enter Osteopathic medicine as part of OMSP. Also MSU’s COM provides chance to learn about alternate therapies such as acupuncture; who knows, they may even be open for a study abroad program in ayurveda! If at the end of 4 years of UG, should one decide that medicine is not his/her call in life, MSU, like many good State Schools, offers a plethora of majors/minors and provides avenues for UG research.</p></li>
</ol>

<p>Thanks Trinity! </p>

<p>Do I have a shot at Cincinnati? That was the program I was particularly interested, as the give National Merit Finalists a free ride, and hopefully I will qualify.</p>

<p>Don’t know the median profile (GPA (UW/W), ACT/SAT, & Medically related ECs) for this year’s OoS accepted students at Cincinnati’s Dual Admissions Program. If your profile is above the median for out-of-state students, it is worth a shot. Note they take only 20% of OoS students; usually OoS’ stats are higher than in-state, because of the increased competition for fewer seats.
[University</a> of Cincinnati - College of Medicine](<a href=“http://med.uc.edu/DualAdmissions/FAQ.aspx]University”>http://med.uc.edu/DualAdmissions/FAQ.aspx)</p>

<p>As a likely NMF, you may want to inquire about the median profile of this year’s admitted students to Medical Humanities program at the Univ. of Oklahoma. [OU</a> Honors College - Medical Humanites Program - Why Study the Medical Humanities?](<a href=“http://www.ou.edu/honors/MedicalHumanities/why.html]OU”>http://www.ou.edu/honors/MedicalHumanities/why.html)</p>

<p>Pl. note that all of the combined programs are quite competitive. I think Univ. of South Alabama would offer good scholarships for NMFs. Their general student body has much lower scores. </p>

<p>Other Universities such as Univ. of Kentucky gives fairly decent scholarships for NMFs, but their OoS tuition for Med School is quite high. Although entry into the combined program at Kentucky may be somewhat relatively less competitive, it is not a guaranteed admission; [B.S./M.D&lt;/a&gt;. Admissions | University of Kentucky College of Medicine](<a href=“http://www.mc.uky.edu/meded/bsmd/admissions.asp]B.S./M.D”>http://www.mc.uky.edu/meded/bsmd/admissions.asp)
The BS/MD students are groomed to gain admission to their med school, but have to apply to be admitted formally. Historically, not sure if all their BS/MD students were admitted to their med school.</p>

<p>Very little is known about Shepherd University program with West Virginia School of Medicine. [Shepherd</a> University](<a href=“http://www.shepherd.edu/university/medstep/]Shepherd”>Shepherd University | Contact Us)</p>

<p>As a back-up, you may want to consider good pre-med programs at schools that offer generous scholarships for NMFs.</p>

<p>correction: Post 7: Instead of Patient Doctor Relationship, it should read Doctor-Patient Relationship (DPR).</p>

<p>If you consider Cinci, might as well consider U of Toledo. Plus in Toledo - no MCAT.</p>

<p>Smaller undergraduate universities that act as feeders to Medical School for BS/MD program might also be better options. For example, in 2011 admission cycle, Wayne State University (UG) received 315 applications and they will matriculate 15 (4.76% matriculation rate), Northern Michigan University received 12 applications and they will be matriculating 2 (16.66 % matriculation rate), Michigan Tech received 6 applications, 2 will be matriculating (33% matriculation rate). These matriculations are for Wayne State Medical School. Usually, the number of offers of admission is higher than the number of students matriculating, since some of the students may have multiple offers and not may not take up on the offer.</p>

<p>While using this approach, apply to several feeder schools for a given Medical school to maximize the scholarships (if feasible).</p>

<p>Thanks so much for your help Trinity!</p>

<p>Miami- I did visit Toledo, and while the Dean did tell me that I would probably receive an offer of admission, the BS/MD program limits the major to BME. I am not really a fan of Engineering. The BA/MD program heavily favors IS students, which was my major concern with UTol.</p>

<p>Also, just out of curiosity Trinity, how do you know SO much about all of these programs?</p>

<p>^ Just a parent conducting due diligence and learning about various programs so I can intelligently provide some (parental) perspective to my son about his options.</p>

<p>agnijay.</p>

<p>"Miami- I did visit Toledo, and while the Dean did tell me that I would probably receive an offer of admission, the BS/MD program limits the major to BME. "</p>

<p>-Toledo used to have 2 programs, one BME, another -with Bio major in UG, it was not be in college of engineering. Did you check out both? I do not know status of them, maybe they discountinued one, but they had 2 of them four years ago.</p>

<p>They do have both, but I believe the non-BME one is primarily for IS residents.</p>

<p>I was accepted into cincinnati. It’s a great school (#3 for peds). Money was the only issue. I was accepted into Wayne state’s bs/md program. I was also accepted into Michigan Tech’s connection program w wayne. I chose wayne. To prove that you don’t need to go to a big name school for getting into a good med school, all you have to look at is medstart (waynes bs/md prog) and its graduating class this year. One girl got into harvards med school (i heard a rumor that she got a full ride to duke - not sure though) One kid got into wash u. 4 kids got into umich. One in pritzker. One in cleveland clinic. One to mayo clinic. Big name schools for sure. Go where you find it most comfortable. I chose wayne because i love the atmosphere, received a full ride, and love the city of detroit. Plus, wayne churns out great doctors in michigan on a consistent basis. Also remember that it is where you do ur residency that matters.</p>

<p>Thanks MedStart?</p>

<p>Does anyone know if BS/MD programs care more about UW or W GPA? Because my UW is terrible, but my W is (I would like to think) somewhat competitive. And Cincinnati’s admissions counselor sent me a thing that said the average accepted GPA was 4.24. My 4.4 is higher than that, so I guess my question is, how much do they care about W GPA, and does it trump UW?</p>

<p>Your unweighted GPA counts. You are expected, as a competitive college applicant (as you are expected to be by applying to any of these programs), you are expected to have taken numerous APs. The weighting of GPAs is not at all significant. On the other hand, you’re ACT is high which counts for a lot. If you have humanistic related extra curriculars try applying to OMSP at MSU. I think it’s by far the best programs out there for D.O’s or any physician. MSUCOM is up there with all the M.D schools with residencies done in Johns Hopkins, Mayo Clinic, Cleveland Clinic, Case Western Reserve, etc. The program is not guaranteed because you need 3.5 GPA or else you have to take the MCAT. In addition, the program is non-binding so you can drop out as you desire to apply to M.D schools if you realize you are definitely competitive enough. I came from a distinguished I.B school and only went to MSU over U of M and Northwestern. I did so just because of MSU’s Osteopathic Medical Scholars Program. Also, the program gives you connections with a lot of important D.O’s and I got volunteer, research, and clinical experience out of the program .</p>