<p>Student has a 3.2 and a 33 MCAT. Did not do med school related ECs or research in college but has done a very meaningful medical related internship for 9 months working with doctors in a third world country.</p>
<p>What's the best strategy for this student:</p>
<p>--get a research job and then apply to med schools?
--apply to just DO schools?
--get a MPH?
--do a med school transition program?</p>
<p>What's the likelihood a med school will accept her?</p>
<p>In which state does this student have residency?</p>
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<p>This is the biggest problem and is likely a dealbreaker. What specifically was the “medical related internship”?</p>
<p>Resident of CA. I don’t know too much about the internship. Had to do with bringing supplies and working with doctors in Africa.</p>
<p>I thought the GPA would be a dealbreaker. No?</p>
<p>I agree that GPA seems to be a problem. EC’s might be fine, because of “meaningful medical related internship for 9 months working with doctors in a third world country.”</p>
<p>I woudl advise applying to Med. Schools and DO and see what happen. There is no quarantee, but why not, MCAT is very decent and EC’s are OK. No matter what you do, GPA will not change, so why wait?</p>
<p>What med schools can anyone suggest that might consider someone with a 3.2? I’m guessing the CA schools are not going to be doable.</p>
<p>As for GPA not changing, that’s why I’m wondering about a masters or a program like the one year GTown one which looks like an opportunity to show better grades.</p>
<p>It sounds like a DO school will limit specialties. Do I have that right?</p>
<p>To determine which schools to apply to, get the MSAR from aamc.org. It lists all the medical schools and what the class profiles are for each by GPA and MCAT. One good thing about medical schools from a research standpoint (not an admissions standpoint!), there are only about 120. Once you eliminate the state schools in other states that take 90% of their students from in state (so no reason to apply), you’re left with a pretty small group, and it will be easy to see those where your stats have a chance. Good luck.</p>
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You’ll get differing answers on that. The percentage of DO’s who go into primary care is higher than MD’s (~50% vs. ~33%) but the number in specialties is still large. DO’s can and do match into MD specialty residencies, and there are DO specialty programs as well. Some say that prejudice against DO’s still exists in some programs, but that it seems to have diminished greatly in recent years. Here in California DO’s are not well known and the number of DO programs is small. If you go to the websites of the two California DO schools you should be able to find a list of residencies their graduates have gotten into. I suspect you’ll find pretty much all specialties represented, in both DO and MD programs here and elsewhere. On the other hand, the standard for getting into the California DO schools is higher than elsewhere as well, just like CA MD schools; GPA averages around 3.5, MCAT ~29. DO admissions do allow grade replacement, though, unlike MD admissions, so if the GPA is still a problem retaking a few classes the student got poor grades in in the past can raise it substantially.</p>
<p>What is the GPA just for the pre-med classes? Was the overall GPA brought down because this kid didn’t do well in some unrelated electives?</p>
<p>Overall, med schools want to know a candidate can handle the pace and volume of med school academic work, plus the time devoted to mentoring, shadowing or research. Often, kids with some post-college real-world experience and/or research come in more mature.</p>
<p>From what I know, some of the low grades were in her major. The picture I get is grades were all over the map, she did well in what interested her and less well in what didn’t. No grade trend.</p>
<p>I’m also afraid whe won’t look like a multitasker. Not many college activities, no summer jobs, no internship until after graduation. Smart kid, but young for her age and not a hard worker yet.</p>
<p>Another issue may be recs. There was little interaction with school’s pre med advisor and I’m guessing she wasn’t a department favorite where major was concerned because of uneven performance. Small college where profs know students well I suppose could hurt.</p>
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<p>Graduate classes don’t count towards your undergrad GPA, and AMCAS treats the two separately, so the GPA wouldn’t change. However, you’re right, those programs are a way to show better grades in hard science courses.</p>
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<p>No - there are DOs in every specialty, and the DO’s actually have their own residencies available to them, in addition to MD residencies.
And with that GPA/MCAT, there should be no problem getting into a DO school - but you will need experience with DOs (shadowing) and possibly a need a LOR from a DO.</p>
<p>I know a large pool of current med students and the work is quite challenging. If she is young for her age, she might be personally (as well as professionally) helped by some related research experience. I do not know the stats, but have heard a large % of kids cannot hack med school’s demands. If she is truly committed to medicine, it would be a shame to settle for any school that might not adequately prepare her- or risk dropping out.</p>
<p>If med school seems to remote a possibility, would she consider nursing, with the goal of becoming a Nurse Practitioner or Physician’s Assistant? (There are several paths to these professional positions.) In my area, they routinely sub for a doctor, as part of a practice, and are highly respected.</p>
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<p>The stats don’t back up what you’ve heard. Something like 95-97+% of students who matriculate to med school will finish. Med schools do a pretty good job of only taking students who can handle it. But there certainly are some who can’t. There were several in my first year class who didn’t come back for second year.</p>
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<p>As I said before, this is a big problem. Med schools like to see that an applicant has activities outside of academics that they take part in and enjoy (and have stuck with over a period of time), and some which have allowed them to see how physicians practice and work.</p>
<p>Thanks for all of the great help. I don’t know the student well enough to know if med school will be too much of a challenge. I also worry that never having balanced a heavy workload will make it difficult.</p>
<p>All thoughts much appreciated.</p>