<p>Would like to get some advise for my son from other parents and students. My son graduated this year from one of the Ivy Legue schools with BioChem major 3.1 GPA. His MCAT which he took this year is 35. He played for college sport team all thru. Has a lot of research experience, co-authored a published paper in a good Science journal. Has good rec letters (I think!!) from his research and jobshadow experience!! Applied for a bunch of med schools, hasnt heard anything from the schools yet. He looks so worried and disappointed! Not sure how to help him. I dont have much info in this field. I know med school admission is very hard. Help please!!!</p>
<p>list of schools he applied to?</p>
<p>NJ State colleges (resident of NJ), NY state colleges (STonybrook, NYU, Univ of Buffalo), Drexel, Univ of Boston, Georgetown etc. SO far I know of these names. There might be more…</p>
<p>Here are the AMCAS grids for acceptances rates for MCAT-GPA by ethnic group.</p>
<p><a href=“https://www.aamc.org/data/facts/applicantmatriculant/157998/mcat-gpa-grid-by-selected-race-ethnicity.html[/url]”>https://www.aamc.org/data/facts/applicantmatriculant/157998/mcat-gpa-grid-by-selected-race-ethnicity.html</a></p>
<p>Assuming all his ECs, LORs and intangibles are average or above, and he’s applied to an appropriate range of schools, someone with his stats has approx a 40% chance of getting one acceptance.</p>
<p>Although mid-October feels late, all hope is not gone. Some schools will start extending IIs again once they’ve sent out their first round of acceptances (which should be tomorrow).</p>
<p>Much is going to depend on what his application list looks like. I sincerely hope he applied to all his state med schools–as those will likely be his best chance for admission.</p>
<p>Georgetown probably shouldn’t have been on his list. Quirky admissions with too many spots filled with “connected” applicants and too many applicants overall. His GPA regardless of undergrad school and ECs probably won’t make their initial criteria.</p>
<p>WestMom Thanks for your positive reply. Not understanding this admission process, I will ask some basic/silly questions. Please be patient with me. Its so hard to talk to my son now. I guess any mother would understand my situation. Want to provide more details.
My son took his first MCAT in 2011, got 32. He didnt get any interview. He retook Sept, 12. So he just got his MCAT score (35) last week.
is this too late? Are most of the med schools done with their first/last round of interviews already?</p>
<p>Duplicate post</p>
<p>My husband is now telling me that my son got a few secondary applications already. Does that mean those colleges are just waiting for the MCAT score since they had the rest of the applciation already?</p>
<p>Yes Eadad, I agree that the choices of colleges would be critical with his GPA.</p>
<p>May be lack of my understanding, I have talked to many of his friends’ parents. They all seem to think that Biochem/any other Bio or Chem (Org chem) related majors are very hard to complete. Also his UG school has grade deflation. That made it very hard for maintaining good grades. But I guess at the end of the day low GPA is a low GPA.
My son is very athletic, he wanted to play sports all the seasons and travel for college games. That took a toll on the scores too. </p>
<p>I’m already looking at Plan B. I think my son should look into Post Bacc programs and then reapply.</p>
<p>I would based say, upon D1’s experience with Drexel (She had a higher GPA, higher MCAT than your son, research w/ pub and a ton of hands-on clinical experience since she was a working EMT-I when she applied, but like your son she was late applying), he may have a decent shot at Drexel’s SMP program. Which is what D1 was offered. (She declined since she already an acceptance elsewhere.)</p>
<p>Most schools have already completed their first round of interviews. Some have completed more than one round. I doubt any have finished all their interviews this early.</p>
<p>Med schools really don’t care how allegedly difficult one’s major is. No slack for “tough” majors. (D1 was a physics and math double major. She got zero consideration for that.)</p>
<p>If he is just getting his secondaries now, he must have indicated on his app that he planned to retake the MCAT so all schools delayed sending secondaries until the new score had been recieved. SOP.</p>
<p>And, yes, he’s very, very, very late. Some schools close admissions on Oct 1, more on Oct 15 and all of them are closed by Nov.1 If he doesn’t get his secondaries turned around almost instantly, he could very well be completely closed out of admissions for this year.</p>
<p>ok west mom makes sense. I just googled Drexel SMP and learned a lot. Now if Drexel doesnt offer him regular admission, do they evaluate him for the SMP admission from the same application or does my son need to apply separately for the SMP?</p>
<p>When D1 applied, she checked off a box on her application asking to be considered for “All other programs” in the event she wasn’t admitted to the med school–which apparently included the SMP. So if he didn’t check that box, he may need to apply separately.</p>
<p>Did your son apply Summer 2011 with that 32? Or is this his first application cycle?</p>
<p>It can be difficult to make it through the screening with numbers below ideal. My DD had a lower than ideal MCAT and we worked very hard to make sure her application was perfect in every other way.</p>
<p>The fact that the 36 is his second taking and the fact that it is coming in October could make it more difficult to be accepted, but don’t give up hope.</p>
<p>It sounds like he has graduated. Is he doing something related to med school now?</p>
<p>He did apply last year, but no luck. He says his applications were approved early Sept and he got the sec applications right after that. Yes he took time to retake the MCAT this year.He is doing some jobshadow work and finishing up his research work.</p>
<p>so he applied late last cycle, and did the same thing again this cycle? and why was the retake not done earlier?</p>
<p>Let me clarify.
He did apply around July with his MCAT score last year, but no luck. He This year He says his applications were completed and approved early Sept and he got the sec applications right after that this year. Yes he took time to retake the MCAT this year. Yes I wish he could retake earlier. Since he didnt get any interview last year, he wanted to take time to study and then retake the MCAT.
He is telling me that he has applied to quite a few “safety” schools knowing his situation. And some of those schools have late application deadlines.
Currently He is doing some jobshadow work and finishing up his research work.</p>
<p>There is no such thing as a safety school when it comes medical schools. With his less than ideal stats, any school is going to be a crapshoot. </p>
<p>The fact that he’s a reapplicant will mean his application will get extra scrutiny this year–and not in a good way.</p>
<p>Your son is in a tough spot. I wish him luck, but it sounds like he may need to start thinking about a Plan B.</p>
<p>I agree with WOWmom, a reapplicant has a more difficult task. Your son made some mistakes, things may work out, he may get in, but he has not given himself the best chance.</p>
<p>Though many schools technically have deadlines in November/December, those are misleading. Common practice would dictate that applications be submitted in early June and complete ASAP in order to have the best chance at admissions.</p>
<p>His new MCAT is excellent, that excellence is diluted by the existence of the prior lower MCAT and by the lateness of his application. That does not mean he won’t get in, but if he does not get it, it does not mean all is lost, but if he must reapply a 3rd time, be certain to apply the day the AMCAS application opens.</p>
<p>Yes as painful as it is, I understand the process lot better now and I agree.</p>
<p>Do any of you have a good idea of the whole SMP process? If I can motivate my son for the SMP now. I see that there are so many choices with/without gliding year. Any recommendation on the colleges that will have higher chances for admission from the SMP programs?</p>
<p>His chances for a SMP right now are poor because it’s already so late in the cycle that he’s missed application deadlines. There aren’t many SMP programs (maybe 8? 10? not really sure) to begin with and each takes only a very few students (5-15).</p>
<p>To be honest–motivating him isn’t your job. Your son needs to want medicine so bad he will do whatever it takes to make it happen. I’m sure he’s disappointed now, but he need to use that disappointment to come back strong and do better next time.</p>
<p>If this were my child, I think I’d suggest that he sit out of the application process next year and really take the time to fix whatever is wrong with his application. Improve his GPA (through a post-bacc or by enrolling in grad classes–which he pays for himself), maybe get more clinical hours, shadowing and volunteering done. I’d tell him to ditch the research unless it’s full time paid gig, since more research experience won’t be particularly useful to his application. Working full time and supporting himself might help him gain some maturity and focus.</p>
<p>You said he graduated from an Ivy. He really needs to get in touch with the pre-med advising office at the school and get some good advice about how to go about the application process and how to improve his application profile.</p>
<p>P.S. In other posts, you (or someone using your account name) has asked about low MCAT verbal scores.</p>
<p>Were the subscores in your son’s latest MCAT balanced with no section below 10?</p>