Lots of newer DO schools for sure. Campbell is one, Liberty, etc.
I concur with all comments above. I would like to add that NO high mcat will fix a bad GPA and especially sGPA, it is the key for med school admission.
Many years ago I read that a Columbia graduate with a low GPA and high Mcat did not get into any US medical school.
I concur with WOWM that SMP is an option if you cannot get in this cycle. Perhaps it can be the plan B.
There are SMP programs in MD or DO school, if you want an MD degree, you should try the MD SMP program, it is really expensive and highly risky. There are DO school SMP programs that will admit you to their school if you do well. Either way, you are competing with first year admitted students for scores and that is not going to be easy.
For school selections, as all the others have directed you, try newer DO schools and don’t forget to apply for California Northern U., while it does not have a good reputation, it is still a MD school option for the bottom feeders.
CNU doesn’t just have a reputation issue. It has accreditation issues.
1 Like
I think you have a chance for MD and are competitive for a DO school. If you need to reapply or take a gap year, that’s fine, but don’t go to a foreign med school.
Focus on the MCAT and nail it. If you don’t like your practice tests, cancel it and look at your study plan. Also you can raise your GPA with a solid senior year, so don’t let up. Finally, you can DIY a Post Bacc with “easier science classes”. I think there is a thread over on SDN that gives suggestions.
What state would you have residency?
2 Likes
CNU has MAJOR, MAJOR accreditation issues and is unlikely to survive the next 2 years.
The LCME has repeatedly refused to fully accredit CNU due to major deficiencies in staffing, curriculum, diversity and other areas. CNU is now on probationary status for provisional accreditation. It has until Jan 2024 to remediate all its deficiencies or it will be shut down. CNU has been cited for “serious” deficiencies in all 12 LCME standards.
Right now CNU has no Dean of the College of Medicine since the newly hired dean quit last week. The man listed as Asst Dean hasn’t worked at CNU for at least the last 6 months. 1/3 of its academic faculty has left since CNU lost its final accreditation appeal in March. Although CNU has finally gotten a site approved for a new hospital, the approval came only after CNU failed to disclose to the City of Sacramento that it had lost its appeal for LCME recognition. There is now a lawsuit pending and plans for CNU’s teaching hospital are on indefinite hold.
CNU is circling the drain. It’s a med school no one should be applying to.
5 Likes
I just noticed this.
This NOT true. Most medical school have very specific requirements for LORs.
Most want at least 2 LORs from BCPM professors who have taught you in class, plus 1 LOR from a non-science professor who has taught you in a class.
The best time to get your LORs for med school is now while you’re still a current student. Ask for your letters this fall/early spring, have your letter writers upload the LORs to a secure letter holding service–either one through your college’s career office or an external service like Interfoliio or AMCAS’s Letter Service
If your recommender is unfamiliar with the content or format for a med school LOR, you can send them this link:
Some schools, (mostly DO schools, but a few MD schools also) ask for a LOR from a physician/health professional with whom an applicant has shadowed, volunteered or worked.
Some schools have strict limits on the number of LORs they want; others are more open-ended. Some schools will accept LORs from employers or commanding officers IF the applicant has been out of college for a long period of time; others won’t.
I strongly urge you to spend $28 on MSAR since the MSAR will list the specific letter requirements for each school.
Med schools are extremely picky about LORs. If you sent too many, you risk getting rejected for failing to follow directions. If you send too few or send LORs from the wrong type of recommender, your file will be marked incomplete and will never be reviewed.
3 Likes
Wow, I am not aware of this current situation.
so a 517 has absolutely no weight for a 3.5 and 3.2?? isn’t the app holistic?
Some medical schools initial screening is by a certain cut off for both MCAT and GPA. If you don’t meet that bar, your application isn’t further reviewed. It’s after that bar that the total application is considered.
Do I have that correct @WayOutWestMom
To my understanding and what google has told me (official school websites) a lot of med schools don’t have an official cutoff gpa written in stone…obviously i’ll apply to schools that my gpa is at least reasonable. but i don’t understand what people gain on threads like this saying that it’s impossible to gain acceptance. especially if the app is more on the well rounded side.
i’m from NY but im a NJ resident right now for undergrad.
i actually had no idea about this, thank you!
I see you’ve done your research but wanted to add a link to a USN article that addresses med school GPAs and admissions that may be of interest to others following this thread. It specifically addresses how to help compensate for a lower GPA and the importance of sGPA and preferred rigor behind the cGPA. Perhaps you will also find it helpful, even if it only supports what you already have researched.
Personally, I’d be interested in knowing if this article is considered accurate by the more knowledgeable readers here.
Edit: I’m not sure why the link has a 2018 date. The article is dated Dec 2021 so I hope it’s reasonably current information.
If you’re a typical undergrad, you will not be considered a NJ resident because those who are live in NJ primarily for educational purposes (i.e. to attend college) are not considered NJ state residents. Although where you attend undergrad can be considered as having “ties to the state”, your official state of residence will be where your parent lives or the state where you graduated from high school (NY).
If you are an independent student and have taken the necessary steps to establish an independent domicile in NJ (driver’s license, register to vote, file and pay NJ incomes taxes as a resident, have a rental contract for NJ address in your name, utility bills in your name w/ a NJ address, etc) , only then will you be considered a NJ resident for med school admission purposes.
Residency qualifications vary. Not only do they vary from state to state, but from med school to med school. Again, this is something you will need to research before you send in your med school applications.
3 Likes
I agree. You need to roll the dice to see what happens. A school might decide you’re a perfect fit for its mission.
While some med schools do used a fixed cut-off when doing the initial screening, not all schools do. Also the fixed cut-off is often lower than most people think. (Think 3.0, not 3.8) Med schools don’t want to miss out on re-inventors or those students who had a rocky start to college but who have now demonstrated that they are strong students.
Also all med schools do take into consideration GPA trends. So if your grades have shown a strong upward trend, then that’s something med schools will definitely look at when considering who to invite for an interview.
4 Likes
I had an upward trend up until junior year. I was sick and had to take incompletes for all my classes that semester in order to go to a treatment facility. Then when I came back in the spring, I was super overwhelmed taking all my spring classes and all my incomplete fall classes simultaneously. Will that ruin the upward trend if I explain my situation?
Explanations will be considered but—and this is VERY important–you can’t make it sound like you’re making excuses for your less than wonderful grades. Adcomm hate excuses.
You need to explain succinctly what happened, what you did about it, what you learned from this experience and assure them it will never happen again because you’ve learned how to deal with your health (and mental health) issues.
Wonderful grades in your senior year classes will be very important to support the idea that you overcome your problems.
2 Likes
Where do your parents live. For undergrad purposes…and that’s now for you…for traditional college students, the state of residence of their parents is considered their state of residence.
Thing is you have low GPA and no MCAT.
Don’t get too far into the future. Take the MCAT first and see how you do.
There is no point worrying about these things now. If you apply with great scores and do not get accepted then you can use feedback to strengthen your application and try again. Unfortunately, this is becoming more and more common for many applicants.
This right now is an exercise in futility.
3 Likes
I am unpopular on these threads- so I will post this last time and stop.
OP- you could have a 3.7 GPA, no health issues at all and STILL not get into med school. Everyone needs a plan B. Everyone. It isn’t setting yourself up for failure, it’s a realistic assessment of the situation (like they teach in med school- when you hear hooves, think horses not zebras). You do not have the luxury of applying every year again and again. So in addition to putting your best foot forward (which you are doing, getting in those shadowing experiences, thinking through your recommendations, prepping for the MCAT) you need to be coming up with some solid alternatives.
There are fantastic careers in Public Health (why heal one patient at a time when you can come up with strategies to heal thousands at a time?), Epidemiology, Virology, Hospital Administration, Biostatistics, etc. not to mention all the Allied Health professions. Read about front line work being done in the developing world to prevent the high rates of post-partum mortality (both infant and maternal)- yes, it’s doctors and midwives delivering the babies, but it’s Public Health professionals working with medical providers, government agencies, private funders, etc. to figure out which resources need to be deployed where and how.
Fingers crossed you get to med school and become a fantastic physician. And if not- so many other paths to take!!!
3 Likes