Honest feedback pls! (Chance me?)

Pre-Med & Medical School Specific Med Schools
1

<p>Hey all,</p>

<p>First some background: Female, ORM (Asian), graduated this spring from a top 1o university. </p>

<p>I took the MCAT last summer and received a 28 (10 PS, 8 V, 10 BS). Studied my butt off for another 6 months and retook the MCAT this May and received a 30 (11 PS, 8 V, 11 BS). I seriously thought I was doing better on verbal, but I guess not... (Verbal has never been a strength-struggled with it real hard on all standardized tests thus far) So for now let's rule out the possibility of retaking the MCAT, especially with it changing and all in 2015. </p>

<p>My cGPA is a 3.7 - I have not calculated my sGPA but I imagine it would be high 3.5-3.6 range. I struggled with my grades freshmen and sophomore year (mixed bag of A's and B's with mostly B's in science courses) but junior and senior year I received straight A's in all classes. </p>

<p>My ECs are pretty standard (lab, volunteering, shadowing, clubs) and I assume my recs are decent. I am currently taking a few years off and am working in the healthcare industry (business side) right now. </p>

<p>Why did I not directly apply to med school? Well honestly I wanted to explore other career paths before fully committing. Since I can remember, I've always wanted to be a doctor for who knows why-like it has been my dream since I was a little girl. Going into college, I was pre-med from day 1. After taking the MCAT for the first time, I reevaluated my strengths and weaknesses and started to doubt myself. Was I was made for med school or smart enough to excel (given my not so great MCAT and GPA)? So I basically had a crisis. I hadn't explored the possibility of other career paths at that point in my life so I thought maybe this was a sign and that after college, I should work in the corporate world and see what that's all about and if I liked that at all. So here I am, at work, and I think about med school all the time and am constantly evaluating if I like this life, or if I truly still do have a passion for becoming a physician. So far, I'm not sure if the corporate world is for me... and I would still like to apply to med school (maybe next year for 2016 matriculation).</p>

<p>So given all this, do you guys think I still have a shot at MD? I'm specifically going to be looking at schools in NY, MA, PA, and CA. (I am not a resident of any of these states.) If you guys know of any schools in those states that I would have a shot at, I'd appreciate if you could help me generate a list. </p>

<p>Thanks so much for taking the time to read this haha. I have been very honest with you guys about my thought process and would appreciate your honest feedback.</p>

2

<p>Invest in the MSAR. Apply to schools where your stats place you in the upper third of accepted students.</p>

<p>You might also spend another $30 and buy access to the USNews graduate compass–it will tell how many OOS apply, get interviewed, accepted and matriculate. Don’t waste your money on applying to public med schools which have restrictive admission policies UNLESS you can demonstrate significant ties to the state or/and have stats at the very top of the applicant pool. </p>

<p>Your best chance for an acceptance will always be in your home state. </p>

<p>IIRC, all CA publics, UMass and UMD are very OOS UNfriendly. CA privates all require very high stats. Ditto for MA privates and MD’s private (JHU). Your stats really aren’t high enough for privates in any of those states. If you’re really interested in attending med school in CA, consider applying to osteopathic med schools there (TUCOM- CA and Western)–your GPA/MCAT are about average for them.</p>

<p>You should strongly consider applying to both allopathic and osteopathic med schools if you do decide to apply next cycle. Admissions are unpredictable so apply broadly.</p>

<p>Also if you are not doing any clinical and non-clinical volunteering right now–you need to get doing both of those ASAP. Med admissions expect applicants to keep current on their volunteering.</p>

<p>Most osteopathic med schools will require a LOR from an osteopathic physician.</p>

3

<p>AAMC table of acceptances rates to med school by ethnic background.</p>

<p>Asian applicants</p>

<p><a href=“https://www.aamc.org/download/321516/data/2013factstable25-3.pdf”>https://www.aamc.org/download/321516/data/2013factstable25-3.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Medical schools all have individual policies on how they look at multiple MCATs. Assume that most MD schools will average your 2 sittings, although some will consider only your most recent score. </p>

4

<p>Thanks, will definitely invest in MSAR (actually bought it a while ago but it expired). However, I’m not considering DO. </p>

<p>Bump for more thoughts/advice</p>

5

<p>If you’re not interested in DO, you’re going to have to apply very broadly, and out of the states that you’ve mentioned.</p>

6

<p>I think you should consider do schools as well, if you want to be a doctor. Otherwise Carribeans md schools are even worse. With a sub 30 Mcat your options are limited. </p>