<p>Cornell Student (Florida Resident though)
GPA: 3.48
Sci GPA: 3.27
MCAT taking on June 18th (~33 expected based on practice tests)
ROTC (lots of awards)
Lifesaver Course
Good letters of rec
Minor Research in Neurobiology
40 hours Neurosurgery Shadowing
40 hours of Psychology Shadowing</p>
<p>Hoping for acceptance to USF Medical School
Their average GPA 3.68
Their average MCAT 29</p>
<p>Also I know this matters but my general trend is sloping down in grades because junior year I took BioChem, Organic Chem I and II, MicroBio I and II, Physics I and II, and junior year is the key year for ROTC.
Oh and I’m married if that makes any difference at all (probably not but it is a time consumer).</p>
<p>When you’re this nervous and looking at your AAMC MSAR guide seeing a 3.3 as the bottom of the percentiles accepted at USF you wish that this forum was a hotbed of activity even at 11:58 on a Saturday night. Haha.</p>
<p>According to my pirated digital copy of the MSAR, the 10th percentile for students accepted to USF is 3.4 for overall GPA and 3.3 for the science GPA. GPA-wise, you’d be at the bottom of the pack, which is not favorable.</p>
<p>For USF regarding the MCAT, the 10th percentile/median/90th percentile is 28/31/35. You’ll definitely want to do well on the MCAT to make up for your relatively low GPAs.</p>
<p>^Your response is appreciated. Actually, I should clarify my question. I read the MSAR already and understood that I’m in the bottom 10% to 15% on GPA stats. Mostly, I’m curious whether anyone here can tell me whether at USF specifically with a 33 or 34 on the MCAT if I’ll be competitive. Furthermore, I was hoping that someone here might know the relative value of MCAT and GPA to each other specifically at USF.
Basically it all boils down to if I’m in the bottom 10-15% on GPA and top 10-15% on MCATs at USF, will that be competitive or still unlikely to be admitted?</p>
<p>Yeah, the avg MCAT will probably be going up to a 30/31 this year from the people I’ve talked to. People that I have seen with your stats (pending you get 31-33), usually got a late interview (March) and waitlisted. Once on the waitlist, it worked out for some and didn’t for others. If your really interested in going to USF and you did get on the waitlist, you should look into doing one of the masters programs that they offer. Specifically the anatomy, molecular medicine, med micro/immuno, or IMS concentration. I know of people that were waitlisted the previous year with very similar stats as you, did one of the masters, and was able to get in to the following years class. Anyways, if you did apply there is a relatively high chance you will be waitlisted or not offered an interview. Unless you are a URM, in which case 3.5/3X will get you in.</p>
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<p>If you fit into their averages, then having higher than that will be valued. So if you get a 33, then they will like it. However, they look at your entire application so looking at numbers alone is not enough. They actually sit down as a group, look over you application, discuss it, score each part, and then give you a final ranking score for your total. On their secondary, for every class you received lower than a B, you have to explain why. Also you might want to do some more clinical experience, they value that too. I have heard of people getting rejected for not having enough. However, I dont know whats enough for them.</p>
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<p>You should probably work on that.</p>
<p>Sorry, born male and white.
Also, too late to add much to my research or shadowing as it’s the summer of my Junior year now and ROTC requires me to do a month long camp called LDAC this summer to test my leadership potential. If it helps at all those are all clinical hours not just time spent hanging out; I have been in the operating room during about 12 neurosurgery procedures.
Any chance the Cornell and ROTC angles will mediate at all for the grades?
Anything you guys can think of to boost my chances last minute (other than working on MCAT prep enough to get above a 34 which I am actively already doing)?</p>
<p>Explaining your commitment to ROTC will help. They have a section asking how you will add diversity to the class and maybe you can talk about that. There is a VA hospital across the street, so that might mean something to you. Also I would try to get a LOR from that neurosurgery doc you shadowed.</p>
<p>Have you also considered FSU? From what you stated you have a good chance of getting in their, if USF doesn’t work out. Don’t apply to UF, save the money, you wont get in. UM (both campuses) probably have the same shot as USF.</p>
<p>I really appreciate everyone’s responses. Basically, my wife’s family and mine are in the area and my sister-in-law already attends USF Med. I’m hoping after 4 years here at Cornell to just go home… This semester just sort of fell apart and I got a lot of B-'s that dragged my GPA down because I took on too much. I don’t think I got any C’s though, final verdict won’t be in for a while but maximum of 1 C+ and for the most part before this semester a B- was a rare occurrence on my report card.</p>
<p>Maybe this should have been my main question, (because apparently the answer is “not very” to how competitive I’ll be):
Anything you guys can think of to boost my chances last minute (other than working on MCAT prep enough to get above a 34 which I am actively already doing)?</p>
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<p>Yeah you would just have to explain it on your secondary. </p>
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<p>If you are really set on USF and you ended up getting waitlisted or rejected. Then I would really consider doing one of the masters programs. It would keep you in Tampa and improve your academics credentials to them. But I would look into FSU, if you dont wont to wait a year and it only a 4 hr drive (I think) away from Tampa.</p>
<p>Oh I’m applying to plenty of schools: Uniformed Services U, FSU, USF, UM, UF, FL International U. U Central FL, and perhaps one or two in GA and SC if I feel outrageous in the next few days.
The only one I’m really passionate about though is USF.</p>
<p>I am not at all familiar with the Florida schools, but from looking at the numbers, FSU seems less competitive, numbers-wise, so it would probably be good to apply there.</p>
<p>APPLY EARLY. You absolutely must do this. The later you apply, the less likely you are to get interviews - since your GPA is weak, applying late could be the kiss of death for you. Make sure your AMCAS application is complete by the beginning of June (this includes all transcripts and letters of recommendation) and submit it the week it opens, and turn around your secondaries as fast as you can.</p>
<p>And… I just noticed that you won’t be taking the MCAT until June 18th. How long does it take them to get your scores back these days? Ideally, you would have taken it in April so that you’d have your score in hand come the first week of June, but at this point, it’s more important that you get a great MCAT score than it is to be early-early-early.</p>
<p>Don’t hesitate to tell USF that they’re your first choice. Write a letter after your application is complete to tell them so. Briefly describe what makes you a match for the school. To show you’re serious, you can tell them that if you’re accepted, you intend to withdraw your applications from all other schools. (Obviously, only do this if you mean to follow through - adcoms can see all the schools you’ve been accepted to, and misleading an adcom is not a good idea, especially if it’s easy for them to find out you’re lying.)</p>
<p>If you’re on good terms with your sister-in-law (or any other USF students) you could ask them to write a letter of support for you to be included in your file. A good letter from a current student may carry some weight with the adcom.</p>
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<p>I can understand your interest. It probably important for you to have family support, while your wife has a comfortable environment while you are at school and stuff. You might also want to get that across in you secondary.</p>
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<p>I think USF has the option of a character letter, so that would be good to have. I know FSU requires a character letter from a peer.</p>
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<p>According to AAMC “your scores should be released 30-35 days after your test date,” so this will hold up my application a little.
I wasn’t really worried until the end of this semester, now I’m very neurotic about the whole process.</p>
<p>Have you sent you transcript(s) to AAMC app services yet? As shades mentioned, get you application in early. The verifiers dont need you MCAT score to look over your application, so you can still submit you application and once you MCAT score is in, they will verify it.</p>
<p>Oh this brings up an important question! If my MCAT scores won’t come out until about July 20th then should I still rush to fulfill the primary application by June 1?</p>
<p>Well, when you get your MCAT score back, you’ll know if you should go ahead and click the submit button on your AMCAS. Anything less than a 31 and your chances are really not good - I would take a step back and decide whether or not you can afford to spend about $1k on applications that chances are, won’t work out. If you get a 33+, then I think you still have a decent enough shot at things to make applying worthwhile.</p>
<p>I don’t think submitting in July is considered late, but like I said, time is of the essence for you. You’ll want to have your AMCAS filled out ASAP because you need time to take a look at studentdoctor.net to see what secondary essays your schools have sent out in the past. Chances are the questions this year will be much the same. You should start drafting responses to those old questions so that when you get the secondaries, you’ll be in a better position to turn them around quickly.</p>
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<p>USF keeps the same questions. </p>
<p>[Official</a> 2008 Secondary Essay Prompts Thread - Student Doctor Network Forums](<a href=“Official 2008 Secondary Essay Prompts Thread | Student Doctor Network”>Official 2008 Secondary Essay Prompts Thread | Student Doctor Network)</p>
<p>Thanks again, if anyone else has an opinion or specific knowledge about weights of GPA vs MCAT at USF I’d love to hear it.</p>