Current student? Parent of a med school student? On an Admissions Committee?
I’m a parent of a resident doctor who now interviews applicants (he does, not me).
From what he tells me the minimum is often there for those with a terrific backstory of some sort. Average applicants should be well above the minimum to reach the interview stage.
So it’s all about numbers? Married to a physician; parent of a physician who is currently a supervising attending; assisted two nieces and two nephews with successful medical school application in the past five years. And two siblings are physicians.
And work with a person who is on the state medical school selection/admissions committee.
You took that wrong. I asked because it helps readers to understand where the poster is coming from when they’re reading advice. I, and others here, comment often on pre-med threads so someone who has read a bit likely knows our backgrounds. They could have followed mine since undergrad days for my guy.
I didn’t recognize your screen name so thought additional info could be helpful. It was in no way meant as a dig. It’s helpful when readers can see the source of their advice.
Editing due to thinking of another difference readers may care about. My guy’s experience is with a private research medical U. It’s no surprise to regular readers on cc that it’s UR because I often post their class profiles for future med school hopefuls to see what it takes to be successful there. State med schools aren’t always as picky, though are still competitive to get into. How competitive varies based upon the state.
Here’s UR’s latest class Profile if anyone is curious. I doubt they’re alone with what they look for in a successful applicant for their type of school:
How are people interpreting state university vs a regular university?
I see a lot of discussion about online vs regular. Lot of colleges have given a lot of leeway in the last couple of years and I would expect some of those rules will still be valid 4 years from now because there will be at least another year of Covid impacts. @creekland’s son and my older daughter entered medical schools under different circumstances than even my younger one who started with the first Covid exceptions to meet requirements year in 2020. I suspect she was in the middle of required labs in final semester when the school told them to go home and no one in medical school cared. Since then the leeway has favored more online, test scores not required etc choices which were just impossible to think of in 2019 admission cycle. Hard to predict how things will go each year - 2021 was test optional year, 2022 not so much only because people couldn’t take tests in 2020 but were able to in 2021.
My only advice to OP is not do an online degree and expect to attend medical school. The competition is brutal and because of the leeway medical have given in the last 2 years, a lot more people have found it easy to apply and the success rate of being admitted has dropped.
The schools may make it lot easier to apply which is what I see from @oldlaw.
What we dont know is whether people who are able to apply are found to be competitive to get through the screening process - get an interview, get admitted.
In last cycle (ie med students now in first year), of the over 62k who applied, over 22K successfully started (ie just over 36%). Just getting an acceptance into any one US med school , much less a top 15 med school, is quite the accomplishment. What you do in college (GPAs, MCAT, extracurriculars, LORs, personal statement, interview) will carry far more weight than the school you attend. As a happy student tends to do better, where do you think you’d be most happy/successful? Why? I don’t need an answer, something you might want to consider. Good luck.
When you see all these notes you all write, it gives you a sense of awe about anyone who can become a doctor.
I saw one the other day and asked him about all this chat - and he said, get good grades, more importantly get a top MCAT - and then cross your fingers.
I asked him about the school you go to and he said - that doesn’t matter…because…Northern Colorado is not on any list of top schools.
First it’s med school, then it’s prayers for Match Day and residency, and yes, it’s something students need to be super prepared for going in, because while some students can stumble and still make it (often years later with significant other experience), most can’t afford a wrong step.
Fortunately, choice of college for undergrad is not usually a misstep (assuming US and I’d still be wary of 100% online). Missteps can be made by taking on too much debt and over-challenging oneself (compared to peers) in those intro classes.
My daughter just got into a state med school, from the waitlist after applying to 30 schools. Waitlisted at three state med schools. She went to a state school for undergrad, 3.96 GPA, 516 MCAT. She has done research, is an EMT, works in ED of hospital, as well as cardiology. I wonder if going to a state school for undergrad hurt her. Strange only waitlists were from state schools. I would say based on this, go to the “best” undergrad you can…
Thank you for sharing your D’s experience. And congratulations to her for the acceptance!! It is important for future applicants to hear such anecdotes.
If you don’t mind sharing, what was the ballpark cost of those 30 applications? I have not been through this with my daughter yet, but from what I have read it is quite expensive. That information could be useful for others. An extra reality check so to speak.
The Cost of Applying to Medical School mentions medical school application costs. One potentially very large cost of applying is that of short notice travel to medical school interviews that are done in-person.
Here are some more pages on the subject:
https://career.berkeley.edu/Medical/AppCost (from 2014)
Thank you, and it was between $75-$100 for each one but a few were free, like Tulane.
Wasn’t that just for each secondary sent? How much is the initial AMCAS fee per school these days?
The Cost of Applying to Medical School says $170 plus $43 for each additional school for the primary application. This does not include secondary application fees that each school may charge.
Closing. The OP has not been active for months,and the recent posts are the result of a hijack. New, unrelated questions should be its own thread.