advice on choosing schools

Nontraditional Premed Discussion
1

Hi everyone,


I’m wondering if anyone has any tips on what schools may seriously consider someone with my background:


I have a B.S. with a 3.0 GPA from a first tier university and a Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry with a 3.6 Post-bacc GPA (all upper level science courses)


I’ve gotten in the mid 30s (33-36) on some practice MCATs, but haven’t taken the actual exam yet.


I’ve got a bunch of publications/presentation s and have a bit of volunteer/clinical exp.


I’m basically wondering if anyone has any inside tips on schools that may overlook the weak undergrad performance in light of strong PhD and MCAT performance. Thanks in advance!

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  • charles rocket Said:
Hi everyone,

I'm wondering if anyone has any tips on what schools may seriously consider someone with my background:

I have a B.S. with a 3.0 GPA from a first tier university and a Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry with a 3.6 Post-bacc GPA (all upper level science courses)

I've gotten in the mid 30s (33-36) on some practice MCATs, but haven't taken the actual exam yet.

I've got a bunch of publications/presentation s and have a bit of volunteer/clinical exp.

I'm basically wondering if anyone has any inside tips on schools that may overlook the weak undergrad performance in light of strong PhD and MCAT performance. Thanks in advance!



are you planning to go into research or clinical. Your academic record with a hard science PhD and Post-Bacc will likely more than compensate for your original GPA. Assuming you do as well on the MCAT, you likely need to increase your clinical and other volunteer. On this very brief analysis you seem research centric and may be overlooked by the schools that prefer practicing physicians

The questions I have are why do you want to be a doc? where do you see yourself 5 years after residency? and how do explain your compassion, motivation. commitment?

In other words, where do YOU want to be?
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My motivations in a nutshell:


I have a lot of ambivalence about my current line of work (professor at liberal arts college, 3rd yr.)


I do great with the student interactions in small classes but I’m not that motivated any more to do much research, and I could give or take the large lecture classes. I’ve kind of always wanted to go into medicine, but never was bold enough to make that step, especially after my struggles as an undergraduate. My hope is to become a clinician, as opposed to a researcher. I already have a bunch of clinical exp. and I love it!


Please let me know if you have any specific answers to the original question: What schools in particular may overlook my weak undergrad performance in light of my PhD and MCAT scores?


I already contacted a bunch of admissions officers, but most replied with form responses that didn’t at all address my specific situation.


Thanks in advance!

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In my opinion, having a bachelor degree, a Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry, a 3.6 Post-bacc GPA (all upper level science courses)plus the prospect of scoring at leaat 32 on the MCAT. Is a good place to be at. If you read through some of the posts on this forum you will note that the general consensus is that medical schools like to see an upward improvment in GPA. This seems to be your case. Maybe you should not focus on the 3.o GPA from undergrad, becuse you are not able to change this record; it is part of your story.Concentrate on taking the MCAT, do some volunteer work. Stenghen the other areas of your application. Keep in mind that the medical school admission committee is more interested in the whole picture than a B grade undergrad GPA. It is reasonable to think you might have a great chance of acceptance in one of the schools with MD/PHD or DO/PHD route. You can do some more research about this idea.


Please note that i have not applied to medical school as yet and lack personal experience with MD admission process.