I’m new to the board.
I’m currently a chiropractor, married with 4 kids. I’m dissatisfied with the chiropractic profession and feel a career as a family doctor would be more fulfilling.
I applied to a few schools last year, got an interview, but bombed it. This year, I applied to the same schools plus a few more.
My MCAT scores are good, but they’re old and most schools won’t even consider them any more. I’ve only applied to schools that will accept old MCAT scores or don’t require MCATs at all. I should probably retake the MCATs this year in case I don’t get in.
I wonder if my current profession has negatively influenced my application… they certainly spent a lot of time during my interview asking me about chiropractic and alternative medicine.
I recently decided that if I didn’t get in to med school this year I would quit, but this forum and another site have given me the encouragement to keep trying.
That’s my story!
Which schools don’t require MCATs?
Some schools in eastern Canada (Ontario) don’t require MCATs. However, the 2 that I’m applying to out there will start requiring MCATs next year.
Archelon
Just curious, how did you blow the interview, and how did you answer their questions about chiro and altmed? This is the first time I have heard of anybody being asked these types of questions.
After the whole process is over, U of A allows you to set up a phone appointment with someone in Admissions to go over your application and discuss the strengths and weaknesses of your application. That was when I discovered that my application, letters of reference, etc. were all good, but my interview did not go well. The interviewers felt I didn’t have enough depth of life experience (even though the admissions committee felt my written application demonstrated plenty of depth).
In retrospect, I was disorganized in my responses and I could have chosen more significant experiences to relate than the ones I did use.
As far as responses to chiropractic and alternative medicine, I can’t remember all my responses because they spent about half the interview asking me about chiropractic and alternative medicine issues. They asked if I would continue to practice chiropractic as a medical doctor. I replied that I wouldn’t practice “chiropractic” but I would use whatever treatment is the best for that situation and if the best treatment is a manual manipulation then so be it.
I remember they asked my opinion of “natural medicine” in general. I think I replied that some of it has some merit, some doesn’t and there’s a lot we don’t know enough about.
They also asked which three conditions are best treated by chiropractic, what I thought of adjusting children, and I’m sure there must have been a question about neck manipulation in there somewhere.
They asked a lot of the usual questions about life experiences, books I’ve read, abortion, medical consent and minors.
I was a little intimidated. Even though I had anticipated most of their questions and had prepared for them, I choked during the interview.
At least I’m familiar with the format now and should be better prepared next time.
Archelon
Wow! That’s alot of stuff to cover in an interview. From others’ descriptions, they usually aren’t so lengthy and detailed, are they?
The interview didn’t take much more than 30 minutes, but they asked a lot of questions. Here’s what I remember (not neccesssarily in order):
Why do you want to be a doctor?
How is that different from what you do now?
What are the top 3 conditions chiropractic can help?
What do you think about adjusting children?
What do you think about c-spine manipulation?
What is your opinion of “natural” health care?
Would you continue to use chiropractic as a doctor?
What other schools did you apply to?
Why did you apply to this university?
Which of the schools that you applied to is your preferred school? (gotta love this question. Do you tell them they’re your second choice, but you didn’t get an interview at your first choice?)
Tell us abut an experience. (No kidding, word for word on this one. How do you respond to such a general question?)
Describe your typical week.
How does being a parent better qualify you for medical school?
Then they got into the ethical dilemmas: a 13 year-old girl comes into your office. She’s pregnant and she wants an abortion. What do you do? Then they asked how it would be any different if her mother accompanied her.
How do you feel about smoking?
Describe some of your hobbies/interests.
What was the last book you read, tell us about it.
What is your opinion of Microsoft? (Dead serious. I think this one was off the record and simply a personal interest question raised by one of the interviewers because of something I had said during the interview)
That’s all I remember. I have no idea how it compares to other interview experiences since this was my only interview so far.
If you want to get an idea of people’s experiences during interviews, there’s a really good interview feedback section at studentdoctor.net that lists by individual school.
Archelon
I got a letter from U of A yesterday. I got an interview! 
In other news, U of O rejected me. 
Still no word from the others.
Arch,
CONGRATS! Keep on pluggin away!
I got an email yesterday from U of A. I’m in!
U of C put me on the waiting list.
Thanks for all the support. This forum helped me keep going and not give up.
-A
Congrats, Archelon!
Archelon,
Great news! Congratulations!
Congratulations! The Canadian med schools are generally so much harder to get into than the US - you must have done a great job this time around.
Woohoo! Congratulations!
Congratulations! Way to go! I’m so proud of you!
Stephen
Congrats! We’re all excited for you.
Congrats from a fellow Canadian!
I’m following in your footsteps! 
Alright
I have been suffering from neck pain from past one year. Have tried many treatments and drugs but didn’t get permanent relief. Came to know about chiropractic treatment and searched for a reputed Mississauga chiro center. Got treatment from there and had complete relief Thus, I think you should continue in this profession.