Hello all, new to the forum here, well actually have always read up, first time posting, your help and advice would be greatly appreciated.
I have graduated college with a Bachelors in Biology with a 3.12 GPA. My grades were low initially, but the increase and improvements in my grades can be significantly noted.
I stayed out a year(currently this year) to do a graduate level program. Its called a Masters in Biotechnology and Chemical analysis from Roosevelt University Chicago. Classes right now include, molecular bio, cell bio, devl bio, research, biochem. I would be done before Fall 2007. I did this program just so I could show schools that continuing progress and have grades to show for it, in addition its a graduate program and just being in it let alone doing well must mean something.
I have substantial volunteer work experience, non-profit health clinics, hospital, international volunteer work. Shadowed. Work a part-time job. Active leadership roles in school organizations. Many non-health volunteer activities as well.
With all that said, i just got my MCAT scores, the breakdown was 9V, 7B, 6P. basically a 22R. i am devestated as i really felt i did much better, was expecting around a 26-27. I took the test while in some serious family problems, i didnt want them to hold me back so i still took it.
I seriously dont have a chance to get into any US MD schools right now, or maybe even later, so should i consider the DO option? i have applied to all 25 DO schools, i have shadowed a DO and would sincerly want to do that, or try for the carribean? or should i still try for some easier MD schools, such as rosalind franklin in chicago?GPA there is around 3.2 and mcat is 28
again
undergrad gpa-3.12
mcat-22R
graduate gpa-pending
substantial extracurricular activites
if there are any other questions you need to ask please feel free
What would be my best course of action right now, please advise me.
Is there a reason you couldn’t re-take the MCAT in 2007, do much better (since you had family problems this time around), and reapply next year? DO is a good option since it’s something you want, and probably an option with more flexibility than going Caribbean. But waiting a year, if you think you can bring your score up, is definitely an option also.
A year seems even longer to us as nontrads than to the younger students, I think, because we feel old. But a number of med school admissions problems do get better a year down the road.
I agree. Remember that the MCAT will be offered in January of this year (as well as April). Depending on your schedule and other commitments I would reccomend taking it in January (so you could send a follow up letter to each school and say that you are retaking the MCAT or even just to schools who might not give you a secondary) or retake in April for the next cycle. Just depends on if you want to make the most of this application cycle or not. Just as a interesting piece of info, I actually have two friends at VCOM that had great grades (close to 4.0) but their MCATs were a 17! So all is not lost. I would look at your application and see what you can improve on the most and quickly (grades, MCAT, experience). You may also want to check out mdapplicants.com or is it .org? and look at people with similar stats to you to see where they got in.
Good luck!
Marcia
I just posted this over in the MCAT forum, but it might be useful here as well.
For anyone considering retaking the MCAT and hoping to use it for this year’s application, here is recent commentary from AMCAS:
We have now posted to our AMCAS site a list of those Medical Schools that have indicated their current position in regards to consideration of January 2007 MCAT scores for the 2007 entering class. While this list is not yet comprehensive, we believe it may be helpful to applicants and advisors interested in whether or not January 2007 MCAT scores will be considered by medical schools for the 2007 entering class.
This list appears at
http://www.aamc.org/students/amcas/january2007mcat…
Cheers,
Judy
You could retake the MCAT and do a Post Bac?
I PM’d you too.
