Hi Dr. Gray! I love your podcast and I wish that I would have discovered it months ago. I desperately need your help and I hope that you can give me some insight. Here’s a quick background about me:
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Graduated college 6 years ago, undergrad GPA (BCPM 2.79 and AO 3.64). not that great but does show an upwards trajectory the last two years.
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Completed an intense two years science master’s program and that GPA was better (BCPM 3.61 and AO 4.00)
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Took an MCAT fresh out of grad school with minimal preparation and got 491. For some reason, during that time I was crazy enough to still apply (I know, don’t judge me, I didn’t know better). Needless to say I took a plunge, applied to 20 schools, and of course got 0 interviews/acceptances.
After that, I decided to take a break from the whole med school thing and just figure out life. I moved to a different state, got a job that I love as a clinical research coordinator where I get to work with cancer patients every day, and took time to build a life of my own. So now here I am 4 years later from my last application, realizing that I deserve to give myself one more shot. I love my interaction with patients and believe there’s so much more that I can do. I have countless hours of shadowing and volunteering, clinical experience, and research experience dating back to undergrad. My passion for medicine did not stop with my rejections. I wish I did not apply the first time and just saved the smoking gun for now, but I can’t take it back. I’ve been studying for the MCAT for the past couple of months, my practice tests creep in the high 490’s (aiming for at least 501-509), and I’m scheduled to take the MCAT August 1st. I have two months to decide whether the time is now. Even with a great story, my undergrad GPA and MCAT are things from the past that haunt me. I come from a low-income household and cannot afford to be spilling out money towards applications, exams, and courses every time I’m advised to. But this is my passion and I’m pretty much in a place where this is all I have left. I just hope that it’s enough.
A few questions that I gathered while listening to your podcasts…
- Because my MCAT date is a little later in the cycle (due to COVID-19), should I wait until the score is back on August 18th to submit my primary or take a leap of desperate faith and submit my application without a score?
- Do you think it would be wise to wait another year for the next application cycle if I do not see my goal score on my practice score weeks before my exam? When is it safe to “pull my cards out of the deck”?
- Are there any big factors or red flags that you see on my application that I can work on or talk about in my personal statement/ECs? I do plan on discussing how I am a stronger applicant this time around
- As a re-applicant, I hear you advising applicants to reconsider taking more undergrad courses to strengthen their application. A few of my C’s come from chem/phys courses so are you advising that I retake these courses? After 4 years of college credits, I honestly do not see the benefit of spending thousands of dollars to increase my GPA by 0.10 points. Even with my upwards trajectory, am I still at great risk?
- When it comes to letters, I have plenty from physicians that I’ve worked with during my career, but should I have an equivalent number of academic letters? The only professors I’ve keep in touch with are from grad school.
Any insight will help right now. Thank you!