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hopelesslyhopeful

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Hi SDN! I need some advice on what to do!

Graduated from a top 25 undergrad with a 3.46 cGPA/3.21 sGPA, 33 MCAT. I applied to ~30 MD schools this cycle and its not looking good currently.

A little more about my app for reference:
- my science GPA is definitely hurt by a few classes: C- in second semester chem, C+ in multi-variable calculus, C+ in second semester ochem
- I worked through college which somewhat limited my ECs. I was involved in non-medical research (psychology/communication) at my undergrad, but I don't have any other research currently.
- I held 2 major leadership positions in college but again, they were non-medical ECs chosen due to their financial benefit.
- To bolster my medical related ECs, I have been working full time as a scribe/surgery scheduler for an orthopedic surgeon for the last 1.5 years and have had the chance to do 100+ hours of shadowing (various specialties) at the hospital I work for in that time.

I have two questions for you guys:
1) Will I be competitive with my application as it stands for the next cycle (this upcoming June) for DO schools?
2) Since I am still also planning to apply MD even when I apply DO, should I consider an SMP and wait until the following cycle (2018) to apply?

I am partially leaning toward an SMP due to the possibility of linkage, but I know that it is expensive and risky!

Any advice would be great! Thanks in advance SDN.

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I have two questions for you guys:
1) Will I be competitive with my application as it stands for the next cycle (this upcoming June) for DO schools?
2) Since I am still also planning to apply MD even when I apply DO, should I consider an SMP and wait until the following cycle (2018) to apply?

.

What state are you a resident of and did you get any IIs?

1) Yes

2) You have to decide what your end goal is. If MD is the end goal, then yes an SMP is the smart move here. If you are very open to the DO route, there's no point doing an MD SMP.

You gotta figure out what you ultimately want, your timeline, and how much of a risk you are willing to take. These stats make you a very good SMP candidate nad will make you a good MD candidate fast if you do well in an SMP. That on top of the fact that your MCAT is above close to 95% of DO matriculants and with the upcoming merger amongst other things, and I could easily see the logic for wanting to go for the MD. But like you said, SMPs are risky and expensive.

It just comes down to what you want to prioritize. If you are risk averse, dont want to spend big bucks and are open to the DO route, ditch the SMP and youll be fine for DO programs next cycle. If MD is the end goal, an SMP is the move and I would probably seriously consider waiting until after the SMP is done to apply given you are already a reapplicant(hence you will have to wait an extra year for the MD). So as you can see, you gotta figure out where your priorities are. Figure that out and things will fall into place.
 
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What state are you a resident of and did you get any IIs?

1) Yes

2) You have to decide what your end goal is. If MD is the end goal, then yes an SMP is the smart move here. If you are very open to the DO route, there's no point doing an MD SMP.

You gotta figure out what you ultimately want, your timeline, and how much of a risk you are willing to take. These stats make you a very good SMP candidate nad will make you a good MD candidate fast if you do well in an SMP. That on top of the fact that your MCAT is above close to 95% of DO matriculants and with the upcoming merger amongst other things, and I could easily see the logic for wanting to go for the MD. But like you said, SMPs are risky and expensive.

It just comes down to what you want to prioritize. If you are risk averse, dont want to spend big bucks and are open to the DO route, ditch the SMP and youll be fine for DO programs next cycle. If MD is the end goal, an SMP is the move and I would probably seriously consider waiting until after the SMP is done to apply given you are already a reapplicant(hence you will have to wait an extra year for the MD). So as you can see, you gotta figure out where your priorities are. Figure that out and things will fall into place.

I am a California resident and no interviews. I am currently on spring hold with Drexel and penn state, and small pooled at Vermont. I was also on preinterview hold at USC Keck but was ultimately rejected. I've received ~ 20 rejections and have 10-12 schools with nothing but silence.

Thank you for such in depth feedback. The merger is definitely concerning, and I feel like I'm near the cusp of being a fair MD candidate, so it's hard to give up on that after one cycle. On the other end, I do have financial constraints and would be taking on the SMP with no assistance from my parents. Can you clarify next cycle for me - were you saying there is essentially no way to reapply MD next cycle (2017)? Because I think, even if applying to DO schools in conjunction with MD schools, I'd like to take one more shot at MD. If that's the case I would inevitably need to wait until the 2018 cycle, correct?


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I am a California resident and no interviews. I am currently on spring hold with Drexel and penn state, and small pooled at Vermont. I was also on preinterview hold at USC Keck but was ultimately rejected. I've received ~ 20 rejections and have 10-12 schools with nothing but silence.

Thank you for such in depth feedback. The merger is definitely concerning, and I feel like I'm near the cusp of being a fair MD candidate, so it's hard to give up on that after one cycle. On the other end, I do have financial constraints and would be taking on the SMP with no assistance from my parents. Can you clarify next cycle for me - were you saying there is essentially no way to reapply MD next cycle (2017)? Because I think, even if applying to DO schools in conjunction with MD schools, I'd like to take one more shot at MD. If that's the case I would inevitably need to wait until the 2018 cycle, correct?


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You're welcome to reapply as an MD next cycle if you want I just personally wouldnt if I were in your shoes. The key thing here is you are a reapplicant, meaning you have to show a significant amount of improvement to get the same consideration you would get if you were applying the first time around. Ie if you apply with the same flaws you have, limited ECs, 3.2 sGPA, things are rather unlikely to change. You gotta address your flaws and you havent really done that since applying. And a number of schools, regardless of what lip service they tell you publicly, either flat out wont consider 3rd time applicants or will be very weary of them. So you cant just keep continuing to apply; you gotta look at your next app cycle as do or die.

Unfortunately being from CA you dont really have any state schools where your odds will be best. The fact you didnt get a single II out of 30 schools suggests it might not just be the sGPA holding you back; plenty of people with 3.5/3.2/33 at least get a II somewhere and that suggests the ECs and written part of your app could have been better. An SMP wont address these issues; you need to separately and it sounds like you have a little during your gap year but again you gotta realistically assess if what youve done up to now is enough.

Ultimately, this is entirely your call. You have to figure out whether you can take on the financial cost of an SMP and whether you have confidence in your aiblity to routinely beat an MS1 class average in an SMP with people who on average had 3.7 sGPAs in college and will be working way harder than they did in college. It wont be easy. But no one can really answer whether or not it's worth it for you to do an SMP; it's a question only you can answer.
 
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You're welcome to reapply as an MD next cycle if you want I just personally wouldnt if I were in your shoes. The key thing here is you are a reapplicant, meaning you have to show a significant amount of improvement to get the same consideration you would get if you were applying the first time around. Ie if you apply with the same flaws you have, limited ECs, 3.2 sGPA, things are rather unlikely to change. You gotta address your flaws and you havent really done that since applying. And a number of schools, regardless of what lip service they tell you publicly, either flat out wont consider 3rd time applicants or will be very weary of them. So you cant just keep continuing to apply; you gotta look at your next app cycle as do or die.

Unfortunately being from CA you dont really have any state schools where your odds will be best. The fact you didnt get a single II out of 30 schools suggests it might not just be the sGPA holding you back; plenty of people with 3.5/3.2/33 at least get a II somewhere and that suggests the ECs and written part of your app could have been better. An SMP wont address these issues; you need to separately and it sounds like you have a little during your gap year but again you gotta realistically assess if what youve done up to now is enough.

Ultimately, this is entirely your call. You have to figure out whether you can take on the financial cost of an SMP and whether you have confidence in your aiblity to routinely beat an MS1 class average in an SMP with people who on average had 3.7 sGPAs in college and will be working way harder than they did in college. It wont be easy. But no one can really answer whether or not it's worth it for you to do an SMP; it's a question only you can answer.

If you don't mind me playing devils advocate one more time - Do you think that if I were to focus on patching up some of my ECs over the next 4 months (volunteer, shadow, possibly get involved in research), get additional feedback and readdress my essays/LOR to be sure they weren't the problem, and take some science post bacc classes over the summer/fall, I could apply MD and DO this upcoming cycle?

Ultimately I would like to avoid the 2018 cycle as I'll need to retake the MCAT in that case. If that plan of action could help my case and give me a shot MD, even if it didn't give me the BEST possible shot, I'd do that. I think ideally if there was any way to take a shot at MD 2017 with the understanding that DO may be the outcome, I may prefer that over SMP, retaking the MCAT, and applying 2018.


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If you don't mind me playing devils advocate one more time - Do you think that if I were to focus on patching up some of my ECs over the next 4 months (volunteer, shadow, possibly get involved in research), get additional feedback and readdress my essays/LOR to be sure they weren't the problem, and take some science post bacc classes over the summer/fall, I could apply MD and DO this upcoming cycle?

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Youll be fine for DO schools if you do this. Youre free to go that route and take another shot at MD schools and see what happens. I dont recommend just making 4 months of minor tweaks then reapplying like you described; I dont think itll work particularly given you are a reapplicant and didnt get a single II out of 30 last cycle. But you are welcome to try it.

There still a number of schools that will accept the old MCAT not this upcoming cycle but the one after as well. So depending on when you took the old MCAT, you could use that MCAT if you wait until summer 2017 to apply to many schools.

Here is the official list of those that will accept the old MCAT for the 2018 cycle.
https://aamc-orange.global.ssl.fast...154-42de-9775-df0ec78b5dda/mcatexampolicy.pdf
 
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