Chances?

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Flapjacks

Flapjacks

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Greetings,

I've been looking into Podiatry ever since I received a pamphlet(?) from APMA after taking my MCAT. I like that I can do surgery, consultation, sports injuries etc. I'm 24 currently, and let me say that I am not considering Podiatry as a fall back. I watched the videos for APMA and I have been reading a few threads the past three days and I think this would be a great profession with lots of flexibility.


My current plan, before i considered Podiatry, was retaking Physics and Chemistry I and applying to DO school and the carribeans, but I'd rather stay in the US and I don't want to lose the 1-2 years I would need to make up for the 11Ws and 2 Fs and 1 D i got on my transcript to go to DO school.

What might be my chances for Podiatry schools with my stats:

cGPA: 3.0
sGPA: maybe 3.1

MCAT: 8PS 8 VR 7 BS
23 L (no studying)

Any input is appreciated
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Flapjacks said:
11Ws and 2 Fs and 1 D i got on my transcript
Click to expand...


you do realize this is going to be problem for podiatry school as well...that is more than 1 W a semester!! that is a HUGE red flag for any health sciences program (yes even lowly podiatry....sigh). it is a sign to schools that a student is not capable of taking on and handling any real course load. i'm going to be blunt because what is the point in instilling false hope which may end up costing you at least application fees, and at most a year or two of tuition and your life...it is going to take a lot more than a 3.0 and a 23L to compensate for 11 W's, 2 F's, and 1 D. when you decide to go down the very long and arduous path of medicine (MD, DO, DPM, DDS, etc) the point is not to slip in through the back door with minimal ability. the problem with this is that if you do in fact get admitted to some program, whether consciously or not, you are going to be accustomed to succeeding with a modicum of effort. this will catch up to you sooner or later. for a patients sake you would hope that it would be sooner. if you are serious about wanting to enter the medical profession then take the REAL necessary steps to compensate for whatever academic shortcomings you may have. prove to yourself that you can indeed make it through the academic rigors associated with becoming a doctor. do be contented to be the bottom of the bell curve.
 
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Flapjacks said:
Greetings,

let me say that I am not considering Podiatry as a fall back.

My current plan is retaking Physics and Chemistry I and applying to DO school and the carribeans, but I'd rather stay in the US and I don't want to lose the 1-2 years I would need to make up for the 11Ws and 2 Fs and 1 D i got on my transcript to go to DO school.
Click to expand...

lol
 
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A piece of me dies everytime I read posts like these. At first I thought the "11Ws" was a typo and you only meant 1, but the fact you made it plural rules this out.

I don't even know how to reply to your post. So I'm not. I tried. I'm taking a W for this thread.
 
what if the W stands for "wonderful"?
 
I received the withdrawals the first two years of college; due to my ignorance that I thought Withdrawals were some sort of magic wand. Since my realization, I have had an upward trend; especially with upper-level science classes.
 
air bud said:
what if the W stands for "wonderful"?
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Ha I wouldn't be suprized in today's politically correct, overly sensitive world. I remember reading how red markings on a test paper are no longer used in some schools because it's considered "yelling" at the student. Perhaps "W" just stands for "wonderful-in-waiting".

Flapjacks said:
I received the withdrawals the first two years of college; due to my ignorance that I thought Withdrawals were some sort of magic wand. Since my realization, I have had an upward trend; especially with upper-level science classes.
Click to expand...

And the 'advisor of the year' award goes to...
 
You say that you are interested in podiatry becuase of the options and it isn't your fall back plan. I question your true intentions and the validity of this comment. If this is your desire, why have you applied to osteopathic AND allopathic schools? I feel that if you do apply podiatry and you do say that exact line, admissions will read have similar questions becuase they will already know that you have applied osteopathic and allopathic schools before podiatric medical schools.

Is this really what you want? If not, you are going to be very unhappy!
 
Thanks for the responses, I appreciate the blunt criticism (no sarcasm).

Schankey, I have not applied to Osteopathic and allopathic schools; I have yet to apply to anything. I was explaining what I was working towards, before I discovered and researched on Podiatry.
 
The withdrawals are pretty serious, I would contact the schools themselves and see what they say, you will get more helpful responses than we can give on this subject.
 
surprised nobody asked this yet. when you clearly recognized that you had an uphill battle ahead of you, why did you not study for the MCATS? was that your advisors fault?
 
I agree with everyone about the Ws being the hangup. Based soley on gpa and mcat you'd get into a program, but it would be wise to call each program to figure out their stance on your grades. I do have one question, is English your second language? Unless you missed the O or P on the keyboard when posting, an L in the writing portion of the MCAT would definately be a red flag in the allopathic and osteopathic world. Did you just skip past the essays on the exam? Just can't wrap my head around the L...
 
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The school which I attended, the advisors were completely useless. For example, whenever I asked help concerning which classes were considered ALAMEA or whatever they would say, "I don't know" or "look it up".

For those reasons, I never visited them again, by my junior year I figured out how consult the Catalog for my degree and use different search functions on the schools registering website in order to finish my requirements and such.

I learned from other pre-meds about the troubles of Ws, which I quickly stopped.

Air bud - I never studied for the MCAT because I had other things going on at the time so I signed up and gave it a go. Yes, I paid for an expensive practice test, but improvement will look good from what I hear.
 
OP, i don't want you to feel ganged up on here...but there are some things you need to understand before moving ahead in your medical career. the biggest thing is taking responsibility for your actions. advisors (good or bad) cannot be blamed for ignorance regarding the damaging affect of one or two, much less 11 W's on one's transcript. explaining 11 W's to an admissions committee as having bad advisors, and then attributing the turn around to finally being able, by your junior year of college, to understand a catalog is not exactly going to be met with open arms. secondly, if the realization of the mistakes you made in your first two years was really apparent, then you would know (hopefully) that you would need to focus your attention on knocking your MCAT out of the park. If you were to have started a thread with your stats (cgpa, scigpa, and MCAT) you would have gotten a few responses all telling you to go ahead and apply and that you would at least get interviews at a few schools. the rest of your story however shows that numbers aren't everything. while i can't know whether podiatry really is something you would/could be happy doing the rest of your life (i think i do know the answer however)...i can say that whatever path you end up choosing, you are going to need to make some adjustments.

also to second dtrack's observation...the writing portion on the MCAT is really only significant if you do extremely good/bad. getting an L would definitely be a red flag to admissions
 
maybe we shouldnt get too hung up on the W's. In college I thought withdrawing was pretty safe.
 
I don't put any blame on advisor for withdrawals since I had never asked them about withdrawals. I don't intend on giving them any blame when asked; just that I never used them.

If this helps my application, which I doubt, I have a minor in biophysics and public health. I am currently studying for the May MCAT, I've gotten the TBR books, EK set with all the 1001 books, as well as, practice tests. I am not taking the MCAT lightly and I have already made my adjustments. I can't see where else I could possibly make adjustments really. I am aware of SMPs and the finding a DPM to shadow. To be honest, where else could I make adjustments?


Medicine contains a myriad of processes and lifestyles; no one can ever be sure if they know that it is right for them.
 
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Flapjacks said:
I don't put any blame on advisor for withdrawals since I had never asked them about withdrawals. I don't intend on giving them any blame when asked; just that I never used them.

If this helps my application, which I doubt, I have a minor in biophysics and public health. I am currently studying for the May MCAT, I've gotten the TBR books, EK set with all the 1001 books, as well as, practice tests. I am not taking the MCAT lightly and I have already made my adjustments. I can't see where else I could possibly make adjustments really. I am aware of SMPs and the finding a DPM to shadow. To be honest, where else could I make adjustments?


Medicine contains a myriad of processes and lifestyles; no one can ever be sure if they know that it is right for them.
Click to expand...

Don't you think you should have shadowed a DPM before you ultimately decided you wanted to go the podiatry route??? I don't know....just an after-thought of mine
 
OP, you do have a lot of issues with your transcript. I personally think you are too behind in the game to have a legitimate shot at MD or DO schools. I doubt you would be able to get accepted to St. George's either.

Your only saving grace in this whole fiasco is if you were to score pretty decent on your MCAT (for podiatry school admissions). Score a 24 or higher and I think at least one Pod school will take a chance on you...maybe more depending on where you apply.

Seriously re-think the MD/DO route...
 
dtrack22 said:
Wait...you refuse to use emoticons, but are ok throwing out lol's, omg's, ttyl's, etc? I don't know what to believe anymore.
Click to expand...

Hey. You want off the team?
I had no other choice. I didnt want to be fashionably pre-pod and make a condescending comment but still wanted to laugh at the hipocracy of what was written.
I write the rules buddy.
 
last test of micro. 8 up and 8 down
 
I have been doing some research but I would like some other peoples insight on this.

How do you rank the eight podiatry schools in the US?

I know that NYCPM is in a bad part of NY, etc. but I am referring to prestige and residency placement. Do you guys think there is a difference?
 
1. search function
2. there is no real way (at least on here) to get an unbiased ranking of schools...many have very similar numbers
3. DMU is by far the best...i would say head and shoulders above the rest, but i really don't think that is an accurate enough description. i heard from the head of podiatry for everything, everywhere that on the 7th day God didn't really rest...he created the Des Moines University College of Podiatric Medicine and Surgery.
4. number 3 is a completely unbiased fact
 
I wonder if I have a chance at DMU.
 
You're doing great kid, keep up the good work!

Get a few more F's and W's and you got it made!
 
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I just got my May MCAT back and received a 26L (I don't understand the L); Now I need to find a Podiatrist to shadow.
 
Flapjacks said:
I just got my May MCAT back and received a 26L (I don't understand the L); Now I need to find a Podiatrist to shadow.
Click to expand...

With an MCAT score of 26 and having cGPA and sGPA at and above 3.0 you will certainly prob get accepted to any podiatry school that you want. Don't worry about the L.

Nice job!
 
MusicManMike said:
Unsure how you got another L... but at least you have a 26! :thumbup:

Maybe you can take some graduate level courses to boost that GPA. Show them that you mean business.
Click to expand...

What's with people suggesting that pre-pods take grad level courses? Sorry, but that's terrible advice. Pod schools don't give a crap about grad level work, especially if it's just a couple of courses. Its not going to make a lick of difference in your app and will just be a waste of money.
 
Thanks for the responses, everyone.

On the subject of catchburns response; I agree with your thought process, I too, don't see how graduate level courses can help with my GPA since it is a separate calculated GPA. All I can think that could slightly help is a SMP, but those are taken for DO/MD admissions.
 
studywithfury said:
With an MCAT score of 26 and having cGPA and sGPA at and above 3.0 you will certainly prob get accepted to any podiatry school that you want. Don't worry about the L.

Nice job!
Click to expand...


I hope this is true.
I'm getting really paranoid about applying..the cycle opens up in a little under two weeks....and then it is just a waiting game I suppose.. that will be the end of me i think.. all that uncertainty haha
 
oh this is good news....but still... i have heard that some schools dont even reply. that is what i am afraid of.
 
dmu, azpod, ocpm, and barry.. do you think that is enough?
 
i'm not going to be picky haha.. i just want to get in somewhere.
 
MusicManMike said:
From what I have read, apparently the waiting game isn't as long as MD/DO schools. The app is processed rather quickly and you know in a few weeks about interview invites.
Click to expand...

I actually got 5 interviews all within 7 days of submitting my app + mcat. And I submitted on the day of the deadline, about 2 hours before the deadline. I did have to cancel all my interviews as i got accepted off the waitlist to DO.

But generally, turnaround time seemed REALLY good compared to MD/DO
 
Does anyone think getting an interview and/or acceptance by the beginning of october is realistic?
 
Googlymello said:
Does anyone think getting an interview and/or acceptance by the beginning of october is realistic?
Click to expand...

what's the hurry? Just be patient. They'll get you in for an interview soon enough. October is possible but November is more likely.
 
5 days until the applications open up.. apeosifpw9hq-9487etghvoaesthgovihjneRKJF

YAY
 
you missed:

zbcdlmuxy123560

now you won't get accepted.
 
i will just pray to the podiatry gods and see if they will let me get away with it and give me another shot ;) haha
 
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