Deciding to take the plunge....and a few questions

[oldbigbear]

First the situation:
- Just turned 30.
- BA in English 3.37 GPA but 4.0 sGPA. (Only over 16 hrs though.)
- Taking classes at Wash U in STL and will enter the Post-Bacc Program Next Summer
- Current work at Wash U in a med school research admin role.
- Great family/sig other support.
-Limited volunteering/EC's

I've decided that's it now or never if I really want end up where I want to be in my life. Because of my sig other's situation and the fact I want to enter Med school with zero debt I don't see myself applying for at least 2 years, probably 3. Given that, I will have enough hours at WU for both the Post-Bacc and a BS in Health Science and Administration. I would (at this point) like to attend Mizzou or SLU, possibly Creighton or even a school in Chicago (although the cost of living might be an issue).

I guess I want to know if I am being realistic. Can I get into these schools? Should I concentrate on DO schools? (I'm strongly considering Family Medicine at this point.)
I think that I can improve my GPA into the 3.5-3.6 range given I will have about 80 hours at WU. I'm hoping the WU name will help as well. I plan on taking a weeks vacation each over the next few years to shadow and will begin volunteering once a week at a local hospital this fall. I guess realistically I can do all these things, but it will come down to the MCAT.

Appreciate any feedback anyone has.

Thanks

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[ruraldr]

It sounds like you have a reasonable plan and timeline to achieve that plan on.

Your science GPA is what will matter the most in the application process, so keep up the excellent progress you've demonstrated in your first 16 credits.

Just make sure that you don't over-load yourself so you can't continue that success and that you give yourself plenty of study time for the MCAT. With continued success in your science classes and your MCAT I'm sure that you will be a competitive applicant in the future.

As far as the DO route--why not set up some time to shadow both MDs and DOs--that might help you weigh if the DO route is right for you? I found shadowing to be a nice reminder of the end goal of this crazy process!

 

[sindadel]

I suspect that doing well on the MCAT will be the key to your successful application. Bringing your GPA up to 3.5 or 3.6 will help you not be screened out on the basis of GPA, but it's not a selling point in the crazy-high-GPA's of med school applicants.

I liked the ExamKracker's books for self-study and since you're taking the basic science classes now, things will be fresh in your memory. You might consider getting some MCAT review materials and using that to organize the material as you take it for the first time. Sort of beginning with the end in mind.

Best of luck.

 

[PunkmedGirl]

First the situation:
- Just turned 30.
- BA in English 3.37 GPA but 4.0 sGPA. (Only over 16 hrs though.)
- Taking classes at Wash U in STL and will enter the Post-Bacc Program Next Summer
- Current work at Wash U in a med school research admin role.
- Great family/sig other support.
-Limited volunteering/EC's

I've decided that's it now or never if I really want end up where I want to be in my life. Because of my sig other's situation and the fact I want to enter Med school with zero debt I don't see myself applying for at least 2 years, probably 3. Given that, I will have enough hours at WU for both the Post-Bacc and a BS in Health Science and Administration. I would (at this point) like to attend Mizzou or SLU, possibly Creighton or even a school in Chicago (although the cost of living might be an issue).

I guess I want to know if I am being realistic. Can I get into these schools? Should I concentrate on DO schools? (I'm strongly considering Family Medicine at this point.)
I think that I can improve my GPA into the 3.5-3.6 range given I will have about 80 hours at WU. I'm hoping the WU name will help as well. I plan on taking a weeks vacation each over the next few years to shadow and will begin volunteering once a week at a local hospital this fall. I guess realistically I can do all these things, but it will come down to the MCAT.

Appreciate any feedback anyone has.

Thanks

From your statement its seems as though you believe that DO's are only limited to practicing in primary care which is untrue, they can practice in any field of medicine like MD's. The only difference in degree's is the OMM and the AACOMAS application replaces grades instead of averaging like AMCAS does.

 

[CultureDoc]

Hi there, fellow St. Louisan! I also currently work and take classes at Wash U (love that tuition benefit!).

I'd like to offer some encouragement, as it sounds to me like you're selling yourself a bit short! You're pretty early on in this process, so you have a ton of opportunities right now to

(a) earn a fantastic science GPA - you've got a great start already . . . I had only 6 sci. credits from my undergrad, and not at a 4.0! As has already been mentioned, slow and steady wins the race - don't overload (I made that mistake), and get every "A" you can

(b) get some great experience from your job - are you in admin for clinical or lab research? I'm in admin as well, but for a public health grant program (no pt. contact), so I'm currently trying to get a position as a clinical research patient coordinator to get some more patient contact . . . anyway, point is, if on a daily basis you are in contact with patients already, that's absolutely fantastic. If not, you may want to think about looking into research pt. coordinator positions here. I just met someone who says they are always looking for people, and it sounds like you'd definitely meet the criteria (most don't require a whole lot of education/ experience) . . . and they tend to hire "insiders" a lot more readily than people from the outside . . . or so I've heard.

(c) have some solid volunteering/shadowing experiences. Hospital volunteering 1x/wk is ok. It could be a great experience or not, depending on what your responsibilties are and whether you can "work your way up" . . . my hosp. volunteering stint was candy striper-esque (no contact with docs., just patients), so I left to volunteer at a local free clinic instead. I'm finding it to be a much better quality experience (small place, more hands-on), and I think working with the underserved is a good thing too. As for shadowing, I'm actually shadowing at this clinic as well. Mondays are their late nights, so I was shadowing every Monday from 6-8p, but now I have a Monday class, so I've worked it out with my bosses to come in early, then leave early to shadow from 3-5p, 1x/wk. Sporatic shadowing works too, but I've found that it's really nice to have that one afternoon a week to look forward to! If you could work something like that out, maybe you could use the vacation time to do some sort of medical mission trip instead . . . I'm really wishing I had done something like that.

(d) kick some ace on the MCAT (easier said than done), My $0.02: I took a Kaplan classroom prep class and am wishing I had just done the online version instead. It would have been cheaper, and I felt the classroom stuff actually took up valuable study time. I learn better on my own, though, so it really depends on your learning style. When the time comes, give yourself several months to study. Do lots of problems and take lots of practice tests (particularly those from the AAMC).

Ok, so that was a lot. Ultimately, my point is that right now, you're not in a bad position. Your GPA isn't horrible, and it's going to go up. If your science GPA stays super high, and you kill the MCAT, you could probably go ANYWHERE. Heck, mine is a 3.45, and I think I can get into SLU/Mizzou (maybe I'm delusional, though! ) So, aim high! Aim for Wash U, and you'll probably hit SLU/Mizzou/Creighton, and maybe even Wash U too . . . it's not a crazy goal.

and feel free to PM me with any questions or if you want to talk about Wash U/St. Louis stuff in general!

 

[oldbigbear]

Thanks for the follow ups and the encouragement.
As far as the DO schools, I wasn't trying to say that they only produce Family Practitioners, but rather if that's my plan, would it make sense for me to attend schools that churn out a quarter of their classes as FP's?

Another Question - As I mentioned I have 16 Science hours, but those classes were taken 10 years ago. Should I retake the classes and risk getting a lower grade? or should I leave them alone and just study up on my own. I'm leaning towards retaking, but I don't want to hurt my profile.

Culture Doc, Glad to see another Wash U employee taking advantage of the tuition benefit - seriously that was probably the thing I was most excited about when I started my job. Unfortunately I don't have any PT interaction either. Mostly budgets and the like for me. I am thinking about looking into the open Research Patient Coord positions myself though.

 

[PunkmedGirl]

Thanks for the follow ups and the encouragement.
As far as the DO schools, I wasn't trying to say that they only produce Family Practitioners, but rather if that's my plan, would it make sense for me to attend schools that churn out a quarter of their classes as FP's?

Another Question - As I mentioned I have 16 Science hours, but those classes were taken 10 years ago. Should I retake the classes and risk getting a lower grade? or should I leave them alone and just study up on my own. I'm leaning towards retaking, but I don't want to hurt my profile.

Culture Doc, Glad to see another Wash U employee taking advantage of the tuition benefit - seriously that was probably the thing I was most excited about when I started my job. Unfortunately I don't have any PT interaction either. Mostly budgets and the like for me. I am thinking about looking into the open Research Patient Coord positions myself though.

I wasn't sure what you mean by that statement. But SCHOOLS don't churn out family practitioners its the individual's choice on what they want to do in medicine. Granted some may be forced into primary care if they don't perform well on rotations or auditions or don't score well on the boards, but most medical schools (MD included) try to focus on producing more primary care physicians as a mission not a criteria.

Before you retake, assuming you did well in those courses, I would call the schools that you are planning to apply to and see if they will accept your classes from 10yrs ago.

Good Luck

 

[Captain Fantastic]

A couple of 30+ y/o med students currently at Mizzou hang out here -- myself included in that group.

Some of my science classes were 10+ years old when I applied. I did not retake any of them. I did a post-bacc so I had some recent science course work under my belt when I applied, though. I wouldn't recommend retaking them unless you feel you need them for the MCAT or something. You'll get props for getting an A in biochem 10 years after you took organic.

The research is good. Try to find some shadowing experiences if you haven't worked in health care before. If you could squeeze in some patient contact time (volutneering, research, work, etc.) that will be helpful as well. The MCAT, of course, is the Great Equalizer so plan on preparing well for it, too.

if you have any specific questions about Mizzou I'd be happy to answer them. Shoot me a PM.

 

[pingouin]

A couple of 30+ y/o med students currently at Mizzou hang out here -- myself included in that group.

Some of my science classes were 10+ years old when I applied. I did not retake any of them. I did a post-bacc so I had some recent science course work under my belt when I applied, though. I wouldn't recommend retaking them unless you feel you need them for the MCAT or something. You'll get props for getting an A in biochem 10 years after you took organic.

The research is good. Try to find some shadowing experiences if you haven't worked in health care before. If you could squeeze in some patient contact time (volutneering, research, work, etc.) that will be helpful as well. The MCAT, of course, is the Great Equalizer so plan on preparing well for it, too.

if you have any specific questions about Mizzou I'd be happy to answer them. Shoot me a PM.

Agree with all of this plus the above statements. Would just add that Mizzou and Creighton in particular both seem to really value community service and clinical experiences, so definitely try to make sure you have that on your application. And Mizzou is a fantastic Family and Community Medicine school, so I'd emphasize your interest in that on that secondary application.

Oh- and I did retake my old science classes, since they were from 1992-3 and I knew I didn't have any of the info retained (plus hadn't done all that well in them). It worked out well for me, but is certainly not a requirement.

Ditto the openness to PMing me questions. (Although CF and I will probably be a weensy bit busy in the immediate future, what with exams next week. )

 

[Captain Fantastic]

(Although CF and I will probably be a weensy bit busy in the immediate future, what with exams next week. )

 

[pingouin]

Don't tell me you FORGOT?!?!?!?!?!