Podcasts about science gpa

Session 71 Our poster this week is wondering if applying late is going to hurt his chances of getting into an MD school and if he should just focus on DO schools. Should you “give up” applying to MD schools just because you’re taking the MCAT at a later date? [01:15] OldPreMeds Question of the Week: "I'm beginning to realize that I might have to give up on MD and focus on DO only. I'm taking O. Chem 2 and Philosophy this summer and will have all prereqs completed except the Biochem and Bio3 for those schools that require it. Although I wanted to take O. Chem at another place, I had to take it at this community college because of timing. The problem is that this community college is one of those "Harvard on a hill" types. Science classes and labs are loaded up with busy work and homework. I'm starting to realize that the bulk of my MCAT prep will have to happen after the semester ends, which means June and July and MCAT July 28. That would push my application into mid-September and my understanding from that other site (SDN) is that mid-September is quite late for MD but on time for DO. So what to do? Give up hopes of MD, stick with the DO cycle only? Apply MD and hope for a miracle? I don't have a problem with DO per se as my ultimate goal is Family Medicine or Internal Medicine. The only issue I have with DO is that most schools have you move after second year and then again after third year. There are few schools that allow both clinical years that would be completed in the same town and those would be the ones I would target. I would not want to apply to schools such as PNWU (Pacific Northwestern University). I don't want to be moving between Alaska, Oregon, Washington, Montana, and Idaho every three months for rotations. My number one choice is UC San Diego but that's going to be a tough one unless my MCAT score rocks. My estimated Science GPA is 3.63. I am an over-represented minority, will have mediocre ECs and LORs., and don't have any kind of amazing life story.” [03:29] Is August Too Late to Apply? The poster here is an over-represented minority and interested in UC San Diego but is taking a late MCAT. July 28 MCAT is late and it's not terrible. Well, it's kind of bad. Looking at the date, you're going to get the score back or the school is going to get the score back on Tuesday, August 29. That would be end of August which means it's going to be a late August date. I recently talked to a premed advisor at a local school who reached out to fifteen medical schools talking about sending committee letters and if a late August committee letter would still be okay. Out of the 15 schools, 12-13 said it was okay and they'd still consider it early while 2-3 of them preferred mid-August. Although this is a small sample size, it goes to show you that a lot of schools out there are still ramping up their admissions in August and September. [05:05] The Normal Application Time Frame Remember the normal time frame is to submit in June. Schools get your primary application. For AACOMAS application, schools will start to get it early June this year, while AMCAS application will not get it until late June. They send you secondaries and you fill those out, assuming that schools start to receive secondary applications starting mid-July. Applications start to get looked at and then interview invites start to go out. Following that, they would start accepting people after the interviews. [05:50] Early Application and Rolling Admissions Think about where you are in line. If you're going to take a late MCAT, you still need to apply early. Have those transcripts verified early because the biggest hangup in the application is this manual process done by people. So you need to get in line to get your transcripts verified. Get those applications out and start to fill out those secondaries and have the MCAT as the only thing that the school is waiting for. Hence, there is no reason to "give up" on MD. Just apply and see. I wouldn't NOT apply to MD schools just because it's later in the application cycle. I also disagree with the fact that it's still "on time" for DO considering that the DO application starts to go out before MD applications. So don't have that mindset of giving up MD just because it's a later application. A lot of people get accepted to MD and DO schools that apply late. Of course, you need good scores and stats to bring you over the hurdle considering it's a rolling admissions process. This is another reason I don't agree with being "on time" for DO because most schools have a rolling admissions process. Either way, if you're applying late to either application cycle, you're still going to be later in the cycle for everybody. This means less interview spots available and if you get one and are interviewed, it's going to be a little bit later. Typically, there are less acceptances to hand out because it's a rolling admissions process. [08:16] Final Thoughts Don't give up on MD. Apply to both MD and DO and do your best. Give it your best shot. Ideally, you're taking the MCAT earlier but it is what it is. I hope you understand the importance of taking it earlier in the application cycle. As I'm recording this in 2017, the latest that I'm pushing students back to is mid-June because then if you get your score back in mid-July (the date secondaries are coming back if you're up-to-date) and so it's not delaying the application a lot, if at all. Ideally, take the MCAT in March or April but if you need to take it a little bit later, then do it. You obviously want to take it when you're prepared. Do not take it early just because you have to. There's a big difference there. Links: MedEd Media Network AMCAS AACOMAS

Session 69 Taken directly from the OldPreMeds.org forums, today's question comes from Kyle, a student who's not really sure if he's interested in medicine. If you think you’re on the same boat as Kyle then all the more reason you should listen to this episode. This question basically relates a little bit to The Premed Years Session 229, where I spoke with Renee, a 54-year-old medical student. She was actually 53 when she reapplied to medical school. She was a former nurse turned nurse practitioner turned nurse educator and had a very successful career. But at the back of her mind, she has always wanted to be a physician. Through the encouragement of her kids, she actually went back and finally made a leap. Listen to her story about how she took the MCAT five times and had to reapply to medical school but was finally successful and is now a medical student. By the way, we have a new podcast coming up where we will be covering USMLE Step 1 and COMLEX Level 1, the first part of the board exams that you take as a medical student. Stay tuned as it will be out in a couple of weeks. [03:25] OldPreMeds Question of the Week: " I really need some objectivity right now. Up and down academic trend maybe 3.0 Science GPA, maybe a 3.1, graduated with a Allied Health degree, not strong GPA throughout program, finally picked it up final semester of my degree. Prereqs General Biology 1 - 3.7 after retake. General Biology 2 - 3.0. Postback, informal, very slow-paced right now. Chem 1 retake -4.0, Genetic - 4.0, Chem 2 - currently taking.  Here's the deal. I'm just not sure I really want to be a physician. There's a lot that goes into this thinking but fundamentally, I'm not sure I want to do what a doctor does. I've done volunteering, shadowing, etc. I like the science side of it and not really dealing with treating or caring for people. I've gone from pre-nursing, pre-pharm, to premed throughout my academic career and currently in a health profession that is none of those but I'm enjoying my job. Who else out there is struggling with this doubt? But it's not just doubt in my abilities, work ethic, time to do this while working full time. But like I said, fundamentally, I don't think I want that role like I once did. If someone was there before, what brought you back to pursue medicine? You hear that cliche that if you can see yourself doing something other than being a doctor, then don't become a doctor. This has been an ongoing multi-year, multi-seasoned fight and I just don't know if I have what it takes nor if I really want this." [05:07] Here are my thoughts: The short answer is go find something else to do. It's as simple as that. The role of a physician is very much ingrained in patient care. When you say you're not sure you want to do what a doctor does and that you really don't like dealing with treating or caring for people, that right there tells me that you should not be a doctor. And that's is truly okay. I talk about it on The Premed Years Podcast all the time that it is great to realize that you don't want to be a doctor because it's a long, hard, and expensive process. Then in the end, a lot of physicians actually question whether it was all worth it and a lot of physicians do not like being a doctor anymore. So for you to find this out now is great! Go find something else that you love to do. It doesn't even have to be in health care. You've talked about going from pre-nursing to pre-pharm to premed. Get out of medicine altogether and find something else that you really love. [06:35] A Farewell to Being Premed If you're struggling with similar things as Kyle is, I highly recommend you listen to Session 29 of The OldPreMeds Podcast where I read a post from somebody who wrote a farewell letter to being a premed. It's a great post from somebody who realized that it wasn't just what they wanted anymore. And that's okay. Going back to Kyle, congratulations for figuring this out. Go enjoy whatever it is that you're meant to do. Go find it. Links: OldPreMeds.org The Premed Years Podcast Specialty Stories Podcast The Premed Years Podcast Session 229: 54-Year-Old Med Student Overcame 5 MCAT s, Rejection, and More The OldPreMeds Podcast Session 29: A Farewell Letter to Being Premed

Session 43 In this episode, Ryan tackles the issue of a student who is struggling with very low undergrad and postbac GPA scores and a low 2015 MCAT score. Find out what options you could possibly take when facing this kind of situation. Your questions, answered here on the OldPreMeds Podcast. Ryan again dives into the forums over at OldPreMeds.org where they pull a question and deliver the answers right on to you. OldPreMeds Question of the Week: Poster is in need for help and advice for applying to medical school; graduated in 2002 with a very low GPA  (2.01) and have take classes with postbac GPA of 2.7 and Science GPA at 3.3. Overall GPA at 2.37. Because of low undergrad GPA, poster is unable to get premed help from the school where they've taken current postbac courses. Overall Science GPA of 2.7 is because of classes taken while doing research which are graduate level courses taken in order to be able to work in a lab. Not prepared for the classes but needed the job to pay rent and help his soon-to-be wife at that time to pay for physical therapy school. Have worked in basic research labs for 3 years, published 2 papers, and post tier presentations at international conferences. Work experience: clinical research (4 years) and lab assistant at a medical school (anatomy lab and orthopedic surgical training center); MCAT 2015 score of 26 and 3; currently working on physical therapy research and teaching; looking for premed advising help. Here are the insights from Ryan: Figure out why you're not doing well in school. No excuses. What is your struggle? A Science GPA of 2.7 is not going to cut it. An overall GPA of 3.7 is not going to gut it. An MCAT score of 26 is not going to cut it. And it's getting old since most schools are going to stop accepting the old MCAT score. You probably have to take it again. Do some soul searching and figure out where the issue lies. You need to improve your grades if you want to get into medical school. There is no point in doing more postbac classes unless you can do really well and only apply to DO schools to take advantage of grade replacement for GPA calculations. Another possible option is a Special Masters Program (SMP), basically a postbac masters level program that goes into the different category in your application under graduate school courses whereas your postbac classes are still lumped in with your undergrad classes and undergrad GPA. Try to see if there is any Special Masters Program near you and see if they have linkage to medical schools, where if you do well in the SMP, you will have a guaranteed spot in the medical school it's associated with. Your last option is the Caribbean school. Reach out to them and see if your GPA is good enough for them. These schools are for profit institutions and they usually take anybody and everybody. But they might not even accept your low GPA. Major takeaway from this episode: You have a lot of work to do. Your research and clinical experiences are great but they're not going to overcome your GPA or MCAT score. So figure out how to improve those or look at doing something else. Links and Other Resources: OldPreMeds.org

Session 22 Your questions, answered here on the OldPreMeds Podcast. Ryan jumps into the forums over at OldPreMeds.org where he pulls a question and delivers the answers right on to you. In today's episode, Ryan tackles the topic on taking a postbac or SMP for a 32-year old science major with a lot of credits while having poor numbers. Listen in to learn more about this.  OldPreMeds Question of the Week: The poster is a 32-year old nontraditional premed student; graduated in 2007 with a chemistry/computer science double major; Science GPA with 3.05 and accumulative of 3.13; lots of credits to GPA's. Should they take the basic prerequisite science classes considering the not-so-stellar grades? Formal postbac program would be great but most of them specify that the applicant cannot have more than 50% science grades completed. Here are the insights from Ryan: Two types of postbac programs: Career-changers Where you haven't taken a lot of science courses They don't want you to have any of your sciences done or at least not a lot of them done Record-enhancers You went through school as a science major, knew you wanted to be premed, but you struggled so you need help to enhance your GPA They have specific postbac programs for students like this poster Out of 223 postbac programs, there are 152 record-enhancing programs Are SMP's high risk? SMP's are great because they're usually tied to the medical school and you're taking classes with medical students You are performing for the school to say that you're doing just as well as their medical students and that you're building relationships Caveat: If you do the math to enhance the record with a lot of credits to take more science courses and get straight A's, the GPA is not going to move very much. In this case, consider a special masters program because it will be a separate grade in the application. Links and Other Resources: OldPreMeds.org AAMC List of Postbac Programs - Special Program Focus MedEdMedia.com

Session 4 In today's discussion, Ryan and Rich answer a question related to last week's episode question which has been broken into two parts. To check out last week's episode, go to www.opmpodcast.com/3. OldPreMeds Question of the Week - DO vs Caribbean: A U.S. DO school or a Caribbean MD? Which is a better choice? (More job prospects) Cumulative GPA is not above 3.0 unless over 120 hours of classes are taken; Science GPA 3.5+ Here are the insights from Ryan & Rich: Always, always, always go for a U.S. MD or DO over Caribbean even if it takes you a couple of application cycles to try Squeeze in the residency slots can affect the Caribbean students more. Consider the stats: In U.S. medical schools, About 40% of people get accepted Residency matching rates after 5 years at 94% Residency matching rates after 8 years at 97% Placement rate at 100% (get residency slots outside of the main match) Attrition rate at 3% In short, most people who start med schools in the U.S. are able to finish. Other things to consider: Residency slots for the ACGME - MD and DO will be one credited residency program with one match 1-2% of the U.S. med school graduates who never look for residency go with research or other non-clinical fields What happens if you go offshore schools? They would accept almost everyone but only 50% of people who go to the big 3 or 4 Caribbean schools actually get a degree. If you start a Caribbean med school or any other off shore med school, you may only have 1-2% chance of actually earning a degree. Your chances of getting a residency slot are 40-45%. ( A huge risk in the amount of loans plus you won't be able to practice medicine; most likely, you will end up being an Anatomy teacher in the medical school) For-profit nature Caribbean schools vs. U.S.: For-profit schools in the Caribbean are 100%; in the U.S., only two of all DO and MD schools (out of 175) have a for-profit basis. Major takeaway from this episode: Only consider Caribbean medical schools as your last resort after you've applied twice and done repair to consider all other options. Schools are different. The big schools in the Caribbean may not be as valuable as some of the smaller schools in Australia and in Israel, which have different school setup and histories. In either case, the residency match rates and the numbers for that are just working against anyone who goes offshore. Links and Other Resources If you have questions you want answered here on the OldPremeds Podcast, go to oldpremeds.org and register for an account. Go into the forums and ask a question. Listen to the OPM Podcast Episode 3 to hear the first part of this 2-part question Listen to our first episode at OPMPodcast.com/1 to find out more about who we are. Also check out the Premed Years Podcast at www.medicalschoolhq.net. Find us on iTunes and go to opmpodcast.com/itunes and leave us a rating and review. Check out MedEdMedia.com for all the shows that we produce including the Medical School Headquarters and the OldPreMeds Podcast. We will soon be launching a medical school podcast as well so stay tuned! Email Dr. Ryan Gray at ryan@medicalschoolhq.net or connect with him on Twitter @medicalschoolhq.

Session 3 Your questions, answered here on the OldPreMeds Podcast. Ryan and Rich again dive into the forums over at OldPreMeds.org where they pull a question and deliver the answers right on to you. OldPreMeds Question of the Week: A U.S. DO school or a Caribbean MD? Which is a better choice? (More job prospects) Cumulative GPA is not above 3.0 unless over 120 hours of classes are taken; Science GPA 3.5+ Here are the insights about GPA from Ryan & Rich: There is an assumption about GPA that it's all a number. The truth is that it's beyond a single number. A cumulative GPA is not the only thing the medical school admissions committee is going to look at. Other things they will look for are: Science vs. non-science Bio, Chem, Phys, and Math (BCPM) vs. others Grade trends Other additional degrees or coursework (post-bacc) -Combined with the rest of your undergrad -Reported as a separate line item Some schools where your post-bacc or graduate program or last year or two of your undergraduate count as your official GPA for admissions purposes - the "32 hour rule" Wayne State University Michigan College of Human Medicine Boston University Medical School Louisiana State University - New Orleans AAMC survey got 127 replies from medical schools for what factors they consider Therefore, don't just look at the number. Instead, look at the overall factors going on. Other considerations in the application MCAT is the most efficient method to show that you can handle the work. Take an MCAT prep course few hours a week for a few months and get a much better score. Put your application together in a more coherent, compelling, and concise manner to really convince the schools. Go through at least two application cycles before considering an offshore medical school Arrogance vs. overconfidence EC's, personal statement, and secondaries Major takeaway from this episode GPA is not the be all and end all when applying to any medical school. The second part about Caribbean medical schools will be tackled in the next episode. Links and Other Resources If you have questions you want answered here on the OldPremeds Podcast, go to oldpremeds.org and register for an account. Go into the forums and ask a question. Listen to our first episode at OPMPodcast.com/1 to find out more about who we are. Also check out the Premed Years Podcast at www.medicalschoolhq.net. Find us on iTunes and go to opmpodcast.com/itunes and leave us a rating and review. Check out MedEdMedia.com for all the shows that we produce including the Medical School Headquarters and the OldPreMeds Podcast. We will soon be launching a medical school podcast as well so stay tuned! Email Dr. Ryan Gray at ryan@medicalschoolhq.net or connect with him on Twitter @medicalschoolhq.