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  • June 19, 2004 at 12:36 am #21830
    sp
    Participant

    Dear Sir:

    This is site is great! It has a lot of information that I would not have learned otherwise.

    I am in sort of a dilemma on when to apply to medical school and would really appreciate your assistance. I will be a senior this fall at the University of Delaware, majoring in biochem and minoring in philosophy. I have done research in organic chemistry lab for about 3 semesters and a summer and plan to continue next year. I also had a chance to present my research in powerpoint form in Maryland. Have volunteered at hospital (abt 150 hours) almost every summer since senior year of high school. I just got my mcat score (26; 9 in bio and phys and 8 in verbal) and though this score is nowhere near competitive, is it really that bad? My overall GPA is 3.75 and science gpa is 3.67.

    Granted most schools take applicants with 3.5 and 30 or above (some schools as Jeffereson and Temple with average score of 27) should I apply to these schools now or wait till taking the aug mcat? I am not even considering applying to the top 50 medical schools. My main concern is that after the aug scores are released number of applicants will increase dramatically and so the competition would be even stiffer and I will lose any chances that I might have now.

    On the side note, I was awarded scholarship for being the top student in chem dept. in freshman year, Howard Hughes Medical Institute research scholarship in sophomore year and have received the TAG American Chemical Society scholarship for DE section twice.

    Sorry for the long essay. I would really appreciate your advice though.
    SP.

    June 27, 2004 at 12:01 pm #27378
    y82benji
    Participant

    Another person on this forum, “thymol_blue” I think, once posted that it really is about more than just the numbers. They don’t make you fill out that whole application to just go by a short score report. Your GPA and extracurriculars (research and volunteering) make you a lot more competitive. When you fill out AMCAS they have an option you can select to indicate that you will be taking the August MCAT. If schools aren’t happy with your application as is they’ll probably hold it for those scores since the rest of your application is strong. Don’t rule out top 50 entirely. The University of Maryland takes a few Delaware applicants each year and is #43 in research and like #27 in primary care in the US News rankings. You can’t wait until the August scores come out to apply – you should do so now and use the “August MCAT” option to avail schools of the fact that your 26 won’t be the only score they’ll get to see.

    July 1, 2004 at 10:20 pm #27434
    sp
    Participant

    Thanks! I actually thought I was just average, if not below ave, candidate because of my GPA, and figured that most people do research and have about the same volunteer experience. Thanks for the advice and encouraging words. I’ll finish the AMCAS app this weekend.

    -SP

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