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I can tell that one of my primary concerns as an admissions officer is why would someone like yourself, who has obviously worked a long time to get a PhD, switch gears to get an MD. Why now? What was the purpose in getting the PhD? Was it to enhance your applicaiton to med school (bad reason) or was it because you had a change of heart somewhere along time way (relatively okay reason, depending on how it’s presented)? These questions need to be addressed well or the whole PhD thing kind of blows up in your face during applications.

Dr. Wu
Why would the fact that I decided to pursue a carrer in medicine after obtaining a PhD be any different than if I was a career changing acountant that wanted to pursue medicine after working for 5 or 10 years? My PhD work has been challenging to say the least. I work reasonably long hours but my tuition is free and I get paid a decent stipend. It is my job and a commitment I made. If I decided after 2 years in grad school that medicine is my passion, and not straight research, why would that be bad. I switched to a masters degree for a short period of time to speed up my ability to apply to med school, but then realized that applications, MCATS and other critical components would take 2-3 years before I set foot into a med class. I also had some really interesting research results and, with the departments blessing, decided to finish my PhD while I prepared for the addmission process. I certainly did not get my PhD to improve my chances. That would be stupid at best, to spend six hard years just for that. I could have easily gone to international or DO school instead. No, I went to graduate school to get a PhD and do research but realized that the beauty of the human body ( human A&P courses) got me interested in biology and that interest was more medical in nature than research. That doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy reserch and teaching. I would love to be involved in academic medicine either teaching or research along with clinical work. But medicine is what I want to practice. I have had a long time to think about this and I’ve spent a lot of time working in the E.R. and shadowing docs to know how I feel about working as a clinician compared to a lab doc. I feel I have conveyed this adequately in my application, but maybe I haven’t. So what is your fee schedule like? Can I talk to you without charge initially or do we have to have a “contract” first?

Thanks again
Dan

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Dr Wu
-To save space please refer to the detailed messages i’ve previously left on page 6 and 10 4/19 and 6/22 respectively.

I am totally frustrated. As far as I can tell it is just a numbers game. As I have written before, I have a few years of bad undergraduate grades. I have an undergrad gpa of 2.5. I am just finishing up my PhD with 32 graded hours and 3.65 GPA. I am getting rejected…alot ..without interviews. My bad grade years were 11-14 years ago and I have been excellent since with leadership, volunteer, and academic scholarship to spare. Along with GOOD letters from professors and professionals who know me well and a 11V 11B 12P MCAT. I spoke to a med school admissions dean, a wonderful friendly guy who really sympathized with me. He said my application looked great that it was “very supportive” of admission except for the undergrad grades from 12 years ago. He even admitted that if he was on the committee that he would would not have looked that closely at the past and that I should get in somewhere, just not at his school because he couldn’t affect the committe decisons. He recommended that I take 1-2 years of undergrad course work …after 5 years of PhD work!!!! How short-sighted and naive could this and other committees be? He as much as admitted that they probably looked at my gpa and threw me away. Although he doesn’t know because the committe deliberations are confidential. So what advice can you offer, if I don’t have anymore luck this year I will contact your services, but any words of encouragment would be appreciated. Are ad comms really that ignorant of the work that goes into a PhD or just full of themselves? The PhD has carried no weight with them and I am more than frustrated. Thanks for your time and this great site.
Dan

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Dr. Wu,

In a case where a really good application is sent in late and wait listed or rejected how should the re-application be handled? Specifically, should the personal statement be re-written if it is good and says everything the applicant wants it to say or can the same statement be used? I am hoping this is not the case for me as most of my secondaries were in by the end of september. However, some did not make it in until the middle of october and if I do get an interview at these schools I know they won’t be until early spring. I just want to plan ahead just in case!
Thanks for your time
Dan

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Hi Dr. Wu, other consultants,

I previously wrote to you on 4/19 concerning my chances of getting into Med school. My greatest concern was and still is my undergraduate grades. I had a rough first 3 years with F’s,D’s C’s and W’s. I was, in retrospect, suffering from a great deal of anxiety and a little depression that I have worked hard on and since conquered. My undergrad cumulative was about a 2.8 but, that was with many withdrawals and repeats in the begining. I had a great deal of weakness in my early engineering courses. I am currently finishing up a PhD in molecular biology. I have a respectable but not stellar 3.65 grad GPA along with alot of research, volunteer, leadership, and teaching experience. I have also shadowed many doctors over the past 3 years that I have been volunteering at the local trauma center. Your biggest concern for me was my MCAT which was 7P,8V,11B (26M). I feel I have taken care of that with my second attempt, 12P,11V,11B(34P). Although I enjoy research, I have a much greater interest in medicine and I would like to combine both interests. What I was wondering is what is the best way for me to spin my application? What about my undergraduate grades, will the adcomms see my improvement and growth over the years? I am 31 and had trouble in college over 10 years ago, will they forgive this at all and focus on my last 6 years? Many of the undergraduates that I mentor as a Grad student go on to Med school. I love mentoring, but it is somewhat frustrating to guide them knowing that I might not even be able to get in.
Thank you for your help,
Dan

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Dr. Wu
Thank you for your reply. I have retaken the MCAT this last Saturday and feel I was better prepared for the physical science section. Hopefully my score will go up at least a couple points. Since I do have a atypical application, I may seek your services in the future.

Thanks again
Dan

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Hi

I have a unique situation that i have not seen addressed so far. First, the good: I am a 31 year old grad student and will be recieving my Phd in molecular biology next year. I have volunteered for several hours a week at the local trauma center for about 3 years. I will have excellent letters of recomendation. I have done extensive tutoring both as an undergrad and grad as well as teaching experience as a TA. Iworked for a year in pharm. industry. i am the Graduate student Rep in my Dept and am on a committee to revamp the health insurance for our school as well as the grad student senate. I have a research fellowship, 3.7GPA and several publications in the pipeline.
Now the Bad: I floundered as an undergrad(F’s D’s C’s) and only got into grad school due to my improvement in my last two years and GRE scores. I spent 3 yrears in engineering before switching to bio and did rather poorly. Once in Bio i did well and rebounded nicely my last two years. Overall undergrad GPA was around 3.0. And second, i only earned a 26 (7ps,8vr and 11bs) on the Mcat. I am pimarily looking at WI state schools which accept approx. half of all residents who apply. Any insight you can give me would be greatly appreciated.

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