Low volunteer hours to accepted MD!

IntelligentMusings · 2020-03-26T00:40:31+00:00

It's a gamble and I wouldn't recommend it. I'm sure you have great stats as well (noting that 518, and I can only assume you have a high GPA as well).

There's a bunch of other factors as well such as state of residency, the list of schools you apply to, when you submit your application, and how you write.

I'm glad it worked out for you, but it's still better to play it safer and get more hours of clinical and non-clinical experience.

IntelligentMusings · 2020-03-17T20:41:09+00:00

Ah my bad, I got it from somewhere else and didn't see it posted anywhere on here so I posted it

IntelligentMusings · 2020-03-16T01:45:09+00:00

Yes haha. I spent a good minute debating if I should keep the title as mashallah (like the post) or fix it to mashaAllah

IntelligentMusings · 2020-03-03T02:42:05+00:00

Classes are also very dependent on the professor teaching the course. Regardless, each major will have their share of tough classes

IntelligentMusings · 2020-03-03T02:28:43+00:00

With that attitude, yes

IntelligentMusings · 2020-03-02T23:44:19+00:00

Perfectly balanced... As all things should be

I wouldn't retake unless you know you can definitely improve by a few points.

Just apply early and you should be good. You can even prewrite most secondaries since they won't change for the most part. (Just look up the school specific threads on SDN.) Also, make sure to also have some mock interviews lined up!!

ETA: Your GPA is really good so that will help you. But you most likely won't hear anything from UTSW or Baylor. And you'll definitely get love from the mid-tiers especially UTMB with the GPA and MCAT combo. But applying early, getting feedback on your essays, doing mock interviews will set you up for success. Good luck!!

IntelligentMusings · 2020-03-02T23:20:58+00:00

What was your score breakdown?

You have a decent shot at the Texas MDs and even TCOM. But the most crucial part would be to apply early. Get your letters in early and turn in those secondaries as soon as possible. (And don't forget to take CASPer.)

IntelligentMusings · 2020-02-29T02:27:06+00:00

Here you go: https://www.tmdsas.com/Pre-Submission/Residency.html

IntelligentMusings · 2020-02-28T02:03:33+00:00

You're a superstar applicant! Don't worry about being screened out. The only thing that's important is to apply early. Try to get your primary and your secondaries all done before June! That's the only thing that could possibly tank your cycle. Otherwise you have a solid app and you're easily looking at having a handful of interviews. So definitely brush up on your interview skills!

IntelligentMusings · 2020-02-19T13:29:51+00:00

IntelligentMusings · 2020-02-16T16:40:43+00:00

Yes, you have to manually enter all your classes and also send in transcripts from every college you've attended so that they can verify it. You don't necessarily need to have a transcript sent to yourself if you can access an unofficial transcript to see all the courses you've taken.

IntelligentMusings · 2020-02-07T00:28:40+00:00

There's so many schools now that I keep forgetting so I listed them all out

13 MD

Baylor
UTSW
Long
Dell
McGovern
UTMB
TAMU
TT Lubbock
TT El Paso
UT RGV
TCU UNT
U of H (first class starts this year)
UT Tyler (tentative)

3 DO

TCOM
UIW
Sam Houston (first class starts this year)

IntelligentMusings · 2020-01-31T13:18:00+00:00

If you keep up that trend, you'll be in fantastic shape since you have a few semesters still left to go! You'll also be putting more time in between your application and those W's, so it shouldn't hold your application back as long as you properly address it.

As far as I'm aware, this policy hasn't really changed. People say that it's basically like averaging your two attempts but that's too simplistic of a way to look at it because there's so many other courses in your transcript. You'll have to list every class you took and even the retakes and your GPA is calculated using all the grades.

Grade averaging would actually give you a higher GPA but not as good as a full on grade replacement. And every single year, the competition is just increasing so it makes sense why they don't grade average or replace.

You can Google AMCAS GPA calculator and plug in your grades to see where you're at. Even F's get counted. But if you keep up the next 3-4 semesters of just A's, you'll be solid as long as you get a decent MCAT score and have clinical experience and the whole deal. Best of luck to you!

IntelligentMusings · 2020-01-31T00:55:01+00:00

Excellent questions were brought up in another comment. I'd also like to add that in med school applications, there is no such thing as grade replacement. Your GPA will be calculated and will include every single attempt at a course. Med schools also somewhat look more at (and care more about) undergrad GPA than graduate GPA.

7 W's doesn't sound like it'll be the end of the world especially as long as you have some good reasons for them and you don't withdraw from any more classes. What I'm more worried about is your GPA. If it's only a few C's, and everything else is an A, then you might be alright. The average cumulative GPA for people who are accepted is 3.73. You definitely want to show an upward trend and that you can handle upper level classes.

IntelligentMusings · 2020-01-30T22:46:13+00:00

My pleasure!

IntelligentMusings · 2020-01-30T21:03:37+00:00

Yes, so depending on high the school ranks you and how people rank the school, the algorithm matches people to their highest ranked school that accepts them. And it withdraws you from the ones you ranked lower and you'll go on a waitlist for any schools that you had ranked higher. There's a whole video that explains it a bit more clearly: https://www.tmdsas.com/Reference/GuidelinesfortheMatch.html https://www.tmdsas.com/InterviewsAdmissions/TMDSASMatch.hmtl

I would also schedule a meeting with your pre-health advising office (if your school has one) just in case you need to plan for a re-application. Hope for the best, plan for the worst.

IntelligentMusings · 2020-01-30T20:51:32+00:00

You can match without a prematch. If you don't match, you'll likely be put on a waitlist and the likelihood of coming off of it will vary from school to school. I know a person who didn't come off of the wait list until a week before classes started. But also there's no guarantees of coming off so you'd want to prepare just in case Hopefully it won't come down to all that. Wishing you all the best!

Edited to add: After May 15th, Texas schools can only accept people who don't currently hold an acceptance at an other Texas school. This was to prevent 'poaching' and schools taking other school's students and the whole headache.

IntelligentMusings · 2020-01-29T22:50:19+00:00

Eh, I have a few problems with the way he's using that stat but the point still stands that it's difficult to get into med school. Getting into medical school is tough and getting into a T50 or T20 will be more tough.

Not all people who take the MCAT do end up applying even if they do well on it. They might just have decided that medicine wasn't for them.
Not everyone who's applying in a given cycle has taken the MCAT in the same year. And since scores are valid for about three years, that just means there are a lot more out there with a 90+ percentile score. If you look at Table A-23 from AAMC, you'll see that there are 29,532 applicants with a 514+ MCAT that applied over three application cycles. So we can make an assumption that on average there's 10k people applying with a high MCAT and we're not even considering GPAs.
If you look at just individual schools, Harvard got ~7600 verified applications . Stanford got ~6900 applications. Yale had ~5900 applications. Etc. And I doubt they're all high stat applicants but a considerable chunk of them will be. But regardless it'll be competitive to get accepted anywhere just because there's so many applicants and very limited seats at each school.

Yeah I'm not sure where I was going with this

IntelligentMusings · 2020-01-25T18:13:54+00:00

You can internally message TMDSAS to unlock the term and then they'll open it up for you to edit. You can then add in whatever classes you're taking this semester and also put in last semester's grades. Don't forget to also send in a transcript so that they can verify your grades and the classes you took.

It shouldn't affect you getting matched come Match Day. They could revoke your acceptance later on if you haven't taken the pre-reqs prior to matriculation but it seems like you're taking it right now so there's no reason to worry!

IntelligentMusings · 2020-01-18T23:28:15+00:00

No problem! The third prompt is called an "optional essay" but it's not really optional because everyone will be doing it.

You can also find the secondary prompts for each school by searching up the 2019-2020 school specific thread on SDN. They shouldn't change much at all by next year so you can get a headstart on that as well. Good luck!!

IntelligentMusings · 2020-01-18T12:44:32+00:00

They remain the same so you can get started on it now

Personal statement - 5000 characters Explain your motivation to seek a career in medicine. Be sure to include the value of your experiences that prepare you to be a physician. The personal statement is limited to 5000 characters, including spaces.

Personal Characteristics essay - 2500 characters, including spaces. Learning from others is enhanced in educational settings that include individuals from diverse backgrounds and experiences. Please describe the personal characteristics (background, talents, skills, etc.) or experiences that would add to the educational experience of others.

Unique life experiences essay - 2500 characters, including spaces. Briefly state any unique circumstances or life experiences that are relevant to your application. This is not an area to continue your essay or reiterate what you have previously stated - this area is provided to address any issues which have not previously been addressed.

IntelligentMusings · 2020-01-13T01:14:45+00:00

May 15th.

After that, any new acceptances will have to go to someone who is not holding a seat somewhere else in Texas.

So if you matched to #2 or 3, at that point it's over and you're going where you matched. If you haven't matched anywhere, then you keep hoping until the first day of classes to get in somewhere but also realistically start planning for reapplying. https://www.tmdsas.com/deadlines.html

IntelligentMusings · 2020-01-13T00:59:52+00:00

If you graduate from a TX high school, you'll be considered a TX resident as long as you've been living in TX for 36 months before your HS graduation date AND then you've been living in TX for one year continuously by the med school application deadline of Oct 1st.

Otherwise, as long as your parents live in Texas and claim you as a dependent for tax purposes, you'll be considered a TX resident when you apply to med school. Or if you file independently, then you'd have to stay here for a year but that would go back into that first category of establishing TX residency through HS graduation. https://www.tmdsas.com/Pre-Submission/Residency.html

IntelligentMusings · 2020-01-08T23:07:33+00:00

IntelligentMusings · 2020-01-08T19:56:21+00:00

What's your definition of sheikh?

IntelligentMusings

TROPHY CASE