Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Another physician here who sits on a Virginia medical school admissions committee. I agree with most of the comments here. The 3.2 GPA will make it very difficult for this applicant to gain admission given the competition and volume of applicants. Padding the GPA with "easier classes or majors" is also not a strategy as we are really looking at the grades of the pre-medical science requirements. Our program and I think the majority of others like to see non-traditional applicants who don't come right out of college (if they do, they must be very strong candidates). She would likely benefit from taking a year(s) off to improve her application with a post-bacc program, medical mission, or a scribing job that demonstrates a commitment and maturity to the field. I have seen a number of applicants who failed to gain admission on their first try, stepped back and did an EMT program for a year, re-applied, and were accepted on their second or even third try. She should also really try to blow the MCAT away. Good luck to her as it seems the Pandemic has only increased our applications.

Are those who are successful digging themselves out of a hole as deep as a 3.2 GPA? Asking just to make sure that sinking 2-6 years into such a plan are realistic.

Not the PP but no guarantees... Since she is a NU grad, she can consider other lucrative careers like health care consulting or health law. Medicine isn't worth it anymore anyway. Especially in this new work from home era, it stinks to have to get up at 5 AM and head to the hospital while everyone else rolls out of bed for work.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Follow up note from PP. Actually, I should have said that extreme selectivity isn't good for anyone except the perceived prestige of some medical schools.

I guess I disagree. Med school admission is different than college admission games that colleges play. Every single med school in US is extremely competitive and, therefore, extremely selective.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Another physician here who sits on a Virginia medical school admissions committee. I agree with most of the comments here. The 3.2 GPA will make it very difficult for this applicant to gain admission given the competition and volume of applicants. Padding the GPA with "easier classes or majors" is also not a strategy as we are really looking at the grades of the pre-medical science requirements. Our program and I think the majority of others like to see non-traditional applicants who don't come right out of college (if they do, they must be very strong candidates). She would likely benefit from taking a year(s) off to improve her application with a post-bacc program, medical mission, or a scribing job that demonstrates a commitment and maturity to the field. I have seen a number of applicants who failed to gain admission on their first try, stepped back and did an EMT program for a year, re-applied, and were accepted on their second or even third try. She should also really try to blow the MCAT away. Good luck to her as it seems the Pandemic has only increased our applications.

Are those who are successful digging themselves out of a hole as deep as a 3.2 GPA? Asking just to make sure that sinking 2-6 years into such a plan are realistic.

Not the PP but no guarantees... Since she is a NU grad, she can consider other lucrative careers like health care consulting or health law. Medicine isn't worth it anymore anyway. Especially in this new work from home era, it stinks to have to get up at 5 AM and head to the hospital while everyone else rolls out of bed for work.

Anonymous wrote:Follow up note from PP. Actually, I should have said that extreme selectivity isn't good for anyone except the perceived prestige of some medical schools.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Another physician here who sits on a Virginia medical school admissions committee. I agree with most of the comments here. The 3.2 GPA will make it very difficult for this applicant to gain admission given the competition and volume of applicants. Padding the GPA with "easier classes or majors" is also not a strategy as we are really looking at the grades of the pre-medical science requirements. Our program and I think the majority of others like to see non-traditional applicants who don't come right out of college (if they do, they must be very strong candidates). She would likely benefit from taking a year(s) off to improve her application with a post-bacc program, medical mission, or a scribing job that demonstrates a commitment and maturity to the field. I have seen a number of applicants who failed to gain admission on their first try, stepped back and did an EMT program for a year, re-applied, and were accepted on their second or even third try. She should also really try to blow the MCAT away. Good luck to her as it seems the Pandemic has only increased our applications.

You've mentioned the rising number of applications as a result of the pandemic. I'm also reading about a surging demand for physicians.

What do you see happening to meet that need? Will medical schools expand? Will more of them be created?

It doesn't seem that becoming increasingly selective and weeding out strong candidates is good for anyone. My uncle is a renowned surgeon with a storied career of innovation over decades, and he says that he would most likely not have been admitted to medical school these days.

Anonymous wrote:Another physician here who sits on a Virginia medical school admissions committee. I agree with most of the comments here. The 3.2 GPA will make it very difficult for this applicant to gain admission given the competition and volume of applicants. Padding the GPA with "easier classes or majors" is also not a strategy as we are really looking at the grades of the pre-medical science requirements. Our program and I think the majority of others like to see non-traditional applicants who don't come right out of college (if they do, they must be very strong candidates). She would likely benefit from taking a year(s) off to improve her application with a post-bacc program, medical mission, or a scribing job that demonstrates a commitment and maturity to the field. I have seen a number of applicants who failed to gain admission on their first try, stepped back and did an EMT program for a year, re-applied, and were accepted on their second or even third try. She should also really try to blow the MCAT away. Good luck to her as it seems the Pandemic has only increased our applications.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Another physician here who sits on a Virginia medical school admissions committee. I agree with most of the comments here. The 3.2 GPA will make it very difficult for this applicant to gain admission given the competition and volume of applicants. Padding the GPA with "easier classes or majors" is also not a strategy as we are really looking at the grades of the pre-medical science requirements. Our program and I think the majority of others like to see non-traditional applicants who don't come right out of college (if they do, they must be very strong candidates). She would likely benefit from taking a year(s) off to improve her application with a post-bacc program, medical mission, or a scribing job that demonstrates a commitment and maturity to the field. I have seen a number of applicants who failed to gain admission on their first try, stepped back and did an EMT program for a year, re-applied, and were accepted on their second or even third try. She should also really try to blow the MCAT away. Good luck to her as it seems the Pandemic has only increased our applications.

Are those who are successful digging themselves out of a hole as deep as a 3.2 GPA? Asking just to make sure that sinking 2-6 years into such a plan are realistic.

Anonymous wrote:Another physician here who sits on a Virginia medical school admissions committee. I agree with most of the comments here. The 3.2 GPA will make it very difficult for this applicant to gain admission given the competition and volume of applicants. Padding the GPA with "easier classes or majors" is also not a strategy as we are really looking at the grades of the pre-medical science requirements. Our program and I think the majority of others like to see non-traditional applicants who don't come right out of college (if they do, they must be very strong candidates). She would likely benefit from taking a year(s) off to improve her application with a post-bacc program, medical mission, or a scribing job that demonstrates a commitment and maturity to the field. I have seen a number of applicants who failed to gain admission on their first try, stepped back and did an EMT program for a year, re-applied, and were accepted on their second or even third try. She should also really try to blow the MCAT away. Good luck to her as it seems the Pandemic has only increased our applications.

Anonymous wrote:My brother went to a top 20 liberal arts college. Ended up with about a 3.7.
Applied to medical schools and did not get in.
Got a master's degree in his field.
Re-took all the pre-med science classes at Northwestern (he was living in Chicago at the time) for a 4.0.
Applied to about 40 medical schools across the US, accepted to one (UIC).

Anonymous wrote:Another physician here who sits on a Virginia medical school admissions committee. I agree with most of the comments here. The 3.2 GPA will make it very difficult for this applicant to gain admission given the competition and volume of applicants. Padding the GPA with "easier classes or majors" is also not a strategy as we are really looking at the grades of the pre-medical science requirements. Our program and I think the majority of others like to see non-traditional applicants who don't come right out of college (if they do, they must be very strong candidates). She would likely benefit from taking a year(s) off to improve her application with a post-bacc program, medical mission, or a scribing job that demonstrates a commitment and maturity to the field. I have seen a number of applicants who failed to gain admission on their first try, stepped back and did an EMT program for a year, re-applied, and were accepted on their second or even third try. She should also really try to blow the MCAT away. Good luck to her as it seems the Pandemic has only increased our applications.

Anonymous wrote:Another physician here who sits on a Virginia medical school admissions committee. I agree with most of the comments here. The 3.2 GPA will make it very difficult for this applicant to gain admission given the competition and volume of applicants. Padding the GPA with "easier classes or majors" is also not a strategy as we are really looking at the grades of the pre-medical science requirements. Our program and I think the majority of others like to see non-traditional applicants who don't come right out of college (if they do, they must be very strong candidates). She would likely benefit from taking a year(s) off to improve her application with a post-bacc program, medical mission, or a scribing job that demonstrates a commitment and maturity to the field. I have seen a number of applicants who failed to gain admission on their first try, stepped back and did an EMT program for a year, re-applied, and were accepted on their second or even third try. She should also really try to blow the MCAT away. Good luck to her as it seems the Pandemic has only increased our applications.

Anonymous wrote:What happens if you apply to med school in say UK? As l understand it, kids go to med school there in lieu of college…then you would need to pass all the tests to become a resident here…l know a few folks that did UK MD and US residency but l am not sure how it works…
Depending of where you live in US, UK isn’t any worse than CA in terms of distance…