What are the chances of me getting into my program of study?

What are my chances of getting into medical school?

• I would prefer entry into an allopathic medical school. Here are my demographics and my statistics. In High School I was an A student College: Senior Biology Major Math Minor Entry Date: Fall 2007 Expected graduation date: Fall 2012 (I only took on average 12-13 hours a semester. I could not afford summer classes) cumulative GPA: 2.7 (I worked very hard to pull this up from a 2.1) last 60 hours thus far: 2.9gpa I retook classes that I did poorly in. My grades went from Ds to A's and B+'s Began college as an honors student, I left after my grades dropped because of mistakes. Currently 1 Withdrawal on my record Teaching Experience: Teach Houston experience (offers teaching experience to students) Creating lesson plans Citizen Schools - Citizen schools teacher (Creating lesson plans) Tutor for the TAKS test Multiple positions as a tutor Major Community Service Experiences: -Children's Defense Fund Freedom Schools (2 consecutive years thus far) - this also offered teaching experience and Social Work experience. -My campus ministry (3 consecutive years thus far)- i serve as the campus liaison. I also plan programs and events for the ministry. -A social sorority (3.5 years) - currently focusing on school -Peer tutor for my scholarship program Awards: -Deans list twice in my academic career -Houston Louis Stokes Minority Participation Scholar Work Experience: -I began working 2 jobs my second semester in college while joining a sorority. I maintained working an average of 18 hours per week until the year of 2010. This is when I took on multiple jobs to assist myself and parents. I worked under a teaching internship, while working as a student assistant at a Children's Learning Center for 1 year. I also performed this while participating in my semester Undergraduate Research program. A year before this, I worked two jobs while participating in the Academic Associates program. - Also worked multiple positions as an administrative secretary. - Student Assistant at Child's learning center (3 years) - currently studying to take pharmacy technician test Research Experience: -Academic Associates Program - A clinical research program with Baylor/Texas Children's Hospital -Undergraduate Research - Participated in a semester long research project with my professor. I received a scholarship to do so. Practice Mcat: 16/17 (this is without studying) - I have not taken the real MCAT yet - I plan to study during the summer to take it in the fall of this year Backup plan until I get into medical school: -Obtain a Masters in Health Administration -While working as a Pharmacy Technician Race/Ethnicity: -This shouldn't matter, but if it does to some, i am black. Questions: -What are my chances of getting into medical school? -What can I do to improve my application? Haha... Thanks Daniel. I'll be sure to note that! Martin, Thanks :)! I have considered DO. Even though it is considered equal I still would like to go for MD. I have also noticed that a DO deals closer with holistic treatment of patients. Most are also better able to develop closer relationships with their patients; which is also a desire of mine! N - Yes. I know lol. I've been working on my GPA for a while. I only have one more semester left. I'm trying to improve it. I believe my best bet would be to get my MHA if I do not enter medical school on my first try. The policy that my school has, it won't erase previous scores when you retake them. If it did, my GPA would be much higher. I had a very bad semester my sophomore year; However I worked really hard to get where I am right now. Thanks for your help :)

• Answer:

  Your experience is very impressive! If you really want to be a doctor than go for it! I will try to offer some realistic advice to you that may result in success. Being realistic, your greatest disadvantage is your academic history, specifically your GPA. There are ways to overcome this but they are not mainstream. You have to MAKE things happen! Carpe Diem! The first thing to obviously do is to really score high on the MCAT. This will be a real asset to you. The second thing is to use your connections and do a little "politicing" to show people in the medical community who you are as a person and why you would become a fine doctor. Your connection to Baylor which has an excellent medical school would be your best bet. Try to either work at the University hospital or volunteer where you have contact with the clinical professors at the med school. Be confident, not arrogant, and show them what you are made of! You may have to try an alternative path if you don't succeed in the regular process. One option is to try osteopathic schools to get a DO. DO's are now EQUAL to MD's as they take the SAME internships and residencies. The second way is to go to a foreign med school in the Caribbean. American University of the Caribbean is a good start. There are many fine AUC grads working in the US. I went to AUC before I got accepted to Georgetown when it was on the island of Montserrat. You can look it up on the internet. You typically do the first 2yrs of preclinical study at the med school and you will do your "externships" during 3rd and 4th year with US med students and still get the same MD and be able to get the same residency training as US med students. The only "limits" are financial(it can actually be cheaper to go the Caribbean route) and your DETERMINATION. If you don't give up, you WILL succeed. Good luck, God bless, and be the best doctor you can be!