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Medical School Advice

I have an okay GPA (3.51) and an okay MCAT score (497). My extracurricular activities, awards, volunteer work, and other activities are extremely good. How good are my chances of making into a medical school? Any advice to make me a stronger applicant? #medschool #pre-med #college-applications

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Ken’s Answer

Congratulations on being interested in becoming an doctor. It takes a special person to enter this field and meet the demands which this career area presents. The first step is to get to know yourself to see if you share the personality traits which make doctors successful. The next step is doing networking to meet and talk to and possibly shadow doctors to see if this is something that you really want to do, as a career area could look much different on the inside than it looks from the outside.  

Ken recommends the following next steps:

The first step is to take an interest and aptitude test and have it interpreted by your school counselor to see if you share the personality traits necessary to enter the field. You might want to do this again upon entry into college, as the interpretation might differ slightly due to the course offering of the school. However, do not wait until entering college, as the information from the test will help to determine the courses that you take in high school. Too many students, due to poor planning, end up paying for courses in college which they could have taken for free in high school.
Next, when you have the results of the testing, talk to the person at your high school and college who tracks and works with graduates to arrange to talk to, visit, and possibly shadow people doing what you think that you might want to do, so that you can get know what they are doing and how they got there. Here are some tips: ## http://www.wikihow.com/Network ## ## https://www.themuse.com/advice/nonawkward-ways-to-start-and-end-networking-conversations ## ## https://www.themuse.com/advice/4-questions-to-ask-your-network-besides-can-you-get-me-a-job?ref=carousel-slide-1 ##
Locate and attend meetings of professional associations to which people who are doing what you think that you want to do belong, so that you can get their advice. These associations may offer or know of intern, coop, shadowing, and scholarship opportunities. These associations are the means whereby the professionals keep abreast of their career area following college and advance in their career. You can locate them by asking your school academic advisor, favorite teachers, and the reference librarian at your local library. Here are some tips: ## https://www.careeronestop.org/BusinessCenter/Toolkit/find-professional-associations.aspx?&frd=true ## ## https://www.themuse.com/advice/9-tips-for-navigating-your-first-networking-event ##
It is very important to express your appreciation to those who help you along the way to be able to continue to receive helpful information and to create important networking contacts along the way. Here are some good tips: ## https://www.themuse.com/advice/the-informational-interview-thank-you-note-smart-people-know-to-send?ref=recently-published-2 ## ## https://www.themuse.com/advice/3-tips-for-writing-a-thank-you-note-thatll-make-you-look-like-the-best-candidate-alive?bsft_eid=7e230cba-a92f-4ec7-8ca3-2f50c8fc9c3c&bsft_pid=d08b95c2-bc8f-4eae-8618-d0826841a284&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=daily_20171020&utm_source=blueshift&utm_content=daily_20171020&bsft_clkid=edfe52ae-9e40-4d90-8e6a-e0bb76116570&bsft_uid=54658fa1-0090-41fd-b88c-20a86c513a6c&bsft_mid=214115cb-cca2-4aec-aa86-92a31d371185&bsft_pp=2 ##
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Yasemin’s Answer

Hi Makenzie! Medical schools usually have a GPA of about 3.7+ and an MCAT score of 508+, this can vary like a higher GPA would compensate for a lower MCAT score and vice versa. I would advise you to possibly retake your MCAT to score higher, check out MCATSelfprep.com it's a free website that gives you helpful information on how to study for the MCAT! Make sure to take plenty of practice exams as these will help you in building confidence for the actual exam and can be predictive of test day results. In addition you can check out LizzyM score on student doctor network, by putting in your stats you can get a percentage of your chance at getting an acceptance. Remember though it isn't a race and applying to medical school is costly and time consuming so therefore make sure to apply when you really feel ready!
Best of luck!

Yasemin recommends the following next steps:

check out LizzyM score
check out McatSelfprep.com
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Rachel’s Answer

This is going to be a tough application process for you. If you get in, great. If not, you need to take an MCAT prep course and get a better score. You also either need to consider a masters program or get in a medical research lab and start publishing.
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Richard’s Answer

I think some medical schools expect a GPA of 3.8 or higher. Consider a Postbaccalaureate Premedical Programs


https://apps.aamc.org/postbac/#/index
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