my situation

[jay22]

i am looking at many different schools both US and caribean as well as D.O. I am currently going into my junior year of college and i have worries regarding my grades.

in my freshman year, i had a 2.6 gpa

in my sophmore year i pulled a 3.5 and dean's list etc.

my cumulative is now 3.12, and i have good academic standing.

I was wondering what my chances were if i pulled off a respectable mcat score (27-30+) of getting into any med school whether it be US, D.O. of carribean. AUA seems like a good school, does anyone know more about the subject and what schools have to say about drastic improvement of ones grades

[jameslynton]

A lot will depend on your MCAT and senior year. Have you preped 300+ hours for the MCAT? Used a prep course? Let us know!
JL

[jay22]

im taking it this upcoming spring and i plan on using a prep course, any recommendations?

[jameslynton]

im taking it this upcoming spring and i plan on using a prep course, any recommendations?Yes, use Examkrakers (see my reviews above on books - I also like Barron's prep books) - I also like the Princeton review course(the only place you can get their hyper learning series which is excellent. Most of their teachers have taken the MCAT. I don't like Kaplan - I have had bad experiences with them - My son used the Kaplan LSAT prep course and found it lacking. Same with my daughter ion the SAT. I also saw students from Kaplan during the MCAT in August of 2005 in Phoenix studying total drivel on flash cards before the exam. I am signed up for the CBT on August 20th. I will post an exam experience on that here. I am current using Princeton review tutors to work my weak areas.

[BChen7106]

I think your chances can be quite good if you do well on your MCAT. I was in a similar situation with your GPA. In fact if I remember correctly, my GPA was slightly lower than yours in the end (but with a good trend). I ended up getting a 35 on MCAT's and combined with some strong LOR's and extracurricular experiences, I got into several US med schools (ended up going to Tufts in Boston).

Yes, it is definitely important for you to do well on your MCAT's. Do whatever it takes to do well.

I think extracurricular activities are extremely important. I took a year off before med school and worked as a secretary in a hospital unit. It was one of the best experiences I've had in medicine and I'm positive it is the reason why I got into medical school (combined with my good MCAT's).

Hope this helps.

Check out my blog at Doc B's Rounds (http://drbyron.blogspot.com) to hear about my medical school and internship experiences. It might give you some inspiration and incite into the medical field.

[jay22]

so you took one year just to have the hospital experience, there were no other classes you took to make up bad grades? How was the year, personally id imagine it to be agonizing, knowing that med shcool is right around the corner