I applied to 4 Caribbean schools: SGU, Ross, AUC, and Saba.
My stats were not very good, 2.8 & 28S.
I have interviews coming up with SGU and Ross but got rejected outright by AUC and Saba. I'd much rather go to SGU or Ross but the fact that I got nothing from the other two makes me really nervous. I thought they were the less selective of the 4 I applied to. I was wondering if anyone had any experience in applying to all (or most) of these schools and did the selection process seem arbitrary to you or did it go as expected?

You were outright rejected from AUC and SABA? There's got to be more to this.

You must be leaving something out because I only had slightly better scores than yourself yet I was accepted. To get better advice it would be more helpful if you listed all possible pertinent information that could of been used as a basis to reject you. E.g., did you do any research, what classes did you take, extracurricular activities you were involved in, work related experience. I had a GPA of 2.9 received a 28Q on MCAT. But I have also done several research projects; one was even published, and have worked 6yrs in a hospital environment. Finally I was VP of my universities premed association. My experience is that at least with St George’s, they truly do look at your whole application. If you do not have much to offset the lower GPA and alright MCAT scores you may need to spend some time building a better CV for yourself by getting involved somehow. I would suggest that you see if your undergraduate school has a premed advisor and ask them to look over your application to see where you might try and improve. Hope this was helpful and not hurtfull

ditto

My stats are as I posted above- 2.8 & 28S
I had 2 years of physiology research and 3 years of volunteer work
I did take longer to finish school. I had some family issues that I didn't get over and withdrew from school for a year and a half. My last semester before leaving I had a sub 2.0 GPA and got put on probation. When I came back I did fine and was back to normal and off probation. My PS explained this and was (according to a couple different english profs) quite good. LOR's were good and enthusiastic. I really am pretty bummed about this. In addition to Ross and SGU, I have an interview coming up for a US D.O. school. I don't know what to make of it.

Have you checked your references? There could be a comment(s) written by your referees that could have deterred AUC/Saba. That's a possibility if everything else is good on your record.

Good luck,

IndianBabu

__________________
SGU SOM, Class of 2009
An ex-samosa technician with a big heart from Canada.

Just another thing you may consider, I forgot to mention that eventhough I had a lower GPA, my degree was in Molcular Biology, with minors in psychology and chemistry. Medical schools do take into account the classes one took when considering the GPA. If you get a more difficult degree that also is relavant to the classes you will be taking in medical school, like biochemistry, chemistry, etc. The schools will let a lower GPA slide a bit. You see the schools, especially Carribean schools, worry about a student's ability to pass and do well on the boards once they get in. That is why SGU for example like to brag about it's USLME pass rates. If you received a lower GPA and all you took were the basic required science classes, this maybe why you are being rejected by schools like Ross, AUC, and SABA. Since I am commenting without prior knowledge forgive me if I am incorrect when dealing with your personal situation. I can only tell you that if you have been granted interviews, like the DO school, this means they are looking at you and wish to get to know you better. If you go into an interview doubting yourself you will project this and it will negatively affect the outcome with the interviewer. Remeber you are like a product, with good and bad, you need to minimize the bad and emphasize the good. PMA does matter. Hang in there and congradulations on at least getting an interview with an American DO school. I never got that far .