47: What Are My Chances of Getting into an Allopathic Medical School? - a podcast by Ryan Gray

Session 47

There are lots of moving parts to the medical school application. How do you know if you’ve got a good shot at admission to an MD program?

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[00:38] What Are Your Chances?

It's a very common question students are asking as to what their chances are for getting into a medical school. The answer that I always give is "I have no idea what your chances are!" I have zero clue on what your chances are.

Nobody out there knows what your specific chances are.

You can look at the AAMC. They have a graph and table where it has MCAT and GPA. You can find where your MCAT and GPA are that table.

And based on historical data, they cite the number of people getting into medical school. You could see your chances based on that data, but it's still not accurate. 

First, that's historical data. And if you're involved in the stock market, past performance does not predict future gains or performance.

[02:30] Variables to Consider

There are so many variables that you should take into account when you're talking about your chances. Are you an underrepresented minority? Are you Caucasian? That comes into account.

Other factors include your socio-economic status, your parents' education levels, your state residency (depending on where you're applying), your extracurriculars, your personal statement.

When to apply also comes into account as well as who wrote your letters of recommendation. Did they write strong letters or just generic letters? 

What does your MCAT score look like in each section? Your grades and your trends are huge factors too.

[03:40] Chances in an Allopathic (MD) Medical School

Why does "allopathic" matter? DO or MD, it's a physician at the end of the day, so it doesn't matter.

What specifically draws you to an MD school? Why MD vs DO? Do you have any sort of bias? Or you probably got information that you don't want to go to a DO school since you won't be able to do xyz residency. That's not true!

So you have to take this into account as well as to why allopathic and not osteopathic.

[04:40] The Biggest Variable

As you go through this process, your chances of applying or getting into medical school are zero if you don't apply and more than zero if you do apply.

There are so many pieces of the application process that need to go into your favor. You need to have good enough GPA and MCAT score. You have to have a great personal statement, extracurriculars, and great letters of recommendation.

You need to apply on time. You have to write good secondaries and turn those around on time.

You have zero idea, specifically, what that medical school is looking for that year. Every medical school is trying to build a foundational core of students every year.  They may be looking for LGBT or underrepresented minority students. They could be looking for the nurse or the nontraditional students.

Every year, they're looking for something specific to bring into their class. This year, it might be your turn, and next year, it may not be. You don't know. Or you might be the perfect candidate at school A and you're not at school B.

Stop worrying about what your chances are and maximize each part of the application as you go through this process. 

Focus on your GPA and MCAT score. Get those extracurriculars and some leadership experience. Get shadowing...

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