# If you fail to get into medical/dental/pharmacy school...



## styler5 (Oct 7, 2006)

Is that it? Is there no way to get a second chance?


----------



## meesha327 (Mar 15, 2007)

retake your MCATS!


----------



## X33 (Feb 13, 2005)

More information would help. what are your grades like? have you taken the mcat/pcat/dental school admission test? what are your ECs like? What sort of schools do you want to go to? If you fail to get in the first time, it's ok. It's common to reapply 1 or 2 times but beyond that I would start considering other careers.


----------



## styler5 (Oct 7, 2006)

I'm still an undergraduate freshman. Interview and gpa are what concern me the most. Will the admissions office be generous about the interview if they know about my medical condition? And do they only look at the cumulative gpa or if my grades got better progressively? And how much does it matter which graduate school I graduate from when looking for a job?


----------



## X33 (Feb 13, 2005)

medical condition? You mean SA? I would avoid disclosing it. 
GPA? They look at both. A progressively increasing GPA can definitely offset an overall low GPA (especially if the cumulative was dragged down by a low freshman GPA, the admission directors tend to be more forgiving of a bad freshman, possibly soph. year)
Higher ranked schools would make it easier for you to land competitive residences but there are a number of other variables that decide what residency you match at. The most important being your performance while in med school. Even still, I would go to the best school I get accepted to barring any personal reasons for not attending that school such as location / family.


----------



## Whitney (Oct 2, 2008)

What is your major? I would suggest something like biology or chemistry rather than pre-med or pre-whatever, because you can still meet all the requirements and you would have more options after you graduate in case you don't get in or change your mind. And it is not at all uncommon for students to take a year or more off school before going- my boyfriend took a year off and he's in med school now.
As far as the interview- all I can say is, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice. First practice with someone who you are very comfortable around, then go see if your school has some sort of career center where they can give you a mock interview that will be more like the real thing.


----------



## Whitney (Oct 2, 2008)

Oh, and about the gpa thing, if your grades were bad early on and then got better, explain it to them in your essay. Tell them why you had trouble at first (like trouble adjusting to college life or whatever) and show them that you improved.


----------



## Zephyr (Nov 8, 2003)

Definitely a lot of people get in after they apply for the second or third..or fourth time. Depending on the particular schools in question, they may weigh grade progression a lot (that's what the optometry school at my university does), and may value a completed bachelors degree more than one who has only done two or three years of undergrad. You can retake the MCAT/OAT/DAT/PCAT tests as well.


----------



## pita (Jan 17, 2004)

I know a girl who has taken her MCATs three times. If she doesn't get in this year, she'll try again next year.


----------



## Epicfailture (Oct 2, 2008)

i would say only the very smart can actually get into Medical school on the first try. others take time off and try again.


----------



## livingnsilence (Feb 4, 2008)

You can always reapply. I'm in pharmacy school now and there are a few people in my class that had to apply for two or three years before they finally got in. I will say to try your hardest to real good on the standardize tests, I mean real good, and get a really high GPA, because then you can bomb the interview and still get in. I had a 95 PCAT and a 3.7 GPA and pretty much the only way I could have ruined my chances at getting in was to not go to the interview or go to the interview completely drunk or high, or try to deal the deans drugs. I missed half my interview b/c I was late and didn't answer one of the questions and still got in.


----------



## Neptunus (Oct 29, 2007)

There's always the Caribbean...or podiatry. Don't go for chiropractic, they're not real doctors.


----------

