MD & DO 3.3/3.3/521 (131/130/130/130), Need Help Deciding Options

[brush76]

I have a 3.3/3.3/521 MCAT. Very strong upward trend with my grades. Just had no direction in my first three or so years of college. Really turned it around in my last two years. Took extra year to pursue an Honors Thesis.

With grade replacement for DO, my GPA's are 3.5 each.

Strong letters of recommendation.

Rutgers, New Brunswick

Asian-American Male

21 yo

Honors Thesis.

2,000 hours of research experience (no publications, yet, may get some in the future as the lab publishes but probably not before I, hopefully, get in somewhere)

200 hours of clinical volunteering (patient contact)

100 hours of non clinical volunteering

60 hours of shadowing

Strong Letters of Recommendation

Here are my options:

1. SMP (if I really want to do MD), Apply next cycle
2. Apply this cycle, SMP (if I really want to do MD and don't want to wait an extra year)
3. Apply this cycle, Work at Research Hospital as Research Associate
4. Apply next cycle, Work at Research Hospital as Research Associate (would add ~ 2,000 hours of research experience, would double clinical volunteering, non-clinical volunteering hours, would add ~1,000 hours of scribing experience)

What do you all think? I’m currently leaning towards option #4. I’m not sure if I really need extra patient contact experience or volunteering experience, though.

My main negatives are my grades, obviously. Short of doing an SMP, I’m not too sure what I can do about them. I’ve gotten pretty strong grades in my recent semesters and have strong letters of recommendation. Any advice, you all?

My ideal school is one that does solid research. I’m not sure if osteopathic schools have quite the same research caliber as allopathic schools and so I wonder if doing the SMP (perhaps Cincy’s?) would be necessary to push me into being a competitive MD applicant. However, I've read Dr. Still's "Philosophy of Osteopathy" as well as some other work on Osteopathic Medicine and agreed with the general principles of Osteopathic Medicine. My only concern is that I wouldn't be able to get the research exposure like I would in MD schools. However, if there is not a particularly big difference between MD and DO w.r.t. research opportunities, then I am more than willing to focus on DO.

Thanks in advance!

EDIT: I figured I'd add a school list (prelim)

NJMS
Rutgers RWJMS
Cooper
NYMC
Albany
Rush
Rosalind Franklin
Loyola Chicago
Medical College of Wisconsin
Vermont
Colorado
New Mexico
Nebraska
Kansas
Texas Schools (10?)

Osteopathic:
KCUMB
PCOM
RVUCOM
CCOM
ATCOM
Rowan
TCOM
NYIT
Touro (Cali)
Touro (NY)
Western (Pomona)

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[BoroPreMed92]

There are plenty of DO schools that have a heavy focus on research. Any schools that are affiliated with a large hospital or are on a D1campus all have great options for research. For example: OU-HCOM, msucom,pcom, turo, ccom etc..

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[brush76]

Thanks for the reply! I'm an NJ resident. I wouldn't be able to afford MSUCOM and OU-HCOM is for Ohio residents, I believe. I will definitely apply to PCOM, Touro (Cali), and CCOM, though.

 

[Faha]

It is too late to apply for MD in this cycle. You could increase your chances significantly if you could increase your GPA to over 3.4 by taking additional courses before next June. The state schools in Texas, Nebraska, Kansas, New Mexico accept very few non residents with your GPA. Otherwise your MD list is good. You could add schools such as:
Quinnipiac
Georgetown
GW
Oakland Beaumont
Western Michigan
St. Louis
Tulane
Creighton
Seton Hall (new for 2018)
Drexel
Temple
Jefferson

 

[brush76]

Yes, I am deciding between applying the next cycle or the one after. I don't think I will be able to increase my GPA significantly moving forward. I've got over 200 credits of undergrad haha. But my last 100 credits have been > 3.8. Do you think an SMP (like Cincinnati's) is a good idea if I want to improve my academic credentials?

Thank you for the school list and the reply!

 

[BoroPreMed92]

Thanks for the reply! I'm an NJ resident. I wouldn't be able to afford MSUCOM and OU-HCOM is for Ohio residents, I believe. I will definitely apply to PCOM, Touro (Cali), and CCOM, though.

OU isn't strictly for Ohioresidents. They do accept a small amount of OOS students too! I was recently accepted to OU and there were a ton of OOS students at my interview so it may be worth a shot!

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[GrapesofRath]

What's going to matter here is what exactly you've taken the past two years as part of your upward trend. If it's been a ton of retakes that's not a positive for your MD outlook. If you've taken a number of new upper level science classes these past two years to make up your trend that will count for a good amount

I don't know if an SMP is really necessary here with this MCAT and upward trend some DIY PB work at a local State U this upcoming year might be a better strategy

Regardless of what you choose the most of the OOS MD schools on your list either aren't OOS publics that are good choices for you or generally don't often target people with an MCAT this above their 90th

 

[brush76]

What's going to matter here is what exactly you've taken the past two years as part of your upward trend. If it's been a ton of retakes that's not a positive for your MD outlook. If you've taken a number of new upper level science classes these past two years to make up your trend that will count for a good amount

I don't know if an SMP is really necessary here with this MCAT and upward trend some DIY PB work at a local State U this upcoming year might be a better strategy

Regardless of what you choose the most of the OOS MD schools on your list either aren't OOS publics that are good choices for you or generally don't often target people with an MCAT this above their 90th

Thanks for the reply! Yeah, so I am completing my final year right now. My upward trend has been in upper level science courses. If I were to get straight A's this year, I believe my GPA's would be ~ 3.35 for both. I've taken so many credits that raising my GPA at this point would require quite a bit of time.

It seems that I'm in a bit of a bind with this MCAT. I've done some browsing on these forums where it's been argued that a higher than expected MCAT can actually screen you out of some schools who want to protect their applicant yield.

If this is the case, then would my best option be to apply to the Cincinnati SMP and the NJMS SMP and do that next year? If I were to do that SMP, do really well, and then apply the cycle after next (in the Summer of 2018), would I then be competitive for MD? What medical schools should I be aiming at, if not the OOS publics I listed above?

Right now, my list looks like:
Quinnipiac
Georgetown
GW
Oakland Beaumont
Western Michigan
St. Louis
Tulane
Creighton
Seton Hall
Drexel
Temple
Jefferson
NJMS
Rutgers RWJMS
Cooper
NYMC
Albany
Rush
Rosalind Franklin
Loyola Chicago
Medical College of Wisconsin
Vermont