MD 3.6 sGPA 3.35 cGPA 509 MCAT

[Labkid]

Background: Biology w/ Business Minor, Graduated May '15, (White Male)

GPA: 3.6 sGPA, 3.35 cGPA

• Switched to Biology for last three semesters of undergrad
• Upward trend for those three semesters (3.7, 3.82, 3.9) compared to 3.3 the previous semester as Business major

MCAT: 509 [128/127/128/126] 80th percentile overall

Employment:

Tennis and Fitness Center (Dec '13 - May '15)

• Part-time (20 - 30hrs, weekends)
• Supervised and ran the center (Sales, Membership, League Matches, etc.)
• Ran/Organized tennis tournaments
• In charge of opening/closing the center

Research:

• Undergrad Research for 1 semester (last semester before graduation in May '15)
• Hired as a lab tech for another year starting May '15
• Over 700hrs in the lab
• Presented poster at undergrad competition
• Currently run 2 projects, one with collaboration with a Post Doc.

Shadowing:

• Around 350 hrs total shadowing
• ER/Trauma/ICU ~210-220 hrs
• Orthopaedic [Clinic/Surgery] ~80hrs (2 week internship, hospital in Italy, Madonna della Fiducia Hospital)
• Gastroenterology ~40-50hrs
• Pediatric Surgery ~18hrs
• Rounds/Clinic ~ 8hrs
• Cardiovascular Surgery ~8hrs

*Volunteering:

• 12hrs Assisted at a National Ultra-Sound Conference in S.C. (Will get the exact name later)

*Weakest aspect, Had no time to volunteer after work, shadowing, studying for MCAT

*LoRs:

• 1 from P.I.
• 1 from ER/Trauma Department Head
• 1 from Chief Resident (same hospital as above)
• 1 from Orthopaedic Department Head/Surgeon
• 1 from Genetics Professor

*If needed I can get a non-science professor, but none of them knew me well so I think the letter would hurt more than help me

Misc:

• VP of a Fraternity
• VP of a Student Organization (Have helped in running it since its inception 5 yrs ago

*School List (So Far):

1. MUSC (MD/PhD) [Most sought for me]
2. USC Columbia
3. USC Greenville
4. UNC Chapel Hill (MD/PhD)
5. University of Kentucky (MD/PhD)
6. University of Wisconsin (MD/PhD)
7. University of South Alabama (MD/PhD)
8. University of Illinois (MD/PhD)
9. Eastern Virginia
10. University of Arkansas (MD/PhD)

*There are some I want to put on this list but apps are due tomorrow (just got my scores last night). Hopefully my list is ok.

As you can tell I would love to pursue an MD/PhD. Ever since starting my research position I have loved every second of it. Granted the lab I am working in is not the field I see myself going into (Research of a gene implicated in some rare disorders and cancers). So mostly my knowledge in research lies in cloning, human cell culture, ecoli cultures, etc. I would really like to get into the neuroscience/cell biology field focusing on stem cell research in those fields.

For those who may be skeptical I truly had no time left to volunteer. For the last two years of college I had absolutely no summers. This was due to working and MCAT ontop of school. I lacked many courses in the test. I'm not trying to "toot my own horn" here, but I want to make sure you understand the circumstances behind it are not some excuse. I'm sure it'll be asked in an interview as well.

However if you think it would be helpful that I start volunteering now (I do have time) I can start doing that, but I figured it being so late in the process they would not take notice.

I'm sure there are holes in this app, I honestly only went to my advisement office for med school a few times since every time I needed help they were unable to. That's nothing against them but it so happened that no one really wants a senior with 1 semester left and only 2 semesters of "good grades" in their lab. Nor are physicians easy to shadow and half the time the red-tape would not allow me to or my very packed schedule.

If anything else is needed let me know.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[Labkid]

I could really use some help, to anyone who has the time.

 

[Arturiase]

You have a ton of shadowing hours, holy crap are those real??? Start Volunteering, probably remove MD/PHD you need a higher MCAT and no publications.

 

[Labkid]

Yes they are real, especially the ER shadowing but trust me when I say it can sometimes be hours of waiting for something to happen. I've built them up over the past two years. It's really the only thing I ever had time for outside of work/school. Every time I wanted to volunteer they either were 9-5 or on a weekend there was a tennis tournament I had to work. I can start that now.

I heard that publication does not matter?

 

[Faha]

Your South Carolina state schools are reasonable choices (assuming you are a South Carolina resident) but the other schools you listed are all public state schools that accept very few non resident applicants with your stats. Instead add OOS private schools such as:
Quinnipiac
Albany
New York Medical College
Drexel
Temple
Jefferson
Oakland Beaumont
Western Michigan
Rosalind Franklin
Creighton
Any new private MD schools that open in 2017 (Seton Hall, Henricopolis, etc.).
Realistically you should apply to at least 10 DO schools also and you are competitive for most DO schools.

 

[WedgeDawg]

OKAY LET ME PREFACE THIS BY SAYING PLEASE DO NOT SUBMIT ANY APPLICATIONS THIS CYCLE. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE. I DIDN'T REALIZE YOU WERE ABOUT TO APPLY UNTIL I STARTED WRITING #4 ON THIS LIST BUT IF YOU DON'T WANT TO MAKE THINGS INFINITELY MORE DIFFICULT FOR YOURSELF PLEASE DO NOT HIT SUBMIT.

If you are serious about MD/PhD, you need to work on some stuff. Here are my comments:

1) GPA and MCAT are both low for MD/PhD. As I recall, the medians for successful MD/PhD applicants are 3.8/35, which is above the 3.7/31 medians for MD alone. You are sitting at approximately 3.4-3.5 (accounting for discrepancy in s and c GPA) / 30, which is low even for regular MD. Your numbers are not sufficient for MD/PhD

2) 12 hours of volunteering is pitifully low. You absolutely have to have clinical hours where you are working with sick people in order to be competitive for MD schools. How on earth are you going to be able to convince admissions that this is what you want to do for the rest of your life if you have absolutely no experience working with sick people? Shadowing doesn't count - shadowing just gives you a brief window into the life of a physician, but is a passive process that can't substitute for an active process like volunteering. You really really need to get some volunteer experience. You would highly benefit from a gap year or two.

3) You have only worked in a lab for one semester, only 700 hours (not that research is an hours-based activity) total, and no real productivity to show (undergraduate symposium is cool, but generally you can enter one and just show methods without really having to have results or even know your project in great detail, so it's not exactly something that will impress anyone). How are you going to convince an MD/PhD program that you should get one of their highly coveted spots? Many MD only applicants have more research exposure than you do and still get rejected. Being a lab tech for a year is good, and now having your own projects is good, but as it stands, I don't think you have sufficient research experience to apply MD/PhD at this time. I would wait until you have at least another year's worth of experience and some productivity to show for it.

4) You are applying really damn late. I mean this is balls to the wall late. People have already been accepted this cycle. Applying now means wasting possibly thousands of dollars. I really hope I am not too late but you should 110% absolutely NOT SUBMIT AN APPLICATION THIS CYCLE. Please OP DO NOT SUBMIT. To do so now means that you're only going to make everything harder on yourself. You're going to make yourself a reapplicant. You're going to spend time and money writing secondaries that will never come to fruition. You need to apply June 1 of 2016 (or actually more likely 2017). Applying late is not an option for you.

To sum up, you have low stats, no volunteering, mediocre research experience, the latest application possible, and are applying MD/PhD. This is basically everything you can do wrong put together in one application.

OP, you have the ability to get into an MD/PhD program if you wait 1 (preferably 2) years before applying, getting some volunteering in, retaking your MCAT for a 516+, doing a lot more research and have some productivity, and then when you finally apply, apply no later than the first day AMCAS opens for submission.

Sorry to be blunt, but submitting right now would be a huge mistake. If you've already submitted, don't submit any secondaries and don't add any more schools.

 

[Labkid]

Thanks for the advice. I guess MD/PhD is out of the question.

So should I not even apply for MD? I understand no volunteering is bad but its not like I sat on my hands doing nothing with time that could've been spent volunteering.

Only applying so late because my scores weren't released till this week so I had no idea what I could get.

As for DO I don't have a letter from one and I understand that's a unwritten rule.

 

[GrapesofRath]

Agree with the Dawg. I strongly recommend not focusing your time on an MD/PhD. a) the odds of getting a 518+ after a 509 are remote(think less than 5% of people in your spot who retook did it. b) A 3.5/36 is hardly a sure thing for a MD/PhD program even if you got to that. The median MD/PhD matriculant has a 3.8/35. 3.5/36 is low even if you ace the MCAT retake.

Applying this late for MD without clinical exposure and volunteering is a complete waste of time. You don't need a DO letter for many DO programs. But I would suspect no clinical exposure outside of shadowing and no volunteering would cause problems even for them. Maybe you can sneak into one without it, maybe not, but either way my best recommendation is sit out this cycle boost your clinical exposure and volunteering(volunteering in a hospital for a couple hundred hours would really help) and give it a go next cycle.

 

[Labkid]

Agree with the Dawg. I strongly recommend not focusing your time on an MD/PhD. a) the odds of getting a 518+ after a 509 are remote(think less than 5% of people in your spot who retook did it. b) A 3.5/36 is hardly a sure thing for a MD/PhD program even if you got to that. The median MD/PhD matriculant has a 3.8/35. 3.5/36 is low even if you ace the MCAT retake.

Applying this late for MD without clinical exposure and volunteering is a complete waste of time. You don't need a DO letter for many DO programs. But I would suspect no clinical exposure outside of shadowing and no volunteering would cause problems even for them. Maybe you can sneak into one without it, maybe not, but either way my best recommendation is sit out this cycle boost your clinical exposure and volunteering(volunteering in a hospital for a couple hundred hours would really help) and give it a go next cycle.

My only question is does applying once and getting rejected hurt your chances for the next cycle?

 

[GrapesofRath]

My only question is does applying once and getting rejected hurt your chances for the next cycle?

It's not a positive and at many schools yes it can be a negative. Hence the recommendation apply once and when you are at your best application.

 

[Labkid]

It's not a positive and at many schools yes it can be a negative. Hence the recommendation apply once and when you are at your best application.

Well this wasn't exactly what I was expecting so I'm glad I posted on here.

Naturally I'll try talking to some others that I know personally in the field but I have a feeling they will say the same thing you guys are saying.

Thanks for all the advice.