3.76 cGPA, 3.77 sGPA, 35 MCAT. Please help me with my school list

[baeboorin]

Hi, I am a California resident. I immigrated to the US 6 years ago from Vietnam. I went to community college for 2 years and a UC for 2 years.

Comm. College GPA (bio/chem major): 3.90 cGPA, 3.91 sGPA
University GPA (biochem major): 3.66 cGPA, 3.67 sGPA (first year after transfer around 3.4 GPA, second year 4.0)
Total GPA: 3.76 cGPA, 3.77 sGPA
MCAT (1/26/2013): 35 (12 P, 11 V, 12 B)

I'm very lacking in my ECs:

First year in Comm. College I worked 14 hours/week as a waitress (I did not know if I wanted to become a doctor and wasted a lot of time). I don't think I should put this in my application. Please advise.
Second year:
TA for biology lab for 1 semester
Student Assistant (paid) for high school outreach department
First year in UC: volunteer in hospital for 100 hours during summer (they only made me do data entry so I hated this experience and didn't want to come back)

After graduation:
Shadowed an internal MD (private practice) for 5 months, 3-4 hours / week
Shadowed an internal DO (private practice) for 6 months, 16 hours / week
Volunteer in non-profit clinic: 4 months, 12 hours / week
Volunteer to tutor and teach children about culture and Vietnamese language: 4 months, 3 hours / week

During my shadowing, I was paid for a month or two when I substituted for Medical Assistant staffs who took vacation days off.

I was concentrating on improving my GPA at UC, and was not certain about what I would do in the future, thus the lack of ECs. During that time, my grandpa was very sick (He died right after I graduated), so I spent a lot of time at the hospital and at home taking care of him. I know this sounded cliche, but that was how I actually got to know about medicine. I volunteered and shadowed later to make sure that I like this career.



My school list after I did a research on the MSAR:

In California:
Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California
Loma Linda University School of Medicine
University of California, Davis, School of Medicine
University of California, Irvine, School of Medicine
University of California, Los Angeles David Geffen School of Medicine
University of California, Riverside, School of Medicine

I want to apply to as many UC as I can, though I know I have very little chance with some of them.

Everywhere else, I look for school with high OOS acceptants + lower percentage of acceptants with research experience, because I don't have any.

Albany Medical College
Drexel University College of Medicine
Eastern Virginia Medical School
George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences
Howard University College of Medicine
Jefferson Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University
Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine
Medical College of Wisconsin
Meharry Medical College
The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown UniversityUniformed Services University of the Health Sciences F. Edward Hebert School of Medicine



DO schools:
Touro University College of Osteopathic Medicine - California (TouroCOM-CA)
Western University of Health Sciences - Pomona (WesternU-COMP)
A.T. Still University, Kirksville College of Osteopathic Medicine (ATSU-KCOM)
A.T. Still University, School of Osteopathic Medicine in Arizona (ATSU-SOMA)
Chicago College of Osteopathic Medicine of Midwestern University (CCOM/MWU)
Des Moines University College of Osteopathic Medicine (DMU-COM)
University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (UDMNJ-SOM)





Will the 2 years at a community college count against me? How badly? Will my MCAT enough to make up for it?
I don't have any research experience. I know this is bad, but I can't change it now. I am trying to apply to some research assistant positions, but I did not even get interviewed.


Thanks to anyone who gives me any advices at all. I really appreciate them.

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[Catalystik]

Hi, I am a California resident. I immigrated to the US 6 years ago from Vietnam. I went to community college for 2 years and a UC for 2 years.

Comm. College GPA (bio/chem major): 3.90 cGPA, 3.91 sGPA
University GPA (biochem major): 3.66 cGPA, 3.67 sGPA (first year after transfer around 3.4 GPA, second year 4.0)
Total GPA: 3.66 cGPA, 3.67 sGPA
MCAT (1/26/2013): 35 (12 P, 11 V, 12 B)

I'm very lacking in my ECs:

1) First year in Comm. College I worked 14 hours/week as a waitress (I did not know if I wanted to become a doctor and wasted a lot of time). I don't think I should put this in my application. Please advise.
Second year:
TA for biology lab for 1 semester
Student Assistant (paid) for high school outreach department
First year in UC: volunteer in hospital for 100 hours during summer (they only made me do data entry so I hated this experience and didn't want to come back)

After graduation:
Shadowed an internal MD (private practice) for 5 months, 3-4 hours / week
Shadowed an internal DO (private practice) for 6 months, 16 hours / week
Volunteer in non-profit clinic: 4 months, 12 hours / week
Volunteer to tutor and teach children about culture and Vietnamese language: 4 months, 3 hours / week

During my shadowing, I was paid for a month or two when I substituted for Medical Assistant staffs who took vacation days off.

I was concentrating on improving my GPA at UC, and was not certain about what I would do in the future, thus the lack of ECs. During that time, my grandpa was very sick (He died right after I graduated), so I spent a lot of time at the hospital and at home taking care of him. I know this sounded cliche, but that was how I actually got to know about medicine. I volunteered and shadowed later to make sure that I like this career.



My school list after I did a research on the MSAR:

In California:
Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California
Loma Linda University School of Medicine
University of California, Davis, School of Medicine
University of California, Irvine, School of Medicine
University of California, Los Angeles David Geffen School of Medicine
University of California, Riverside, School of Medicine

I want to apply to as many UC as I can, though I know I have very little chance with some of them.

Everywhere else, I look for school with high OOS acceptants + lower percentage of acceptants with research experience, because I don't have any.

Albany Medical College
Drexel University College of Medicine
Eastern Virginia Medical School
George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences
Howard University College of Medicine
Jefferson Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University
Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine
Medical College of Wisconsin
Meharry Medical College
The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown UniversityUniformed Services University of the Health Sciences F. Edward Hebert School of Medicine



DO schools:
Touro University College of Osteopathic Medicine - California (TouroCOM-CA)
Western University of Health Sciences - Pomona (WesternU-COMP)
A.T. Still University, Kirksville College of Osteopathic Medicine (ATSU-KCOM)
A.T. Still University, School of Osteopathic Medicine in Arizona (ATSU-SOMA)
Chicago College of Osteopathic Medicine of Midwestern University (CCOM/MWU)
Des Moines University College of Osteopathic Medicine (DMU-COM)
University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (UDMNJ-SOM)



2) Will the 2 years at a community college count against me? How badly?
3) Will my MCAT enough to make up for it?

I don't have any research experience. I know this is bad, but I can't change it now. I am trying to apply to some research assistant positions, but I did not even get interviewed.


Thanks to anyone who gives me any advices at all. I really appreciate them.

1) Definitely include the waitressing on your application. Adcomms want to know what you did to stay busy. And further, that is a job that requires a lot of people skills, which reflects well on you.

2) Some schools will discriminate against you because of the CC credits, but most will not. Your cumulative cGPA and BCPM GPA have to be higher than what you've stated. Please recalculate as they should include the CC grades.

3) You don't have anything to "make up for." The MCAT certainly proves you mastered the prerequisite material, even if you took it at a CC.


More than the issue of no research, you also don't have much in the way of nonmedical community service. And you don't mention any leadership. Also, most of your experiences are of short-term duration. Do you have anything that lasted longer than a year? I strongly suggest you remain involved in some pertinent activities through the application year for the sake of update letters and Secondary essays, as well as interview conversations. You might also consider waiting a year before applying to beef up your activities.

Don't forget to include hobbies and artistic endeavors. Adcomms want to know about these, too. They make you look more well-rounded and memorable.

Be sure to have a native English speaker proofread your application materials, including Secondary essays.

Howard, Meharry, Loma Linda, Loyola, and probably Keck will be looking for committed, long-term nonmedical community service to those in need. They may not be the best schools for you to include on your list.

Consider Rosalind Franklin (IL) and some of the newer med schools, like Cooper, Quinnipiac, Oakland.

 

[hizziaips]

First, your GPA is roughly average for matriculants, and your MCAT is great. The fact that you've earned a 3.6-3.7 at a UC while taking (I assume) upper-level science courses will likely assuage any concerns that ADCOMs will have about your CC credits (at many schools, at least).

I agree with Catalystik about your ECs. Some form of long-term volunteering would be nice, even if you're putting in only 2-4 hours per week. Also, I don't understand why you would be hesitant about putting the waitressing job on your application, unless you have 15 other activities to put in AMCAS and simply don't have room for it (which doesn't seem to be the case). Are you ashamed of working an entry-level job to put yourself through school, or are you worried that ADCOMs will penalize you for not doing something more glamorous with your time?

Finally, regarding your school list, I wouldn't discourage you from applying to any of the places that you listed, but I would recommend that you consider the following:
- Read Loma Linda's mission statement very carefully, and make sure that you're a fit for that school.
- Brown takes ~40% of their incoming class from their BS/MD program.
- Are you interested in military service? If not, don't apply to USU.
- Meharry and Howard are HBCUs (historically black colleges and universities) and have significant missions geared towards poor and underserved communities.

In addition to the schools that you listed, you might look at VCU (50% of their incoming class is OOS, and they interview a lot of CA applicants in particular) and some of the newer schools (again, as Catalystik recommended).

 

[WilsonFan]

Agree with everything said. Your application looks great.

The head ADCOM at a top 10-tier school once jokingly said to our ADCOM that he will start requiring all medical students to waitress for at least 6 weeks, because it forces you to understand what good service truly means.

If you can talk about the clear struggles you went through (immigrating here, learning english, working your way through a CC upwards), you have a good shot at a great school. Good luck!

 

[baeboorin]

Your cumulative cGPA and BCPM GPA have to be higher than what you've stated. Please recalculate as they should include the CC grades.

Your are right, my total cGPA is 3.76 and sGPA is 3.77. I was sleepy when I posted.

Would TA for bio lap count as leadership? And volunteer to teach children count as non-medical community service?

I am not embarrassed at being a waitress, I just think it was irrelevant to med school. But now I know I should.

I will research on the schools all of you suggested and update my school list. Thank you

 

[Catalystik]

1) Would TA for bio lap count as leadership? 2) And volunteer to teach children count as non-medical community service?

1) TA is listed under Teaching, unless you organized all the other TAs, trained, scheduled, and oversaw their performance. Then it would be Leadership.

2) Unpaid teaching of children could be listed either as Nonmedical Community Service or as Teaching, depending on what balances your application best..

 

[baeboorin]

In California:
1. Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California
2. University of California, Davis, School of Medicine
3. University of California, Irvine, School of Medicine
4. University of California, Los Angeles David Geffen School of Medicine
5. University of California, Riverside, School of Medicine

Other states:
6. Albany Medical College
7. Drexel University College of Medicine
8. Eastern Virginia Medical School
9. George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences
10. Jefferson Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University
11. Medical College of Wisconsin
12. The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University


I took Loma Linda, Howard, Meharry, Loyola, USU off my list. Thank you Catalystik, hizziaips, and WilsonFan for your inputs. I was concentrating on the stats and didn't read their missions carefully.

These are the reasons I didn't put these school on my list before:

Commonwealth: 89% accepted students had research
Rosalind Franklin: 87% accepted students had research
Oakland: 90% accepted students had research + only 33/75 are OOS
Quinnipiac: I don't see any statistics on MSAR
Cooper: only 17/50 are OOS, and I'm not sure they accept cc credits

I'll email Quinnipiac and Cooper. If I met their requirements, I'll definitely add them. Commonwealth, Rosalind Franklin, and Oakland I'm not sure yet. Like I said, I don't have research and I'm weak in ECs, so I avoid schools that accept high percentage of students with research.


These are schools that I also like:

UCSD and UCSF (Both are reach. I'm only counting on my luck for these 2. But they are my dream school, so I really really want to include them.)
Hofstra North Shore (only 28/60 accepted students are OOS, and only 0.8% OOS are accepted)
Oregon Health & Science University SOM (small %OOS, but close to Cali)
Tulane University (86% accepted students had research)
Wake Forest (86% accepted students had research, only 1% OOS are accepted)
Colorado SOM (close to Cali, but high tuition fee)
Louiville SOM (lower % accepted students had research, but only 34/155 accepted students are OOS)
New York Medical College (87% accepted students had research)
Rochester (91% accepted students had research)
Vermont (90% accepted students had research)


I plan to apply to about 15 - 18 MD and 5 - 7 DO. I hope to get accepted to one of the UCs, especially UCI (which is 20 mins from my home), and UCLA (where I went to as an undergrad). But they all have very high % of accepted students with research, so my chances are slim.

I wanted to volunteer at a children hospital but they rejected me before when I was an undergrad, I'll try again. I'll also search for a place I can volunteer for a longer time, and find a leadership.

Thank you again.

 

[Catalystik]

Rosalind Franklin is not a research-oriented school. They are known for looking at the whole application, and in the case of a nontrad who made a late decision to enter medicine, are likely to give you a pass for not having research, as is often true with other med schools, too. But nontrads often have other rich life experiences to put on the table to take its place.

 

[baeboorin]

Rosalind Franklin is not a research oreinted school. They are known for looking at the whole application, and in the case of a nontrad who made a late decision to enter medicine, are likely to give you a pass for not having research, as is often true with other med schools, too. But nontrads often have other rich life experiences to put on the table to take its place.

Thank you for the info, I'll add Rosalind Franklin then. I don't think I am a non-trad, I'm just really late in deciding I want to go to med school. I moved to the US at 17, I'm now 23, went to high school here for 1 year, cc 2 years, UCLA 2 years. I took a year off after graduation to volunteer, shadow, study for the MCAT, and earn some money. Adjusting to the new life with a single mom and younger sibling consumed a lot of my time during college. Plus we are poor, and I have to take care of myself financially. My dream job in Vietnam was becoming a journalist/writer (I love love love literature). But it's not practical as I don't think I'll ever be able to use English as a native speaker. So I turned to sciences, which I didn't hate nor had passion for, but was rather solid at. I did not encounter anything medical related before I was 20, thus the late decision. But after I got to know about medicine, I liked it more and more.

Sorry for the ranting. I just want to make clear I'm not a non-trad, but with a weak ECs, and my own excuses for that. And thank you for continuing to answer my post.