MD & DO 3.8 sGPA, 3.67 cGPA, 27 MCAT

[Modonnell121]

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[petyr_baelish]

Get shadowing and a Dr's letter. Also, start volunteering or getting a healthcare related job.

 

[Modonnell121]

Get shadowing and a Dr's letter. Also, start volunteering or getting a healthcare related job.

Yeah, I'm about to start doing those things. How much shadowing and healthcare volunteering do you think is adequate, in general? Say I start volunteering 10 hours a week for the next few months and shadow a doc, will that make my chances of acceptance fairly high (at DO schools)?

 

[petyr_baelish]

Yeah, I'm about to start doing those things. How much shadowing and healthcare volunteering do you think is adequate, in general? Say I start volunteering 10 hours a week for the next few months and shadow a doc, will that make my chances of acceptance fairly high (at DO schools)?

I don't know for sure. To play it safe, do as much as you can.
Personally I'm applying with ~65 shadowing hours and 200 hours of volunteering spread over 5+ years.

 

[Modonnell121]

I don't know for sure. To play it safe, do as much as you can.
Personally I'm applying with ~65 shadowing hours and 200 hours of volunteering spread over 5+ years.

Cool, that's what I'm gonna do. Searching this forum for the topic shows a lot of people saying you need like 1000 hrs or reapply next cycle. That's crazy

BTW I am determined to apply this spring/summer. Do you guys think I can get all the requisite experience in by then (I'll continue after applying too).

 

[Goro]

I recommend:
Frank Netter
Loma Linda
New York Medical College
Albany
Western Michigan
Rosalind Franklin
Medical College of Wisconsin
Commonwealth
Any DO school
The PR schools, due to your fluency.

So I decided after I graduated college (May 2014) that I wanted to be a doctor. I took the MCAT in January without taking any practice tests or anything (I did a few practice sections from AAMC 3) and scored 27 (9PS, 8VR, 10 BS). My cumulative GPA is 3.67 and my science GPA is 3.80.

I have almost no work experience, though, I did some light tutoring in college, but other than that I've never had a job in my life, so any resume I put together looks pretty unimpressive. The only other skill I can think of is that I am fluent in Spanish and actually spent 3 months in Mexico and central and South America after college. My dad is an M.D. so I have had some exposure to medicine, but never worked or volunteered in a hospital/clinic.

Do I have a chance at MD or DO or both? I'm looking at DO schools like Philadelphia COM and NY COM.

 

[Modonnell121]

Awesome, thanks for that list. As faculty can you answer my second question: I decided on this recently, so I have no real, recent clinical experience or volunteering, starting that now will I be okay for applying in May/June?