5.63 cGPA. 3.58 sGPA, 30 projected mcat, strong upwards trend

[blackout2]

Hello,

Like I said, I have a 3.62 cGPA and a 3.58 sGPA. For DO it will be a 3.67 sGPA (damn calculus). I am at one of the better schools of Illinois and am a resident of northern IL.

Activities:

-I was in the ROTC program for my first 2 years which included about 80 hours of community service throughout with different organizations. ROTC activities overall probably took around 800 hours in my first 2 years of college. Had a lot of leadership, was a squad leader 3 semesters mentoring underclassmen.

- Over the summer I worked in a lab 40 hours a week totaling probably 600 hours because of work before and after the summer. The research was totally student lead and unpaid and we designed the project and was part of a large conference where we presented and was named on our poster. We received a gold medal for the project!

-I have volunteered at the local hospital about 120 hours over last summer and this semester. UPDATE: I will be a personal assistant (paid position) for someone with a disability and will take care care of him for 5 or more hours. Will I need to also volunteer at the hospital again this summer or would this be enough?

--Since the start of this semester I have been volunteering in a school for kids with hearing impairments that will likely lead to 50 hours by the end of the semester, hopefully can continue in summer.

-This summer I will be working in a plant pathology lab for fruits and vegetables and will start before I apply so I can list it on AMCAS.

-My gpa has been on an upwards trend, with the last year and a half averaging a 3.89 cGPA and probably around the same for sGPA.

-Still need shadowing, hopefully get a lot of it done over this spring break! update: have added about 25 hours shadowing.

Some questions:
1. I plan to apply to all the schools in IL (except Northwestern or U of C, don't feel my stats are good enough), any other good ones for someone like me? Schools that really value leadership maybe?

How will med schools look at ROTC? I have yet to take the MCAT, but lets say i got a 30. How would I look for MD? DO?

Thanks in advance! I know it is a lot of stuff!

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[aSagacious]

1. How does it look that my hospital work won't be over 1.5 years?

Your hours for clinical experience are quite low. While, like you said, you'll volunteer more over the summer I still suggest getting the shadowing out of the way prior to submitting your application. The reason I suggest this is it is very easy for an applicant to say on an application, "next year I plan to take 50 credits/semester, research 30 hours/week, work as a full-time nurse, etc." and the AdComs treat it as speculative. The less you can qualify with "I plan to..." the better.

2. What if I continue volunteering during the next school year, will update letters with this information help me get into a school?

Yes, any (significant) updates to your application will always help. A couple things to note, however. Make sure any and all updates that you send are both infrequent and substantial. You don't want to send bi-weekly progress reports that you just got a 94% on your orgo lab and 4 more hours at the clinic (send updates in chunks).

3. I plan on taking the may 26 mcat or the june 16 mcat. Will taking the june mcat make my application to late, or is it still early enough to be OK?

If you are more comfortable taking the extra three weeks to study, then I would strongly consider the later date. Rushing to submit your application three weeks earlier is not worth losing one or two points on the exam.

4. I plan to apply to all the schools in IL (except Northwestern or U of C, don't feel my stats are good enough), any other good ones for someone like me? Schools that really value leadership maybe?

These are all schools in your stats range (assuming a 30 MCAT) and relatively friendly to OOS:
University of Illinois
Drexel University
Jefferson Medical College
Rosalind Franklin University
Albany Medical College
University of Toledo
Loyola University Chicago
Rush University
University of Utah
Michigan State University
University of Oklahoma
University of South Alabama
University of Kansas
Virginia Commonwealth University
New York Medical College
University of Arkansas
George Washington University
University of Texas--San Antonio
East Tennessee State University
University of Louisville
Uniformed Services University
Tulane University
Southern Illinois University
Wright State University
West Virginia University
Eastern Virginia Medical School
University of Nevada

How will med schools look at ROTC?

It will most likely be thrown in as a leadership extracurricular activity. The hours will be racked-and-stacked accordingly.

I have yet to take the MCAT, but lets say i got a 30. How would I look for MD? DO?

The table below approximates the chance that you'll be accepted into at least one MD school during a given cycle. You probably are looking at ~64%
https://www.aamc.org/download/157450/data/table24-mcatgpagridall2008-10.pdf.pdf

I think you're a safe bet for most DO schools (provided they're friendly to OOS).

 

[blackout2]

Thanks for the reply. I really would only like to apply to 8 schools tops (this includes writing secondaries for them). Would this not be enough? Of those schools listed which would probably be the best ones to apply to if I only try 8 schools?

 

[aSagacious]

Of those schools listed which would probably be the best ones to apply to if I only try 8 schools?

8 schools is on the low-side, but not unheard of. If you choose to go this route, I suggest selecting your schools conservatively (more 'safety' heavy):

- Southern Illinois
- Rush
- Loyola
- Rosalind Franklin
- Tulane
- Michigan State
- Virginia Commonwealth
- East Virginia

I have no idea of your geographical biases, family member locations, financial considerations, etc. Just take this list as a representative list of mid-range schools.

 

[Catalystik]

SIU isn't a good choice if your family lives north of I-80.

With your projected stats, 15 schools would be a better goal unless you plan for a few DO schools to be on your list. You will need to do some research on any schools suggested as many require in-state ties, take few OOSers overall, or may have curriculum, grading, safety, mission, prerequisite, or cost issues that are a problem for you. Borrow the MSAR from your prehealth advising office and check them out.

You knew that UIC requires three behavioral science courses, right?

Could your interaction with kids at the school be construed as "clinical" in nature?

 

[lbzak]

You knew that UIC requires three behavioral science courses, right?

I am also applying to UIC and am an Illinois resident. I have taken two psychology courses and one sociology course. Does this fulfill the behavioral science component?

 

[Catalystik]

I am also applying to UIC and am an Illinois resident. I have taken two psychology courses and one sociology course. Does this fulfill the behavioral science component?

Yes, so long as one of the psych classes was intro level (to my recall) and the other more advanced.

 

[blackout2]

I was planning on a few DO schools but don't know which ones would be best other than CCOM. I would like to stay in Illinois if possible.

I could make my volunteering with the kids sound clinical because we constantly try to make them speak more because they have fallen behind in their linguistic capabilities. The program is hosted by the local hospital. Could this count as both clinical and non-clinical volunteering or something? I say this because I feel I needed some more non-clinical volunteering. Would it be more beneficial if I counted it as clinical or non-clinical?

I plan to finish the UIC pre-requisite next semester, should that be fine with the school? I only need one more class.

Thanks for the help so far Catalystik.

 

[Catalystik]

Since you have so many hours of community service through the ROTC, I'd suggest you try to edge this activity into clinical experience and emphasize those components of the experience that support this.

So long as the prereqs are done by the time you matriculate, UIC won't care. But they absolutely will not budge on the necessity for having them on your final transcript.

 

[blackout2]

Catalystik-

Do you think if I get all of the stuff I want to in by the end of summer I will have enough to apply, or would waiting another year be necessary? I forgot to add I hope to get in more research (non-medical unfortunately) which will probably be another 600 hours or so.

 

[Catalystik]

Submitting at the end of the summer to Illinois schools generally doesn't end well, especially with a borderline application. SIU is the only exception. CCOM I'm not sure of, but my instinct says it's probably not an issue since the DO season runs longer.

Does your family reside near Chicago or downstate?

How much higher can you get your cGPA and BCPM by May 2012?

Any chance of doing research through the next school year and not just in the summer?

 

[blackout2]

I am from upstate. I don't believe my grades will get any better really by the time i graduate. I could possibly do some research next year during the year but I did do some during last spring and in fall of this year. If i did apply early, would schools take update letters if I supplied them at the end of summer?

 

[Catalystik]

I don't believe my grades will get any better really by the time i graduate.

I could possibly do some research next year during the year but I did do some during last spring and in fall of this year.

If i did apply early, would schools take update letters if I supplied them at the end of summer?

Your recent grades are fine, but how will more of the same change your cumulative GPAs?

About a year of research is the average, so if your total is about that, I'd say you're fine since you're not applying to any research giants.

Some schools don't permit supplemental submissions like update letters, or won't take them until after you are invited to interview, but for all the rest you can send them in. I feel they are most likely to be helpful if you have a borderline application, in which case the letter might push you into the zone for further consideration with the next file review.

 

[blackout2]

I updated some of my first post information with summer plans. I think now if someone could help me think of a good 15 school list that would be great! Here are my choices so far.

-UIC
-Loyola
-Rush
-Rosalind Franklin
-Southern
-Tulane

I know there are others that would be good for me to apply to but not sure what would be best for the 15 I choose. Thanks again for all the help!

Also, could someone address this concern for me:

-I have volunteered at the local hospital about 120 hours over last summer and this semester. UPDATE: I will be a personal assistant (paid position) for someone with a disability and will take care care of him for 5 or more hours. Will I need to also volunteer at the hospital again this summer or would this be enough? I also will have a 40 hour research job with plant pathology and just don't want to cram my schedule to much because I have the mcat coming june 16th.

 

[Catalystik]

could someone address this concern for me:

I have volunteered at the local hospital about 120 hours over last summer and this semester. UPDATE: I will be a personal assistant (paid position) for someone with a disability and will take care care of him for 5 or more hours. Will I need to also volunteer at the hospital again this summer or would this be enough?

Five hours total or 5 hours per week? It depends on what you would do for this person as to whether it would be looked on as additional "clinical experience" or not. If you write letters, go food shopping, clean the house, prepare food, groom, bathe, then it's not clinical experience. If you do PT exercizes with them, administer medication, feed, change the catheter, do bed sore dressings, give nebulizer treatments, etc, well then it is clinical experience. Regardless, you'd list it under Employment, but the name you give the activity would differentiate them. For example: Personal Assistant vs Patient Care Tech, or somesuch.