cGPA 3.2, sGPA 3.2 looking for direction.

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HailVarsity23

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Story is I started at a CC and played golf, focused on the sport more than schoolwork (and also other activities) which landed me a 2.7 cgpa. Transferred to 4 year school and after a few retakes and good last couple semesters will be at 3.2cGPA/3.2sGPA after this year. Good news is I have two more years left, with the majority being science classes. Unfortunately my state only has two med schools, one of which accepts under 5% in state students and cost a fortune, the other accepts almost 90% instate and has mean acceptance of 3.68 cgpa and 3.6ish sgpa, so I have accepted the fact I may have to apply across the country and have no problem with this. I have developed a sincere desire for Orthopedic Spine Surgery, with that said I do not have a preference of MD/DO considering DO schools tend to focus more on the musculoskeletal system and also provides quite a few residencies in Ortho Surgery. Bottom line is I just want to get once acceptance somewhere, no preferences. I will worry about the MCAT when the time comes but am planning on graduating in the fall which will allow me a solid time frame to study without any outside distraction.

I do understand my gpa is low, but will have a very good upward trend by the time I apply.


The questions I have are:
1. How do I stand regarding EC's and where can I improve them?
2. How many hours of clinical experience is suggested?
3. What cGPA/sGPA should I shoot for to be competitive MD/DO?

Thank you for any input.


Shadowing:

- 150 hours ( 50 neurosurgery, 50 orthopedic surgery, 50 PA) plan on shadowing DO this summer.
- will have a very good LOR from the neurosurgeon I worked with.
Community Activities:
- Three mission trips
+South Dakota(worked with black hills parks and recreational services for 5 days, and a day with habitat for humanity)
+New Orleans(spent a week helping after hurricane)
+Haiti(spent a week working with under privileged children and organization Wings of Hope which houses children and adults with physical and mental handicaps)

- 60 hours with Special Olympics
- 50 hours working with an education center for people with mental illness.
- 50 hours as substitute sunday school teacher/ communion assistant at church.
Leadership:
- College golf team captain last year.
- Run a drive collecting items to send to Haiti. (Plan to do every summer)
Research:
- Have microbiology research lined up to do with science professor starting this summer.
(also a good LOR)
Clinical Experience:
- Also have this lined up to start volunteering at hospital this summer once I have a little more time on my hands.

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There are no cookie cutter approaches to getting into medical school from what I have heard. Your community service speaks volumes about you my friend, but I do have a couple of questions for you:
1. What college do you currently attend?
2. What student organizations are you a part of? (also what you generally do for fun)
3. What does your coursework look like for the next two semesters?
From what I have heard, as far as sGPA/cGPA goes, you will have a hard time finding MD allopathic medical schools with stats below those of your state schools that you listed, because from personal experiences it seems that that is the standard for MD s/cGPA. However, DO is more doable, and your GPA, as long as you keep going in an upward trend, retake any C/D/F course work, should be fine for DO schools, as long as you get a 24-28 MCAT.
 
Thanks for the post. I am at a state school in south dakota right now, but am a resident in NE. As far as organizations I have recently become more active in the pre-med society. As for fun, love sports, love music, played 5 instruments growing up so its hard to not enjoy music. I would consider my volunteer work something I do for fun. Other than that I am working 20 hours a week, shadow about 8 hours and volunteering on weekends with special olympics. Classes for next year will be orgo 1 and 2. Will have some upper level biology classes and a few electives. After this year I will have my bio and gen chem sequences done. Like I said I have around two years left, give or take a semester based on grades and course load.
 
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