MD & DO Need Help Expanding School List - Low GPA with Huge Upswing

[AspiringDoc2015]

Hey guys,

First, a bit of a background:
I graduated from Vanderbilt University in the spring 2012 with an awful GPA of 2.31. The second month of my freshman year I was diagnosed with Crohn's Disease and absolutely no medication I was put on worked. Throughout my four years I stayed in remission maybe 2-3 months out of each year. For those that do not know, Crohn's is a GI autoimmune disorder that causes pain, severe cramping, and, in my case, severe anemia and fatigue. Because of this medical issue my grades dropped fast. I went from all A's on my first few exams to solid C. By my sophomore year I knew it was best to give up on my dream of becoming a doctor and focus on graduating with a degree and focus on my health. I decided to switch my major to political science and miraculously did graduate on time. A week after graduation I was placed on a new drug which has kept my disease in complete remission ever since. I am honestly a completely different person. However, this also caused me to become very depressed; if this drug had only been available 4 years before then, I would likely be preparing to go to medical school. As the weeks went by and my chosen law school's orientation date approached, the more I realized I could not go through with it. Two weeks before moving for law school I withdrew my seat and decided to throw all my chips in one more ditch effort to go to med school.

I enrolled in a local state school with a good science rep in order to do a do-it-yourself post-bac (there are no schools around that offer true post-bacs). I had only had a handful of hard sciences (Gen chem and 1st semester bio) before I swapped my major at Vandy. I am now finished and have done everything I can do to repair my grades. Since being on this medication and going back to school I have a 3.82 after finishing. This also includes several upper division classes such as Cell & Molec, two semesters Biochem, Organic Spec, and Micro. I have roughly 100 hours of shadowing (I am still doing this so this number will increase), over 7 years of community service and volunteer experience, and will have almost a year of research with the possibility of a publication. Finally, I plan to take the MCAT June 21st and apply this coming cycle. I have been prepping with TPR and my AAMC practice scores have been between 35-41 (37 average). However, despite my obvious upswing and stark difference between my grades before/after I was on proper medication, I will only be able to increase my AMCAS overall GPA to 2.86. My sGPA is 3.52. For AACOMAS, my cGPA is 2.97 and sGPA is 3.81. I am a Tennessee resident and URM (Native American).

My school list thus far:

AMCAS:
Albany Medical College
Creighton University School of Medicine
Drexel University College of Medicine
East TN State U., James H. Quillen Coll. of Med.
Howard University
Meharry Medical College
Morehouse School of Medicine
Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Scien
The Commonwealth Medical College
Tulane University School of Medicine
University of Central Florida COM
University of Kentucky College of Medicine
University of TN Health Science Cntr Coll. of Med.
USF Health Morsani College of Medicine
Vanderbilt University School of Medicine (Huge reach, I know, but it is my alma mater and I have been in contact with the associate dean of admissions who is encouraging me to apply given my unique story)

AACOMAS: (Need help here)
Lincoln-Debusk
Oklahoma State University

Thanks for any advice/suggestions. I think I have a good story to tell, I just need to be able to tell it.

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[Goro]

Goro suggest that you contact more admissions deans to see if you're competitive. I think your chances would be better if your cGPA could get >3.0. Of course, you'll need to ace the MCAT (>33) to be competitive for the MD schools.

Albany Medical College
Creighton University School of Medicine
Drexel University College of Medicine
East TN State U., James H. Quillen Coll. of Med.
Howard University
Meharry Medical College
Morehouse School of Medicine
Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Scien
The Commonwealth Medical College
Tulane University School of Medicine
University of Central Florida COM
University of TN Health Science Cntr Coll. of Med.
Vanderbilt University School of Medicine
BU
Tulane
Drexel
NYMC
Case
SUNY-Upstate
Wayne St



Lincoln-Debusk
Oklahoma State University
Campbell-COM
KYCOM
ACOM
VCOM
VCOM-SC
AT Still
NovaCom
PCOM-GA

 

[Goro]

I've had several students and freind with IBD...what was the drug that worked for you? PM me if needed.

 

[el_duderino]

FYI, I got two interviews and one acceptance with remarkably similar stats: cGPA 2.8 sGPA 3.62 MCAT 35. I have two semesters of straight Fs from over a decade ago, and virtually straight As in the past 3 years getting my BS in biology and a graduate certificate at 6-9 credits/semester.

Good luck. I wish you all the best.

 

[AspiringDoc2015]

Thanks for the encouragement guys!

Goro, I'm just not sure what else I could do to further increase my GPA. I've taken pretty much all of the advanced classes my adviser told me to except for genetics (I had to choose between genetics and cell and molec biology). Even if I did go back and take that one class, it really wouldn't make a dramatic difference in my grades. It took 62 additional credit hours of A's to boost it to what it is now. So I'm just not sure what other classes I could take that would amount to enough credit hours to significantly boost my GPA. I guess if I do not get in this cycle I could attempt to retake some of the other non-science classes for grade replacement?
I just heard back from both Meharry and UT Memphis and they both echoed what the Dean at Vandy said; that they think I have a story to tell, that they don't auto-screen, my grades the last two years show I'm competent, especially since the years were science heavy, and that as long as I have a good MCAT then I should definitely apply.

Thank you for giving me some ideas on my list. Since I am Native American, should I consider Oklahoma and the Dakotas as well? Also, should I still go ahead and submit my application as soon as it opens or wait until the MCAT comes back?

As far as the Crohn's, I was originally placed on 100 mg Prednisone. The doctor continually attempted to ween me off of it and use different drugs including Remicade, 6MP, Purinithol, and Entocort (spellings?). None of these were successful. Finally, the doctor put me on Humira, which worked better than all the other ones. However, Prednisone was still the one keeping me in remission. Well, eventually I started developing the symptoms of long term steroid use (loss of bone density and symptoms of possible renal failure) so I had to be taken completely off of them. They upped my Humira dosage and the week after graduation I was placed on Lialda. I felt like a completely different person! I gained clinical remission and the only symptom that remained was a slightly high eosinophil/white count. They fixed that with a very small dose of Methotrexate. So now I am currently on Methotrexate and Humira once a week and Lialda 4 times a day.

Jonnythan: That's awesome, man! Congrats! Do you mind sharing where you applied/got in?

 

[el_duderino]

If you retook a couple of classes you did especially poorly in, it'll greatly help your AACOMAS GPA.

Albany.

 

[el_duderino]

I applied to:

Allo:
Albany
LSU-NO
Rosalind Franklin
SUNY Upstate
SUNY Buffalo
UVM
Tulane

DO:
Chicago Midwestern
LECOM Erie/Seton Hill
Nova
PCOM
Rowan SOM
UNECOM

Interviewed at Albany and Upstate.

I was going to apply more broadly this cycle if I didn't get in. I limited myself significantly by geography last time.

 

[AspiringDoc2015]

Yeah, that's one reasonwhy my AACOMAS sGPA is so high. If I don't get in this round, that is likely what I will do. What made you apply to LSU-NO? Do you have connection down there? I would love to go there but I see that they accept very few OOS.
How do you like Albany and how did you like Upsate?

 

[el_duderino]

I have roots and family in NOLA. I knew it was a long shot; they accept just a few OOS students per year. Don't recommend you apply there, certainly, but LSU-NO and Albany were my top choices, with Upstate being close behind because of IS tuition. If it had worked out at both, I would have had a very tough time choosing.

I liked Upstate and Albany a lot. I got a better vibe from the students giving the tour at Upstate, particularly about how collaborative and tech-oriented the student body is. I didn't care much for the location. AMC is a great place. I have some experience with a few of the faculty and they're all fantastic. The students seem to love it there and Albany Medical Center is a quality hospital. I live in the area already so the whole situation is sort of ideal for me.

 

[drcrispmd]

I think you have a shot at ETSU. They have more non traditional students. Good luck on the MCAT.

 

[GScookie]

You can do it! I had a 2.56 ugrad GPA and turned it around in a big way -- was very successful. Going to TCMC!

Let your passion and story shine through. You are super unique and that's a HUGE advantage. Best of luck to you.