No hope or try?

[Qamar3212]

hey guys this is my first thread here but I have reading these same forums for the past few years of my Undergraduate Career.

Here is my story, and I am not looking for any sympathy but just advice on what my chances would to get into any DO school here in america:

I will be graduating with a 3.1 gpa
My sGPA will be around a 2.8.
I haven't taken the MCATS but plan on during the summer.
For ECs
volunteered at a hospital for 3 months, 4 hours a week
tutored Pre-calc/algebra 2 privately
helped initially begin and run a South-Asian basketball tournament
Shadowed family doctor for 40 hours.

Most of my time during my undergraduate career was working 40+ hours (sometimes close to 50) because after my first semester of college my mother had lost her job due to health problems. So pretty much in order to keep a roof on our heads I had to work and go to school full time. I started out working at gas station 5 days a week 10 hours a day after my first semester of college. My grades during my first semester were excellent as I had time to study ( Had a 3.7 gpa) but ever since then my grades have declined. I was forced to quit working at the gas station because of new owners buying out the place so I started delivery pizzas. I worked as a delivery boy for 1 semester about 35-40 hours then worked my way up to management. I have been the assistant manager of this restaurant for the past 2 years working an average of over 40 hours a week. I have 16 employees under me and I think this would show the schools good leadership but im not sure if they would just view this as nothing.

Thats pretty much all that I have on my application now and I know many of you reading this are going to say there are people out there that worked full time and went to school full time and achieved great success. I was 18 when my mother lost her job, the stress of supporting my brother, sister and mother was on my shoulders and being that young I didn't know what to do but work work work. I wish I had a chance to repeat the last 4 years and sacrifice here and there so my grades didn't suffer but eh its life.

Any advice on what I should do from here on would be greatly appreciated as I am lost and depressed. Thank you.

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[chondroblast]

A 2.8 sGPA is very low even for osteopathic schools. Have you thought about doing a special post-bac or masters?

 

[MedPhys2MD]

You'll need some clinical and volunteer experience too. Maybe try to get a hospital job as a scribe or CNA instead of pizza delivery. And GPA repair. It's not impossible. But you gotta decide if this is something you really want. And if it is, make a plan to improve your app

 

[chondroblast]

You'll need some clinical and volunteer experience too. Maybe try to get a hospital job as a scribe or CNA instead of pizza delivery. And GPA repair. It's not impossible. But you gotta decide if this is something you really want. And if it is, make a plan to improve your app

Clinical Experience > Pizzas

 

[Qamar3212]

I have applied to many jobs in and around a hospital environment, from personal care assistants to front desk but it seems noone is willing to hire without any previous experiences so I kinda gave up. ButI am going to start research at a local hospital for 4 hours a week this month, and hopefully once i'm in I can meet with the right people to get me a job there.

As for my grades what do you guys recommend me doing? Taking some classes over again or doing a masters?
I wouldn't mind taking a year off and getting more EC's and taking a few classes over to get where I have to be, this way I can balance work, part time school and part time EC's.

 

[chondroblast]

To be brutally honest, even osteopathic schools are a long shot. I'm not saying you should give up--I never encourage that--but have you thought about other careers in medicine/healthcare?

 

[Qamar3212]

Hey when DO schools calculate sgpa do they use every single science course? At my university they calculate the sgpa only from the science classes that you must take for your major and do not include the 1 year of bio, 1 year of chem, 1 year of physics. These classes I got mostly As.

 

[edgerock24]

Do research before making these threads. WAMC posts should be made after an applicant is entirely ready to submit an application.

Retake C/D/F coursework and apply DO only. Take advantage of AACOMAS grade replacement. Get clinical experience by volunteering if you can't get hired.