- Joined
- Nov 7, 2009
- Messages
- 45
- Reaction score
- 3
Hi, all! Thanks for your advice in my last WAMC post. I'm posting again with a pretty big update and some concerns for this upcoming cycle. Already tried searching for a similar thread or two but couldn't find any that really hit the nail on the head.
My original plan after my last cycle was to commit to DO and retake any C science courses for a bump in GPA. Life happened and I needed to get out of my living situation immediately, which in-turn lead to me to accept a pretty huge and fortunate promotion at work, making me full-time. That's great, but it derailed my GPA repair plan. I read elsewhere here at SDN that it's important to have at least one new asset when reapplying. I'm wondering if mine are enough, them being 1) a little bump in GPA and 2) new, meaningful clincially-related employment. Here's the numbers:
GPA Improvement
1st cycle DO numbers:
Here's the meager calculated GPA improvement:
Employment
I spent 3+ years working in a pediatric clinical setting, and have been promoted to a more administrative/leadership role hiring clinicians and staffing clinical teams with my background knowledge. I am the sole individual in this position for my entire region of service. This was a very big step up for me, and I have a ton of support from my manager, who said he'd be happy to write me a strong letter of recommendation. I feel that my promotion doesn't just show my competency and hard work, but it also lead me to the conclusion that I now know definitively that I am more aligned to clinical and hands-on work. I think that will set the scene for a great new revision to my personal statement.
ECs, LORs, volunteering, etc
Though on a smaller scale nowadays, I also continue to do some clinical volunteer work as head medic for a local sports team, as well as non-clinical volunteering through my employer. I have one LOR from my university's health science committee with reservations but written by a professor I had pretty strong rapport with (now that I mention it, I can go back through the process as an alumna), as well as a LOR from a DO physician I shadowed, and an additional LOR from the chair of my alma mater's physics & chem depts - another professor with whom I had strong rapport. ECs include close to 200 hours of shadowing, additional volunteering, honors club association and recognition, etc that I had under my belt for my first application cycle. I know LOR overkill is a thing, so a replacement would have to be made if I asked my employer for one, I think.
I feel that I'm primed up for what can be a good application cycle this year so long as I apply nice and early, pre-write my secondaries, etc. I guess my question is this - is the combination of a small GPA bump plus promotion to a full-time (though admittedly much more administrative) leadership position in clinical/behavioral services enough of a new "asset" for this new application cycle this June?
Thanks for reading through my giant book of a post! I look forward to hearing your thoughts - please feel free to point out any more room for improvement I've overlooked!
For reference, here's the school list I applied to my first cycle:
*edited due to a miscalculation. D'oh.
My original plan after my last cycle was to commit to DO and retake any C science courses for a bump in GPA. Life happened and I needed to get out of my living situation immediately, which in-turn lead to me to accept a pretty huge and fortunate promotion at work, making me full-time. That's great, but it derailed my GPA repair plan. I read elsewhere here at SDN that it's important to have at least one new asset when reapplying. I'm wondering if mine are enough, them being 1) a little bump in GPA and 2) new, meaningful clincially-related employment. Here's the numbers:
GPA Improvement
1st cycle DO numbers:
- cGPA 3.4, sGPA 3.0
- MCAT: 26 (7PS/11VR/8BS)
- MCAT: 25 )6PS/11VR/8BS)
Here's the meager calculated GPA improvement:
- cGPA: 3.4, sGPA: 3.1*
- No new MCAT
Employment
I spent 3+ years working in a pediatric clinical setting, and have been promoted to a more administrative/leadership role hiring clinicians and staffing clinical teams with my background knowledge. I am the sole individual in this position for my entire region of service. This was a very big step up for me, and I have a ton of support from my manager, who said he'd be happy to write me a strong letter of recommendation. I feel that my promotion doesn't just show my competency and hard work, but it also lead me to the conclusion that I now know definitively that I am more aligned to clinical and hands-on work. I think that will set the scene for a great new revision to my personal statement.
ECs, LORs, volunteering, etc
Though on a smaller scale nowadays, I also continue to do some clinical volunteer work as head medic for a local sports team, as well as non-clinical volunteering through my employer. I have one LOR from my university's health science committee with reservations but written by a professor I had pretty strong rapport with (now that I mention it, I can go back through the process as an alumna), as well as a LOR from a DO physician I shadowed, and an additional LOR from the chair of my alma mater's physics & chem depts - another professor with whom I had strong rapport. ECs include close to 200 hours of shadowing, additional volunteering, honors club association and recognition, etc that I had under my belt for my first application cycle. I know LOR overkill is a thing, so a replacement would have to be made if I asked my employer for one, I think.
I feel that I'm primed up for what can be a good application cycle this year so long as I apply nice and early, pre-write my secondaries, etc. I guess my question is this - is the combination of a small GPA bump plus promotion to a full-time (though admittedly much more administrative) leadership position in clinical/behavioral services enough of a new "asset" for this new application cycle this June?
Thanks for reading through my giant book of a post! I look forward to hearing your thoughts - please feel free to point out any more room for improvement I've overlooked!
For reference, here's the school list I applied to my first cycle:
[MD]
UofC Pritzker
NYMC
Rush
UC Davis
MSU
Tulane
Rosalind Franklin
Ohio State
Loyola
Feinberg
SIU
UofI
Albany
[DO]
CCOM
MU-COM
NOVA
ATSU-SOMA
KCUMB
WesternU
UofC Pritzker
NYMC
Rush
UC Davis
MSU
Tulane
Rosalind Franklin
Ohio State
Loyola
Feinberg
SIU
UofI
Albany
[DO]
CCOM
MU-COM
NOVA
ATSU-SOMA
KCUMB
WesternU
*edited due to a miscalculation. D'oh.
Last edited: