MD & DO Sophomore withdrew last semester. Med school options?

[Versani]

Hello everyone! I’m new to the forums, and hopefully you’ll see me around the boards.

Background

• I am a sophomore with 3.86 GPA and a 3.7 sGPA attending a four year public university.
• ER scribe for 600 hours (~1,800 when done), which has taught me charting, medical terminology, differential diagnosis, etc.
• Vice president for 1 yr of a student branch of a NGO that facilitates medical outreach programs in third world countries. I was a member for 1 year before that.
  
• Last summer I did a medical mission trip to Guatemalan villages.
• I’m addicted to recreational classes, because I value exercise, health, and broadening my knowledge beyond academics. I typically focus on two activities, including soccer, Krav Maga, fencing, tennis, etc.
  
• I’ve been to 11 countries and counting, which has made me aware of and respect cultural differences.
• I am interested in emergency medicine and global health. I’m at a cross roads between choosing going to medical school or physician assistant school.

I intend to shadow other specialties, do WHOOF, volunteer locally, and improve my Spanish. I will try to get two letters of recommendations from the ER docs and one from a professor. I'll probably graduate before four years, so I'm considering the Americorp. If I go the PA route, than I'd prob work as a CMA or Surg Tech for 1 or 2 years.

Problem
Unfortunately I withdrew from all of my academic classes last semester. A big tragic event didn’t occur to explain why I dropped my classes. Honestly, I attribute it to being inexperienced and human. I was 19, I needed of a short break after 40 credits my first year, my uncle died, my best friend was battling depression, I was working too many hours with my new job, I broke up with my boyfriend of one year, I was struggling with my sexuality, worrying about money, and a bunch of other silly stuff happened all at once. I got behind. I finally decided withdrawing from my classes was the right option for me at the time. Since then I’ve learned to prioritize, balance, and structure my schedule to avoid falling behind or being overwhelmed again. I’ve realized I need to actually enjoy college life, and I don’t need to be in such a rush to “start my career”, among other things.

Questions
In the scenario that I maintain about the same gpa and I get a good MCAT score:
1. How much of a disadvantage would this put me at? I understand withdrawing from an entire semester is going to look terrible. I think admissions would see that something happened that semester, because the rest of my grades looked good. My concern is that my reasons aren’t “good enough” for what happened.
2. What med schools should I cross off with little hope of getting in?
3. My number one choice is University of Washington as an in-state applicant. What are my chances? If I go the med school route, I am very keen to attend UW due to family reasons. OHSU would be my second choice.
4. Any advice to make my application stronger, especially to overcome that awful semester?

Here's what my transcript looks like. I don't actually consider the extracurricular class grades.
High School
HS Medical Terminology (3cr) (A)
HS Introduction to Health Sciences (3cr) (A)
Fall Freshman
Biology I & Lab (A)
Chem I (B) Lab (A)
Elementary Spanish I (A)
English (A)
Tennis (A)
Spring Freshman
Biology II & Lab (A)
Chem II (A) Lab (A)
Elementary Spanish II (A)
General Psychology (A)
Summer Freshman
Physics I (B) Lab (A)
Technical Writing (A)
Lifespan Development (A)
Fall Sophomore
Organic Chemistry (W) Strangely I actually liked organic...
Cell Biology (W)
Basic Physics II (W) Lab (W)
Soccer (A) Soccer (A)
Circuit Training (A)
Spring Sophomore: 100 level Human Anatomy & Physiology, a class that is essentially public health, personality psychology, and intro to sociology. I took A&P, because I thought I was going the PA route. I'll take more rigorous courses starting in the summer.

Thanks for taking the time to read this!

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[joker2400]

For med school, I know nothing about PA school.

1) I don't think this hurts you too bad, you just have to come back with a strong performance and be able to articulate why that semester was hard, what you gained from the experience, etc. How "good" your excuse will be depends on who reads your app.

2)At this point I wouldn't cross off any schools, you still haven't taken the MCAT which can change your competitiveness drastically.

3)Idk, what your exact chances are at UWash and OHSU. I've heard they are competitive, but if you maintain the 3.7 and get a 32+ on the MCAT I think you have a chance.

4)Keep your GPA as high as possible, do well on the MCAT, and perhaps shadow some other specialties