MD & DO WAMC: 3.89 cGPA, 3.83 sGPA, 504 MCAT

[merafter]

PLEASE DON'T QUOTE <3

Feeling a bit defeated due to my mcat, so I'm just looking to see what the ideal scenario is for me to apply given that I don't want to take a gap year. I really want MD, but I'm thinking I should try DO as well.

1. 3.89 cGPA, 3.83 sGPA, science heavy courseload
2. 504: 124/127/126/127 - was expecting a higher score based on FLs, and don't have enough time to retake so im just walking with this now
3. VA
4. Immigrant, Middle Eastern/White
5. Clinical experience (volunteer and non-volunteer)
   1. ~1000 hours paid clinical experience
   2. I did work at a dental clinic for a bit before deciding on med instead, unsure if i should mention this on my app or not
6. Research experience and productivity
   1. over 2 years of experience in research (social science)
   2. doing a research semester in the fall (chem), also dont know if i should include this in my app as an anticipated activity
7. Shadowing experience and specialties represented
   1. didn't have much time to shadow unfortunately but i dont know how negative this would be on my app if my other ECs are decent
8. Non-clinical volunteering/ECs/leadership
   1. online tutor for k-12 students
   2. learning assistant for a uni class
   3. longterm leadership positions in multiple student orgs, heavy campus involvement in relation to underserved communities
9. Relevant honors or awards
   1. was nominated for a research award my freshman year that's considered pretty prestigious at my uni and ended up being a finalist for it
   2. dean's list
10. My LORs are strong, 2 from faculty i worked with extensively (professor running the lab i worked with, and professor who i mentored for), 1 from the doctor who owns the clinic i work for, and 1 from a science professor (this one might be the weakest bc ive only known this prof for a semester, but she seemed excited to write me one so who knows)
11. Overall, I think my gpa is really good and I hope it can balance out my mcat along with my ECs. I'd love to hear school suggestions bc I'm thinking I'm not competitive for any of my in state schools and im feeling very nervous about it all. I have a few schools in mind, but I don't know if they are super OOS friendly. Thank you for the help!!!

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[Mr.Smile12]

1. Shadowing experience and specialties represented
   1. didn't have much time to shadow unfortunately but i dont know how negative this would be on my app if my other ECs are decent
2. Non-clinical volunteering/ECs/leadership
   1. online tutor for k-12 students
   2. learning assistant for a uni class
   3. longterm leadership positions in multiple student orgs, heavy campus involvement in relation to underserved communities

So you could apply, but these items are going to impede you. Please describe more detail your other clinical experience and your responsibilities. Usually shadowing is helpful to know what doctors do. Just saying you have 1000 hours of clinical experience is not sufficient for us to make a call.

Also, your non-clinical activities are heavy on teaching/tutoring (which is found in just about every prehealth applicant). You don't list anything that shows your service orientation, especially where you get off-campus and stretch beyond your comfort zone in community with those in need. Your descriptions point to more "leadership". What exactly did you do?

Your application is at risk of getting screened out at most schools without at least 50 hours of shadowing (especially if you can cover primary care somehow) and 150 hours of non-clinical service orientation community service before applying.

 

[merafter]

So you could apply, but these items are going to impede you. Please describe more detail your other clinical experience and your responsibilities. Usually shadowing is helpful to know what doctors do. Just saying you have 1000 hours of clinical experience is not sufficient for us to make a call.

Also, your non-clinical activities are heavy on teaching/tutoring (which is found in just about every prehealth applicant). You don't list anything that shows your service orientation, especially where you get off-campus and stretch beyond your comfort zone in community with those in need. Your descriptions point to more "leadership". What exactly did you do?

Your application is at risk of getting screened out at most schools without at least 50 hours of shadowing (especially if you can cover primary care somehow) and 150 hours of non-clinical service orientation community service before applying.

Thank you for your response! So I'm a medical assistant currently and our office has multiple physicians of different specialities, and I've completed a combination of shadowing when I first started and directly assisting after being trained which is why I thought it would encompass the shadowing aspect even if I don't directly label it a shadowing experience.

In terms of my non clinical activities, my tutoring/teaching is actually my lowest number of hours and as for the service part, my two main involvements are with a health focused student org that works with campus faculty on health initiatives (we helped design an application to virtualize therapy for students, did multiple educational panels, founded relationships with external community orgs regarding addiction, safe drug use, etc.) I've marked this as one of my most meaningful activities for these purposes. The other student org is focused on international service, and we do a lot of fundraising for medical volunteers in countries like Palestine, Syria, etc. in addition to clothing and food drives throughout the semester. I did also host a food donation event in collaboration with another community org for domestic abuse survivors and their families in shelters.

Is this sufficient for service ECs/leadership?

 

[Faha]

It appears that you could designate 50 hours of your medical assistant training as shadowing. You should apply broadly to DO schools and I suggest these:
VCOM (all schools except Monroe)
CUSOM
WVSOM
ACOM
PCOM (all schools)
LECOM (all schools)
Touro-NY
NYITCOM
MU-COM
DMU-COM
ATSU-KCOM
KCU-COM
TUNCOM
UIWSOM
NOVA
For MD schools you could try these:
Virginia Commonwealth
Eastern Virginia
West Virginia
Drexel
Temple
Albany
Oakland Beaumont
Medical College Wisconsin
TCU
NOVA MD
Wake Forest
Creighton

 

[Mr.Smile12]

In terms of my non clinical activities, my tutoring/teaching is actually my lowest number of hours and as for the service part, my two main involvements are with a health focused student org that works with campus faculty on health initiatives (we helped design an application to virtualize therapy for students, did multiple educational panels, founded relationships with external community orgs regarding addiction, safe drug use, etc.) I've marked this as one of my most meaningful activities for these purposes. The other student org is focused on international service, and we do a lot of fundraising for medical volunteers in countries like Palestine, Syria, etc. in addition to clothing and food drives throughout the semester. I did also host a food donation event in collaboration with another community org for domestic abuse survivors and their families in shelters.

Is this sufficient for service ECs/leadership?

How many hours for each of your listed activities? Fundraising does not fulfill the "service orientation" competency definition either. Clothing and food drives can contribute, but you also need more face-to-face interaction with those in distress.

 

[merafter]

How many hours for each of your listed activities? Fundraising does not fulfill the "service orientation" competency definition either. Clothing and food drives can contribute, but you also need more face-to-face interaction with those in distress.

about 500 hours over the span of 3 years for the first activity, and 200 hours for the second. For reference, the clothing and food drives happened at the warehouse of the org we collaborated with so I had some interaction with underserved individuals in those communities as we were collecting and giving out donations. I am in the process of registering as a volunteer with this org separately so I have more hours anticipated and will be adding that to my application in terms of more non-clinical work.

Would this realistically be sufficient for an MD/DO application?

 

[merafter]

It appears that you could designate 50 hours of your medical assistant training as shadowing. You should apply broadly to DO schools and I suggest these:
VCOM (all schools except Monroe)
CUSOM
WVSOM
ACOM
PCOM (all schools)
LECOM (all schools)
Touro-NY
NYITCOM
MU-COM
DMU-COM
ATSU-KCOM
KCU-COM
TUNCOM
UIWSOM
NOVA
For MD schools you could try these:
Virginia Commonwealth
Eastern Virginia
West Virginia
Drexel
Temple
Albany
Oakland Beaumont
Medical College Wisconsin
TCU
NOVA MD
Wake Forest
Creighton

Thank you so much! Would GW also be possible to apply to with my stats? I love their program and am bummed about my mcat being out of range, but would it be overkill to do it anyway?

 

[Faha]

Thank you so much! Would GW also be possible to apply to with my stats? I love their program and am bummed about my mcat being out of range, but would it be overkill to do it anyway?

You can apply there as a reach. Their 10th percentile for MCAT is 507 and they receive almost 15,000 applications every year.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

about 500 hours over the span of 3 years for the first activity, and 200 hours for the second. For reference, the clothing and food drives happened at the warehouse of the org we collaborated with so I had some interaction with underserved individuals in those communities as we were collecting and giving out donations. I am in the process of registering as a volunteer with this org separately so I have more hours anticipated and will be adding that to my application in terms of more non-clinical work.

Would this realistically be sufficient for an MD/DO application?

You have what you have. Make sure you highlight that you give out the donated items. That should be fine, and keep on going with it.