-
CycleTrack and SDN are teaming up to make medical school admissions more transparent and accessible! Read the announcement to learn how we’re supporting the future of CycleTrack’s free application-tracking tools .
-
Started by Calbear2
Get help with your application
Use all the free resources available to you from SDN: articles, guides, expert advising, forums discussions, and school research.
Welcome to the forums.
Why don't you finish your two-year fellowship first? Why didn't you wait to that the MCAT so you don't waste a couple of eligibility years?
Yes you app may look too research focused, but you haven't mentioned your community service activities. (No WAMC profile.)
What's wrong with pursuing research as a career?
Why don't you finish your two-year fellowship first? Why didn't you wait to that the MCAT so you don't waste a couple of eligibility years?
Yes you app may look too research focused, but you haven't mentioned your community service activities. (No WAMC profile.)
What's wrong with pursuing research as a career?
Thanks for the response. Just to clarify, I'm not applying this cycle. I took the MCAT when I felt ready after an upward GPA trend and wanted flexibility with timing.
I’ll complete the full two-year fellowship before applying, which should include strong mentorship, a publication, and more clinical exposure.
Would the 1000 hours of paid mentorship and tutoring count as a community service activity? I was employed directly by the college for this. And I'm looking to add more hours at the urgent care volunteering during the next 2 years.
I really enjoy research and see myself pursuing academic medicine, but I really don't see myself doing it at the same level I honestly don't find it enjoyable. I appreciate the feedback and welcome any advice from others with a similar background.
Advertisement - Members don't see this ad
You were paid for your academic skills and competencies in helping other students. The line may be blurred if you were paid to mentor grade school children through a mentoring program run by your student engagement office or a club, but it's still teaching/tutoring (academic competency).
Non-clinical ommunity service covers a wide spectrum of activities where you give time to help your community (pick up trash from the highways, voter registration, plant conservation); non-clinical service orientation directly involves activities addressing others' societal needs (food distribution, shelter volunteer, job/tax preparation, legal support, transportation services, or housing rehabilitation). (Most clinical activities have a natural service orientation as would customer service retail jobs.)
I warn those who want to go into academia but don't like to do research... academia isn't a fun place, and the current political climate has made it much less welcoming.
In the coming year you should accumulate 200+ hours of non clinical volunteering such as food bank, homeless shelter, etc. since some schools screen at 150 hours. I suggest these schools when you apply next year:
Vermont
Quinnipiac
Albany
New York Medical College
Hackensack
Penn State
Drexel
Temple
Jefferson
Geisinger
George Washington
Virginia Commonwealth
Eastern Virginia
Wake Forest
Methodist
NOVA MD
Belmont
Alice Walton
Roseman
TCU
Creighton
Ponce (St. Louis)
Rosalind Franklin
Medical College Wisconsin
Western Michigan
Wayne State
Oakland Beaumont
Arizona (Phoenix)
California University
Kaiser
UC Davis
UC Riverside (if you are from that region)
If you have not received 3 or more interviews by November 2026 then apply to DO schools also and I suggest these:
WESTERN
TUCOM-CA
TUNCOM
AZCOM
KCU-COM
ATSU-KCOM
DMU-COM
CCOM
MU-COM
CUSOM
NYITCOM
PCOM
Touro-NY
Vermont
Quinnipiac
Albany
New York Medical College
Hackensack
Penn State
Drexel
Temple
Jefferson
Geisinger
George Washington
Virginia Commonwealth
Eastern Virginia
Wake Forest
Methodist
NOVA MD
Belmont
Alice Walton
Roseman
TCU
Creighton
Ponce (St. Louis)
Rosalind Franklin
Medical College Wisconsin
Western Michigan
Wayne State
Oakland Beaumont
Arizona (Phoenix)
California University
Kaiser
UC Davis
UC Riverside (if you are from that region)
If you have not received 3 or more interviews by November 2026 then apply to DO schools also and I suggest these:
WESTERN
TUCOM-CA
TUNCOM
AZCOM
KCU-COM
ATSU-KCOM
DMU-COM
CCOM
MU-COM
CUSOM
NYITCOM
PCOM
Touro-NY
FYI, North Africans (ie, Arabs) are not considered URM.
What are your year by year GPAs?
What are your year by year GPAs?
As someone who's initial application was called out for being too research focused, the additional research (clinical or bench work) will not ease an admissions committees mind, even if you want to do academic medicine. The focus is still on patient care so continue finding ways to volunteer in a clinical setting. As another user said, also make sure to gain non-clinical hours in underserved areas as the whole point as a physician is to help those in need. Outside of that, you have plenty of time to add these activities and build experiences from them, so you will do well when it comes time to apply.
I cant sugarcoat this, the lack of a strong rising GPA trend, and the weak performance in the postbac, makes you a good DO school candidate, but probably lethal for MD, except for your own state schools.
You still need to get in nonclinical volunteering, and figure out what is impeding you from doing better academically. You might want to consider a SMP.
Check out your local houses of worship for volunteer opportunities. The key thing is service to others less fortunate than you. And get off campus and out of your comfort zone!
Examples include: Habitat for Humanity, Ronald McDonald House, Humane Society, crisis hotlines, soup kitchen, food pantry, homeless or women’s shelter, after-school tutoring for students or coaching a sport in a poor school district, teaching literacy or ESL to adults at a community center, Big Brothers/Big Sisters, Meals on Wheels, mentoring immigrant/refugee adults, being a friendly visitor to shut-ins, adaptive sports program coach or Special Olympics.
I believe I formatted my GPA wrong earlier. I got the calculation from the mapped website. I just calculated myself right now individualizing the years and this is what it looks like.
Most of the post bac units I have now are from CC because while I was at university I was taking some CC classes so I separated the column.
I don’t know if it plays a difference, but my undergrad was UC Berkeley and even though my GPA is low it’s above the average for my major.
- Freshman: 3.20 GPA
- Sophomore: 3.22 GPA
- Junior: 3.38 GPA over 24 units
- Senior: 3.71 GPA over 28 units
- Postbac: 3.90 GPA over 31 units
Oh, that's a very different story now!!! Great job at reinvention.
Will post school list later
Moved to WAMC
I have also just started to take UCLA Ex classes do you think that is a good next step?
I recently recalculated my GPA to align with AMCAS’s official classification, which assigns class standing based on cumulative credit hours rather than academic year or institution. Since I spent three years at a community college before transferring to a 4yr, many of those courses are counted under Junior and Senior standing, not just Freshman/Sophomore.
After adjusting for unit-based classification, my updated GPA breakdown looks like this (from Mappd):
Cumulative GPA (AMCAS Format)
| Standing | GPA | Units |
|---|---|---|
| Freshman | 2.58 | (38) |
| Sophomore | 3.14 | (72) |
| Junior | 3.20 | (108) |
| Senior | 3.38 | (204) |
| UG Cumulative | 3.38 | (204) |
I still want insight into your plan to get more non-clinical community service while taking these classes.
Do you don’t have any post bacc work yet, you have a 3.9 post bac GPA from 31 credits? That’s pretty confusing. Can you explain it ?
Advertisement - Members don't see this ad
I think that you have demonstrated reinvention and now it's time to work on the other parts of your app that need attention. I especially recommend service to others less fortunate than yourself.
EDIT:
- Postbac: 3.90 GPA over 31 units
Can you elaborate? If you've taken a fifth year of UG, that's reinvention.
Thanks so much for all the feedback. I really appreciate the time and thoughtful advice.
Just to clarify the GPA confusion, the 3.9 I mentioned came from science courses I took at community college while I was still an undergrad at Berkeley, mostly during winter and summer sessions. I now understand those don’t count as official postbac work under AMCAS since I hadn’t graduated yet, so that was (I think?) a misstep on my part for calling it postbac.
After reviewing the AMCAS guidelines on how “Year in School” is determined, I realized I needed to reclassify my academic years based on cumulative semester hours, not just where or when the courses were taken. Per AMCAS:
Based on this, I recalculated my year-by-year GPA using unit-based standing, which is reflected correctly now in my academic breakdown.
Right now, I’m finishing up my final summer course at Berkeley, so I’m still technically considered an undergrad. I’ve also just started taking UCLA Extension courses, which will be my actual postbac coursework moving forward. My goal is to keep building on the upward GPA trend and reach around a 3.5 cumulative and 3.4 science GPA by the time I apply.
For non-clinical volunteering, I wanted to share that I spent the entire summer of 202X helping with disaster relief in a high-need area. I contributed around 450 hours supporting recovery efforts and providing non medical aid to affected communities.
Im also attaching my class standing gpa per year if it helps
Class Standing GPAs
AMCAS AACOMAS
High School 3.00 (3) 3.00 (3)
Freshman 2.54 (35) 2.54 (35)
Sophomore 3.76 (34) 3.76 (34)
Junior 3.33 (36) 3.33 (36)
Senior 3.59 (96) 3.59 (96)
Postbac - -
Undergrad Cum. 3.38 (204) 3.38 (204)
Last edited:
You're fine for any DO school right now, including mine.
If you're gunning for the MD, do a SMP.
Unfortunately, pursuing an SMP isn’t financially feasible for me at this time. That said, I’m wondering is MD really out of reach with a projected 3.5 cumulative GPA and 3.4 science GPA?
I’m planning to complete around 40 additional units at UCLA Extension and aim to maintain as close to a 4.0 as possible. Since I’m not applying until the next cycle, I figured this would be a good opportunity to demonstrate continued academic growth and show that I’m fully capable of handling the rigors of medical school. I feel as if I have a pretty good upward trend and keeping it up at a school like Berkeley could help? my first semester in college my gpa was a 1.8 btw.
Last edited:
Go for your D.O.- you will get an acceptance- and get about the business of practicing medicine for goodness sake.
