Hey y'all
Looking to get some hard advice on what I'm behooved to be doing on what would be my third cycle applying to schools. First cycle (19-20; MD only) I was woefully unprepared and didn't get apps complete until October, so unsurprisingly I had no bites from anyone. Second time around during this past year I was caught off guard by the shift to remote work & was juggling a lot with my job when applications came around. I was able to apply by August but again got little to nothing except for an interview where I work (T15) & was waitlisted.
I had applied off the cuff to two DO schools late in the cycle and didn't hear anything back post-secondary, but I'm suspecting that had to do with the anomaly that was 2020 coupled with being way too late in the cycle to seem sincerely interested. This time around I am doing virtually pure DO cycle with maybe 5 MD schools that I haven't tried in the past & am looking to get feedback on if I'd better start looking at SMP programs to get my numbers up.
The #'s
cGPA: 3.31
BCPM GPA: 3.30 (According to the AACOMAS calculator)
MCAT:
1st attempt: 124/129/126/126 (505)
2nd attempt: 128/130/126/126 (510)
State of residency: IL
Ethnicity: Caucasian
Undergraduate institution: Duke University
Clinical experience:
1. Clinical Research Coordinator Ortho. Surgery: 7200 hours working in basically all aspects of study conception, execution, publication (lots of direct patient contact)
2. Emergency Dept. Financial Counselor/Patient Registrar: 1700 hours
3. Global Brigades Medical Mission - 80 hours at a temporary clinic established in rural Honduras
non-clinical experience (Non-clinical)
1. Elementary school tutoring - 80 hours but during college & it's been a long time since I've had any involvement with this
2. Homeless community outreach (getting people registered to vote, connected to social services, some minor health focused interactions) - 30 hours before the pandemic hit & the center suspended all volunteering; resumed as of this month thankfully but it's a little late to get significant hours before I apply
3. Undergrad. Bioethics Society - 350 hours (held several officer positions and president my last year in school; had a pretty significant impact on me wanting to enter medicine)
Shadowing Experience
1. Infectious disease- 30 hours
2. Ortho surg - 100+ hours
3. Rheum - 15 hours
4. Emergency med - 30 hours
Research Experience
1. 3 semesters undergraduate microbio lab (no pubs, didn't basic science —not a great experience truth be told)
2. 7200+ hours clinical research in orthopaedic surgery (several middle author publications, podium/poster presentations)
Other extracurricular activities
1. Club Rowing
2. Rock Climbing
3. Combination of cooking, chess, creative writing, etc.
Thanks in advance for any input!
Looking to get some hard advice on what I'm behooved to be doing on what would be my third cycle applying to schools. First cycle (19-20; MD only) I was woefully unprepared and didn't get apps complete until October, so unsurprisingly I had no bites from anyone. Second time around during this past year I was caught off guard by the shift to remote work & was juggling a lot with my job when applications came around. I was able to apply by August but again got little to nothing except for an interview where I work (T15) & was waitlisted.
I had applied off the cuff to two DO schools late in the cycle and didn't hear anything back post-secondary, but I'm suspecting that had to do with the anomaly that was 2020 coupled with being way too late in the cycle to seem sincerely interested. This time around I am doing virtually pure DO cycle with maybe 5 MD schools that I haven't tried in the past & am looking to get feedback on if I'd better start looking at SMP programs to get my numbers up.
The #'s
cGPA: 3.31
BCPM GPA: 3.30 (According to the AACOMAS calculator)
MCAT:
1st attempt: 124/129/126/126 (505)
2nd attempt: 128/130/126/126 (510)
State of residency: IL
Ethnicity: Caucasian
Undergraduate institution: Duke University
Clinical experience:
1. Clinical Research Coordinator Ortho. Surgery: 7200 hours working in basically all aspects of study conception, execution, publication (lots of direct patient contact)
2. Emergency Dept. Financial Counselor/Patient Registrar: 1700 hours
3. Global Brigades Medical Mission - 80 hours at a temporary clinic established in rural Honduras
non-clinical experience (Non-clinical)
1. Elementary school tutoring - 80 hours but during college & it's been a long time since I've had any involvement with this
2. Homeless community outreach (getting people registered to vote, connected to social services, some minor health focused interactions) - 30 hours before the pandemic hit & the center suspended all volunteering; resumed as of this month thankfully but it's a little late to get significant hours before I apply
3. Undergrad. Bioethics Society - 350 hours (held several officer positions and president my last year in school; had a pretty significant impact on me wanting to enter medicine)
Shadowing Experience
1. Infectious disease- 30 hours
2. Ortho surg - 100+ hours
3. Rheum - 15 hours
4. Emergency med - 30 hours
Research Experience
1. 3 semesters undergraduate microbio lab (no pubs, didn't basic science —not a great experience truth be told)
2. 7200+ hours clinical research in orthopaedic surgery (several middle author publications, podium/poster presentations)
Other extracurricular activities
1. Club Rowing
2. Rock Climbing
3. Combination of cooking, chess, creative writing, etc.
Thanks in advance for any input!
