3.37/3.18 517 oh **** what now

[Princeton Medical Student]

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NJ State resident

cGPA: 3.37
sGPA: 3.18
MCAT: 517 (128/130/129/130)

Computer science major.

2k+ hours volunteering as an EMT
Recently started FT EMT position in a major city which will give a lot to talk about and ofc also a lot of hours.
Unfortunately no shadowing or clinical exp outside of this... covid (read as me procrastinating and putting this off) kinda screwed me on that.

2 years of pretty unique research that yielded... nothing

first generation immigrant. Not urm, but have a decent amount of stuff to talk about on application + secondaries.

~~~~

I more or less figure I have two options
A) Scramble an application together now and apply very broadly to DO and maybe state schools. Of course this means applying late, but this cycle is kinda ****ywucky anyway.

B) Throw in a semester or two of post bacc between now and the application cycle. Assuming a decent mix of A/A- grades I could bring my GPA up to 3.43/3.37.

 

[Faha]

It is late to apply to MD schools. You would be better off to do a post bacc with an emphasis on undergraduate level science courses and apply next June. If you increase your GPA to 3.4 your chances for interviews go up significantly.

 

[PigsHaveWings]

That is a great MCAT score. Are you from an elite UG school which has low median GPA ? GPA is low, dont wait till next year fall to start a postbacc, create your own for the spring semester, so the GPA upswing will demonstrate on your application when you start applying in July.

 

[Princeton Medical Student]

That is a great MCAT score. Are you from an elite UG school which has low median GPA ? GPA is low, dont wait till next year fall to start a postbacc, create your own for the spring semester, so the GPA upswing will demonstrate on your application when you start applying in July.

Not really elite but doing computer science alongside premed was pretty difficult. And sorry I miswrote that, Id start in the winter and spring if I were to do my post bacc.

 

[fogo]

Bro just apply to Princeton Medical School. They'll go bonkers over you 😉

 

[Princeton Medical Student]

Bumping for more opinions!

 

[Dr.K124]

MCAT score is great.

How many research hours? Publications are very rare. 1000 research hours is very different from 300.

Nonclinical?

Clinical looks great.

Preference between MD and DO, or do you not care?

Computer science and EMT could both be great things to talk about. Could potentially be a hook.

I would definitely wait until the next cycle.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Never rush an application. You'll just be wasting time and money.

How much biomedical science coursework have you taken, and what was the GPA for that subset of courses? This answer will tie in to others' suggestions about taking postbac coursework or not.

 

[Princeton Medical Student]

Never rush an application. You'll just be wasting time and money.

How much biomedical science coursework have you taken, and what was the GPA for that subset of courses? This answer will tie in to others' suggestions about taking postbac coursework or not.

My only biology course was gen bio 1/2 (and biochemistry if you count it as biomedical). My overall amount of sGPA credits is just under 49 credits. Overall I have 126 credits. An 18 credit science only post bacc could in theory raise me to a 3.45/3.4 but that would require getting an A in every course.

 

[Princeton Medical Student]

MCAT score is great.

How many research hours? Publications are very rare. 1000 research hours is very different from 300.

Nonclinical?

Clinical looks great.

Preference between MD and DO, or do you not care?

Computer science and EMT could both be great things to talk about. Could potentially be a hook.

I would definitely wait until the next cycle.

Research hours probably in the hundreds, but pretty much zero to show for it outside of a research LOR. No posters etc. The good thing is that all of it has been a decent mix of computer science and bench science, so it's something I can at least decently talk about, and express my desires to further use my computer science skills to do research.

Non clinical - unfortunately none. No excuse there and hoping to do something between now and the application time.

Don't care about MD/DO.

And yeah, 100% decided on not applying this cycle.

 

[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

Don’t waste that mcat by applying now. I likely won’t get many MD interviews. Much better use of your time would be to take a few science courses over the spring and slay them. Your gpa is low, so even if you do that, you need to apply broadly and probably throw in some DO, even if you do somehow manage to do 16-18 credits and bring your gpa up to a 3.4.

 

[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

Research hours probably in the hundreds, but pretty much zero to show for it outside of a research LOR. No posters etc. The good thing is that all of it has been a decent mix of computer science and bench science, so it's something I can at least decently talk about, and express my desires to further use my computer science skills to do research.

Non clinical - unfortunately none. No excuse there and hoping to do something between now and the application time.

Don't care about MD/DO.

And yeah, 100% decided on not applying this cycle.

Smart. No pubs or posters doesn’t mean you have nothing to show for it. The hours and being able to talk about it are enough.

Definitely get as much non clinical as you can between now and June. You need as much of your application to look great as possible to make up for the lower gpa.

 

[LeaveNoTrace]

Do the postbacc. 30+ credits in science courses have been suggested. Your GPA, while low for MD schools, is...adequate for DO schools. Waiting two cycles could be the difference between getting into a DO school and getting into a mid-tier MD school. Maybe a top school that rewards reinvention, like Columbia, if you're lucky.