- Joined
- Mar 5, 2017
- Messages
- 167
- Reaction score
- 166
Looking for advice. This is my second application cycle. I did not do my homework during the first application cycle (2016) and had no business applying.
I began at a community college at a young age. Graduated from a CSU in 2015. Ended up taking 6 years to complete undergrad. Had a weak CC GPA (70-80 semester units ~ 2.4 GPA). Transferred to CSU (60-65 semester units with ~ 3.5 GPA with an upward trend). Post-Bacc at a UC (33 quarter units with 4.0 GPA). Unfortunately, my overall GPA is still low. ~3.0 BPCM, ~3.2 AO, and ~3.05 Cumulative.
-Will be taking another 12-16 quarter units in post-bacc.
MCAT: 503 in 2015, 511 in 2018.
CA resident, ORM
Research:
-150 hours. Was invited as the main author for a review article (currently in review for publication).
EC's:
-180 hours Hospital Volunteering (COPE Health)
-8 hours Annual Free Health Clinic Volunteer (Shadowed DO/MD physicians)
-Crisis Text Line Volunteer ~ 40 hours (ongoing)
-Admin Specialist at a UC ~1300 hours
-Specimen Grosser (Pathology Lab) at UC ~1200 hours
-Tutoring ~ 250 hours (college students)
-Vehicle Sales/Manager ~ 3500 hours since high school (Family owned business where most of my attention was focused on during high school and community college)
-Customer Service (outsourcing) for large social media company ~ 560 hours
-Became Team Lead / Interim Operations Manager for same company ~ 500 hours (Contract ended)
School List (>35 MD schools):
All CA schools
Jefferson
Western Michigan (Stryker)
BU
OHSU
UNLV
Downstate
Drexel
Carle Illinois (was originally BME major)
University of Illinois
Rosalind Franklin
Tufts
Central Michigan
Penn State
Lewis Katz - Temple
Geisinger Commonwealth
Loyola
U Mass
U of Alabama
Florida Atlantic
Ohio State
Indiana U
-Did not realize some of these schools had strong IS preference (understand that these were giveaways)
-Waiting on 12 schools and pre-II hold for Loyola and PSU.
-Only applied to Western (Pomona) since I did not have a DO letter. Ideally, seeking MD due to wanting to pursue a specialty.
With the above, should I focus on continuing my DIY post-bacc or pursue an SMP? I am also looking into scribing as a way to gain additional clinical exposure. I understand that I will also need ~50 hours of shadowing, so I am working on that as well.
I began at a community college at a young age. Graduated from a CSU in 2015. Ended up taking 6 years to complete undergrad. Had a weak CC GPA (70-80 semester units ~ 2.4 GPA). Transferred to CSU (60-65 semester units with ~ 3.5 GPA with an upward trend). Post-Bacc at a UC (33 quarter units with 4.0 GPA). Unfortunately, my overall GPA is still low. ~3.0 BPCM, ~3.2 AO, and ~3.05 Cumulative.
-Will be taking another 12-16 quarter units in post-bacc.
MCAT: 503 in 2015, 511 in 2018.
CA resident, ORM
Research:
-150 hours. Was invited as the main author for a review article (currently in review for publication).
EC's:
-180 hours Hospital Volunteering (COPE Health)
-8 hours Annual Free Health Clinic Volunteer (Shadowed DO/MD physicians)
-Crisis Text Line Volunteer ~ 40 hours (ongoing)
-Admin Specialist at a UC ~1300 hours
-Specimen Grosser (Pathology Lab) at UC ~1200 hours
-Tutoring ~ 250 hours (college students)
-Vehicle Sales/Manager ~ 3500 hours since high school (Family owned business where most of my attention was focused on during high school and community college)
-Customer Service (outsourcing) for large social media company ~ 560 hours
-Became Team Lead / Interim Operations Manager for same company ~ 500 hours (Contract ended)
School List (>35 MD schools):
All CA schools
Jefferson
Western Michigan (Stryker)
BU
OHSU
UNLV
Downstate
Drexel
Carle Illinois (was originally BME major)
University of Illinois
Rosalind Franklin
Tufts
Central Michigan
Penn State
Lewis Katz - Temple
Geisinger Commonwealth
Loyola
U Mass
U of Alabama
Florida Atlantic
Ohio State
Indiana U
-Did not realize some of these schools had strong IS preference (understand that these were giveaways)
-Waiting on 12 schools and pre-II hold for Loyola and PSU.
-Only applied to Western (Pomona) since I did not have a DO letter. Ideally, seeking MD due to wanting to pursue a specialty.
With the above, should I focus on continuing my DIY post-bacc or pursue an SMP? I am also looking into scribing as a way to gain additional clinical exposure. I understand that I will also need ~50 hours of shadowing, so I am working on that as well.