Advice on application

[woo000oo]

Non-trad (on 2nd gap year), CA resident, T20 ug
Planning on applying MD and DO
cGPA: 3.4, sGPA: 3.2, MCAT: 520(128/132/130/130)

GPA is low due to upper div physics courses (required for bio major, got C+/C), one bad ochem course (C+) and majority B's. My main experience is in research (2 summers in HS, 2 summers in ug, ~2 years during ug, 1 year post grad as a research assistant, spread across several different labs) with no pubs. I was previously on the grad school path before deciding against it, so my pre-med journey really only started a year ago.

My current plan until the 2021-2022 application cycle is to build on my extracurriculars, shadow, and also take a full ochem track to make up for that low grade. I don't really want to do a full post-bacc program because I've done the rest of the pre-reqs and have substantial upper div bio courses with ok grades.

Will med schools be more lenient with my GPA because my lowest grades are in physics courses? Is there anything else I could be doing to improve my application by next year or should I take another gap year? Any advice would be welcome (including school list help; as a CA resident I'm well below 10th percentile for GPA at almost all the schools). Thanks in advance!

 

[Faha]

Before you apply you should accumulate 50 hours of physician shadowing (including primary care) and 200+ hours of clinical volunteering or employment with patient contact. I suggest these schools with your stats:
California University
Loma Linda (if you fit their mission)
Kaiser
California Northstate
UC Davis
UC Irvine
UCSD
USC Keck
UCLA
UCSF
UC Riverside (if you are from that region)
TCU-UNT
NOVA MD
Florida Atlantic
Florida International
Tulane
Rosalind Franklin
Medical College Wisconsin
Western Michigan
Oakland Beaumont
Wayne State
Wake Forest
Virginia Commonwealth
Eastern Virginia
George Washington
Drexel
Temple
Jefferson
Penn State
Seton Hall
New York Medical College
Albany
Vermont
Quinnipiac

 

[DocJanItor]

Before you apply you should accumulate 50 hours of physician shadowing (including primary care) and 200+ hours of clinical volunteering or employment with patient contact.

This isn't going to be realistic for the foreseeable future. If medical students are being restricted from rotations then clinical volunteering and exposure will be almost impossible for premeds.

 

[woo000oo]

Before you apply you should accumulate 50 hours of physician shadowing (including primary care) and 200+ hours of clinical volunteering or employment with patient contact. I suggest these schools with your stats:
California University
Loma Linda (if you fit their mission)
Kaiser
California Northstate
UC Davis
UC Irvine
UCSD
USC Keck
UCLA
UCSF
UC Riverside (if you are from that region)
TCU-UNT
NOVA MD
Florida Atlantic
Florida International
Tulane
Rosalind Franklin
Medical College Wisconsin
Western Michigan
Oakland Beaumont
Wayne State
Wake Forest
Virginia Commonwealth
Eastern Virginia
George Washington
Drexel
Temple
Jefferson
Penn State
Seton Hall
New York Medical College
Albany
Vermont
Quinnipiac

Thank you so much for your response. Would having relatives who live in the inland empire/my dad working there for the past 20 years be enough of a case for applying to UCR or are they looking for people with a strong connection to/understanding of the community there? I also have 200+ hours of clinical volunteer experience with significant patient contact way way back in HS that I can speak about, but I'm guessing that's not going to count towards much?

 

[woo000oo]

This isn't going to be realistic for the foreseeable future. If medical students are being restricted from rotations then clinical volunteering and exposure will be almost impossible for premeds.

Yea understandably I've had 0 luck finding clinical volunteering. Hoping that a combination of non-clinical volunteering and just talking to people is going to be enough for now.

 

[NonTradTeacher]

Yea understandably I've had 0 luck finding clinical volunteering. Hoping that a combination of non-clinical volunteering and just talking to people is going to be enough for now.

Depending on where you are in CA, look into COPE Scholars. I was originally planning on applying to the 2021-22 cycle and was told about this by a relative who works in a hospital. They have a 3 month program you can shoot for which starts in March. If things stay on course, I'll start rounding in January and can give you more feedback then.

 

[woo000oo]

Depending on where you are in CA, look into COPE Scholars. I was originally planning on applying to the 2021-22 cycle and was told about this by a relative who works in a hospital. They have a 3 month program you can shoot for which starts in March. If things stay on course, I'll start rounding in January and can give you more feedback then.

Thanks for the tip, it looks pretty great from the website info. I'll definitely check it out and would love to hear what you think of your experience in a couple months.

 

[NonTradTeacher]

Thanks for the tip, it looks pretty great from the website info. I'll definitely check it out and would love to hear what you think of your experience in a couple months.

Yeah, shoot me a DM or something if I forget. I'll have training the next two weekends. I would suggest applying by the Dec deadline if the application fee isn't a bother. You probably won't have to pay for the tuition until February and can cancel prior if volunteering opens up next year. I think this will also open up opportunities for shadowing, but don't quote me on this.

 

[Faha]

Thank you so much for your response. Would having relatives who live in the inland empire/my dad working there for the past 20 years be enough of a case for applying to UCR or are they looking for people with a strong connection to/understanding of the community there? I also have 200+ hours of clinical volunteer experience with significant patient contact way way back in HS that I can speak about, but I'm guessing that's not going to count towards much?

You can try UCR with that connection. Mention the high school clinical volunteering because that is all you have. With no clinical exposure of any kind post high school and with your GPA your chances for interviews are limited. If you are unable to obtain any clinical volunteering or shadowing hours prior to submitting your application then apply broadly to DO schools also. I suggest these DO schools:
WESTERN
TUCOM-CA
TUNCOM
AZCOM
ATSU (both schools)
KCU-COM
DMU-COM
MU-COM
PCOM (all schools)
LECOM (all schools)
Touro-NY
NYIT (both schools)
CUSOM
VCOM (all schools)
ARCOM
WCU-COM
WVSOM