mathwiz1697
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- Joined
- May 26, 2023
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Greetings everyone.
I am a 26 year old ORM male that is starting is medical school applications. I am trying to make this my only cycle, but we will see how it goes. I am trying to figure out what schools I should Apply to, and have the following stats.
uGPA/SGPA, 2.71/2.71. I know I screwed up in college because I didn’t know how to study and it took me a year to get my footing after determining what I did Freshman year wasn’t going to work. I attended the College of William and Mary, and graduated with my BS in neuroscience with a minor in biochemistry. I had a strong upward trend as undergrad progressed.
Due to my poor Grades, I applied for SMP programs on the advice of my pre-med advisor, due to the factor my undergrad degree was very science heavy, meaning an undergrad post-bacc didn’t benefit me as it would take a massive amount of credits to get somewhat competitive. I recently completed my masters of science in Medical Physiology from Case Western Reserve University, finishing my Degree with a 3.906 GPA, a remarkable improvement.
Regarding MCAT, I am studying for it now, but this is my third attempt. I foolishly thought I could take it while working 50 hours a week in primary care in peak COVID times (2020 to early 2021) and took it twice. I got a 499-> 502. My current initial diagnostic is a 505 without reviewing, and I am shooting for mid 5-teens (514-518) or higher. I am taking the exam 08/19/2023.
Regarding extracurriculars I am listing below, I am using an asterisk for a couple of them due to discrepancies and unusual circumstances.
Paid clinical hours ~5000-6000 hours as a Medical scribe during my gap years
Volunteer medical hours- ~1500 hours* as an EMT during college. I am still certified, and plan to run again once I get my bearings with the MCAT. I ran on average 40-60 hours a month
Shadowing hours: 24 OR 144*- shadowed my pediatrician for 24 hours. I have additional shadowing hours that I will outline below.
Extra activities:
Rowing for 3.5 years, 4-5 days per week 3 hours a day, also acted as the team medic when present.
General chemistry Lab I TA for 3 fall semesters- 5-6 hours per week on average, more if students scheduled time outside of lab for extra help
Organic Chemistry Lab I TA for 3 Spring Semesters- 5-6 hours per week on average, more if students scheduled time outside of lab for extra help
Regarding the unusual circumstances:
As you can see, I do not have much non clinical volunteering, which is mostly due to the fact I was (and still am) passionate about volunteering using my clinical skills as an EMT. I have spoken directly with a couple adcoms, and both have made the point the argument can be made that the EMS experience can be used for community volunteering, as I a) ran on a volunteer fire department, and b) I have so much clinical experience without the EMS that it would not “impact” my clinical hours (i.e, by considering them community volunteering only, I am not left with next to no clinical hours). I did a lot of hospital volunteer work in high school, but I do not think I can use that on my application. If something has changed, please let me know, as I am more than willing to dig up old paperwork.
Regarding the shadowing, I spent 120 hours shadowing a neurosurgeon in my senior year of high school. I know that high school experiences are not usually considered. However, this situation is unique, as this particular neurosurgeon operated on me and quite literally saved my life when I was 3 months old (corrected hydrocephalus and reversed before the brain damage could be severe). It is quite rare to require medical intervention when young, especially something as severe and urgent as hydrocephalus. It is even rarer to be able to shadow that same neurosurgeon 18 years later. There are not many people that get to shadow the same doctor that saved their life, and without a doubt is one of the most significant meaningful medical experiences I could ever have.
In the same vein as above, in discussion with a couple of schools’ adcoms, they both said that a situation such as this, it would be a detriment to leave out of my application, even if it was in high school, especially since it was at the end of my high school career, and not the start. If there is an argument to be made against this, I am willing to listen.
I also do not have a lot of research experience, about 50 hours, no pubs. I plan on doing medical research in my gap year while I wait to hear back from medical schools.
With these stats in mind, I have a few questions.
1) First of all, I know that taking the MCAT so late is very risky. I understand that. I am taking a Princeton review class, as it is hard to focus without structure of the class. Due to this, the earliest I can take it is the 19th of August, with the return date around September 15th.
However, One of the Adcoms told me that I can submit my application to medical school early ( think like mid June), and “ear mark” my future MCAT date. Doing this will allow all the processing to occur and verify the information. After the information is verified, they told me that my application would be put “on hold.” And would be processed as soon as my newest scores are released, at which point my application would be complete and awaiting review. This would save me a month on the tail end being complete in September , as I wouldn’t have to submit in September to have everything verified, which would make it complete in October.
If this information is incorrect please let me know.
Now for the list of schools I am looking at applying to. Critique and comments are very welcome and encouraged. For reference, I am marking as in-state for Ohio, but I lived in Virginia up until I was 5 days shy of 25, so the argument could be made that I could be in-state, at least tuition wise, for VA schools.
For reference as well, I know it is a bit forward thinking to know what you want to do prior to medical school, but I know I would like to be a pediatric neurosurgeon, as nothing interests me like neurosurgery does, and my personal ties to the field. Due to this, Obviously MD will be preferred over DO, due to the unfortunate bias against DO’s in certain competitive specialties. I know that there are Neurosurgeons that are DO’s but they are extremely rare.
MD:
EVMS
VCU
Virginia Tech
UVA- (I know that they have high MCAT scores and research heavy so this may not be a possibility)
Ohio State
Cincinnati
Case Western
Toledo
NEOMED
Wright State
Wake Forest
UNC Chapel Hill
DO:
VCOM-Blacksburg
PCOM
OUHCOM-Cleveland Campus
Campbell University
These are my current school lists. I also qualify for FAP with AAMC, so I would like to maximize my primary apps with it because why not? I believe I get to send my primary once to 20 schools with the few waived.
Also I self identified as disadvantaged due to having a physical disability. It is mild, but still present, and it has caused increased hardships in my life. I believe there is a box for this as well.
I also have access to the MSAR, but the problem is that I am not sure what to put my GPA as, since my Graduate GPA is far superior over my undergrad GPA. Any advice would be appreciated.
Thanks!
I am a 26 year old ORM male that is starting is medical school applications. I am trying to make this my only cycle, but we will see how it goes. I am trying to figure out what schools I should Apply to, and have the following stats.
uGPA/SGPA, 2.71/2.71. I know I screwed up in college because I didn’t know how to study and it took me a year to get my footing after determining what I did Freshman year wasn’t going to work. I attended the College of William and Mary, and graduated with my BS in neuroscience with a minor in biochemistry. I had a strong upward trend as undergrad progressed.
Due to my poor Grades, I applied for SMP programs on the advice of my pre-med advisor, due to the factor my undergrad degree was very science heavy, meaning an undergrad post-bacc didn’t benefit me as it would take a massive amount of credits to get somewhat competitive. I recently completed my masters of science in Medical Physiology from Case Western Reserve University, finishing my Degree with a 3.906 GPA, a remarkable improvement.
Regarding MCAT, I am studying for it now, but this is my third attempt. I foolishly thought I could take it while working 50 hours a week in primary care in peak COVID times (2020 to early 2021) and took it twice. I got a 499-> 502. My current initial diagnostic is a 505 without reviewing, and I am shooting for mid 5-teens (514-518) or higher. I am taking the exam 08/19/2023.
Regarding extracurriculars I am listing below, I am using an asterisk for a couple of them due to discrepancies and unusual circumstances.
Paid clinical hours ~5000-6000 hours as a Medical scribe during my gap years
Volunteer medical hours- ~1500 hours* as an EMT during college. I am still certified, and plan to run again once I get my bearings with the MCAT. I ran on average 40-60 hours a month
Shadowing hours: 24 OR 144*- shadowed my pediatrician for 24 hours. I have additional shadowing hours that I will outline below.
Extra activities:
Rowing for 3.5 years, 4-5 days per week 3 hours a day, also acted as the team medic when present.
General chemistry Lab I TA for 3 fall semesters- 5-6 hours per week on average, more if students scheduled time outside of lab for extra help
Organic Chemistry Lab I TA for 3 Spring Semesters- 5-6 hours per week on average, more if students scheduled time outside of lab for extra help
Regarding the unusual circumstances:
As you can see, I do not have much non clinical volunteering, which is mostly due to the fact I was (and still am) passionate about volunteering using my clinical skills as an EMT. I have spoken directly with a couple adcoms, and both have made the point the argument can be made that the EMS experience can be used for community volunteering, as I a) ran on a volunteer fire department, and b) I have so much clinical experience without the EMS that it would not “impact” my clinical hours (i.e, by considering them community volunteering only, I am not left with next to no clinical hours). I did a lot of hospital volunteer work in high school, but I do not think I can use that on my application. If something has changed, please let me know, as I am more than willing to dig up old paperwork.
Regarding the shadowing, I spent 120 hours shadowing a neurosurgeon in my senior year of high school. I know that high school experiences are not usually considered. However, this situation is unique, as this particular neurosurgeon operated on me and quite literally saved my life when I was 3 months old (corrected hydrocephalus and reversed before the brain damage could be severe). It is quite rare to require medical intervention when young, especially something as severe and urgent as hydrocephalus. It is even rarer to be able to shadow that same neurosurgeon 18 years later. There are not many people that get to shadow the same doctor that saved their life, and without a doubt is one of the most significant meaningful medical experiences I could ever have.
In the same vein as above, in discussion with a couple of schools’ adcoms, they both said that a situation such as this, it would be a detriment to leave out of my application, even if it was in high school, especially since it was at the end of my high school career, and not the start. If there is an argument to be made against this, I am willing to listen.
I also do not have a lot of research experience, about 50 hours, no pubs. I plan on doing medical research in my gap year while I wait to hear back from medical schools.
With these stats in mind, I have a few questions.
1) First of all, I know that taking the MCAT so late is very risky. I understand that. I am taking a Princeton review class, as it is hard to focus without structure of the class. Due to this, the earliest I can take it is the 19th of August, with the return date around September 15th.
However, One of the Adcoms told me that I can submit my application to medical school early ( think like mid June), and “ear mark” my future MCAT date. Doing this will allow all the processing to occur and verify the information. After the information is verified, they told me that my application would be put “on hold.” And would be processed as soon as my newest scores are released, at which point my application would be complete and awaiting review. This would save me a month on the tail end being complete in September , as I wouldn’t have to submit in September to have everything verified, which would make it complete in October.
If this information is incorrect please let me know.
Now for the list of schools I am looking at applying to. Critique and comments are very welcome and encouraged. For reference, I am marking as in-state for Ohio, but I lived in Virginia up until I was 5 days shy of 25, so the argument could be made that I could be in-state, at least tuition wise, for VA schools.
For reference as well, I know it is a bit forward thinking to know what you want to do prior to medical school, but I know I would like to be a pediatric neurosurgeon, as nothing interests me like neurosurgery does, and my personal ties to the field. Due to this, Obviously MD will be preferred over DO, due to the unfortunate bias against DO’s in certain competitive specialties. I know that there are Neurosurgeons that are DO’s but they are extremely rare.
MD:
EVMS
VCU
Virginia Tech
UVA- (I know that they have high MCAT scores and research heavy so this may not be a possibility)
Ohio State
Cincinnati
Case Western
Toledo
NEOMED
Wright State
Wake Forest
UNC Chapel Hill
DO:
VCOM-Blacksburg
PCOM
OUHCOM-Cleveland Campus
Campbell University
These are my current school lists. I also qualify for FAP with AAMC, so I would like to maximize my primary apps with it because why not? I believe I get to send my primary once to 20 schools with the few waived.
Also I self identified as disadvantaged due to having a physical disability. It is mild, but still present, and it has caused increased hardships in my life. I believe there is a box for this as well.
I also have access to the MSAR, but the problem is that I am not sure what to put my GPA as, since my Graduate GPA is far superior over my undergrad GPA. Any advice would be appreciated.
Thanks!
