Advise me

[wr9152]

Advertisement - Members don't see this ad

I usually post in the MD forum but im sick of looking at WAMC and seeing people with 40 mcats get rejected from MD schools. w/e
2nd semester sophomore
I attend non-ranked state
gpa 3.8 ~40
havnt taken both orogos (taking in summer) any physics or biochem. So tbh lol my gpa can change dramatically.. there was no point in telling u my gpa lol.

I'll be taking the Mcat in may 2015 and applying on June 1st of that year. It sucks that I have no other choice but this it also sucks that ill be taking a new mcat. I cannot tell you what i'll get because I have no idea.

ECs:
Biology tutor at undergrad, 2 semesters so far, not a lot of hours/week
ER volunteer around 80 hours
Pre-health club president 2 semesters so far
part of other clubs on campus
will be doing habitat for humanity as part of pre-heath club..

Working on my EMT certification hoping to land a job at hospital in the summer

No shadowing s of yet (kill me) I feel behind. all the docs I have asked basically rejected me.... do DO schools require a DO letter? how will Md schools view my DO shadowing If I end up doing it.

Doing research at my undergrad but I will not publish at all, im certain of that. tbh I dislike research and lab work. Only doing it because its "recommended for medical school"

how do DO schools view research?

Don't know too much about DO and their requirements.

I guess the main purpose of this thread was to ask if there's anything else I could do to expand my application
thanks

 

[Roshan]

DO letter is usually prefered, but and MD letter is fine. You should really shadow now to make sure this is the career you want, not just to fill out a pre=med checklist. Research doesn't hurt your DO app, but it is not as important as it is to MD schools

 

[wr9152]

DO letter is usually prefered, but and MD letter is fine. You should really shadow now to make sure this is the career you want, not just to fill out a pre=med checklist. Research doesn't hurt your DO app, but it is not as important as it is to MD schools

I cannot tell you how many times a tried, im certain this is the career I want, I have casually shadowed in the ER.
Also some DO schools suggests using AOA to look for docs, are the doctors on here willing to help? or is this like a database of DOs?

 

[NuttyEngDude]

I'll be taking the Mcat in may 2015 and applying on June 1st of that year. It sucks that I have no other choice but this it also sucks that ill be taking a new mcat. I cannot tell you what i'll get because I have no idea.

ECs:
Biology tutor at undergrad, 2 semesters so far, not a lot of hours/week
ER volunteer around 80 hours
Pre-health club president 2 semesters so far
part of other clubs on campus
will be doing habitat for humanity as part of pre-heath club..

Working on my EMT certification hoping to land a job at hospital in the summer

No shadowing s of yet (kill me) I feel behind. all the docs I have asked basically rejected me.... do DO schools require a DO letter? how will Md schools view my DO shadowing If I end up doing it.

Doing research at my undergrad but I will not publish at all, im certain of that. tbh I dislike research and lab work. Only doing it because its "recommended for medical school"

how do DO schools view research?

Don't know too much about DO and their requirements.

I guess the main purpose of this thread was to ask if there's anything else I could do to expand my application
thanks

Sift through the "other clubs on campus" and find one or two you feel you can really enjoy then ditch the rest, make it count, or find something you truly enjoy, a hobby of some sort. Get some good experience in it and try to excel. For example, if you enjoy the photography club try to enter some competitions or set up displays, etc. Keep up the ER volunteering and biology tutoring. If you enjoy habitat for humanity, keep up at it sometimes it's fun to do just to meet other people.

Research, if you dont like it, I think it's ok to quit after a semester or two. To be honest I enjoyed it more after I was employed instead of academically, the latter culture felt more political and petty. I dont know and never looked into how DO schools view research because I just did it. If I had to do it again, I would have done less or no research and focused more on the EC's and volunteering that I enjoyed, especially the ones that demonstrate empathy and altruism. This did not hurt me, but just a personal preference. I mention this so you can evaluate who you are and take advantage of your strengths.

You dont need a letter from a osteopathic physician but you really should get one and MD schools dont care. Many, if not all, understand that you will be applying to both MD and DO.

I think for 2015 you need Psych and Sociology so plan for that. Also Orgo, physics and biochem are the classes that seem to give people fits so also take that into account, dont take them all at once unless you have to.

Obviously you want to keep your grades up and score well on the MCAT. The final thing is to get that "killer" thing that makes you stand out among all applicants. I can't suggest anything for this, just give it some thought. Even if you dont have this, you can still get in on an otherwise "boring" application.

 

[wr9152]

.

 

[NuttyEngDude]

I was talking about EC's but yeah that could work for some of the personal statement. 🙂

 

[DoctorKrieger]

Many DO schools are cool with an MD letter, but some are not so be sure to verify that with the schools you're interested in when the time comes.

I don't know that even MD schools really care about research as much as sdn seems to think they do, DO schools even less so.

Get involved in stuff outside of academics.

Oh, and congrats on getting out of pre-allo, regardless of where you actually apply.

 

[wr9152]

Many DO schools are cool with an MD letter, but some are not so be sure to verify that with the schools you're interested in when the time comes.

I don't know that even MD schools really care about research as much as sdn seems to think they do, DO schools even less so.

Get involved in stuff outside of academics.

Oh, and congrats on getting out of pre-allo, regardless of where you actually apply.

I wonder how relaxed my life would be if I never stumbled upon SDN

 

[DoctorKrieger]

I wonder how relaxed my life would be if I never stumbled upon SDN

Interesting you say that. I can distinctly remember stumbling upon SDN as a sophomore in college and found my way to a thread asked by a then-premed for advice on what to do while in undergrad. Aside from the typical 'do well in classes and MCAT' stuff, pretty much every single med student/resident followed up with "stay the hell off SDN." That's just what I did, and didn't get back on until I was through applying to med school. I gotta say, it was tremendously sage advice that I'm glad I took.

 

[wr9152]

Interesting you say that. I can distinctly remember stumbling upon SDN as a sophomore in college and found my way to a thread asked by a then-premed for advice on what to do while in undergrad. Aside from the typical 'do well in classes and MCAT' stuff, pretty much every single med student/resident followed up with "stay the hell off SDN." That's just what I did, and didn't get back on until I was through applying to med school. I gotta say, it was tremendously sage advice that I'm glad I took.

Hahaha, I think ill take that advice as well 🙂

 

[DoctorKrieger]

Hahaha, I think ill take that advice as well 🙂

Don't be afraid to drop by pre-osteo every now and then, the bs of other parts of sdn is notably less here. If you want to go the MD route, you'll get just as much info on this side.