Medical Any Advice for improving my application for this coming cycle? Please

[Goro]

Hello and thank you for taking the time to answer this post!

The state I reside in is Texas. Graduated 2017 August. Non-trad. sGPA 3.02 and cGPA 3.25 double major in music and biology. Music focus was violin performance and I got to study with the first violinist of the symphony in our city. Music has always been a part of my life and allowed me to grow and become more disciplined and focused. I also majored in biology because the pre-reqs covered most of the major and I only had to take 3 more classes to get my BA in biology. Graduated from a liberal arts college.
- My college tuition was covered by 70% academic scholarship. My parents were able to help me out with the other 30%.
- Ended up having one bad semester where I made two D+. I retook the classes and have had an upward trend in my GPA. Made Deans list a couple of times after that.

I applied this DO schools this cycle with these stats:
MCAT 1st attempt 494 [123/124/124/123]
MCAT 2nd attempt 500 [126/122/126/126]


List of activities I have done

Healthcare activities Paid
- Oncology - Medical Assitant [5,600 hours/ After graduation just left in the end of January ]
- Sleep company- Helped set up patients for home sleep testing [ During College / 450 hours]
- Research Activity [ 4th lab I volunteered in] offered me a job currently part-time started February [current] I am working on one main study, consenting patients and collecting data. Submitting abstract for poster presentation at a conference in May for a completed project.

Healthcare activities Not Paid
- 4th Research Internship at the lab focused on using sensors: Did abstract, poster presentation at the conference [After graudation]
- 3rd Research project with Fellow's at Hospital: help collect data and ended up with poster presentation [52 hours/ During college]
- Cancer research cell focused at University [ 75 hours / during college]
- Shadowing DO [ 400 hours / during college]
- Shadowed Oncology and PCP MD [ 390 hours/ after college; ended up offering me a job at the clinic]
- 2nd Research experience with the paper published [ 40 hours during college]
- 1st research experience working with mice [300 hours during college]
- Volunteer at the hospital over a 4 year period during a specific clinic on and off [ 1440 hours/ during college]

Non-healthcare activities Not Paid
- President of a club 468 hours/ We hosted large events and fundraised for local charities. One year [During college]
- Vice president of a different club 108 hours/ Volunteering evens and donated to local charities. One year [During college]
- Second violinists of the outside orchestra [95 hours/ During college]
- Mu Phi Music Fraternity [144 hours/ During college]
- STEM Leader for competition [8 hours / during college]
- Ambassador for university [ 144 hours/ during college]

Non-healthcare activities Paid
- Student Worker at university [800 hours/during college]
- Paid Peer facilitator for the specific college program at university [150 hours /during college]

LORs I used
- Premed advisor who was also PI and I took upper-level biology class with
- Science teacher who I am close with
- Nonscience professor who I took classes with and was supervisor of my club
- DO I shadowed for 2 years.


I applied to DO schools this cycle. I have received three interviews and have been waitlisted at two schools. One is in the coming weeks.

Steps for improvement I have taken during this current application cycle
- During this time, I started taking upper-level science courses while still working full time at an oncology clinic. I have improved my sGPA and if I get all A's my new sGPA will be a 3.23 by May.
- I plan to raise it to a sGPA of 3.38 by end of summer.
- Appling and May pursue a one-year master's program in nutrition. This is if I do not get into medical school this cycle.
- I also plan to retake the MCAT by May or June. I am hoping to score above 505. I am almost done with content review and will start doing practice questions. I have been working on a couple of CARS passages a day and working on my timing.
- Going to add LORS from the head of the research lab I currently work at an oncologist I worked for.

I feel that I placed to much trust in my pre-med advisor. After I submitted my apps, I was like no, there is no chance. I felt that my money spent on apps could have been spent on taking more classes and working less.

I appreciate any advice that you can give me. I would like to be re-apply for this coming cycle if I get no acceptances. Do you think this is possible? What else can I do to improve my application? Should I do the masters program? My goal is to apply to DO school. How should I go about making a list of schools to apply too using MSAR and LM tool?

Thank you!

The Nutrition MS will not help you for MD and while its GPA will be counted by DO schools, I personally wouldn't take as proof that you can handle the rigors of medical school. It is OK as prep for an alternative career.

Forget everything your adviser has told you and read this:

• Goro's advice for pre-meds who need reinvention

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[Mr.Smile12]

Let's talk about some of the things on your list:
1) As @Goro points out, an MS in nutrition or public health isn't going to help much for your competitiveness for medical school. You live in Texas so there are a few postbac premed programs in the state you can investigate. That will give you a better return but also requires a deeper commitment to doing well. We say, high risk high reward.

2) You say you placed too much trust in your premed advisor. Could you be more specific what you mean by that? What exactly were you told regarding your application chances, essays, or networking? In the end, you are the captain of your ship and responsible for the decisions you make. We just offer advice, but you decide what to do with it. Also, based on your description, it sounds like there is no institutional evaluation process (committee letter), so does this prehealth advisor write all LOR's for all applicants from your school, or is he more selective?

As a prehealth advisor, I can advise you that your GPA is still too low, especially for in-state options where your chances are best in Texas. You might need more biomedical science courses given your past academic history (double major in biology and music), but you'd have to tell us what is left for you to take should you do a DIY postbac (which you could be able to do): microbiology, human physiology, immunology, histology, virology, advanced cell/molecular biology, genetics, neurobiology are examples (see Guide to Reinvention). Otherwise a special master's program for premed students would be the better way to go.

 

[Goro]

Thank you for taking the time to reply! I am currently doing a DIY Post-Bac. I completed medical physiology, terminology. Currently in applied nutrition and physic I. I have decided to retake physics I for MCAT prep. I have been prepping and practicing because I strongly believe that I will have to end up reapplying.

The other courses I can take such as medical biology, microbiology, pathophysiology, and anatomy. The university does HPAC letters, but because I am a non-trad and some of the science professors have left the university, it is not the best option for me. My pre-med advisor offered to write me a LOR over the HPAC because my advisor implied that this would be better. Advisor said I would get in one place with my EC's. But I feel that I should have listened to my gut and taken the application money and used it to work part-time and been able to take more classes for my DIY postback.

I think my burning question is, that I should not apply until I have finished my DIY postbac and have taken the MCAT and gotten my score back.

You apply when you have the best possible app.