Hi guys,
I'm wondering what my chances are at DO. I am a junior right now. I might take a gap year to raise my GPA, actually I probably will, but would I get in any right now? If I apply to DO schools, which DO schools would I be competitive for, and what kind of DO experience do I need? I'm a little against going into primary care though because I want to be a cardiologist though I definitely want to be a doctor so can't afford to be picky.
Major: Chemistry/biology
cGPA: 3.2
sGPA: 3.1
MCAT - 30 (10/10/10)
Is my MCAT okay? I wish it was higher, but I don't want to retake it b/c it's the new one now, and I might do worse. The reason my GPA is so low is that during college, my dad was diagnosed with cancer and my grandmother also died, and it was really stressful b/c I was far away from home as well and didn't have anyone to really talk to at school (had no social life) and I actually had to take a leave of absence b/c of my grades falling and b/c my parents had financial issues and couldn't pay tuition. My gpa freshman year was a 3.75, went down to a 2.7, and now it's 3.2.... I got a bunch of Cs but I was advised not to retake courses by my advisor. If I get straight A's or A-/s, I can probably get a 3.4 or 3.5 gpa.
My extracurriculars are:
300 hours volunteering at a hospital (ER, eye clinic, patient visits), a nursing home (patient visits), an eye hospital (preparing beds and taking of patients) and a free clinic (taking vitals)
100 hours shadowing a director of cardiology fellowship on patient rounds, and rotating around the hospital shadowing CT surgeon, neurosurgeon, cardiologists in CCU, also shadowed an eye plastic surgeon and radiologist
America Reads tutor for two years
President of a global health club fundraising money for eye surgeries in Ghana for two years
outreach chair, public relations chair, secretary of biology club
2 years doing clinical research in cardiology - 1 paper getting published as 10th author, another as 5th author
1 summer doing clinical research in Emergency medicine - no papers
Nanoparticle research started in January - planning to spend 2 years on this
Breast cancer research for 1/2 year (left b/c I was not satisfied, and professor was moving to another city)
Staying this summer to do stem cell research, hopefully I'll get a grant, in process of applying for one.
Summer internship last summer in a hospital doing clinical research in gastroenterology - abstract coming out this summer and paper after that
Working as a personal assistant to a doctor (should I mention this on AMCAS apps? I made a lot of money but it' s not resume worthy I just transcribed emails and wrote manuscripts that were dictated by a japanese doctor who didn't know how to use the computer)
Library aide at school library
Administrative aide at a laboratory and at an adoption center
some honors like dean's list and awards like poetry contest finalist.
LORs- i can get one from the chairman doctor I worked for, this person I did clinical research for, a PI
I haven't talked to professors that much but i might get one from my chinese teacher, my physics teacher, and another I haven't figured out yet.
Personal statement - writing about my dad's cancer diagnosis, reasons of my bad grades, how I grew stronger by training for 5Ks and marathons and how that's similar to the path of being a doctor, some time I was volunteering in the CCU and saw a father with cardiac arrest - made connection to my dad. too much?
Thank you!
