DeliciouslyEric
New Member
- Joined
- Jun 15, 2022
- Messages
- 9
- Reaction score
- 3
Hello all!
I was looking for some help regarding my application and will take any and all advice/criticisms.
Also, I'm ORM from Cali since that seems to matter in a lot of threads I've been looking up.
I graduated from UCDavis back in 2018, but my cGPA and sGPA were pretty horrendous.
I have a cGPA of 2.69 and an sGPA of 2.41, mainly due to personal issues, but this was from 4 years ago and I feel as though I've grown a lot academically since then. I also had an upward trend, but I'm not sure if it's really that acknowledgeable (2.41 uGPA freshman year-> 3.11 uGPA senior year).
After graduating, I started working full time in a research lab dedicated to Alzheimer's research for about 5 years total, equating to about 7.3k hours with 1 publication and 1 poster presentation and a couple of other publications currently in the pipeline.
I've also taken the time to do a Masters in Medical Physiology at Case Western Reserve and graduated from that program with a 4.0 last year(2019-2021), but from all the info I could find, I can't tell if it's specifically considered a special masters program? My advisor said it contained courses given to their medical school students and they do have a linkage program, although I don't qualify for it due to my super low undergrad GPA. Looking at the definitions of an SMP online, it seems to fit the bill, but I'm not entirely sure so if I could get some clarity regarding this, that would be amazing!
Also, I recently retook the MCAT and got a 507, up from a 500 from June of last year. I know it's not amazing, but hopefully it shows some improvement.
My ECs are a bit skewed to be honest, but I was wondering if they helped at all:
7.3k hours research with 1 pub and 1 poster presentation, with some leadership positions with teaching new lab members
50 hours virtual shadowing (I've been trying to get in contact with both private and public clinics for in-person shadowing, but they all say that it's not possible due to Covid. I'm still trying though!)
200 hours volunteering at a church that supports the local underserved community and I'll continue doing this for the next year or so (projected additional 500 hours)
Almost 0 recent clinical experience - I worked as an EMT back in 2016 with some experience in the ER, but I don't think this is recent enough for current cycles.
I guess another pertinent piece of info is LoRs. I have 4 LoRs but none from a physician - 1 from the director of the research institute I worked in the lab for, my lab supervisor, a committee letter from CWRU, and 1 letter from the pastor of the church I volunteer at.
I know my application contains a lot more important info like the personal statement, but are these stats enough to get my foot in the door at some low tier MD programs or DO programs? I'm willing to go to whichever school accepts me so location and pricing would be something I'll worry about later.
I guess another pertinent piece of info is LoRs. I have 4 LoRs but none from a physician - 1 from the director of the research institute I worked in the lab for, my lab supervisor, a committee letter from CWRU, and 1 letter from the pastor of the church I volunteer at.
I've already submitted my AMCAS application for review because I wanted to be in the first or second wave of applicants, but I only added 1 throwaway school so that I can at least get verified early-ish. I have my AACOMAS application ready to send out, but haven't actually done so yet because I'm waiting for more feedback from my advisor regarding my personal statement.
Thank you so much for taking the time to read through this post, I really appreciate any and all feedback I can get.
I was looking for some help regarding my application and will take any and all advice/criticisms.
Also, I'm ORM from Cali since that seems to matter in a lot of threads I've been looking up.
I graduated from UCDavis back in 2018, but my cGPA and sGPA were pretty horrendous.
I have a cGPA of 2.69 and an sGPA of 2.41, mainly due to personal issues, but this was from 4 years ago and I feel as though I've grown a lot academically since then. I also had an upward trend, but I'm not sure if it's really that acknowledgeable (2.41 uGPA freshman year-> 3.11 uGPA senior year).
After graduating, I started working full time in a research lab dedicated to Alzheimer's research for about 5 years total, equating to about 7.3k hours with 1 publication and 1 poster presentation and a couple of other publications currently in the pipeline.
I've also taken the time to do a Masters in Medical Physiology at Case Western Reserve and graduated from that program with a 4.0 last year(2019-2021), but from all the info I could find, I can't tell if it's specifically considered a special masters program? My advisor said it contained courses given to their medical school students and they do have a linkage program, although I don't qualify for it due to my super low undergrad GPA. Looking at the definitions of an SMP online, it seems to fit the bill, but I'm not entirely sure so if I could get some clarity regarding this, that would be amazing!
Also, I recently retook the MCAT and got a 507, up from a 500 from June of last year. I know it's not amazing, but hopefully it shows some improvement.
My ECs are a bit skewed to be honest, but I was wondering if they helped at all:
7.3k hours research with 1 pub and 1 poster presentation, with some leadership positions with teaching new lab members
50 hours virtual shadowing (I've been trying to get in contact with both private and public clinics for in-person shadowing, but they all say that it's not possible due to Covid. I'm still trying though!)
200 hours volunteering at a church that supports the local underserved community and I'll continue doing this for the next year or so (projected additional 500 hours)
Almost 0 recent clinical experience - I worked as an EMT back in 2016 with some experience in the ER, but I don't think this is recent enough for current cycles.
I guess another pertinent piece of info is LoRs. I have 4 LoRs but none from a physician - 1 from the director of the research institute I worked in the lab for, my lab supervisor, a committee letter from CWRU, and 1 letter from the pastor of the church I volunteer at.
I know my application contains a lot more important info like the personal statement, but are these stats enough to get my foot in the door at some low tier MD programs or DO programs? I'm willing to go to whichever school accepts me so location and pricing would be something I'll worry about later.
I guess another pertinent piece of info is LoRs. I have 4 LoRs but none from a physician - 1 from the director of the research institute I worked in the lab for, my lab supervisor, a committee letter from CWRU, and 1 letter from the pastor of the church I volunteer at.
I've already submitted my AMCAS application for review because I wanted to be in the first or second wave of applicants, but I only added 1 throwaway school so that I can at least get verified early-ish. I have my AACOMAS application ready to send out, but haven't actually done so yet because I'm waiting for more feedback from my advisor regarding my personal statement.
Thank you so much for taking the time to read through this post, I really appreciate any and all feedback I can get.