Cliche New Guy Looking For Help

[TrueWolverine]

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Accidentally posted this to the Med forum and not the Pre-Med forum at first, so hopefully this is the right spot...

New to the forum (loving it so far) and here for some help. I've been reading for hours now (enough to get discouraged, then encouraged, then discouraged, and on and on) and decided it was finally time for me to look for some help of my own. I know there's 10000 threads asking about chances but everyone's situation is different and I'm a first generation pre-med student and could really use some help.

Not sure how to start so here goes....

Academics:
Currently a senior studying Biology at Utah Valley University (UVU) planning on applying Spring 2016
cGPA- 3.13 sGPA- 3.4 (a couple retakes)
MCAT- To be determined August of this year
Graduated high school with associates degree

EC's:
Patient Care- 200+ (I work as a Physical Therapy Aide)
Research- 2 semesters (40-50 Hours)
Leadership- Program Director over blood drives on UVU Service Council
-Student Coordinator on Service Council (Over a group of Program Directors)
-Organizing Hunger Banquet this semester (raising poverty awareness)
Shadowing- Currently 20 hours (Pediatrics and Surgery) with connections to continue to shadowing until I apply
Volunteer- 40 hours at a few different places (both on campus and off), going to focus on lots of volunteering this summer
-4-H Mentor (Mentoring a kid once a week for at least a year who doesn't have a great situation at home, this one could be used as volunteer or leadership) Just starting this program so I don't have definite hours
-2 year mission for LDS Church (volunteer, paid my whole way)
-Eagle Scout

Certified as EMT-B and CNA in high school (not current anymore so I'm not sure if they even care about something like that)
LoR's- One from DO, one from MD, working on an academic one

Well that's what I can think of right now so if I remember anything else I'll post it. Game plan for now is to keep boosting EC's and GPA until I apply and graduate (both Spring 2016). Like I said I'm taking the MCAT in August this year so if needs be I'll have another shot before I apply. Planning on applying as early as I can.

I'm really wondering about my chances and I'm open for any tips and suggestions you guys have! One of my big questions is how to start narrowing schools down. My wife's sister and brother-in-law live in North Carolina where he works as a CRNA so CUSOM is our number 1 choice but other than that I really have no other way to tell which schools I want to apply to or which ones I have a shot at. Man this was a lot of info....hopefully I didn't bore anyone so much they don't respond...thanks in advance for the advice!

 

[AlteredScale]

Accidentally posted this to the Med forum and not the Pre-Med forum at first, so hopefully this is the right spot...

New to the forum (loving it so far) and here for some help. I've been reading for hours now (enough to get discouraged, then encouraged, then discouraged, and on and on) and decided it was finally time for me to look for some help of my own. I know there's 10000 threads asking about chances but everyone's situation is different and I'm a first generation pre-med student and could really use some help.

Not sure how to start so here goes....

Academics:
Currently a senior studying Biology at Utah Valley University (UVU) planning on applying Spring 2016
cGPA- 3.13 sGPA- 3.4 (a couple retakes)
MCAT- To be determined August of this year
Graduated high school with associates degree

EC's:
Patient Care- 200+ (I work as a Physical Therapy Aide)
Research- 2 semesters (40-50 Hours)
Leadership- Program Director over blood drives on UVU Service Council
-Student Coordinator on Service Council (Over a group of Program Directors)
-Organizing Hunger Banquet this semester (raising poverty awareness)
Shadowing- Currently 20 hours (Pediatrics and Surgery) with connections to continue to shadowing until I apply
Volunteer- 40 hours at a few different places (both on campus and off), going to focus on lots of volunteering this summer
-4-H Mentor (Mentoring a kid once a week for at least a year who doesn't have a great situation at home, this one could be used as volunteer or leadership) Just starting this program so I don't have definite hours
-2 year mission for LDS Church (volunteer, paid my whole way)
-Eagle Scout

Certified as EMT-B and CNA in high school (not current anymore so I'm not sure if they even care about something like that)
LoR's- One from DO, one from MD, working on an academic one

Well that's what I can think of right now so if I remember anything else I'll post it. Game plan for now is to keep boosting EC's and GPA until I apply and graduate (both Spring 2016). Like I said I'm taking the MCAT in August this year so if needs be I'll have another shot before I apply. Planning on applying as early as I can.

I'm really wondering about my chances and I'm open for any tips and suggestions you guys have! One of my big questions is how to start narrowing schools down. My wife's sister and brother-in-law live in North Carolina where he works as a CRNA so CUSOM is our number 1 choice but other than that I really have no other way to tell which schools I want to apply to or which ones I have a shot at. Man this was a lot of info....hopefully I didn't bore anyone so much they don't respond...thanks in advance for the advice!

You have good ECs, albeit not really super unique but they're good and there's no holes I'm seeing. If you did appreciable work in your research then that'll do you even more good.

If your MCAT is 28/29+ then your basically good for all DO programs.

If your MCAT is below that then you're good for all DOs except WesternCOMP, Touro CA/NY, AZCOM, or CCOM.

If your cGPA is still below a 3.25 after you're done then I wouldn't consider applying to KCUMB because they WILL cut you for having a GPA lower than 3.25.

Use discretion when applying to LUCOM.

Beyond that you'll be a very strong applicant, especially for CUSOM, so get that secondary in ASAP for that school. Good luck!

 

[DoctorKrieger]

A lot of schools will require more than one PhD letter, so be sure to develop relationships with your profs this semester if you haven't already. With your gpa it will be very important to do well on your MCAT, so go to the MCAT subform here and see what everyone is saying about the new format and get some study plans from successful testers. Apply to all schools you meet the minimum requirements for that you think you'd enjoy attending and then choose the one that's been around the longest or has cheapest tuition (or any of the public schools if you can pull that off).

 

[jaguar33]

Looks like you are a good applicant, but just a heads up about CUSOM. Supposedly the dean wont interview anyone with a GPA under 3.2 so you might have to do a few more retakes to be above that cutoff

 

[Moose A Moose]

Bump up your GPA with retakes and aim high on the MCAT. Gotta put yourself ahead of the pack. You're not out of the race.

 

[referee3]

Like others have said your major weakness is your GPA. Get that up and you're good. Also you're ec's look weak to me. You seem to have experience in a lot of different areas but have not shown sustained commitment to either volunteering or clinical experience or even research (most undergrads doing research can get 40 hours in 2 days, not sure what you were doing research wise). You have to show adoc so that you can make a long term commitment to something. I would cut back on a few of your ec's and focus on one.

 

[TrueWolverine]

Thanks for the advice everyone. I'll definitely get some more consistent volunteering/shadowing to show some commitment. I'm hoping to ace my classes this semester (all upper division bio) and then I have a retake this summer (gen chem 2) to get my GPA up. @jaguar33 that's what I had heard about CUSOM so I'm glad you reinforced it. Oh and by the way I'm not super crazy about research so I'm not too worried about making it a selling point on my app.

With all of this advice and after doing some more reading, I have another question. My original plan was to take the MCAT this fall (September) and apply Spring 2016. After this semester I will have all my pre reqs done (with lots of upper bio and I'm taking biochem and immunology this summer). My question is...would I be hurting myself if I take the MCAT a month or two sooner and apply later this year? Or should I just stick to the original plan and use the time to increase my chances (take anatomy and physiology and get more shadowing and volunteering)? Trying not to be impatient but man it would be sweet to be in a year sooner.

 

[Moose A Moose]

Stick to the original plan.

 

[Higherprimate]

Hey I go to UVU, I graduate after this semester and will be matriculating into KCUMB. If you have any questions or need to chat let me know. I am in the SB all day everyday.

 

[evooo8]

I have one acceptance with similar stats but I applied late, not complete until September, 3.16 cGPA 3.35 sGPA and 25 MCAT, your ECs look a little better than mine. I admit I had REALLY good DO and MD letters lol. Do good on the MCAT and apply broadly and you stand a chance.