D.O. school chances? 3.53 cGPA, ~3.4 sGPA/bcpm

[AspiringDoctor0]

Hi everyone,
On the basis of my cGPA and sGPA alone, I already know I'm not competitive to get into UNC-Chapel Hill and Wake Forest, even though I would be considered a resident state applicant, so I have pretty much set my sight on DO school. I feel like my GPAs are currently strong for a lot of D.O. schools, and after I finish preparing for the MCAT, I should score in the low 30s come June.

My ECs are okay as far as what adcoms are looking for: 50 hours of shadowing family doctor, pediatrician, GI; writing tutor for my college (1 year), volunteered at a food pantry and set up a food drive through a church; volunteer middle school english tutor; 1 year of research at my college (no publications); a few clubs here and there; academic mentor (1 semester); played piano for 11 years (1 year at my college); and 100 hours volunteering in the ER last summer (about 9 hours each week, Thursdays and Fridays).

I guess what I'm concerned about is a down trend in my grades. I started out strong my freshmen and sophomore years (ended with a 3.76 GPA over that span). My junior year I ended up taking on too much, and I wasn't prepared at all mentally for how hard physics, microbiology and physiology would be all in one semester, in between working 6 hours for the school, doing research, and taking private piano lessons (I know, pretty stupid to try and do so much). I ended up getting a C in physics, a C- in micro, and a C in physio--I pretty much gave up near the end because I felt that my hopes for medical school were 100% shot. Next semester I took a lighter course load and ended up getting all Bs, which brought my cGPA down to a 3.43.

This year I managed a 4.0 1st semester (re-took physio and got an A), which seems great considering I was upward trending from my junior year disaster and brought my GPA up to a 3.52. But this semester I found out that I made B+s in both cell biology and statistics, as well as a 1 credit course that is part of my biology major. I made As in my other two general courses, but even if I make an A in the spanish class I plan to take over the summer, my GPA will only be about a 3.53 (my sGPA about a 3.39-3.4)

So my main concern is, how will D.O. school adcoms look at this? Will my below average performance in my final semester raise a red flag? I have heard that it hurts applicants if their grades take any downward trends throughout college. Thanks for the input.

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[FrkyBgStok]

You should be OK. You aren't downward trending a lot. your cgpa barely above average, and your sgpa barely below average (i think it is about 3.47ish for both) makes you an average candidate. If your ECs are where they need to be and you get a 27+ on the mcat, you will likely get multiple acceptances.

 

[AspiringDoctor0]

You should be OK. You aren't downward trending a lot. your cgpa barely above average, and your sgpa barely below average (i think it is about 3.47ish for both) makes you an average candidate. If your ECs are where they need to be and you get a 27+ on the mcat, you will likely get multiple acceptances.

Thanks for the reply. I have worked hard throughout college, it's just that I seem to have trouble keeping up with the notes in classes where that's imperative to making an A on exams. Maybe biology was not the right major for me, but then again, I would hate medical school if that were the case. And I never really took many APs in high school, and none of them were in the sciences. In my last year I actually changed my mind about going nto music and decided I wanted to go premed. That may also be why I tend to struggle to ace the upper level science classes.