Do I even have a chance?

[Mikaila700]

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I'm a senior with one more semester to go before I graduate and I'm thinking about applying in the next cycle. I say "thinking" because my stats are not great. Please keep in mind that my interest in medicine developed late in my college career

• Current GPA: 3.35 (I'm a transfer student at my current institution; my GPA at my first institution was 2.73 and I earned 3.55 from taking some classes at a community college)
• MCAT: 30 (PS 9, VR 10, BS 11)
• Volunteering: currently a volunteer at a cancer center (56 hours so far); have volunteered at the county medical examiner's office and the local science museum (for a few months each), went on a medical mission trip to Belize for a week
• Research: will be starting as a research trainee at the cancer center next month. Also will be doing research at my university as part of my coursework
• Employment: worked as a general chemistry tutor at my university for 1.5 years
• Shadowing: shadowing a primary care physician while on break a couple of times a week (for a few hours a day); shadowed an endocrinologist for a couple weeks last year (a few hours each day

All of the schools in applying to are in Florida: several MD programs and a couple of DO programs. But honestly, do I even stand a chance of getting into any of them?

 

[Exmachina]

Yeah definitely you have a chance! Maybe try to get a couple points higher on the mcat or get the gpa up.

Also, get involved? What extra-curriculars are you into?

 

[AlbinoHawk DO]

MD? Unlikely. DO? Possible. I say this because you're sticking to FL only.

 

[Doug Underhill]

Your stats are OK for DO, but you seem really cookie cutter at the moment: get out of your comfort zone and show your dedication to medicine.

 

[rodmichael82]

MD? Unlikely. DO? Possible. I say this because you're sticking to FL only.

I agree. OP, Your stats are significantly below average for MD schools and you're not applying broadly. Another issue is when did you take the community college classes? if you used community college to increase your GPA at the end of your academic career then that will be a problem for MD schools. However, DO schools will not care that much.
You have really good stats for DO schools. However, if you want to get into a MD school apply to > 30 schools and even then you might not get in. You might have to take a post-bacc or SMP program. Get a GPA > 3.6 in those programs.

You also need to get significantly more clinical experience (shadowing and volunteering with a primary care physician). Your clinical experience is not enough and will be a problem at some schools.

 

[DoctorSynthesis]

MD? Unlikely. DO? Possible. I say this because you're sticking to FL only.

Florida state schools are actually OPs best bet. That and nsucom/LECOM b

 

[AlbinoHawk DO]

Florida state schools are actually OPs best bet. That and nsucom/LECOM b

It's pretty borderline for NSU. I've seen people rejected with those stats. LECOM-B is much more likely.

 

[Mikaila700]

Yeah definitely you have a chance! Maybe try to get a couple points higher on the mcat or get the gpa up.

Also, get involved? What extra-curriculars are you into?

Mostly, I'm involved in my school's chapter of Alpha Epsilon Delta and Skull & Bones (my school's student organization for pre-health professions). This year I'm also on the committee planning the Relay for Life on campus

 

[Mikaila700]

Your stats are OK for DO, but you seem really cookie cutter at the moment: get out of your comfort zone and show your dedication to medicine.

What do you mean by that? Do you have any suggestions on how I can accomplish this?

 

[Exmachina]

i guess for the "cookie cutter part" a lot of your ec's don't really have an overarching theme. they kinda seem generic but they're not bad.

like for ex, you said that you do cancer research. maybe you should get involved with fundraising for cancer and talk more about that and relay for life.

or you went to belize on a mission trip? why belize? is there something cool you did there? what about belize attracted you? what did you experience? how did you help them? how can you help them now that you're back home?

try to make your ec's connect in a meaningful way and you'll be good to go.

 

[Goro]

For MD schools your GPA is well below avg., and the slightly below. Your ECs are quite weak. You're fine for DO schools but
I don't think you're very competitive for MD schools.