I was a fellow underdog like all of you last year. I had a 3.2science /3.2overall GPA with a28 MCAT. I know that made me a border line underdog, but I was still classified as one per DrHockey's criteria using the
LizzyM method.
I do get how you all are feeling. I remember thinking that I was not going to get a single interview and then I got 10! I attended 7 of the interviews and was accepted at 6. I just started med school at WesternU. I should really be studying anatomy instead of making this post, but my best friend is a fellow underdog like the rest of you and has posted in this thread so I decided to give you all some information about me.
Basic Parts of my Application:
1) UC Davis (Major was Neurobiology, Physiology, and Behavior) Minor in Psychology
2) Upward trending GPA
3) 28 MCAT
4) 3.2 GPA science/ non science
5) 1.5 years of experience as an EMT after graduating
6) I created a project, and had one my Professors help me with.
7) Very little research, but I sold it the best I could in my application
8) Volunteered in Hospitals (Not much though, maybe only 40 hours throughout college)
9) Two Letters of Rec. from DO's (No MD LOR)
10) Rock solid Personal Statement (I went though like 20+ Drafts, best piece of Literature I ever wrote)
That is all I can really think of in terms of my experiences/ qualifications for DO school.
Advice I have for all of you:
1) Be careful in what you submit in your secondaries. Don't write crap just to send it in early. Write the best possible essays that you can. This usually takes a long time, up to several weeks and maybe up to 5-10 drafts. However, once you are done, the essays that you worked on can be used at many different schools.
2) Every secondary should have a long and short version for the requirements for both schools. The long version should be excellent, but the short version must be phenomenal (this is easy to do, just take the best parts out of your long versions.)
3) Don't panic when you are writing your secondaries, try to relax and write about real experiences you had. Real experiences trump fake ones because you usually can talk about them in more detail. Moreover, the more detail you have about a personal event, the more genuine and unique it sounds.
4) Call the schools you have applied to after a week or so. Make sure they have your secondary and have begun reviewing it. For some reason after continually pestering a few schools on the phone, those are the ones I received interviews at. Who knows, maybe it does help.
This is all I have time to write about now. I'll write some more in the next few days. If anyone is interested in my story or wants more details please ask me in this forum or PM me.
. But now it's not 
