Epidemiologist to Physician - Applying in the 2026 Cycle

[Bouba]

Hi. Just signed up for SDN and going to get this out of the way 🙂. Planning to apply in the 2026 cycle. I’ve had a very nontraditional journey, and I’m hoping someone out there can relate. I plan to apply to MD and DO. Domestically and internationally (UQ-Ochsner, UAG, WCM-Q, ETC.) Here is some info on myself

Graduated undergrad in 2015 with a cGPA around 2.71 — 2 or 3 science courses. I really struggled early on (more on that below). First gen high school grad. First gen college grad. URM. Finished an MPH in 2020 with a GPA of 3.35, and now I'm in a DIY post-bacc at a community college where I currently have a 3.98 GPA. If everything goes to plan, I’ll end with a BCPM around 3.42. GA resident.

Work/Research (approx. 17,000+ hours total):

• Currently working as an epidemiologist (~5.6k+ hours) - Health education, disease investigation, surveillance, outbreak investigations, diagnostic advice, provide treatment recommendations to clinicians (based on literature)
• Prior state and local public health experience including outbreak investigations, disease surveillance, direct patient testing, and case management (~3.2k+ hours)
• 3 first-author and 4 co-author publications on rare disease case reports
• Extensive applied public health research and data analysis across agencies (~3k+ hours), including Power BI, SAS, SPSS, and program evaluation
• Peace Corps global health work (~ 6k+ hours combined service, including project management, health education, disease surveillance, direct patient interaction, and M\&E)

Volunteering & Clinical (~ 700–800+ hours):

• Clinical/public health volunteering: various roles including health education, HIV counseling, COVID response, and refugee health support (~400+ hours across roles)
• Community and global volunteering: non-clinical volunteer work in many countries (~100–200 hours. not all directly clinical or documented, wasn’t thinking about medical school)
• Physician shadowing ~200 hours. 4 different specialties

Leadership (~1k+ hours):

• Trained multiple epidemiologists and public health folks
• Led grant-funded projects, refugee health initiatives, and national-level data reporting systems
• Peace Corps leadership training and coordination (~1k+ hours cumulative across multiple roles

Upward Trend:

• Freshman year was rough (low 2.0s), sophomore year improved slightly, but by senior year I was regularly pulling As and Bs
• MPH: 3.35 GPA
• Current post-bacc GPA: 3.98, all science courses
• Projected BCPM: 3.42 by end of post-bacc and 2.71 overall
• MCAT: Planning to take it in early 2026. Studying now — no official score yet.

I know my low undergrad GPA will raise questions, but I’ve worked hard to build a story of resilience, professional impact, and academic growth. There are many other things on my resume that I left out as well. Would love any feedback — especially on school lists, narrative building, or ways to strengthen my app (that isn't just kill MCAT haha). Appreciate y’all for taking a look.

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[Faha]

Which URM community are you from ? If you are Hispanic, are you fluent in Spanish ?

 

[Bouba]

Which URM community are you from ? If you are Hispanic, are you fluent in Spanish ?

Thanks for question and reading. African American, male. But am intermediate in Spanish. I took a 3 month long public health course in Mexico (taught in spanish) and have taken week long trips to central America to volunteer. I speak one East African language fluently

 

[Faha]

Thanks for question and reading. African American, male. But am intermediate in Spanish. I took a 3 month long public health course in Mexico (taught in spanish) and have taken week long trips to central America to volunteer. I speak one East African language fluently

Post your MCAT score here in the future. You will be competitive for many DO schools with a MCAT of 500+. You could receive MD interviews with a MCAT of 505+.