FL Resident, Application Boost?

[H25S]

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Hey friends I just had a few questions regarding my current medical school situation. I am currently in the process of finishing my BS in Health Sciences at UCF. I am a Florida resident and was curious about a few thing. My GPA is not the best as I've mentioned in past post, currently at a 3.04c, so I am open minded to DO. I do still have about 3-4 semesters left to boost my grades, and am planning on taking the MCAT next year

My main questions were
1) How close to a schools median GPA would you have to be to have a chance at said school. For example UCFCOM has a 3.7+ gap average, how close would be realistic to even bother applying.
2) As far medical schools in Fl, which would be best bet to apply at, and which should I not bother with?
3) Is it worth putting on an application if I am trilingual or that I play multiple instruments?
4) What can I do as far as EC's and Volunteering can I do to boost my app?

As far as the last question. I have been working part time as a medical scribe for a few months now, I have also spent about 80 hours shadowing an MD neurologist, 20 hours with an MD oncologist, and 10 hours with an DO family practice. Have also worked a few part time retail positions and worked as an independent guitar instructor prior to being hired as a scribe.

I know its a lot of questions all over the place but just trying to better understand some thing. Thank you for your time.

 

[Mr. D.O.five]

Also a FL resident and I wouldn't bother applying to FL MD schools with <3.3 GPA unless you 3.8+ your last 40 or so credits and have >507 MCAT. FL schools are getting pretty competitive and the URM status doesn't have that big of an impact in FL since there is a huge amount of diversity in the state.

 

[Papa Oso]

You need volunteering my friend. I have pretty "meh" stats myself and my clinical experience in an underserved communty and volunteering in a children's hospital (2 years) has been sort of my ace. Your most realistic goal is to start thinking about post baccs, do well on your MCAT (at least a 502), and aquire volunteering hours. You need to show by actions that you want to do good and med school admissions love that. You might be able to skip the post bacc if you can raise the GPA to 3.3 either by just acing your last 4 semesters or doing grade replacement. Even with a 3.3 and say a 504, you'd be a long shot for most FL MD schools (and be screened out by UF/UM). Hope this helps.

 

[Doctor_Strange]

Being a FL applicant sucks. It just straight up sucks. To that end, if you end up applying to DO schools you will have to apply out of state. LECOM-B and NOVA are very good schools and get national attention in terms of apps.

Get your name on a paper. I have one and I think it gave me enough of a boost considering my poor MCAT score (GPA and LOR were top notch though mind you).

Finally, unless your sGPA according to AAMC standards hovers around a 3.3 then I would not even bother applying. A GPA near 3.0 unfortunately is simply not competitive. Check out the AAMC data, good stuff in their for you to digest.

Good Luck!

 

[ScottTenorman54]

Being a FL applicant sucks. It just straight up sucks.

how so? FL applicant myself, I've always seen it as a huge plus because there are so many schools where we get to be in-state applicants.

 

[Papa Oso]

I agree with @ScottTenorman54 . I think it's much worse to be from say Cali or NY where everyone applies to and because of this, the schools tend to be ultra-competitive to get in. The instate bias at those places becomes sort of moot. The South likes to keep their own (FL, AL, GA) and tends to prefer their own residents. It cannot be a coincidence that 3/4 of my II so far have been in the south tri-state area.

 

[Doctor_Strange]

If we are strictly talking in terms of DO schools, then being instate has very little weight per NOVA and LECOM-B contacts.

MD speaking, it is still pretty bad. I cannot remember exactly where I read it, but just from a raw numbers perspective, since there are so many applicants from FL, despite the seemingly many schools to apply to, it is just difficult. Certainly Cali and NY are worse.

If we are talking the South, then that's a different conversation all together.

 

[Papa Oso]

Trying to get into one of the FL schools is harder than at most states (the 2 DO schools are pretty competitive as are the MD schools (particularly UF & UM)). If the question is "is it hard to get into a FL school?" then yes it is. If the question is "is it harder being a FL applicant when compared to most states?" I'd say no mostly due to the South liking Floridians (especially ACOM and GA-PCOM for DO schools).

 

[ScottTenorman54]

Ah, so the big premed population pretty much nullifies the benefit of having so many schools. Makes sense, I think I've forgotten just how many premeds we have here. I ought to visit the first day of an undergrad Bio 1 class somewhere to remind myself.

 

[Mr. D.O.five]

Ah, so the big premed population pretty much nullifies the benefit of having so many schools. Makes sense, I think I've forgotten just how many premeds we have here. I ought to visit the first day of an undergrad Bio 1 class somewhere to remind myself.

This. FL has a ton of pre-meds and a lot of URM diversity. Toughest schools to get in are UM (take cream of the crop IS and strong apps OOS) and UF (take cream of the crop IS and almost none OOS and have a small class size). The other FL MD schools also heavily biased towards IS, and also have high-ish stats, save for FSU (which is heavily IS biased and rural mission-based). The DO schools get a TON of apps, and while they have IS majority matriculation, a lot of the strong stat FL people who applied MD and were WL/RJ/applied late use NSU or LECOM as a back up and usually get in near the end of the cycle. It really is tough as an FL resident. Definitely not as tough as Cali, but definitely a tough state to get love as a pre-med.