- Joined
- Aug 15, 2016
- Messages
- 25
- Reaction score
- 40
Hey guys!
This is my first post, so please be nice, for I'm already so ashamed of my awful academic record. I'm having a very difficult time applying to medical schools. I went to UMichigan for undergrad and did awful. My dad was diagnosed with cancer and died and with a slew of other problems, I struggled academically.
I went to Johns Hopkins for graduate schools where I took 48 credits of science/public health/clinical studies. I graduated with a 3.7 c and sGPA, however, my overall cGPA is a 2.75 still. I'd have to take years more classes to raise my cumulative GPA to above a 3.0, along with my science GPA.
I don't pass the screening requirements for many schools, including DO. I've reached out to admissions committees but half of them have said that their GPA minimums are hard requirements and that they don't make any exceptions.
I have outstanding extracurriculars. I've done 4 years of clinical research (IVF clinical and National Center for Patient Safety Fellowship), I have great letters of rec (2 Hopkins profs/MDs, a pharmacist I work with, my research PI, research co-sponsor, the camp director of a cancer camp I've spent my summers at for the past 10 years and help run, my academic advisor, and an anesthesiology DO). I did a summer program at Harvard Med. I have 18,000 clinical hours between working in healthcare, research, and volunteering, 7,000 non-clinical, and ~100 shadowing hours. I will be published by the end of the year as a primary author and am co-authoring several other papers, however, these will have to be on update letters, not my primary app. I am NOT an UMR, but I am SES disadvantaged and a first gen.
I take my MCAT 7/18 (been canceled 4 times now), but shooting for a 515 (I've been scoring much higher on practice exams).
I truly feel I have done everything in my power to make myself applicable for medical schools. I have a strong, cohesive story that highlights my drive for medicine and thousands of hours to back this up. At this point, I'm heartbroken that I'm not even receiving secondaries from DO schools. Besides my GPA, I feel as if my application is very solid and I honestly don't know what else to do to build it up.
I'm obviously applying to all of the GPA "forgiving" schools (ones that look at your most recent grades), but those are far and few between.
What do I do?
This is my first post, so please be nice, for I'm already so ashamed of my awful academic record. I'm having a very difficult time applying to medical schools. I went to UMichigan for undergrad and did awful. My dad was diagnosed with cancer and died and with a slew of other problems, I struggled academically.
I went to Johns Hopkins for graduate schools where I took 48 credits of science/public health/clinical studies. I graduated with a 3.7 c and sGPA, however, my overall cGPA is a 2.75 still. I'd have to take years more classes to raise my cumulative GPA to above a 3.0, along with my science GPA.
I don't pass the screening requirements for many schools, including DO. I've reached out to admissions committees but half of them have said that their GPA minimums are hard requirements and that they don't make any exceptions.
I have outstanding extracurriculars. I've done 4 years of clinical research (IVF clinical and National Center for Patient Safety Fellowship), I have great letters of rec (2 Hopkins profs/MDs, a pharmacist I work with, my research PI, research co-sponsor, the camp director of a cancer camp I've spent my summers at for the past 10 years and help run, my academic advisor, and an anesthesiology DO). I did a summer program at Harvard Med. I have 18,000 clinical hours between working in healthcare, research, and volunteering, 7,000 non-clinical, and ~100 shadowing hours. I will be published by the end of the year as a primary author and am co-authoring several other papers, however, these will have to be on update letters, not my primary app. I am NOT an UMR, but I am SES disadvantaged and a first gen.
I take my MCAT 7/18 (been canceled 4 times now), but shooting for a 515 (I've been scoring much higher on practice exams).
I truly feel I have done everything in my power to make myself applicable for medical schools. I have a strong, cohesive story that highlights my drive for medicine and thousands of hours to back this up. At this point, I'm heartbroken that I'm not even receiving secondaries from DO schools. Besides my GPA, I feel as if my application is very solid and I honestly don't know what else to do to build it up.
I'm obviously applying to all of the GPA "forgiving" schools (ones that look at your most recent grades), but those are far and few between.
What do I do?
I will need to do a second bachelor’s degree to raise my gpa to 3.2. 
