Medical Have I reinvented myself in SMP?

[Goro]

Hello and thank you in advance for this service. As the title suggests I am a reapplicant and I have taken 2 gap years since my last application. My first cycle I was waitlisted at a MidWestern DO school and did not get off the waitlist.

1. cGPA and sGPA as calculated by AMCAS or AACOMAS

Undergrad: Graduated from Miami University in 2015 microbiology major, neuroscience minor, cGPA 3.1 sGPA 2.99 (this is how it appeared on my first application of AMCAS). I took a 4 credit hour anatomy class last fall and got an A so I believe that should bump my sGPA to over a 3.0.

Graduate: Graduated from Rush University in 2017 MS in Medical Lab Science cGPA 3.8 sGPA 3.8.

SMP first semester: Set to graduate from the University of Cincinnati SMP program spring 2021. First semester GPA 3.89. Courses included Professional Development in Medicine, Graduate Physiology, Fundamentals of Molecular Medicine (taken with the UCCOM M1 students and scored 5% higher than med average), Fundamentals of Cellular Medicine (also taken with the UCCOM M1 students, scored 10% better than the med average). With a grade breakdown respectively of A, A, A-, and A. With the same amount of hard work put in, I presume that I will do as good or better the second semester.

1. MCAT score(s) and breakdown

MCAT 2014: 22 33rd percentile, I rushed into it and tried to take the test before it changed in 2015, this was a poor decision.

MCAT 2018: 505 66th percentile (126,125,128,126). This time I was working full time, volunteering, and did not use the best resources.

MCAT 2019 current score: 516 93rd percentile (128,128,130,130). This time I took some dedicated study time and prepared a strategy that worked for me.

1. State of residence or country of citizenship (if non-US)

I am originally from Ohio and I am an Ohio resident. The first time I applied I was living and working in Illinois and applied as an Illinois resident.

1. Ethnicity and/or race

I am biracial, Caucasian and Indian, which I believe makes me over represented in medicine. My father is West-Indian from South America, I don’t know how many doctors come from Guyana, however I still think I would be classified as over represented.

1. Clinical experience (volunteer and non-volunteer)

Child life volunteer in the oncology ward of a children’s hospital: 170 hours

Inpatient tutor at different children’s hospital: 100 hours, started to do virtual tutoring through Microsoft teams when the pandemic hit.

MEDLIFE trip to Peru: 100 hours following traveling clinic

1. Research experience and productivity

Master’s project and thesis: 300 hours: researched and tested FDA and non-FDA approved methods of detecting antibiotic resistant enterobacteriaceae.

Undergrad student research: 150 hours: learned and implemented fundamentals of molecular genetic techniques in bacteria.
Capstone in SMP program: TBD

1. Shadowing experience and specialties represented

Family Med: 12 hours with PCP (stopped due to Covid).
Pathology: 24 hours
Emergency Med: 20 hours
Heme/Onc: 6 hours

1. Non-clinical volunteering

Run away center for endangered youth: 40 hours (cut off by pandemic)

Volunteer wrestling coach in the inner city of Chicago: 300 hours. I don’t know if I should include this with non-clinical volunteering or with extracurricular activities. My graduate program said that it fulfilled my volunteer hours as a volunteer coach. The school was predominantly underprivileged inner city kids, and for the second season I had to take over duties as head coach for over half the season.

1. Hobbies

My wife and I enjoy rock climbing. We are working up the skills to move from indoor to outdoor climbing. I was thinking of adding this to my application.

1. Relevant honors, awards, and certifications

Graduate program Chairman’s Award: Given to the student who would best represent the values and teachings of the program in the work environment. I presume I got this because I also worked part-time in the lab while in the program.

American Society of Clinical Pathology Honors Student: Awarded upon graduation.

Certified member of the American Society of Clinical Pathology: Passed certification exam in summer of 2017, and recertification every three years afterward.

1. Work Experience

Student lab employee during Grad School: 1840 hours. Worked part-time in setups and processing in the clinical core lab and microbiology lab at the teaching hospital.

Hematology Medical Technologist: 4000 hours. Worked full time in the clinical hematology lab of a large metropolitan teaching hospital.

General Medical Technologist: 900 hours. Working part-time as a general medical technologist in the core lab of a mid-sized community hospital.

1. What has changed since my first time applying.

Increased my MCAT score by 11 points.

Performing above med average in a SMP program with linkage.

Got married to the love of my life.

Moved back to my home state.

Increased my clinical volunteering hours by about 100+ hours.

Got a new non-clinical volunteering opportunity for about 40 hours before it was stopped by Covid.

Got 12 hours of shadowing my PCP before that was stopped by Covid.

1. Questions from me

Have I successfully reinvented myself? WAMC?

Will the work I’ve done make-up for the very mediocre undergraduate and early MCAT performance?

I will be applying to all schools in Ohio. I am looking to start a family soon and would love to be as close to family as possible to help with the kids. Therefore, getting into my linkage program would be a dream. If that does not happen, what would be the best school list including the MidWest and general Eastern U.S?

Thank you again for this service and happy New Year.

1) Have I successfully reinvented myself? WAMC?
If you maintain the success that you've shown in the first semester of the SMP, then yes.

2) Will the work I’ve done make-up for the very mediocre undergraduate and early MCAT performance?
Yes. That's the whole point of reinvention

3) I will be applying to all schools in Ohio.
Chances for MD always best with your state schools, especially with U Cincy

4) Therefore, getting into my linkage program would be a dream. If that does not happen, what would be the best school list including the MidWest and general Eastern U.S?

Dartmouth
BU
Pitt
Mayo
Mt Sinai
EVMS
Hofstra
Emory
Jefferson
Drexel
Albany
Tufts
NYMC
Rush
Loyola
Rosy Franklin
Wake
MCW
SLU
Creighton
Wayne State
Netter
NYU.LI
Any DO program. Include UNECOM if you’re from the NE, OSUCOM if you’re from the Plains states and PacNW if you’re from that region. I can't recommend Nova, BCOM, ICOM and LUCOM, for different reasons. MSUCOM? Read up on Larry Nasser and you decide. LMU has an accreditation warning, which concerns me. CUHS is too new and appears to be too limited in rotations sites.

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[TheBoneDoctah]

Wow thanks for the quick reply around a holiday Goro! I am surprised that some of the schools that I presume are higher tier (such as Emory, Pitt, and Mayo) are on the list. Would you consider certain outside state schools around me to be donations? For instance last time I applied, I applied to most if not all schools in Ohio, Michigan, Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania. Excluding top tier schools like Michigan, NW, and University of Chicago. Were applications to places like Central Michigan, for example, donations?

Thanks again.

Nice job thus far! If you can finish off this second semester of your SMP with high marks I see a good outcome coming your way. Make sure when applying you do throw some DO schools into the mix.

 

[Catalystik]

@Catalystik
The Chairman’s Award was awarded to one of the top performing students who would best represent the teachings and values of the program in the work environment. I think this reflects my journey because after my very mediocre undergraduate performance, I decided to go to graduate school. I knew I needed to improve as a student if I wanted to apply to medical school, and I wanted a job to grow as a professional. I went into the program knowing I needed a complete overhaul in my study strategies. The hard work put in over two years resulted in me getting a job at the hospital I rotated at and receiving the Chairman’s Award for being one of the top performing students. Receiving the award and the job showed that my change in mindset and study strategy was working.

I would possibly expand on this in a most meaningful experience by: showing that doing well in this program and subsequently by being a good employee after the program, I grew into a better academic and professional. This can be seen now by my faculty mentors in the SMP program. One said, “you have been at this awhile and it shows”. The setbacks that lead to this unconventional journey were necessary in order to make this happen. Six years of work and school post undergrad has transformed me into a completely different applicant, and I believe a better future physician. The most meaningful expansion on this might not be necessary, however as you know 700 characters is not much.

As I said in your experiences section forum, I talk mostly about my drive to be a physician into my PS. I am looking for a place in the experiences section to talk about the unconventional journey that brought me to this point. Do you think talking about this journey would be appropriate in this award section? Or do you have any advice for another section to put this in (possibly a section talking about the SMP)?

Thanks!

I think this award would be suitably listed under Awards/Honors in the AMCAS experiences section. If you choose to include a 1325 character MM essay in addition (though you might be able to squeeze it into the original 700 characters with some effort), that might be a place to mention the impact (due to improved self confidence/better study strategies/grit & determination, or whatever) was your further demonstration of academic excellence in the SMP.

Keep in mind that many Secondary essay prompts ask you to discuss, "A challenge and how you overcame it," "A stress and how you managed it," or an opportunity to explain past academic mediocrity. You might check on Ohio schools particularly (essays are 95% the same from year to year) and save something for that. SDN's School Specific Forum generally lists the essays somewhere on the first page of each school's dedicated thread.