Help With DO School List (And Possibly MD)

[EvanHansenFan]

Year in school: Junior at a public college in CT. Majoring in Biology.

• Country/state of residence: CT
• Schools to which you are applying: Help needed!
• Cumulative GPA: ~3.8
• Science GPA: ~3.8
• AO GPA: 4.0
• MCAT Scores: 497 (balanced)
• Research – include any abstracts/posters/publications and how you were credited (eg. First author, senior author, etc): Started research end of freshman year. Have 2 poster presentations done so far (one at a local med school) and a first-author publication, low-tier journal. Have upwards of 500 hours and counting.
• Volunteering (clinical) – include hours/sites: 250 hours hospital volunteering program, 200 hours volunteer EMT.
• Physician shadowing – include hours/specialties: 100 hours total: 20 hours internal medicine, 20 hours cardiology, 20 hours adult primary care, and 40 hours respiratory and critical care medicine. Will get letter of rec from respiratory and critical care physician. No DO shadowing done as there are not many in my state. However, I know a lot about OMT and can talk about my passion for this in terms of the holistic approach to improving and preventing ailments.
• Non-clinical volunteering: Volunteer Chess instructor through college team (130 hours), Outreach coordinator to educate middle and high schools students about opportunities to engage in STEM careers (75 hours). Work mainly with underserved and first-generation college students for both activities.
• Extracurricular activities: Competitive Chess player and Violin player.
• Employment history: 6 months International Orientation Ambassador at my college, 4 months intern at Boehringer Ingelheim (one of the top pharmaceutical companies).
• Immediate family members in medicine? (y/n): Nope! Hope to be the first physician in my family!
• Specialty of interest: Primary Care
• Interest in rural health (y/n): Yes!

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[Davidfromcali]

A sub 500 on the mcat is going to likely limit you to some of the newest and unestablished DO schools. Have you thought of retaking? A 500-505 score could really make a difference

 

[deleted936470]

Strongly recommend MCAT retake especially since you're only a junior - even just a few points would significantly increase your competitiveness. Otherwise, target osteopathic schools that have opened within the last few years and be sure to add VCOM.

 

[EvanHansenFan]

Thank you both!

I know LECOM uses what is known as an AIS Score ( which taken into account college GPA and ACT scores (which I got a 33/36 on).

I will be applying to LECOM, but any other schools you can suggest will be very helpful!

 

[deleted936470]

ARCOM
ACOM
UIWSOM
BCOM
NYIT-Arkansas
PCOM-Georgia
VCOM - all 4 branches
KYCOM Pikeville
WVSOM
LECOM-Bradenton

you could consider ICOM, LMUCOM and WCUCOM but I personally wouldn’t.

 

[EvanHansenFan]

Thanks!

With the USMLE now becoming P/F, do you think DO's will struggle to find residency placement?

I am not trying to go into very competitive specialties (like dermatology). I would love to go into primary care.

 

[deleted936470]

Thanks!

With the USMLE now becoming P/F, do you think DO's will struggle to find residency placement?

I am not trying to go into very competitive specialties (like dermatology). I would love to go into primary care.

No.

 

[EvanHansenFan]

Thanks! @Faha do you have any suggestions?

 

[Faha]

Thanks! @Faha do you have any suggestions?

You should retake the MCAT since your GPAs indicate you should score much higher. Do not retake until your practice scores are consistently above 507.

 

[gyngyn]

This thread can be followed here: Retake MCAT, or apply broadly to MD+DO?