Medical How should I move forward? Should I do an SMP?

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Goro

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Hello, I am a previous medical school applicant from Texas. I just received a rejection notice from the UNTHSC medical sciences program, and would like guidance regarding my next steps. Here is more about me.

  1. Undergraduate School and degree - UT Austin class of 2018, BS in chemistry
  2. cGPA and sGPA - 3.15, 3.16
    1. I had an upward trend my last 3 years, but the highest my GPA reached was a 3.5. My GPA my first year was a 2.1.
  3. MCAT - taken 4 times, most recent score is a 504 (older scores are 499, 500, 498)
    1. I have continued to have troubles with the MCAT and would like a higher score, but understand that with this many attempts that I am walking an extremely thin line with any further retakes.
  4. Clinical experience
    1. 800 hours as an ER scribe
    2. 400 hours working in primary care
  5. Research experience
    1. 400 hours in neuroscience research
  6. Shadowing experience
    1. 40 hours in primary care
  7. Volunteering
    1. 200 hours teaching underserved youth
  8. Other activities
    1. I have worked as a grade school tutor for 300 hours, teaching mathematics
  9. Relevant awards
    1. 1st Place in HOSA competition in college. We competed in public health
Other Information - I am an ORM and a 2nd generation college student. I wanted to seriously become a doctor in my junior year of college. In the years since my graduation, I have done research in neuroscience and worked as an ER scribe, as mentioned above.

I would like to improve upon my GPA, which is why I applied to the SMP at UNT. I would like some input regarding if I should continue to apply to SMPs, apply to medical schools this year, or perhaps change my career path. I would appreciate further direction regarding other SMPs I could apply to.

I applied to all of the medical schools in Texas last year and received no interview invites. If I were to apply this year, I would apply to MD and DO schools across the US, and would appreciate help in determining a list of schools to submit to. Thank you, I greatly appreciate any help.
Given your weakness in the MCAT, I can't recommend any more retakes. You've plateaued out.
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I agree, you're locked in as a low-500s applicants on the MCAT. You need to apply to your regional DO schools. What is surprising to me is that you claim 40 hours of shadowing. It is smart that you applied to the SMP, and hopefully you will hear back from them or others where you have applied. Perhaps you need a little more shadowing too?

So I shadowed for 40 hours at same primary care clinic that I ended up working at. They had a job opening in the front office and I got the job. After I got the job though, I worked in the front office and I couldn't really shadow the doctors anymore.

I'm not sure if I can count my hours spent scribing as shadowing, as I'm only with the doctors during their initial encounters. I'll look into more shadowing opportunities and continue to apply to SMPs. Thank you for the advice.
 
Thank you for directing me to your earlier post. I will continue to apply to SMPs, but I am wondering if I should apply to the newer DO schools. Could you recommend me DO schools to apply to? I am thinking of applying to SHSUCOM which opened this past year, and UIWSOM in Texas. Thank you again.
I can't recommend any school that hasn't graduated a class yet because:
They take time to gel and deliver their curriculum
Their clinic education sites can very well disappear or change drastically by the time you get to OMSIII
Support systems for struggling students are weaker than at established schools
Clinical advising for GME os is usually weaker as well
Grads are an unknown commodity to PDs
 
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