PreMed206!
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- Joined
- Sep 5, 2020
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Hello, I have posted on SDN quite a few times and have appreciated the honest feedback.
First, I am currently 15 days away from graduating with my BA in English: Literature and a minor in General Biology. I have a Cumulative GPA of 3.43 (adjusted for an F I received my freshman year). My sGPA is a 3.25 because of a few bad grades in my freshman year Math courses. I had taken my MCAT and received a 519 on it (which honestly shocked me). My subpar GPA is because in my Freshman year, I lost my father and great aunt (both of whom I was very close), and the following semester I was getting sued by my aunt for something about property and inheritance (I don't know if this a unique circumstance or not). So that year messed me up. I took my second year and tried to stay away from BCPM courses so these events wouldn't hinder my grades further. Which seemed to work; none of the BCPM courses were resummed until my junior year. Here is my yearly GPA for each of the four years I have been an undergrad. Freshman: (1.8 & 2.75); Sophomore: (3.01 & 3.75) Junior: (3.83 & 3.81); Senior (3.67), I am in the process of finishing up finals, and it should be anywhere from a 3.65-3.74 range for this final semester. My average semester had 20 credits. My Major GPA (just my lit courses is 3.74); my minor GPA (just Biology: will end at between 3.82 to 3.85)
In order, my BCPM courses were:
Freshman Year:
Fall 2018: College Algebra / Geometry / Trig course combined into one: F (4 credits); retook in the winter for a B-
Spring 2019: Pre-Calc: C (3 credits)
Junior Year:
Fall 2020: General Chem I & Lab: A & A- (3 and 1 credit(s) respectively); Physics for Pre-Health (4 credits) Pass (was going to be a B)
Winter 2021: General Biology I & Lab: A- & A ( 3 and 1 credit(s))
Spring 2021: General Biology II & Lab: A & A (3 and 1 credit(s)); General Chemistry II & Lab: A- & A- (3 and 1 credit(s)); Physics II for Pre-Health 4 Credits A
Summer 2021: Orgo I: B+ (5 credits); Orgo II: Dropped (W) - I felt it wasn't wise to cram and risk damaging my GPA further if it didn't work out.
Senior Year:
Fall 2021: General Physiology: A (4 credits); Orgo II: B- (5 credits)
Winter 2022: Cell Biochemistry: A (4 credits) - it was normal biochem but with a few extra chapters geared more toward biology
Spring 2022: Microbiology: most likely a B to B+ in the course (4 credits); Intro to Statistics: in between a B+ and an A- (4 credits); Healthcare Law & Ethics: likely an A (4 credits).
My Pre-Med advisor said I am a unique case for her primarily because of everything that happened my freshman year. She said she has sent people to MD and DO schools with worse stats than mine. But she also said that she mentioned my situation to a few of her friends/ colleagues who were on ADCOMS and would hold that first year to a lesser standard because of my circumstances and that that "F" would likely be overlooked because of the "B-". From what I gathered from our conversation it depends on who looks at my application and that I have a decent case because of the constant improvement each year and that almost all of my science courses were in my last two years of undergrad. - Additionally, my micro professor said she wants to write one of my LOR because she believes that despite not being an A student, I, in her eyes, was the hardest working in the class this semester which impressed her; I also have a physician who I have been working with for a while now who wants to write one for me.
My ECs:
120 hours - teaching assistant
65 hours - soup kitchen
120 hours - shadowing
100 hours - research
250 hours - hospital volunteering (directly seeing and interacting with patients)
University Pre-Med club
Worked in retail & food service (honestly, It helps with getting more comfortable with people and how to speak to them).
I also got a position through my undergrad with my local hospital where they are trying to create a medical journal, and they want me on that team to help them create it (I have no idea what the details are yet, as I am not to start until mid-June)
Now that I have everything out in the air, I wondered if anyone could offer me advice on what to do? I have plenty of DO schools on my list. I am a NY state resident, so many of my list is NY (SUNYs and NYCM + Albany) schools minus NYU, Columbia, and Cornell; I doubt I would get in there in my wildest dreams. My Pre-Med advisor said I should go right for applications next cycle as I was planning to take a gap year and try to get a more active role in my local hospital, gain more shadowing experience and more clinical experience. Personally, I have no big preference for MD vs DO particularly as I have been told that I am not pursuing extremely competitive specialties (Anesthesia or PM&R or IM - just what interests me currently), I don't know how competitive they are or not, but that's what my advisor had told me.
Overall, I wondered if anyone could give me their opinions and views on my future application? Does what my advisor mentioned about it, depending on who views my application, have any merit or truth towards it? She has given me mostly good advice but some questionable advice at times.
I thank you in advance, and I value all the feedback that I am given.
All the best,
First, I am currently 15 days away from graduating with my BA in English: Literature and a minor in General Biology. I have a Cumulative GPA of 3.43 (adjusted for an F I received my freshman year). My sGPA is a 3.25 because of a few bad grades in my freshman year Math courses. I had taken my MCAT and received a 519 on it (which honestly shocked me). My subpar GPA is because in my Freshman year, I lost my father and great aunt (both of whom I was very close), and the following semester I was getting sued by my aunt for something about property and inheritance (I don't know if this a unique circumstance or not). So that year messed me up. I took my second year and tried to stay away from BCPM courses so these events wouldn't hinder my grades further. Which seemed to work; none of the BCPM courses were resummed until my junior year. Here is my yearly GPA for each of the four years I have been an undergrad. Freshman: (1.8 & 2.75); Sophomore: (3.01 & 3.75) Junior: (3.83 & 3.81); Senior (3.67), I am in the process of finishing up finals, and it should be anywhere from a 3.65-3.74 range for this final semester. My average semester had 20 credits. My Major GPA (just my lit courses is 3.74); my minor GPA (just Biology: will end at between 3.82 to 3.85)
In order, my BCPM courses were:
Freshman Year:
Fall 2018: College Algebra / Geometry / Trig course combined into one: F (4 credits); retook in the winter for a B-
Spring 2019: Pre-Calc: C (3 credits)
Junior Year:
Fall 2020: General Chem I & Lab: A & A- (3 and 1 credit(s) respectively); Physics for Pre-Health (4 credits) Pass (was going to be a B)
Winter 2021: General Biology I & Lab: A- & A ( 3 and 1 credit(s))
Spring 2021: General Biology II & Lab: A & A (3 and 1 credit(s)); General Chemistry II & Lab: A- & A- (3 and 1 credit(s)); Physics II for Pre-Health 4 Credits A
Summer 2021: Orgo I: B+ (5 credits); Orgo II: Dropped (W) - I felt it wasn't wise to cram and risk damaging my GPA further if it didn't work out.
Senior Year:
Fall 2021: General Physiology: A (4 credits); Orgo II: B- (5 credits)
Winter 2022: Cell Biochemistry: A (4 credits) - it was normal biochem but with a few extra chapters geared more toward biology
Spring 2022: Microbiology: most likely a B to B+ in the course (4 credits); Intro to Statistics: in between a B+ and an A- (4 credits); Healthcare Law & Ethics: likely an A (4 credits).
My Pre-Med advisor said I am a unique case for her primarily because of everything that happened my freshman year. She said she has sent people to MD and DO schools with worse stats than mine. But she also said that she mentioned my situation to a few of her friends/ colleagues who were on ADCOMS and would hold that first year to a lesser standard because of my circumstances and that that "F" would likely be overlooked because of the "B-". From what I gathered from our conversation it depends on who looks at my application and that I have a decent case because of the constant improvement each year and that almost all of my science courses were in my last two years of undergrad. - Additionally, my micro professor said she wants to write one of my LOR because she believes that despite not being an A student, I, in her eyes, was the hardest working in the class this semester which impressed her; I also have a physician who I have been working with for a while now who wants to write one for me.
My ECs:
120 hours - teaching assistant
65 hours - soup kitchen
120 hours - shadowing
100 hours - research
250 hours - hospital volunteering (directly seeing and interacting with patients)
University Pre-Med club
Worked in retail & food service (honestly, It helps with getting more comfortable with people and how to speak to them).
I also got a position through my undergrad with my local hospital where they are trying to create a medical journal, and they want me on that team to help them create it (I have no idea what the details are yet, as I am not to start until mid-June)
Now that I have everything out in the air, I wondered if anyone could offer me advice on what to do? I have plenty of DO schools on my list. I am a NY state resident, so many of my list is NY (SUNYs and NYCM + Albany) schools minus NYU, Columbia, and Cornell; I doubt I would get in there in my wildest dreams. My Pre-Med advisor said I should go right for applications next cycle as I was planning to take a gap year and try to get a more active role in my local hospital, gain more shadowing experience and more clinical experience. Personally, I have no big preference for MD vs DO particularly as I have been told that I am not pursuing extremely competitive specialties (Anesthesia or PM&R or IM - just what interests me currently), I don't know how competitive they are or not, but that's what my advisor had told me.
Overall, I wondered if anyone could give me their opinions and views on my future application? Does what my advisor mentioned about it, depending on who views my application, have any merit or truth towards it? She has given me mostly good advice but some questionable advice at times.
I thank you in advance, and I value all the feedback that I am given.
All the best,
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