Hey everyone, I attached a PDF of my grades from undergrad (UCSB class of 2020) and a DIY post bacc (UCLA Extension) calculated through medicalschoolhq.net online tool. I did not do well in the first half of undergrad by any means because I was fooling around, but I turned my academic performance around during third year and finished the rest of college very strong. I have two F’s and two D’s on my transcript which I re-took and passed with a B or better the second time around.
As of right now, I haven't taken the MCAT yet and I am not in a rush to apply to medical school but I'd like to apply in 2022. I want to make sure I get a very solid score on the MCAT and hold off on applying until I get as competitive as possible.
At UCSB, I messed up pretty bad in o chem so I was not able to finish the series at UCSB. However, I finished the full o chem series at UCLA Extension this past Summer and Fall quarters. I finished all the pre-reqs for medical school, but my stellar performance senior year and post bacc were not enough to salvage my GPA, so it looks pretty bad at first glance.
During my 4 years at UCSB I was able to...
1) Rack up 360 hours of research in a Vision lab and got a publication in the UCSB Undergraduate research journal. I did 120 hours of research for a different lab too, but that didn't lead to a publication or anything, so I'd have 480 hours of research total.
2) 50 hours of emergency room volunteering
3) 200 hours of teaching hot yoga at CorePower Yoga with the official certifications
4) Fundraising chair for professional business fraternity
After graduating UCSB, I finished the o chem series (look at the GPA PDF) and got a job as a medical assistant and medical scribe at the same internal medicine clinic. I've racked up 900 hours at work so far (750 as scribe and 150 as medical assistant) and pretty much plan on working until I get into school so I'll have nearly 4,000 hours of work by then. I also plan on getting my phlebotomy and EKG technician certifications so I can perform some of those duties outside of my usual scribe and MA work to beef up my experience.
This is also kind of random, but I have a YouTube channel that has 1.3K subscribers and 77 videos of healthy cooking recipes and other random travel videos.
I'm currently studying for my EMT exam and hope to join my county's Search and Rescue and get more volunteer hours with my church.
I have no shadowing hours but I will ask the doctor at my clinic if he knows of any physicians I can shadow.
I haven’t taken any of the traditional upper division bio courses (biochem, genetics, anatomy, etc.) and only have done a few upper division neuroscience courses (which I got A’s in).
As for letters of recommendation, I can get one from my research PI that I got the publication with and I can also get a solid letter of recommendation from the doctor I am working under. I don't have any science professors that I feel close enough to ask from my time at UCSB so that isn't good. I might take one more science class at a community college or something so I can get a science professor letter of recommendation, but I think the letters from my work experience will prove to be a much more accurate and detailed testament to my character.
That was a lot of information and pretty much my life story these past 4 years, but please let me know what everyone thinks I should do here on out to improve my chances of getting into medical school. I'm feeling a little discouraged these days but give it to me straight. WAMC? Do I need to take more classes? No more classes and just focus on MCAT?
I'd like to go to a medical school in California, but that might be totally out of the question now. I am open to DO schools and applying to lower tier MD schools anywhere in the United States. Please give me some potential schools I can look at!
Please let me know, any feedback is greatly appreciated! Stay happy, healthy, positive and encouraged through these trying times!!
As of right now, I haven't taken the MCAT yet and I am not in a rush to apply to medical school but I'd like to apply in 2022. I want to make sure I get a very solid score on the MCAT and hold off on applying until I get as competitive as possible.
At UCSB, I messed up pretty bad in o chem so I was not able to finish the series at UCSB. However, I finished the full o chem series at UCLA Extension this past Summer and Fall quarters. I finished all the pre-reqs for medical school, but my stellar performance senior year and post bacc were not enough to salvage my GPA, so it looks pretty bad at first glance.
During my 4 years at UCSB I was able to...
1) Rack up 360 hours of research in a Vision lab and got a publication in the UCSB Undergraduate research journal. I did 120 hours of research for a different lab too, but that didn't lead to a publication or anything, so I'd have 480 hours of research total.
2) 50 hours of emergency room volunteering
3) 200 hours of teaching hot yoga at CorePower Yoga with the official certifications
4) Fundraising chair for professional business fraternity
After graduating UCSB, I finished the o chem series (look at the GPA PDF) and got a job as a medical assistant and medical scribe at the same internal medicine clinic. I've racked up 900 hours at work so far (750 as scribe and 150 as medical assistant) and pretty much plan on working until I get into school so I'll have nearly 4,000 hours of work by then. I also plan on getting my phlebotomy and EKG technician certifications so I can perform some of those duties outside of my usual scribe and MA work to beef up my experience.
This is also kind of random, but I have a YouTube channel that has 1.3K subscribers and 77 videos of healthy cooking recipes and other random travel videos.
I'm currently studying for my EMT exam and hope to join my county's Search and Rescue and get more volunteer hours with my church.
I have no shadowing hours but I will ask the doctor at my clinic if he knows of any physicians I can shadow.
I haven’t taken any of the traditional upper division bio courses (biochem, genetics, anatomy, etc.) and only have done a few upper division neuroscience courses (which I got A’s in).
As for letters of recommendation, I can get one from my research PI that I got the publication with and I can also get a solid letter of recommendation from the doctor I am working under. I don't have any science professors that I feel close enough to ask from my time at UCSB so that isn't good. I might take one more science class at a community college or something so I can get a science professor letter of recommendation, but I think the letters from my work experience will prove to be a much more accurate and detailed testament to my character.
That was a lot of information and pretty much my life story these past 4 years, but please let me know what everyone thinks I should do here on out to improve my chances of getting into medical school. I'm feeling a little discouraged these days but give it to me straight. WAMC? Do I need to take more classes? No more classes and just focus on MCAT?
I'd like to go to a medical school in California, but that might be totally out of the question now. I am open to DO schools and applying to lower tier MD schools anywhere in the United States. Please give me some potential schools I can look at!
Please let me know, any feedback is greatly appreciated! Stay happy, healthy, positive and encouraged through these trying times!!
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