Low Stat, High EC App + School List Review :')

[Captain Duckie]

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MCAT:

502 (124/128/124/126)

GPA:

Undergrad BCPM: 3.14 (Strong uptrend)

Undergrad AO: 3.23 (strong uptrend)

Graduate: 3.46 (all BCPM)

T50 undergrad and T50 medical school for MS program. Had < 3.0 cGPA the first two years of undergrad, and 3.5+ the last 2 years.

Research:

6000 hours -> Data Sci research and entrepreneurship. Build a multi-national software company. Did research at both my undergrad and graduate universities. Started in undergrad and worked on this through grad school.

500 hours -> 6mo research work with undergrad uni. Precursor to above entrepreneurship/research project.

Paid employment:

5700 hours -> Financial data scientist and project manager at Fortune 100. Manage about $0.4 billion in assets here. Started working here while in undergrad, and worked full time during grad school as well.

2000 hours -> Restaurant work prior to above position. Worked at least part time the entirety of undergrad.

Community service:

100 hours -> Non clinical, at a long-term care facility I used to work at with the military. Went back after our orders ended.

250 hours -> Board member of local charity. Helped run/organize events, fundraising, etc.

Clinical Hours:

1400 hours -> Humanitarian missions while in the military during COVID-19. Main focus of personal statement. Did full time credit loads while on these missions and maintained 3.5+ GPA.

Military:

2000 hours -> Jet engine mechanic pretty much. Most fun stuff was the active duty humanitarian aid.

Shadowing:

24 hours -> A few surgical specialties.

Intercollegiate Athletics:

200 hours -> Intercollegiate equestrian

Letters of Rec:

Non-science: Professor I did research with in undergrad. Has been a bit of a business advisor as well

Science 1: Immunology professor at MS program's MS/PhD/MD program

Science 2: Phase 1 Assistant Director at MS program's MD program

Non-academic: Director of the charity I work with

Okay now that we've got that out of the way. Schools. I am trying to slim this down to like 20-25 MD programs. Not overly interested in DO if I'm being honest given match rate differences. My current state-school is Indiana Uni. I think I honestly had a rough test date, and dropped quite a bit from my FLs but with my primaries already verified I would rather 'try' this cycle than not. If I need to retake and reapply next cycle I can do that. I know academically, I'm lacking but I stand out nicely on ECs and veteran status. Not interested in the military's MD school.

Cant decide on ETSU because while their military % are great, they seem to only accept OOS from adjacent states, which Indiana is not.

Albany Medical College

Carle Illinois College of Med

Cooper medical school

Creighton University School of Medicine

Drexel University College of Medicine

East Tennessee State Uni (Super military friendly but very not OOS friendly. Worth applying?)

Eastern VA at Old Dominion

George Washington University School of Medicine & Health Sciences

Georgetown University School of Medicine

Indiana University School of Medicine

Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University

Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine

Medical College of Wisconsin

New York Medical College

University of Illinois College of Medicine

 

[Goro]

The MCAT is circling the drain for MD schools, but you're fine for any DO school, including mine.
I suggest:
Loma Linda (only if you are SDA or a very devout Christian)
Belmont University
Alice Walton
MCW
Tulane
IU
Wayne State (maybe)
ETSU/Quillan
MCW (maybe)
Tulane (maybe)
Rush (maybe)
Oakland-B (maybe)
Rosy Franklin (maybe)

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Beggars cannot be choosers, and while you may want to only consider MD schools, it's foolish to neglect DO schools which reward career changers and those with lots of lived experience. I get your concerns, but do you want to be a doctor? You are not in a position to define your terms the way traditional students think they can.

 

[Captain Duckie]

The MCAT is circling the drain for MD schools, but you're fine for any DO school, including mine.
I suggest:
Loma Linda (only if you are SDA or a very devout Christian)
Belmont University
Alice Walton
MCW
Tulane
IU
Wayne State (maybe)
ETSU/Quillan
MCW (maybe)
Tulane (maybe)
Rush (maybe)
Oakland-B (maybe)
Rosy Franklin (maybe)

I threw out apps to Creighton, Loyola, and Carle yesterday and got secondaries for all 3 today. IU and Eastern VA I'm waiting on LoR for and then I'll toss apps that way.

Given my original plan was a longer MCAT prep window and apply next cycle, I decided to only apply to these 5, since they're all a good 'fit' from an EC standpoint. If I get lucky, I get lucky. If not, I only have to mark 5 as reapply next year.