shakirafan24
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- Nov 11, 2023
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Hi all,
I am a bit hopeless about my stats so I figured I would try to get others' opinions on this.
I'm a 23 ORM applicant from a state that has no IS medical school at all. I am now 2 years out of college and hoping to apply this upcoming cycle. College was depressing for me because I worked to support myself and I come from a very disadvantaged extended South Asian family (homelessness, drug addiction, poverty, food insecurity, domestic violence, you name it, we have it lol). I went to a very expensive private college with a ton of scholarships so that helped a lot but I still could not afford it so my work hours are high.
Undergrad GPA- 3.08 cGPA, 2.91 sGPA. I graduated a semester early due to costs and finishing my requirements early. I also needed to become a financial provider for my extended family so it helped me care for them.
Diy Postbacc (41 credits) - 3.75 GPA
MCAT - 489 first scored attempt (ended up almost getting into a car accident beforehand so my nerves were really jumbled and I completely bombed the test. Not using this as an excuse but as a lesson for working on my test anxiety), 521 second attempt. I also voided twice due to test anxiety. I am currently working on reducing my test anxiety with a therapist and it worked for my second scored attempt.
EC's-
Work - 3000 hours as an anesthesia tech in two different hospitals, 500 hours as an ophthalmic tech, 41500 hours as a hospice and home health office/intake assistant, pharmacy tech 1200 hours, and behavioral tech 1500 hours. I am currently working as a home health and hospice intake specialist right now so my hours for that are still pending but are at least 2000.
School EC's - Teaching assistant/student teacher for local high school students afterschool. The classes were done for extra credit and went towards their graduation totals. I was a prior student of this program when I was in high school so it was very important to me. The students were comprised of kids like me: disadvantaged and low SES. This was for a semester due to COVID shutting it down.
Research assistant in a behavioral pharmacology lab, focusing on addiction medicine and relapse rates. Both paid and unpaid. About 1500 hours, 1 first author poster presentation, 2 multiple author poster presentations, and a pending 1st author paper. Also presented at a local research conference.
Worked as a library assistant my junior and senior years.
Volunteering - this is my weakest application part.
250 hours from a hospital gift shop. This was also shut down due to COVID.
I am applying for more volunteer positions that I'm passionate about like a local crisis line and a domestic violence shelter committee to help add more hours.
Shadowing-
65 hours in both surgical and primary care settings.
LORs-
I'm really worried about this. My college has a committee and I even went to a meeting during my junior year for a letter but was indirectly told I should try for podiatry instead or to go for dentistry. Since then, I have not asked for another committee letter but I have 2 science professors who have taken multiple classes with, my PI for my undergrad research, 1 MD LOR from a shadowing experience, and my supervisor from my gap year job so I'm not sure if this will be okay? I wanted to get a LOR from my anesthesia positions but my supervisor was transferred before doing so and the OR docs are way too busy to even know my name tbh.
I am aiming for DO schools this cycle but I'm not sure how I look right now. I was looking at SMPs but they're way too expensive for me. I couldn't even afford them if I tried, so that's why I opted for a DIY postbacc but is there anything else I should do? Should I even try at MD schools? I think the earliest I can apply this cycle is mid July so I'm not sure if that's late for them.
I am a bit hopeless about my stats so I figured I would try to get others' opinions on this.
I'm a 23 ORM applicant from a state that has no IS medical school at all. I am now 2 years out of college and hoping to apply this upcoming cycle. College was depressing for me because I worked to support myself and I come from a very disadvantaged extended South Asian family (homelessness, drug addiction, poverty, food insecurity, domestic violence, you name it, we have it lol). I went to a very expensive private college with a ton of scholarships so that helped a lot but I still could not afford it so my work hours are high.
Undergrad GPA- 3.08 cGPA, 2.91 sGPA. I graduated a semester early due to costs and finishing my requirements early. I also needed to become a financial provider for my extended family so it helped me care for them.
Diy Postbacc (41 credits) - 3.75 GPA
MCAT - 489 first scored attempt (ended up almost getting into a car accident beforehand so my nerves were really jumbled and I completely bombed the test. Not using this as an excuse but as a lesson for working on my test anxiety), 521 second attempt. I also voided twice due to test anxiety. I am currently working on reducing my test anxiety with a therapist and it worked for my second scored attempt.
EC's-
Work - 3000 hours as an anesthesia tech in two different hospitals, 500 hours as an ophthalmic tech, 41500 hours as a hospice and home health office/intake assistant, pharmacy tech 1200 hours, and behavioral tech 1500 hours. I am currently working as a home health and hospice intake specialist right now so my hours for that are still pending but are at least 2000.
School EC's - Teaching assistant/student teacher for local high school students afterschool. The classes were done for extra credit and went towards their graduation totals. I was a prior student of this program when I was in high school so it was very important to me. The students were comprised of kids like me: disadvantaged and low SES. This was for a semester due to COVID shutting it down.
Research assistant in a behavioral pharmacology lab, focusing on addiction medicine and relapse rates. Both paid and unpaid. About 1500 hours, 1 first author poster presentation, 2 multiple author poster presentations, and a pending 1st author paper. Also presented at a local research conference.
Worked as a library assistant my junior and senior years.
Volunteering - this is my weakest application part.
250 hours from a hospital gift shop. This was also shut down due to COVID.
I am applying for more volunteer positions that I'm passionate about like a local crisis line and a domestic violence shelter committee to help add more hours.
Shadowing-
65 hours in both surgical and primary care settings.
LORs-
I'm really worried about this. My college has a committee and I even went to a meeting during my junior year for a letter but was indirectly told I should try for podiatry instead or to go for dentistry. Since then, I have not asked for another committee letter but I have 2 science professors who have taken multiple classes with, my PI for my undergrad research, 1 MD LOR from a shadowing experience, and my supervisor from my gap year job so I'm not sure if this will be okay? I wanted to get a LOR from my anesthesia positions but my supervisor was transferred before doing so and the OR docs are way too busy to even know my name tbh.
I am aiming for DO schools this cycle but I'm not sure how I look right now. I was looking at SMPs but they're way too expensive for me. I couldn't even afford them if I tried, so that's why I opted for a DIY postbacc but is there anything else I should do? Should I even try at MD schools? I think the earliest I can apply this cycle is mid July so I'm not sure if that's late for them.
