Hello SDN. Longtime lurker hoping to get some advice.
Undergrad:
- cGPA: 2.407
- sGPA: 2.267 (AACOMAS)
- TA for Physiology my senior year
- 60 volunteer hours at campus medical center doing the usual stuff (clearing beds from hallway, preparing infusion rooms, patient concierge and medication retrieval etc)
DIY Post-Bacc GPA is 3.7, which brings me to:
- cGPA: 2.59
- AACOMAS sGPA: 2.47
During post-bacc, working full time in Clinical Research 40 hours/week, for two years now.
- Co-authored 3 publications, 2-3 more submitted for publication or in press.
- Co-authored new cancer treatment guidelines
- Co-author large prospective trial, the rest are retrospectives.
- Presented research at national medical conferences, for what it's worth
- 60 hours volunteering as a cancer patient mentor
- 100 hours of formal shadowing
- 2 years of clinical exposure in anesthesia, critical care, and surgery. Includes direct patient contact, management of study investigational drugs and devices in the OR and RNF, screening and obtaining informed consent, management of trials, EMR review, protocol design etc.
MCAT is scheduled for end of June but might postpone or cancel. My first full length was a 505 but I know I need much better if I want any chance of acceptance. I know my MCAT needs to be a score they can't refuse.
Misc:
- ORM.
- Cancer treatments going into undergrad screwed up my academics (cancer is gone now)
- PTSD + ADHD ; medicated and treated effectively now
- Had lots of deficiencies in time management and study skills that were worked on.
- Wasn't interested in medicine until halfway through undergrad and tried to turn the ship around, but I fear it might be futile.
- Letters
- One from my undergrad professor-- I did poorly in her intro class then came back my senior year and was a top student in her immunology class
- Possible MD letter from my state's secretary of health.
- MD letter from my research department chair (among the most prolific researcher his field).
- DO letter from a surgeon I'm shadowing soon
I'm in it for the long haul. I want to be a physician. I know the odds aren't good, but I'm still willing to work my ass off, which is easier said than done. My post-bacc adviser has started to push me towards linkage programs for DO schools, which I'm fine with. But today I've been nothing but upset after she tried to push her Caribbean school recommendations on me, which I know are never an option.
MD schools are a pipedream (I'm pretty sure at this point), so I know my best shot is at linkage or direct acceptance for DO schools. Do I keep chipping away at the post bacc or is my undergrad GPA beyond saving? My calculations show about 68 hours of 4.0 just to get my cumulative GPA to a 3.0. That's practically a new undergrad degree. Goro's reinvention post hinted that this might not be the best use of my time.
I want to move forward but I just don't know where to start. Any insight is appreciated, thank you.
