MD/DO possible? IN resident with 3.5 cGPA/510 MCAT

[BNoog]

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Hello everyone! Been a lurker (inactive) for the past year and was wondering what your thoughts on my WAMC are!

1. cGPA: 3.50 (upward zigzag trend explained below) sGPA: 3.18 AMCAS 3.25 AACOMAS
2. MCAT score: 510 (127/128/128/127)
3. State of residence: Indiana (have direct family connections in Ohio)
4. Ethnicity: Asian American (ORM)
5. Undergraduate institution: Small Liberal Arts College
6. Clinical experience (volunteer and non-volunteer):
   • Volunteering (all US)
     • Hospital - 150 hours (volunteer) / 600 hours (non-volunteer, high patient interaction)
     • Low-income/free clinic (high number of Hispanics) - 120 hours (mainly translated)
   • Physician shadowing (all US)
     • Radiologist - 250 hours (~180 hours diagnostic, 70 hours IR)
     • Urologist - 10 hours
     • Dermatologist - 10 hours
     • Pharmacist - 20 hours
     • Dentist - 40 hours
     • Family Physician - 55 hours
7. Research experience and productivity: 200 hours research no publication
8. Shadowing experience and specialties represented: see above under 6.
9. Non-clinical volunteering: ~400 hours very many different locations (all for low-income/people in undesirable situations e.g. Habitat for Humanity, Boys & Girls Club, Feed the Children, Playground/Park restoration in low-income area, Assist in Adult English course for Spanish speakers, etc)
10. Other extracurricular activities (including athletics, military service, gap year activities, leadership, teaching, etc):
    • Extracurricular activities:
      • Student Senate - 1 year
      • Premed club Representative - 2 years
      • Premed club VP/President - 2 year
      • eSports team Leader/President - 4 years
      • SALT (leadership program) - 4 years
      • International Student club - 2 years
      • Lead School Newspaper Photographer - 1 year
      • Intramural Volleyball - 4 years
      • Intramural Ultimate Frisbee - 4 years
      • Break dance club - 1 year
      • A&P Tutor/TA - 1 year
      • Proctor Science Fair Experiments - 4 years
11. Relevant honors or awards: Lilly Foundation Award, Diverse Leader Award
12. Anything else not listed you think might be important: The schools that I am interested in are: IU, MU-COM, UToledo, and KCU-COM. The specialties that I am currently interested in are Family Medicine and Diagnostic Radiology (IR is pretty cool as well). I described my GPA trend as a upward "zigzag" because in my junior year, I received a C and a D respectively in Physics. Otherwise, there would be a strong upward trend. The "D" in physics also restricts what schools I can apply for such as those that require a "C" or higher grade in pre-req courses. I have suggested retaking Physics; however, the cost of retaking that one class would cost me 4x the amount I paid for all 4 years of college. I might be living on the streets stealing wi-fi from the local Planet Fitness if I retook Physics... I took most recommended courses such as Statistics, Microbiology, Pathology, Pharmacology, Healthcare Ethics, Genetics, Cell Biology and Adv. Cell Biology, Developmental Biology, Developmental Psychology, Sociology, Human Anatomy. I can speak and understand Spanish at a functional enough level (many education based cross-cultural experiences to Spanish speaking countries) and I can understand Vietnamese fluently, but cannot speak the language well.
13. Letters of recommendation: None yet, but will obtain several (committee, DO, MD, science, non-science).

Overall just wondering if my EC's are in line and if the preferred schools of choice are within comfortable reach. Understandably, UToledo is the farest reach, while MU-COM would be the closest reach. If there are any other school suggestions, let me know! I'd prefer to stay in the Midwest since that is where home is and I want to eventually practice in Indiana since there is a large deficiency in physicians (IU bleeds doctors elsewhere apparently).

School list (top 4 are in order of preference):

1. Indiana University
2. Marian Osteopathic
3. University of Toledo (sister in-law current nursing undergrad here)
4. Kansas City University Osteopathic
5. ACOM
6. ARCOM
7. PCOM
8. UNECOM
9. KCOM
10. TCOM
11. WUCOM
12. MSUCOM (Nassar Scandal puts me off from the school)
13. Quinnipac
    
14. Temple
15. Rush
16. Loyola
17. Wake
18. Tulane
19. Tufts
20. Western Michigan
21. Medical College of Wisconsin
22. NOVA
23. Dartmouth
24. Penn State

Thank you for your time and I appreciate all the feedback!

@Faha @Goro Sorry to bother you, but your expertise are remarkable and invaluable. I'd love your feedback. Please and thank you kindly!

 

[Ruasa]

Apply to your in-state MD's and DO's and see what happens.

 

[Dr. Anonymouss]

Due to the low GPA I would assume you are far more competitive to DO than MD, but there is still a chance since your MCAT is good. All of your EC's look good. If you get accepted to MD take that over DO other than that good luck, you will be sure to receive an acceptance from a DO school. Marian is new, but it looks like it has a good tract record. You might find it easier to get better residencies going to schools like KCU, Des Moines, PCOM, CCOM, but it all depends on what you have in mind. Family medicine? Any schools will do. More competitive specialties? Refer to the list I created.

 

[BNoog]

Apply to your in-state MD's and DO's and see what happens.

Planning on it!

 

[BNoog]

Due to the low GPA I would assume you are far more competitive to DO than MD, but there is still a chance since your MCAT is good. All of your EC's look good. If you get accepted to MD take that over DO other than that good luck, you will be sure to receive an acceptance from a DO school. Marian is new, but it looks like it has a good tract record. You might find it easier to get better residencies going to schools like KCU, Des Moines, PCOM, CCOM, but it all depends on what you have in mind. Family medicine? Any schools will do. More competitive specialties? Refer to the list I created.

Thank you for the feedback! I'm not particularly concerned about the MD vs DO routes since in the end, I'll be a practicing physician (as long as I go to an accredited school)! I'm only worried about not making it, so hopefully I'm pretty competitive for DO with the marginal chance of getting into my state MD!

 

[candbgirl]

Retake the D at a community college. I’d be very surprised if any school accepts a D in a prerequisite!!

 

[BNoog]

Retake the D at a community college. I’d be very surprised if any school accepts a D in a prerequisite!!

All of the schools that I have listed accepts any passing grade deemed by the undergrad institution. Many colleges didn't make the list such as DMU and OSHCOM because they require a C in prerequisite courses. I would retake the D at a community college, but I've read that retaking a course outside of your undergrad institution can be tricky when it comes to how admissions view those credits. Retaking the course at the same institution would be categorized as a repeated course and can demonstrate how I evolved as a student while retaking the course at a different institution would be categorized as a new course. Any opinion on what I mentioned?

 

[Walter Raleigh]

It doesn't matter: retake the D anywhere. Show that you know the material.

 

[BNoog]

It doesn't matter: retake the D anywhere. Show that you know the material.

Will work on this! At my previous institution, the professor told me that I didn't need to redo the labs since I got a 97% in labs. Wish I could've retaken the course there, but the price tag was just too high. My parents can only support one child in college at a time. The community college has a much better price.

 

[BNoog]

@Faha @Goro any critics on my sGPA, my school list, and my chances of getting into medical school whether it be DO or MD?

 

[Faha]

You are competitive for all the DO schools on your list. Dartmouth, Tufts and Tulane are reaches. You could add these MD schools:
Oakland Beaumont
Seton Hall
New York Medical College
Drexel

 

[Goro]

@Faha @Goro any critics on my sGPA, my school list, and my chances of getting into medical school whether it be DO or MD?

Chances best with IU and any DO school.

 

[BNoog]

Chances best with IU and any DO school.

Thank you Goro! Appreciate it greatly.

 

[BNoog]

You are competitive for all the DO schools on your list. Dartmouth, Tufts and Tulane are reaches. You could add these MD schools:
Oakland Beaumont
Seton Hall
New York Medical College
Drexel

Thank you Faha! Appreciate it greatly.

 

[BenAffleckIsAnOkActor]

You are competitive for all the DO schools on your list. Dartmouth, Tufts and Tulane are reaches. You could add these MD schools:
Oakland Beaumont
Seton Hall
New York Medical College
Drexel

Is seton hall an MD school? I looked it up and all I can find is LECOM at seton hall.


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[Faha]

Is seton hall an MD school? I looked it up and all I can find is LECOM at seton hall.


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Seton Hall is a new MD school that will be matriculating its first class in August.

 

[jarednogeek]

I would apply to DO. You stand a tiny chance at MD but unsure if it’s worth it to you to fill out another app and secondaries.

 

[Nave]

Just wanted to drop in and wish you good luck! We have very similar statistics and will most likely have similar school lists as well!