MD & DO Need advice/help... what are my chances?

[DOC2B311]

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Just curious on where I stand as of now and where I need to improve on my stats these last couple months to have a decent shot at being accepted and what schools I should be looking at applying to (Don't mind DO or MD)... sorry for the long post in advance I'm just one of those first time posters freaking out! lol

Here's what I have:

-Utah Resident
-Not sure if I'm considered a non-trad student (25 years old, married with 2 kids, graduated in 2013)
-Not sure if this has an impact either but I'm the 12th out of 14 kids in my family and the 2nd out of 7 boys to graduate from high school! lol
-Undergrad: BA - Spanish
-cGPA 3.8, sGPA 3.65 and nonsGPA 3.94
-Planning on taking the MCAT this April and then applying in the first half of June.

Never retook a class, however because of my undergrad degree, my sciences courses are limited:
A = 1st/2nd Semesters of Gen Chem w/lab
A = 1st/2nd Semesters of Organic Chem w/lab
A = 1st/2nd Semesters of Physics w/lab
B- = 1st/2nd Semesters of Gen Biology w/lab (Took a 2 year break in between the 1st and 2nd Semesters)
C = Cell Bio (Terrible teachers, 2 teachers and both their first time teaching)
A = Concepts of Biology (Intro Freshman year)
A = In both Medical Terminology and Emergency Response (not sure if they are considered science)
Took AP Calculus, AP Statistics and AP Psychology in high school and scored a 5 on all tests (the highest score possible)

ECs:
~120 hours of shadowing = orthopedic trauma, orthopedic hand and upper extremity, orthopedic sports surgery, family medicine and plastic surgery
~125 hours of hospital volunteer in surgery post op short stay
~60 hours as volunteer with autism/disabled youth
~40 hours as volunteer caregiver with paraplegic (assisting in bowel movements and daily routines)
~20 hours as volunteer at Homeless shelter (kitchen)
-No scientific/clinical research (did a thesis/research project my senior year in Spanish linguistics - does this count??)
-University paid Tutor and TA in College Algebra to Calculus (Senior year)
-Private Student Tutor (Spanish, Math and Chemistry)
-NCAA Student Athlete - 3 years of Division 1 Wrestling, team 9th place finish at NCAA tournament
-Co-started a youth wrestling club (paid coach prek-3rd grade, 30 kids)
-100's of hours in volunteer coaching (high school - youth)
-After the first year of college went on a 2-year voluntary LDS mission to Nicaragua in Central America (where I was Assistant to the mission president for 6 months, leader to and responsible for 150 missionaries)
-Started a weekly English class in Nicaragua (2 hours a week for 4 months), along with many other service activities
-Volunteer non-profit organization = service trip to Belize as a Spanish translator and built dome houses
-Currently a general store manager for a used car dealership (8 months, manage the store from sales and marketing to financing = positive leadership position?)

Sorry again for the long post but I'm just nervous about where I stand and what my chances are. Does not having any research or many upper division science courses such as biochem hurt me? Does the C and B's look bad, considering that I have only received one C and 4 B's in college? I'm hoping to get at least a 30 on the MCAT but it's hard to find time to study considering I'm currently working 50 hours a week, along with continuing to shadow and volunteer at the hospital. Thanks in advance to any advice and input.

 

[Utenation]

Just curious on where I stand as of now and where I need to improve on my stats these last couple months to have a decent shot at being accepted and what schools I should be looking at applying to (Don't mind DO or MD)... sorry for the long post in advance I'm just one of those first time posters freaking out! lol

Here's what I have:

-Utah Resident
-Not sure if I'm considered a non-trad student (25 years old, married with 2 kids, graduated in 2013)
-Not sure if this has an impact either but I'm the 12th out of 14 kids in my family and the 2nd out of 7 boys to graduate from high school! lol
-Undergrad: BA - Spanish
-cGPA 3.8, sGPA 3.65 and nonsGPA 3.94
-Planning on taking the MCAT this April and then applying in the first half of June.

Never retook a class, however because of my undergrad degree, my sciences courses are limited:
A = 1st/2nd Semesters of Gen Chem w/lab
A = 1st/2nd Semesters of Organic Chem w/lab
A = 1st/2nd Semesters of Physics w/lab
B- = 1st/2nd Semesters of Gen Biology w/lab (Took a 2 year break in between the 1st and 2nd Semesters)
C = Cell Bio (Terrible teachers, 2 teachers and both their first time teaching)
A = Concepts of Biology (Intro Freshman year)
A = In both Medical Terminology and Emergency Response (not sure if they are considered science)
Took AP Calculus, AP Statistics and AP Psychology in high school and scored a 5 on all tests (the highest score possible)

ECs:
~70 hours of shadowing = orthopedic trauma, orthopedic hand and upper extremity, orthopedic sports surgery, and family medicine
~100 hours of hospital volunteer in surgery post op short stay
~60 hours as volunteer with autism/disabled youth
~40 hours as volunteer caregiver with paraplegic (assisting in bowel movements and daily routines)
~20 hours as volunteer at Homeless shelter (kitchen)
-No scientific/clinical research (did a thesis/research project my senior year in Spanish linguistics - does this count??)
-University paid Tutor and TA in College Algebra to Calculus (Senior year)
-Private Student Tutor (Spanish, Math and Chemistry)
-NCAA Student Athlete - 3 years of Division 1 Wrestling, team 9th place finish at NCAA tournament
-Co-started a youth wrestling club (paid coach prek-3rd grade, 30 kids)
-100's of hours in volunteer coaching (high school - youth)
-After the first year of college went on a 2-year voluntary LDS mission to Nicaragua in Central America (where I was Assistant to the mission president for 6 months, leader to and responsible for 150 missionaries)
-Started a weekly English class in Nicaragua (2 hours a week for 4 months), along with many other service activities
-Volunteer non-profit organization = service trip to Belize as a Spanish translator and built dome houses
-Currently a general store manager for a used car dealership (8 months, manage the store from sales and marketing to financing = positive leadership position?)

Sorry again for the long post but I'm just nervous about where I stand and what my chances are. Does not having any research or many upper division science courses such as biochem hurt me? Does the C and B's look bad, considering that I have only received one C and 4 B's in college? I'm hoping to get at least a 30 on the MCAT but it's hard to find time to study considering I'm currently working 100 hours a week, along with continuing to shadow and volunteer at the hospital. Thanks in advance to any advice and input.

Hi Doc2B311! Good to see another Utah resident on here 🙂 I think your application looks great. Where are you going to school right now?

From my personal experience and the experiences of my friends, research is huge. I know too many people that apply without research and don't get in until they do some (mostly BYU students). I'm sure people will disagree with me here on SDN so take this with a grain of salt, but I think you'd be fighting an uphill battle without any research. That being said, you don't have to do medical research. My buddy at Utah State did research on the effects of cricket migration on crops in the Cache Valley. He got into MCoW and a couple others and that was his only research.

Also for the MCAT, I'd plan on spending hundreds of hours on studying for it. I know a guy who had a lower GPA than you, has three kids, studied his butt off, got a 35, and got into Ohio State 3 months ago. Study hard and you'll do great! My guess is that if you get a 30+ MCAT and some research experience, you shouldn't have any problem getting into MD school.

 

[Catalystik]

-No scientific/clinical research (did a thesis/research project my senior year in Spanish linguistics - does this count??)

Research need not be in the sciences. Depending on what you did for your thesis, you might have that base covered. Can you explain?

 

[Goro]

Do well on the MCAT and I think you'll be fine at a number of places. Don't worry about the C and B-'s; you're human.


No, that doesn't count and this lack might hurt you, especially at research heavy schools. Don't know what U of U would make of it.

-No scientific/clinical research (did a thesis/research project my senior year in Spanish linguistics - does this count??)

I don't consider this to be a real EC. I'd love to hear LizzyM and gyngyn's take on it.

-After the first year of college went on a 2-year voluntary LDS mission to Nicaragua in Central America (where I was Assistant to the mission president for 6 months, leader to and responsible for 150 missionaries)

But this is!
-Started a weekly English class in Nicaragua (2 hours a week for 4 months), along with many other service activities
-Volunteer non-profit organization = service trip to Belize as a Spanish translator and built dome houses

I think you can cut back ont he shadowing and the volunteer work. You done a lot already. Do NOT take the MCAT unless you're fully ready and you're scoring well on practice tests. Good luck!

I'm hoping to get at least a 30 on the MCAT but it's hard to find time to study considering I'm currently working 100 hours a week, along with continuing to shadow and volunteer at the hospital. Thanks in advance to any advice and input.[/quote]

 

[Utenation]

Research need not be in the sciences. Depending on what you did for your thesis, you might have that base covered. Can you explain?

Yeah exactly. For the U of U your research does need to be hypothesis testing though.

I agree with what Goro is saying except I would count your mission as an EC. I counted my mission to New Zealand on my app as one, but not as one of the three "most important". I had other EC's that had to do with Polynesia so it helped tie them all together. It sounds like you have a similar situation. That being said, I wouldn't describe being an AP on your app. No one outside of your mission or BYU will care much about it.

 

[DOC2B311]

Thanks for the responses and feedback!

@Utenation - I'm currently in my gap year, graduation from Boise State last May. I had to take the gap year to get some shadowing and clinical volunteer hours that I was lacking. In regards to the mission and not describing the AP position ones app, would you instead describe the leadership roles that one had during the mission and what duties they entailed? What about leadership positions inside of the church, for example being in the elders quorum presidency and teaching? Would it be beneficial to mention those at all because of the time and dedication it takes, and it is volunteer right?

@Catalystik - The research/thesis that I was involved in had to do with the Caribbean Spanish dialect. It basically consisted of the specific characteristics they use in the way that they speak and how it differs from other locations of Spanish speakers; also the hypothesized theory behind it of how they acquired these characteristics (history). It was for my senior seminar class; just how every senior has to do some type of thesis/research (25 pages) and then a 30-40 min presentation...ect. So unsure if it really counts since doing a thesis/research project was required by all seniors in order to graduate.

@Goro - yea I figured that the non-research would hurt me a little bit, but to be honest I'm not looking to go to a top research heavy school and really could care less about going to the U of U. In fact my wife doesn't want to stay in Utah at all lol. As far as research goes my wife works for a dentist that has offered for me to do research for him if I would like. He is 1 in about 3 of all the dentists in utah that use only lasers and no machinery or drills. He has offered for me to do some type of research with the lasers or in the are of frenectomies (since they do a lot of these), however I haven't bounced on this opportunity because I'm still not sure if it would count as actual research and with the little time I have I don't want to use up my time on something that won't count or improve my application. What do you think about that opportunity, what actually makes a school count it as research, would it look bad that it is with a dentist? I realize that the main focus of an lds mission is to teach people about the lds church, however I thought it would be a good EC considering all the extra stuff you do there as far as community service, for example teaching english and building homes among many other activities. Also the fact that it is a growing point for many people to acquire skills such as time management, hard work, dedication, patience and love for the people; many skills that make a great doctor 🙂

 

[Utenation]

In fact my wife doesn't want to stay in Utah at all lol.

You've got a smart wife haha. I didn't even apply to the U because my wife and I wanna get out of here.

Having a religious EC is okay to an extent. My buddy who applied last year and didn't get in had 3 EC's related to church and callings (EQP, Ward mission Leader, and mission). He said he regretted talking about it so much in his apps because at his interviews he was asked so many questions about it and Mormonism that he felt it took away from his other greater achievements. Personally, I would avoid having much on your app about church stuff. 99% of people don't fully understand or appreciate the level of dedication and sacrifice required in callings or being an AP (I was too for 6 months) so IMO it's not best to confuse adcoms.
You could mention your mission as an EC and then if you want, add in a sentence at the end saying that you are currently still participating in church in various capacities. Just a suggestion. I'm sure whatever you put will great.

 

[Catalystik]

@Catalystik - The research/thesis that I was involved in had to do with the Caribbean Spanish dialect. It basically consisted of the specific characteristics they use in the way that they speak and how it differs from other locations of Spanish speakers; also the hypothesized theory behind it of how they acquired these characteristics (history).

I agree with Utenation that the type of research you want to have requires scholarly investigation: hypothesis formation/testing/results/conclusion, rather than a reiteration of the writings/theories of others (like a term paper).

 

[Goro]

100% concur with this. Research is you ask a question, and you try to answer it, using the tools of science. Dental research IS research.

Concerning your mission work, play up the community service and altruism aspect, significantly tone down the missionary aspect.

I agree with Utenation that the type of research you want to have requires scholarly investigation: hypothesis formation/testing/results/conclusion, rather than a reiteration of the writings/theories of others (like a term paper).

 

[gyngyn]

Primarily religious missions are to be included in your ap to explain what you were doing during the time you were serving.
In my experience at secular schools this service does not hurt your application. If you are able to describe how these experiences developed your self-understanding or a deeper respect for the value of others' beliefs, these experiences (not the "mission") can give you a more interesting application.
Missions whose primary purpose is the conversion of others to your belief system fall somewhat flat as a resume builder in these same institutions, even though you have a constitutional right to pursue this activity.

 

[DOC2B311]

So bringing up an old topic but I just received my MCAT scores today from the April 24th test and completely bombed the verbal! I hate verbal!... wondering where this puts me chance wise and if I still have a shot at DO? My score breakdown is P10 B9 V5... did verbal just completely blow my chances???
@Goro @Utenation @Catalystik @gyngyn

 

[DOC2B311]

bump

 

[Catalystik]

With a VS of 5, it's my understanding that a DO acceptance would be much more difficult, but I've heard of rare instances of success. I'd strongly recommend a retake.