new to site, value constructive criticism

[jhop08]

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Hey forum, I am new to this and I am excited to say that I am applying to medical school this year (osteopathic school) 🙂 I am working on taking mcat in summer and applying as well. I am excited I have my stats below. I wonder if I should be doing anything else ?

Stats:
Graduated from The Pennsylvania State University with an overall 3.1 GPA and 3.1 in science GPA
Masters in anatomy with a 3.5 GPA
Volunteered abroad in a medical brigade in Panama (close to 100 hours)
Emergency department volunteer ( close to 70 hours)
IS internship at hospital teaching medical professionals software (close to 150 hours)
Shadowed PAs/MDs/DOs for 25 hours
Resident Care Associate (nursing assistant)(900 hrs)
Graduate Teaching Assistant (teaching anatomy to nursing and premed students)
Worked in lab doing Stroke research
Tutored students in Behavioral Neuroscience and Histology
Teaching Assistant in Human Dissection course for undergrads
Community Outreach Volunteer educating and promoting sciences for high school students
Clinical Research Associate ( 2000 hours and counting)

I also did a lot of extracurricular activities as well and wok in clinical research. Should I be doing anything else? Thanks guys🙂

 

[group_theory]

Moving to Pre-Osteo forum

 

[deleted610572]

Get more shadowing hours and don't list PA on your application. It could come off a couple ways to adcoms. One of that being that you really don't know what you want. I know they are both related but they serve different roles on the medical team.

I found shadowing mildly beneficial but I made sure I did 50 hours in 5 different specialties (10 hours each). How many physician shadowing hours do you have that doesn't include the PA?

 

[Pugzilla21]

I think your extracurricular activities are quite impressive, very well rounded and interesting. I would focus most if not all of your energy on nailing that MCAT, IMO your biggest weakness is probably your undergrad GPA, although your masters GPA is solid. A strong MCAT would definitely help show med schools that you can perform academically.

 

[Goro]

The Panama trip will be viewed as "medical tourism".

Otherwise you're golden.

Hey forum, I am new to this and I am excited to say that I am applying to medical school this year (osteopathic school) 🙂 I am working on taking mcat in summer and applying as well. I am excited I have my stats below. I wonder if I should be doing anything else ?

Stats:
Graduated from The Pennsylvania State University with an overall 3.1 GPA and 3.1 in science GPA
Masters in anatomy with a 3.5 GPA
Volunteered abroad in a medical brigade in Panama (close to 100 hours)
Emergency department volunteer ( close to 70 hours)
IS internship at hospital teaching medical professionals software (close to 150 hours)
Shadowed PAs/MDs/DOs for 25 hours
Resident Care Associate (nursing assistant)(900 hrs)
Graduate Teaching Assistant (teaching anatomy to nursing and premed students)
Worked in lab doing Stroke research
Tutored students in Behavioral Neuroscience and Histology
Teaching Assistant in Human Dissection course for undergrads
Community Outreach Volunteer educating and promoting sciences for high school students
Clinical Research Associate ( 2000 hours and counting)

I also did a lot of extracurricular activities as well and wok in clinical research. Should I be doing anything else? Thanks guys🙂

 

[jhop08]

Thank you all! I def plan on destroying the MCAT and hopefully show them I am a good candidate. I won't tell them about the PA shadowing, thanks for the heads up

 

[jhop08]

Get more shadowing hours and don't list PA on your application. It could come off a couple ways to adcoms. One of that being that you really don't know what you want. I know they are both related but they serve different roles on the medical team.

I found shadowing mildly beneficial but I made sure I did 50 hours in 5 different specialties (10 hours each). How many physician shadowing hours do you have that doesn't include the PA?

I have shadowed about 15 hours from DO physicians, I am hoping to get some more before applying

 

[deleted407021]

The Panama trip will be viewed as "medical tourism".

Otherwise you're golden.

Read this as "medical terrorism". Imagining a robot slowly opening a box of antibiotics left outside an embassy.

 

[deleted610572]

I have shadowed about 15 hours from DO physicians, I am hoping to get some more before applying

List MD and DO. If you're having a hard time finding DOs and already have a DO letter then don't trip and just shadow MDs

 

[mathnerd88]

I think it really comes down to your MCAT. If you do well, you should be fine. If you do poorly, adcoms will also start focusing also on your lower than average GPA. (Both uGPA and graduate GPA.)

 

[C3H6O3]

Hey forum, I am new to this and I am excited to say that I am applying to medical school this year (osteopathic school) 🙂 I am working on taking mcat in summer and applying as well. I am excited I have my stats below. I wonder if I should be doing anything else ?

Stats:
Graduated from The Pennsylvania State University with an overall 3.1 GPA and 3.1 in science GPA
Masters in anatomy with a 3.5 GPA
Volunteered abroad in a medical brigade in Panama (close to 100 hours)
Emergency department volunteer ( close to 70 hours)
IS internship at hospital teaching medical professionals software (close to 150 hours)
Shadowed PAs/MDs/DOs for 25 hours
Resident Care Associate (nursing assistant)(900 hrs)
Graduate Teaching Assistant (teaching anatomy to nursing and premed students)
Worked in lab doing Stroke research
Tutored students in Behavioral Neuroscience and Histology
Teaching Assistant in Human Dissection course for undergrads
Community Outreach Volunteer educating and promoting sciences for high school students
Clinical Research Associate ( 2000 hours and counting)

I also did a lot of extracurricular activities as well and wok in clinical research. Should I be doing anything else? Thanks guys🙂

I listed 40hrs of shadowing a PT on my app in addition to also shadowing physicians. I don't think it would hurt you to list the PA hours as long as you can clearly state what you learned from the experience and how it influenced your decision to pursue the DO degree. A firm understanding of the differences between the two would be important. If you don't feel comfortable having a conversation about it then I would not list it.

 

[DrMikeP]

OP The 3.1 sgpa does that include your masters or not? Many schools have cutoffs that they expect for undergrad science courses.

You need to do really well on the MCAT. When are you taking it this summer?

Applying early and broadly will be your best opportunity.

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk

 

[jhop08]

OP The 3.1 sgpa does that include your masters or not? Many schools have cutoffs that they expect for undergrad science courses.

You need to do really well on the MCAT. When are you taking it this summer?

Applying early and broadly will be your best opportunity.

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk

That doesn't include my masters GPA.. My master's GPA alone is a 3.5, wish it was a 4.0 but too late now. I am also taking some classes in the fall and plan to get A's 🙂

 

[DrMikeP]

That doesn't include my masters GPA.. My master's GPA alone is a 3.5, wish it was a 4.0 but too late now. I am also taking some classes in the fall and plan to get A's 🙂

Great, that doesn't completely eliminate you. 3.1 is low, as some schools have a cutoff but you might make it over that screening for some If your mcat is strong (It's heavy biochem so be ready).

Applying early is the best bet as cutoffs tighten as the year goes by, but you don't want to apply to all schools before complete (read about throw-away schools. When are you taking your MCAT?

 

[68PGunner]

Hey forum, I am new to this and I am excited to say that I am applying to medical school this year (osteopathic school) 🙂 I am working on taking mcat in summer and applying as well. I am excited I have my stats below. I wonder if I should be doing anything else ?

Stats:
Graduated from The Pennsylvania State University with an overall 3.1 GPA and 3.1 in science GPA
Masters in anatomy with a 3.5 GPA
Volunteered abroad in a medical brigade in Panama (close to 100 hours)
Emergency department volunteer ( close to 70 hours)
IS internship at hospital teaching medical professionals software (close to 150 hours)
Shadowed PAs/MDs/DOs for 25 hours
Resident Care Associate (nursing assistant)(900 hrs)
Graduate Teaching Assistant (teaching anatomy to nursing and premed students)
Worked in lab doing Stroke research
Tutored students in Behavioral Neuroscience and Histology
Teaching Assistant in Human Dissection course for undergrads
Community Outreach Volunteer educating and promoting sciences for high school students
Clinical Research Associate ( 2000 hours and counting)

I also did a lot of extracurricular activities as well and wok in clinical research. Should I be doing anything else? Thanks guys🙂

Your cgpa and sgpa screened you out for 70-80% of the established DOs out there. You need to retake 2-3 classes to bring both numbers over 3.25. If your MCAT is 70% percentile or higher, you should be good to go.

 

[jwilliams1993]

This seems like a very well-rounded application! My suggestions would be to shadow more DOs, apply early, and nail the MCAT. Your gpa seems to be your biggest hindrance, but you can make up for it with the MCAT by showing you've mastered the material. Are their any classes that you may be able to retake and that you're confident you'll get an A in? Again, this is just showing you do have a good grasp on the material. Apply as early as you can in order to be more competitive. Best of luck!

 

[Dr Tony T. Chopper]

Hey forum, I am new to this and I am excited to say that I am applying to medical school this year (osteopathic school) 🙂 I am working on taking mcat in summer and applying as well. I am excited I have my stats below. I wonder if I should be doing anything else ?

Stats:
Graduated from The Pennsylvania State University with an overall 3.1 GPA and 3.1 in science GPA
Masters in anatomy with a 3.5 GPA
Volunteered abroad in a medical brigade in Panama (close to 100 hours)
Emergency department volunteer ( close to 70 hours)
IS internship at hospital teaching medical professionals software (close to 150 hours)
Shadowed PAs/MDs/DOs for 25 hours
Resident Care Associate (nursing assistant)(900 hrs)
Graduate Teaching Assistant (teaching anatomy to nursing and premed students)
Worked in lab doing Stroke research
Tutored students in Behavioral Neuroscience and Histology
Teaching Assistant in Human Dissection course for undergrads
Community Outreach Volunteer educating and promoting sciences for high school students
Clinical Research Associate ( 2000 hours and counting)

I also did a lot of extracurricular activities as well and wok in clinical research. Should I be doing anything else? Thanks guys🙂

Clinical volunteering and shadowing could use some work. Have you started on a PS yet?