Medical Non-trad path to MD - Do I have a chance?

[GoSpursGo]

Non-traditional applicant wondering what my best path into school is for the 2022 cycle. BS/MS in biochemical engineering from Stanford. 3 years work experience in dietary supplement manufacturing as a process engineer. Due to COVID, I haven't been able to get any clinical experience. I'm trying to accumulate 100 hours by June 1st by volunteering at vaccine clinics and a local hospital by June 1st, but will that be enough in this cycle? Or should I defer a year?

I'm very, very set on staying in the Western US for school. I'd rather go DO at RVUCOM than stay in NY for an MD program. I was born in CA and went to college there; I went to middle/high school in CO. I moved to upstate NY 2.5 years ago after graduating and absolutely hate being so far away from friends, family, and my entire support system. I'm actively job searching to get back west and establish residency, but this takes time. Any thoughts on competitiveness for CA schools with such strong ties but no residency if I can't relocate in time?

I know my MCAT puts me far above most DO schools. Is having such a high MCAT but limited clinical hours an issue for DO schools?

Stats:
3.5 cGPA and sGPA
522 MCAT
26F, white
Research experience and productivity: 500 hours undergrad + poster presentation. 300 hours senior capstone project in chemical engineering + poster. 1000 hours as a paid intern in industry - presented to corporate leaders, but nothing I can list as a paper/poster/even disclose due to NDA.
Shadowing experience and specialties represented: 50+ hours by May, all virtual. Hoping to get in person but seems unlikely given COVID.
Non-clinical volunteering: 500+ hours music performance for charity/community events through college music group.
Other extracurricular activities: college music group leadership for 3 years. Wilderness trip leader for freshman orientation and weekend trips. Wilderness First Aid/CPR certification is the closest thing I have to medical experience. I did have to use the first aid on multiple occasions while leading trips.
Relevant honors or awards: Class of 20XX Award of Excellence for contributions to university community.
Personal statement will focus on why the change from engineering to medicine
Interest in primary care and rural medicine

School list:
Colorado (top choice)
Stanford (far reach)
UCSF
UCLA
UCSD
UC Davis - how competitive am I with strong ties to northern CA?
UC Irvine
UC Riverside
USC
Kaiser
Cal Northstate
Cal University
Oregon Health
Mayo Arizona
UA Tucson
UA Phoenix

I'd apply to other state schools in the west, but I don't have ties.

DO Schools:
PWNUCOM
ATSU-SOMA
AZCOM
CHSU-COM
Western CA
Western OR
Touro CA
Touro NV

You received good advice in your recent WAMC thread. You have a good MCAT, but an honestly below-average GPA for the MD schools, and a complete lack of in-person clinical experience is a major red flag for any school. Especially for someone completely shifting careers, they're going to want to be sure that you know what you're getting yourself into.

I know you really want to get into school in 2022, but your app would be much, much stronger if you take a gap year to get in-person clinical experience. Not to mention actually establishing residency.

If you insist on applying this year, there is no "best path" when the apps open in 3 months. There's not much you can do in that little time, so you just roll the dice, hope for the best, and come up with a backup plan in case you don't get in (which would be likely).

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[TheBoneDoctah]

What was your UNDERGRAD GPA (without the MS classes as the MS classes DO NOT get factored into your AMCAS GPA)? I have a feeling your undergrad GPA was lower than 3.5 and your MS brought it up.

Several problems I see here. I am going to be blunt, but that's because I want to help you here. Sugarcoating things isn't going to help get you into medical school.

Although your MCAT is stellar and would be competitive at any MD school, your GPA is NOT. Your unwillingness to apply broadly, and wanting to move to the west coast which is one of the most competitive areas for medical school, is going to make this tough for you to be accepted this cycle. I understand your reasoning as ALL of my family/friends live in Cali as well, but sometimes if you want to pursue your dreams, you need to do things that you necessarily don't want to do. Add in the fact that you have zilch for clinical experience, your non-clinical volunteer hours are not in helping people less fortunate than yourself, and the fact that you shadowing was not in person (not AS big of a deal, but you don't get to see what it's like as a doctor virtually), I just don't see this happening for you this cycle (for MD for sure). Your list is extremely top-heavy as well. The top 6 on your list + Oregon/Mayo are not going to accept you with that GPA and no ECs.

Here is my advice. If you absolutely want MD, you need to take a year to boost your clinical/non-clinical hours and get in some real shadowing. You need to see what being a doctor is like with these experiences. A post-bac would also likely help you. As I said, I believe your undergrad GPA is probably lower than 3.5 and if you wanna get into the Cali MD schools, a year post-bac with a 3.8+ will really help propel you into one of those schools.

If you are ok with DO, you still need to increase your ECs, but your GPA is ok.

 

[TheBoneDoctah]

Undergrad and masters GPA are both 3.55, actually. Thank you for your bluntness. I haven't done any research on post-bacs, but if my situation really is as bad as you say I might have to seriously consider it. Are you suggesting taking a full-time course load?

Waiting a year and fixing ECs is definitely doable. Does 100 hours of clinical volunteering help, or is it just not enough? Would you completely write off Colorado this cycle even with 100 clinical hours by June 1st?

$2k for application fees isn't a huge concern for me, but paying $10k for a post-bac is a bit more than I'd like to spend. Would you recommend saving money on application fees this year to fund a post-bac to improve my chances for west coast MD in the next cycle?

I am not sure about CO.

IMO, if you are gonna spend a year to increase your ECs, I would just do a DIY post-bac to increase your GPA as well. Again, Cali schools are super competitive and you need to do anything you can not to have a reason for them to reject you.

 

[AlteredScale]

Waiting a year and fixing ECs is definitely doable. Does 100 hours of clinical volunteering help, or is it just not enough? Would you completely write off Colorado this cycle even with 100 clinical hours by June 1st?

RVU is doable. University of Colorado School of Medicine is very competitive, probably just as competitive as most of the UC medical schools here so I would not bank on getting much love from them. Still apply just don't be surprised to not hear from them.

 

[Goro]

OHSU was a donation, as was Stanford and the AZ schools. Riverside probably, unless you are from the Inland Empire.

As the UC's a bitterly competitive, if you want to stay closer to home, your chances are best with the DO schools, given the 3.55 GPAs. If you are hunting for the MD, you're going to have to branch out at target MD schools where your GPAs are closer to their medians. Forget about state schools, as they favor the home team, except for VCU, U VM and EVMS