Non-Trad Student cGPA 3.58, sGPA 3.27

[dreambig13]

Graduated from a well respected public university in 2007 with a BA (Psychology) but didn't focus as much on pre-med during that time. My overall stats from there were 3.57 cGPA and 2.99 sGPA. Not great.

Went on to work in the research field and have been taking post bacc classes part time since 2009 with a post bacc GPA of 3.62 (all pre med).

What I need advice on:
- Should I apply this cycle even though I'm taking MCAT in July? All I have to go on are Kaplan tests which put me at the 30 range.
- Am I competitive? Of note, I have extracurricular volunteer hours, experiences shadowing DOs, first author publication in progress, multiple abstracts and strong LORs.

Any thoughts, advice would be extremely appreciated. Thanks!

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[StoicJosher]

With your GPA and a 30+ MCAT you will have a shot at schools as long as you apply broadly and wisely. Your numbers are a little below the average for medical school matriculants (3.67 and 31 MCAT). The higher you go with the MCAT, the better you will do. I would also apply to DO schools.

You can apply this cycle even if you are taking the July MCAT. Just make sure to send your application and transcripts in June and have it verified (you can do this without your MCAT score and LORs). You should aim to be complete at the individual schools by late July-early August (that is still early). By complete, I mean secondaries done, LORs submitted, MCAT etc. You can submit the primary in June and get started on secondaries based on SDN prompts in the school specific threads. They are consistent 95% of the time.

Also, I hope the "extracurricular volunteer hours" you mentioned has a clinical component to it too.

 

[COMedic2Doc]

I would definitely agree that having medical E.C.s will help your application. It's great that you shadowed a D.O., but did you learn anything that will make you stand out? For example, someone with similar stats or even lower stats than yours in numbers (remember for D.O. grade replacement is still alive and well) and longevity in E.C.s with E.C.s that make them stand out will get the invitation for interviews, and ultimately accepted because they stood out. Plenty of high ranking students in the number games get rejected, because schools simply want to see that you have really thought this out and that you really know what you're getting into... Good luck with the upcoming cycle.

 

[Catalystik]

Graduated from a well respected public university in 2007 with a BA (Psychology) but didn't focus as much on pre-med during that time. My overall stats from there were 3.57 cGPA and 2.99 sGPA. Not great.

Went on to work in the research field and have been taking post bacc classes part time since 2009 with a post bacc GPA of 3.62 (all pre med).

What I need advice on:
- Should I apply this cycle even though I'm taking MCAT in July? All I have to go on are Kaplan tests which put me at the 30 range.
- Am I competitive? Of note, I have extracurricular volunteer hours, experiences shadowing DOs, first author publication in progress, multiple abstracts and strong LORs.

Any thoughts, advice would be extremely appreciated. Thanks!

Could you give more specific detail about timelines and types of volunteer involvement? Hours of shadowing/specialties? Any leadership or teaching? Any hobbies and artistic involvement?

 

[dreambig13]

Re: ECs:
- Volunteered for 2 years with my church on a committee that provided support to a sister parish in Central America, helped organize buddy program
- Participated in multiple cancer related charity work: organized and led a team from my office for a American Cancer Society fundraiser and participated in a Team in Training event with the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. I was recognized as a top fundraiser for both.

My job is in the medical field- I'm a project director for clinical studies related to genetics. Working full time and taking classes has really stretched my time so I don't have any medical EC's from post graduation but did volunteer for a semester in a hospital during undergrad. Also have volunteering experience in undergrad from my semester abroad- I volunteered at a child development center.

For DO shadowing: the first DO I shadowed was back in 2007, worked with him for a full week (40 hours) and then recently shadowed a DO last year for 3 days (24 hours) but that was a family member so I'm not planning to get a LOR from that source.

The pre med committee advisor at the university where I work and study seemed to think I have a good shot (as did one of my science professors who's writing a LOR) but I'm nervous that I won't measure up to some of the all stars coming directly out of college. Thanks all for your advice, and please keep it coming!

 

[Catalystik]

Do you have any meaningful contact with patients through your role as a project director? If not, then having only one semester of clinical experience might generally be viewed as sparse, though often nontrads are cut some slack on this point.

Can the DO family member set you up with a colleague who can write you a LOR? Could you volunteer to help out in the relative's office maybe as a receptionist for 4 hours a week?

You have lots of good ECs, you're just not particularly strong in the clinical experience department if the answer to my first question is, "No," in which case I'd say go ahead and apply, but continue to gain clinical experience through the application year and let school's know via update letter. If the answer is yes, then you may not be getting a lot of contact with "sick" folks (I'll let you judge), in which case, it might still be a good idea to continue broadening your medicial exposure.

So it boils down to, you have a good shot with a decent to great MCAT score, but don't assume you're solid. Keep improving your application after you submit to help fill in the holes. Update letters have the power to sway adcomms on the cusp.

 

[dreambig13]

Re: patient contact- yes, lots. I'm responsible for all patient recruitment so I spend roughly 5-10 hours a week interacting with patients in primary care clinic, do telephone interviews with them, etc. On a previous project I worked with newly diagnosed breast cancer patients and was the lead research assistant responsible for enrollment, follow up, etc. I have some leadership experience through my work- started a staff development group and have acted as a supervisor for two research assistants and helped overhaul the training program we have at our office.

Re: family DO...he lives several hours away (15+ driving) so doing additional hours wouldn't be possible. He's a general surgeon working in a rural environment so I went to shadow him as an opportunity to see what serving in that kind of community would be like. Since I primarily followed him around I don't think I could reasonably ask the other doctors for a letter as they had minimal contact with me in the OR, etc.

Thanks very much for taking the time to offer this advice. I may go back and see if I can do more hours with the DO I worked with in 2007. I'm doing volunteer work now as a Girls on the Run coach but will see if I can add in more medically related volunteer work after the MCAT is over (taking it in July).

 

[Catalystik]

With your more thorough explanation, I'm satisfied that you're good to go for clinical experience (but be sure to highlight the patient experience in your Research description).

What about racking up lots of shadowing hours over the spring break?

I completely agree with StoicJosher's excellent strategy in post #2. If you wait until your August MCAT score release before you submit, it will take 4-6 weeks to get your transcripts verified, which would definitely delay your becoming Complete at each school, and will put your AMCAS application at a disadvantage (and the AACOMAS application to a lesser degree, as their "season" runs longer).