MD & DO Non-Trad Texas

[D.Watson]

This will be my first post on SDN.

Background: My wife and I started a family early and I absolutely wrecked my freshman year with a sub 1.0 gpa. I took some time off to support the family and took some classes here and there steadily improving my gpa. My wife stayed committed to school and got her law degree at UT Austin. I worked 2 jobs the whole time to support her and our kids. Since her graduation I’ve been able to focus on my studies like never before and I’ve managed to pull my cumultive gpa up to 3.21, but I have loads of credit hours and my gpa has reached its limit of improvement statistically. By graduation the best I can manage is a 3.31 cGPA.

Stats:

1. cGPA: 3.31 Biology major (graduation projection)
2. SGPA: 3.30 (graduation projection)
3. Texas resident
4. Hispanic Male
5. Clinical volunteering non-existent (I have 12 months how many hours should I aim for?)
6. Shadowing: 12 hours with an Ophthalmologist (ongoing) and I’m setup to shadow a cardiologist
7. Non-clinical volunteering: 40 hrs (ongoing)
8. Practice MCAT 508 (129/126/127/126)
9. Last 67 hrs 3.88 GPA
10. Last 48 hrs 4.0 GPA

I know my chances are likely zero for MD am I close for DO? What improvements can I make outside of gpa to make MD realistic? My target school is UTRGV because of its location.

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[LibBum]

Your upward trend, decent MCAT, and URM combo could earn you interviews at mission based TX public MD schools if you had substantial volunteering with a story. Become a scribe if you can and join an organization that serves the less fortunate - cancer centers, hospice. You need those sprinkles to offset your missteps.

Good job with the academic comeback story. I know it's not easy. With a more well-rounded application UTRGV, TTEP, and A&M might give you an interview. DO schools will if you have a LOR from a DO physician. Depending on your overall goals, you might want to look into the med-masters program at UNT.

When you finally align everything, apply early. Gl.

 

[D.Watson]

Your upward trend, decent MCAT, and URM combo could earn you interviews at mission based TX public MD schools if you had substantial volunteering with a story. Become a scribe if you can and join an organization that serves the less fortunate - cancer centers, hospice. You need those sprinkles to offset your missteps.

Good job with the academic comeback story. I know it's not easy. With a more well-rounded application UTRGV, TTEP, and A&M might give you an interview. DO schools will if you have a LOR from a DO physician. Depending on your overall goals, you might want to look into the med-masters program at UNT.

When you finally align everything, apply early. Gl.

Thanks! I am in the process of securing a volunteer position with a local AIDS clinic, and have submitted applications for scribe jobs. I know we aren’t supposed to “check boxes,” but what would be a target number of hours?