Non-Traditional Applicant: How to make myself a strong applicant, in terms of upper-level bio classes, MCAT, and volunteer?

[the_healing_bird]

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Hello SDN,

This is my first post on this forum. I am a non-traditional student. I finished my bachelor's in Chemical Engineering back in 2016. Soon after, I completed an MS in Computer Science in 2018 and I am currently working as a software engineer.

In undergrad, I enjoyed volunteering in hospitals and doing research. However, due to family and financial restrictions I could not pursue the medical field at that time of my life. I had to find a job that could pay the bills at that moment. Finding a chemical engineering job was really difficult so I put myself through a master's in Computer Science, which led me to a job in Silicon Valley. Even though software engineering as a JOB is great, I personally cannot see myself doing it as a CAREER forever. I miss interacting with people and wanting to help the sick. I still volunteer at hospitals and keep thinking about going to medical school.

As a result, I have decided that I am going to give my medical school dream a shot. I am planning to enroll in UC Berkley's Post Baccalaureate Health Program to complete some higher level bio classes and a few remaining pre-reqs I need.

I have already taken the following classes in undergrad:

• AP Bio in High School
• Chem I
• Chem II
• Orgo I
• Orgo II
• Physics I
• Physics II
• Statistics
• Psychology
• Sociology
• And a lot of math courses, chemistry courses, and engineering courses.

I am planning to take the following courses in the post-bacc program:

• Bio I and II - since a lot of schools do not accept AP credits
• BioChem
• Cell Biology or Physiology

I have a few questions:

1. Between Cell Biology and Physiology, which one would help more with MCAT?
2. Any other classes I should take that can help with my application or prepare for MCAT?
3. Some of the prereqs I took are almost 7-8 years old. How should I go about reviewing the content of those classes without retaking them?
4. My science and undergrad cumulative GPA are both around 3.5. I did undergrad research for a year in Chemical Engineering and did a poster. Hopefully, after taking the 4 post-bacc classes I can bump my GPA to 3.55? Is that a competitive GPA for some DO/MD schools?
5. I know DO schools do not accept grade replacements anymore. My science GPA would be much higher but I got 1 F in Physics I. All the other pre-med science classes I have taken I got A's. Will the admission committee take that single F into consideration?
6. What is a competitive MCAT score for someone with my background? How many months of test preparation is ideal for someone that has been out of touch with many of the science classes for years.
7. How many volunteer and D.O. shadowing hours do I need? How do I go about finding D.O. doctors to shadow? In the Bay Area, almost all the doctors near me are MD.

Thank you very much!

 

[Dr panda]

I have a few questions:

1. Between Cell Biology and Physiology, which one would help more with MCAT? Cell
2. Any other classes I should take that can help with my application or prepare for MCAT? Biochem
3. Some of the prereqs I took are almost 7-8 years old. How should I go about reviewing the content of those classes without retaking them? Kaplan/KA/TBR – go the MCAT subform for more information.
4. My science and undergrad cumulative GPA are both around 3.5. I did undergrad research for a year in Chemical Engineering and did a poster. Hopefully, after taking the 4 post-bacc classes I can bump my GPA to 3.55? Is that a competitive GPA for some DO/MD schools? With upward trend yes (though the difference between 3.5 and 3.55 is pretty small).
5. I know DO schools do not accept grade replacements anymore. My science GPA would be much higher but I got 1 F in Physics I. All the other pre-med science classes I have taken I got A's. Will the admission committee take that single F into consideration? They will.
6. What is a competitive MCAT score for someone with my background? How many months of test preparation is ideal for someone that has been out of touch with many of the science classes for years. Aim for 512+ for MD and 500+ for DO.
7. How many volunteer and D.O. shadowing hours do I need? 200 clinical, 200 non clinical, 50 shadowing.
8. How do I go about finding D.O. doctors to shadow? In the Bay Area, almost all the doctors near me are MD. Use google search

Good luck.

 

[Whysoez]

Hello SDN,

This is my first post on this forum. I am a non-traditional student. I finished my bachelor's in Chemical Engineering back in 2016. Soon after, I completed an MS in Computer Science in 2018 and I am currently working as a software engineer.

In undergrad, I enjoyed volunteering in hospitals and doing research. However, due to family and financial restrictions I could not pursue the medical field at that time of my life. I had to find a job that could pay the bills at that moment. Finding a chemical engineering job was really difficult so I put myself through a master's in Computer Science, which led me to a job in Silicon Valley. Even though software engineering as a JOB is great, I personally cannot see myself doing it as a CAREER forever. I miss interacting with people and wanting to help the sick. I still volunteer at hospitals and keep thinking about going to medical school.

As a result, I have decided that I am going to give my medical school dream a shot. I am planning to enroll in UC Berkley's Post Baccalaureate Health Program to complete some higher level bio classes and a few remaining pre-reqs I need.

I have already taken the following classes in undergrad:

• AP Bio in High School
• Chem I
• Chem II
• Orgo I
• Orgo II
• Physics I
• Physics II
• Statistics
• Psychology
• Sociology
• And a lot of math courses, chemistry courses, and engineering courses.

I am planning to take the following courses in the post-bacc program:

• Bio I and II - since a lot of schools do not accept AP credits
• BioChem
• Cell Biology or Physiology

I have a few questions:

1. Between Cell Biology and Physiology, which one would help more with MCAT?
2. Any other classes I should take that can help with my application or prepare for MCAT?
3. Some of the prereqs I took are almost 7-8 years old. How should I go about reviewing the content of those classes without retaking them?
4. My science and undergrad cumulative GPA are both around 3.5. I did undergrad research for a year in Chemical Engineering and did a poster. Hopefully, after taking the 4 post-bacc classes I can bump my GPA to 3.55? Is that a competitive GPA for some DO/MD schools?
5. I know DO schools do not accept grade replacements anymore. My science GPA would be much higher but I got 1 F in Physics I. All the other pre-med science classes I have taken I got A's. Will the admission committee take that single F into consideration?
6. What is a competitive MCAT score for someone with my background? How many months of test preparation is ideal for someone that has been out of touch with many of the science classes for years.
7. How many volunteer and D.O. shadowing hours do I need? How do I go about finding D.O. doctors to shadow? In the Bay Area, almost all the doctors near me are MD.

Thank you very much!

1) Cell Biology will much more helpful for the MCAT
2) Biochemistry, some schools require it anyway so taking it would only be beneficial
3) No need to retake any of them unless you failed in the class, otherwise buy a prep book set and start reviewing, everything you need to know for the MCAT is covered in the prep books.
4) That is good for DO, low for MD
5) Your sGPA will likely be lower as AACOMAS do not count math courses (the reason why my sGPA is 3.68 instead of 3.72, it burns lol)
6) Assuming you have 3.5 s/cGPA, try to get 503+ MCAT for DO. Prep time depends on your background foundation, flip over the prep books to see how much you recognize and go from there.
7) Based on what I have seen on this forum, anywhere from 200-500 clinical volunteering, 100-200 non-clinical and 50-100 shadowing is good. Finding DO is hard, I do not know a good way to approach this problem.

 

[paradoxic_toxic]

There has to be some hospitals with a few DOs. Walk into their department and ask.

Having no DO shadowing hours won't break your app.

 

[Cornfed101]

I'm going to go out on a limb and disagree with what others have said. If you can take both cell bio and physiology (especially if combined with anatomy) I would recommend that. Besides biochem, A&P 2 was the most helpful class for the MCAT, for me at least. It helped me take microscopic concepts and apply them to the body as a whole. My MCAT did a lot of this. Just my 2 cents.

 

[the_healing_bird]

I went to my state's osteopathic association website and sorted by the specialties I was interested in. I made a list of about 40 numbers and cold called them one by one. Heh it was absolutely miserable but I ended up with three kind docs willing to let me shadow them. Also, I found that private family medicine clinics were the most receptive.

Thanks for that suggestion. How many hours do doctors want you to spend every week or is it totally variable?

 

[Cornfed101]

Thanks for that suggestion. How many hours do doctors want you to spend every week or is it totally variable?

totally depends on the doctor