Non-traditional reapplicant, 521/3.04 with 4.0 postbac

[Wolvvs]

---

Members don't see this ad.

Hi everyone, I’m a non-traditional reapplicant with a high MCAT and low GPA. I wanted to get your advice on a school list. I know almost nothing about DO schools so it would be great to be able to learn a bit more. I have an MD letter of recommendation (through my job, not through shadowing or clinical experience) and currently don't have a DO letter.

1. cGPA and sGPA: Cumulative Undergraduate: 3.04/3.04, 32 credit Postbac: 4.0. I have an IA because of one F I got in my 2nd year. 6 of the 8 classes I took in the postbac are repeated coursework, and the remaining two are upper level science courses.
2. MCAT: 521
3. State of residence: MA
4. Ethnicity and/or race: ORM
5. Undergraduate institution or category: Top 30 undergraduate
6. Clinical experience (volunteer and non-volunteer): 500+ hours as an EMT, paid position
7. Research experience and productivity: <100 hours, no productivity
8. Shadowing experience and specialties represented: 40 hours in non-primary care
9. Non-clinical volunteering: 150+ hours in an area unrelated to medicine (fairly unique), new since last year
10. Other extracurricular activities: I’m more than 6 years out of school and have spent that time working in a variety of roles related to healthcare payment and coverage. I started in IT and analytics, and have moved onto the business/ops side of things. I currently work for a program providing healthcare to underserved populations in a semi-provider facing role. We’ve done a lot of excellent work that I can’t talk about here as it would identify me but which I am able to discuss on my application as contributing to my motivation to pursue medicine.

Here are the schools I applied to in the current cycle

Albany
Albert Einstein
BU
Case Western
Rosalind
Columbia
Drexel
Quinnipiac
Dartmouth
GWU
Harvard
Sinai
Kaiser
Mayo
NYMC
NYU
University of Pennsylvania
UVM
Seton Hall
Brown
Tufts
Tulane
UCSF
Chicago
Colorado
Connecticut
UMass
Vanderbilt
Virginia Tech
Yale
All TX schools

I received interviews at UMass, Tufts, and University of Houston. I was rejected post-II by UMass, am currently on the wait list at Tufts, and am waiting to hear back from UH (although I think their class is full and I’m OOS anyway). Historically Tufts has little to no WL movement so I need to start reapplying now.

I applied to too many schools I think (didn’t trim the top schools well enough), and I don’t think I completed the secondaries as well as I could have. I also did not have any non-clinical volunteering the first time around, I was hoping my work might make up for it but either I didn’t sell it well enough or unpaid work really is one of those boxes you have to check. I want to apply to a much more focused set of schools.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Well, I share your disappointment if you don't get an acceptance off the waitlist. If you are claiming Massachusetts residency, why are your applying to all the Texas schools? There has to be some story about that.

When did you take your postbac courses also? I just wanted to clarify and be sure how recent those courses were. I would add DO schools to try to maximize your chances for acceptance.

 

[candbgirl]

Are your posted GPAs including your post bacc grades? Did you include the original grade from undergrad in the courses you retook in the post bacc? So technically your post bacc was 2 courses of new material?

Why did you apply to all of the Texas schools? They accept very few OOS applicants. They are bound by law to accept 90 percent residents in each class. You have an awful lot of reaches on your list especially with your low amount of research. Did UMass indicate why they rejected you?
Very nice job on the MCAT. Congrats on adding the nonclinical volunteering. Medicine is a service profession and you have to prove or show your altruism to ADCOMS. You have done a good job filling that hole.

 

[Wolvvs]

Thanks for the response!

I applied into TX as I wasn't considering the amount of time I would need to spend on secondaries, only the financial side--the cost per school is significantly lower than for AMCAS schools. I was also influenced by a post on SDN where someone said they applied to TX on a whim, and their only acceptance ended up coming from a TX school. I did get one TX interview, so that's good I guess, although I don't think I want to put in the time to apply through TMDSAS again.

These GPAs are calculated by AMCAS, which takes into account both undergrad and postbac grades. My undergraduate only GPA is just below 3.0.

I completed my postbac in the 2017-2018 timeframe, 5+ years after I graduated.

I'll reach out to UMass to see if they'll provide feedback. Their post-II acceptance rate is around 40% for in-state applicants, relatively low for a state school. Hopefully they can give some more feedback--thanks for the suggestion!

 

[Faha]

You did not have a good school list. Schools such as Harvard, Yale, U Penn, etc were completely unrealistic with your GPA. The GPA-MCAT grid shows you have a 50% chance for a MD acceptance so you should apply to DO schools also. I suggest these MD schools with your stats:
UMass
Tufts
BU
Vermont
Quinnipiac
Hofstra
New York Medical College
Albany
Seton Hall
Drexel
Temple
Jefferson
Penn State
George Washington
Virginia Commonwealth
Eastern Virginia
NOVA MD
Florida Atlantic
Florida International
TCU-UNT
Rosalind Franklin
Medical College Wisconsin
Western Michigan
Oakland Beaumont
Wayne State
I suggest these DO schools:
UNECOM
NYITCOM (both schools)
PCOM (all schools)
LECOM (all schools)
AZCOM
KCU-COM
ATSU (both schools)
DMU-COM
CCOM
MU-COM

 

[LeaveNoTrace]

@Goro's got a list of MD schools that reward reinvention hanging around somewhere. Apply to those, plus DO schools. The 4.0 postbacc is nice and shows that you've turned things around...but you're not Harvard or Yale material, either.

 

[Goro]

These are the schools on your list that I would have recommended. Honestly surprised that you didn't do better, but also surprised that U TX H showed you some love.

Albany
BU
Case Western
Rosalind
Columbia
Drexel
Quinnipiac
Dartmouth
GWU
Sinai
Mayo
NYMC
Tufts
Tulane
UCSF
UMass
Vanderbilt

As a reinventor, you needed to have some DO schools on the list.

IF you're shut out, rewrite all essays and have multiple eyeballs vet them.

Work on interview skills.

Get in more shadowing; get a DO LOR if possible

I agree with the wise Faha, but only with these:

UMass
Tufts
BU
Quinnipiac
Hofstra
New York Medical College
Albany
Drexel
Jefferson
George Washington
Eastern Virginia
Rosalind Franklin
Medical College Wisconsin
Wayne State
UNECOM
NYITCOM
PCOM (all schools)
LECOM (all schools)
AZCOM
KCU-COM
KCOM
DMU-COM
CCOM (but check tuition!)
MU-COM
all Touros
Both Westerns

ADD:
Emory
Keck (maybe)
SLU
Creighton
Loyola

 

[Wolvvs]

Thanks Faha and Goro!

@Goro , I actually based my school list on one of your reinventor lists and added a bunch of reach schools. I think I added too many and might not have done as well as I could have with secondaries. I'll work on re-writing and get additional review. Shadowing's going to be tricky but I'll do my best. I'll also work on getting a DO letter. Do you think it would be okay to apply DO a little later in the year? That would allow some time for things to open up again. Everyone in private practice is doing telehealth right now, and anything hospital/institutional isn't allowing anyone in who isn't strictly necessary.

 

[Goro]

Thanks Faha and Goro!

@Goro , I actually based my school list on one of your reinventor lists and added a bunch of reach schools. I think I added too many and might not have done as well as I could have with secondaries. I'll work on re-writing and get additional review. Shadowing's going to be tricky but I'll do my best. I'll also work on getting a DO letter. Do you think it would be okay to apply DO a little later in the year? That would allow some time for things to open up again. Everyone in private practice is doing telehealth right now, and anything hospital/institutional isn't allowing anyone in who isn't strictly necessary.

As the DO cycle is longer, applying as late as T-giving will be OK