Nontrad chances (3.3 GPA, 35 MCAT, lowtier MD)

[winterwind_23]

Hi all,

I figured that since I'm applying for medical school next year, I might as well make my very own "What are my chances?" thread to see if I'm on the right track. I will be mostly applying to lower-tier MD schools, maybe a few midtier MD schools as "reaches", and a few DO schools as "backups," though I have not made a list of schools I'll be applying to yet.

I graduated in 2011, worked at a few tech companies, and had a change of heart about my career and decided I wanted to do medicine. I won't bore you with my story, but I guess I'm considered a "nontrad" if that helps.

Demographics
Asian male from California
First-generation, low-income

Academics
Undergraduate institution: A top 10 school
Major: Chemistry
Cummulative GPA: 3.30
BCPM GPA: 3.31
MCAT: 35 (13 PS, 11 VR, 11 BS)

Currently taking classes at extension of 4-year university
Anatomy
Aantomy lab
Genetics
Medical Microbiology

I will be taking three more classes next semester, most likely:
Cell Biology
Statistics
Immunology

Hopefully I can pull off a 3.7 or above in this postbac, pulling my overall GPA to 3.35-3.40ish.

Clinical/Volunteer Experience
Volunteer in ER since January of this year (4 hours/week)
Volunteer at Alzheimer's care center (4 hours/week)
Volunteer with a hospice organization visiting patients (2-3 hours/week)
Volunteer as tutor in adult literacy program run by my city (2 hours/week)

The latter three volunteer experiences that I listed I only started recently within the last month, but I plan on doing them through my application process next year, and hopefully through until I go to med school. That'll give me 8 months or so at each of these positions before I apply.

I don't have any shadowing experience yet, but I plan on shadowing at least one family practice doctor next semester.

Research
Two-semester senior thesis at my undergraduate institution
Two summers at research institutions

I don't have any publications from these research experiences, unfortunately.

Not sure what else I'm missing...I'll add if I can think of anything else.

Any advice on how to strengthen my application at this point, besides from doing well in my classes? Should I try to get a lot of shadowing hours now?

Thanks!

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[HappiSquirrel]

am i the only one who thinks it is unfair that Asians have to deal with this preconceived ORM notion? it is racism.

but rants over, and i think you have an amazing chance to get in. From what i heard, schools auto rejects those who's GPA/MCAT is below par, but your stats look good, and you will for sure get interviews!

Maybe apply to lots of schools? preferably Midwest and southern US? CA schools are well known, and high ranked. are you applying next cycle? if so, apply early, shine in the interviews, and good luck!

EDIT: if you went to a UC school or stanford, adcom will definitely look at your stats more favorably. dont worry my friend, you will be a MD!

 

[Goro]

If can can accomplish this, then there are plenty of schools that reward reinvention.

Hopefully I can pull off a 3.7 or above in this postbac, pulling my overall GPA to 3.35-3.40ish.

 

[winterwind_23]

am i the only one who thinks it is unfair that Asians have to deal with this preconceived ORM notion? it is racism.

but rants over, and i think you have an amazing chance to get in. From what i heard, schools auto rejects those who's GPA/MCAT is below par, but your stats look good, and you will for sure get interviews!

Maybe apply to lots of schools? preferably Midwest and southern US? CA schools are well known, and high ranked. are you applying next cycle? if so, apply early, shine in the interviews, and good luck!

EDIT: if you went to a UC school or stanford, adcom will definitely look at your stats more favorably. dont worry my friend, you will be a MD!

Thanks for your advice!

I don't think it's fair that Asians have to deal with negative affirmative action, if that is the appropriate phrase, but that is a topic for another day. Hopefully my socioeconomic status negates the effect of being Asian. But I won't let this hold me back.

I will be applying next cycle after I finish my two semesters of classes. I plan on applying to 20-25 MD schools, and perhaps 3-4 DO schools. The MD schools will be mostly lower-tier schools that are out in the midwest or south. While I would rather be in an exciting city, I don't mind at all going anywhere in the country for med school.

Why would going to a UC or Stanford help with California schools? I attended an Ivy League school. Will that be helpful?

 

[winterwind_23]

If can can accomplish this, then there are plenty of schools that reward reinvention.

Hopefully I can pull off a 3.7 or above in this postbac, pulling my overall GPA to 3.35-3.40ish.

Thanks! I'm trying my best! I thought it would be a walk in the park to get 4.0 this semester, but it looks like I might be getting something lower than that. Hopefully at least 3.7 though.

BTW, my undergraduate transcript reads my cGPA as 3.27, but I calculated my AMCAS GPA using

A = 4.0
A- = 3.7
B+ = 3.3
B = 3.0
B- = 2.70
etc.

I also included 2 labs I took last year while I was working. By calculating in the above manner, and including those two labs, my cGPA actually comes to 3.297, rounded to 3.30.

Will my undergraduate cGPA on my transcript reading as 3.27 really hurt my chances? Or will the AMCAS GPA on the application matter much more? Is the way that I calculated my cGPA using the above points correct?

 

[Goro]

What AMCAS (and AACOMAS) says counts.

Will my undergraduate cGPA on my transcript reading as 3.27 really hurt my chances? Or will the AMCAS GPA on the application matter much more? Is the way that I calculated my cGPA using the above points correct?

 

[HappiSquirrel]

Why would going to a UC or Stanford help with California schools? I attended an Ivy League school. Will that be helpful?

Imagine this situation: 3.4 GPA LSU Undergrad vs. 3.4 GPA Stanford Undergrad,

i think most will agree that stanford grad has much more 'content' in his gpa

PLUS: your MCAT will affirm that

 

[winterwind_23]

^Ok, that makes sense! I thought it might have to do with them being in California. I went to a school comparable to Stanford.

 

[winterwind_23]

UPDATE: Just received my grades from this semester. I received 4 As. My classes were:

Genetics - A
Anatomy - A
Anatomy Lab - A
Medical Microbiology - A

This raises my cGPA to 3.36 and my sGPA to 3.4.

Next semester I will be doing another 3 classes. If I ace those three as well, my cGPA should be 3.41 and my sGPA should be 3.46!

 

[Lamel]

I think with a 3.4 and 35, along with your activities, coming from an Ivy, you will be fine for MD as long as you apply broadly. Good luck.

 

[ProudMD]

I think with a 3.4 and 35, along with your activities, coming from an Ivy, you will be fine for MD as long as you apply broadly. Good luck.

Strongly agree.