Odd resume--bad chances?

[The Dalek]

Hi. The people in this SDN community are usually mature and extremely helpful. I was hoping some of you could offer advice on my chances of successful admission to a medical school in Texas in the near future, offer insight on what steps I can take to improve them considering my circumstances and limitations.

Undergrad:
EE Major. Nanoscience Minor
Practice MCATs: Averaging 33-34
Cum GPA: 3.4
TMDSAS sGPA: 3.3
AMCAS sGPA: 2.9
*The AMCAS sGPA reflects my BCPM, and includes differential equations as that was designated MATH for me as well. I took these courses at the start of college. The last two years have been mostly A's, but mostly because of my major's classes. My Biology credit is solely from AP credits and is not factored into these GPAs.

I do not have time to take post-bac programs or SMP because I work as an engineer fulltime 40-50 hours per week now. Retaking courses would not seem to bump my GPA up more than 0.1 points, nor do I have too much time to actually retake a large volume of courses due to my job.

ECs by application:
75 hrs shadowing.
350 hrs of volunteering; most of it at an ophthalmologist's practice as an intern/scribe.
1400 hrs in research between two labs. 100 more via senior design work if that counts?
4480 hrs as electrical engineer in non medical related work via internships and a fulltime position. I did this every summer of college and after as fulltime.

I used to head a biomedical engineering club during undergrad, and participate in some health clubs during undergrad, but these weren't earth shaking endeavors.

I don't like this mentality of collecting hours, but I understand that this is the reality of the process. I have sincere interests in applying MD because I want a formal education in medcine that i can augment with my engineering skills to make a strong impact in biomedical engineering research. Also, I enjoy the actual responsibilities of a doctor quite a bit after shadowing and volunteering ACTIVELY with patients and understanding how to perform and interpret tests in Ophthalmology. I know parts of my resume are very bleak, but what do you guys and gals think I can work on to reach where I want to be?

Thanks very much.
PS. Forgive me for a long thread and if this is not the right way to post. Its my first time.

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[MedPR]

Hi. The people in this SDN community are usually mature and extremely helpful. I was hoping some of you could offer advice on my chances of successful admission to a medical school in Texas in the near future, offer insight on what steps I can take to improve them considering my circumstances and limitations.

Undergrad:
EE Major. Nanoscience Minor
Practice MCATs: Averaging 33-34
Cum GPA: 3.4
TMDSAS sGPA: 3.3
AMCAS sGPA: 2.9
*The AMCAS sGPA reflects my BCPM, and includes differential equations as that was designated MATH for me as well. I took these courses at the start of college. The last two years have been mostly A's, but mostly because of my major's classes. My Biology credit is solely from AP credits and is not factored into these GPAs.

I do not have time to take post-bac programs or SMP because I work as an engineer fulltime 40-50 hours per week now. Retaking courses would not seem to bump my GPA up more than 0.1 points, nor do I have too much time to actually retake a large volume of courses due to my job.

ECs by application:
75 hrs shadowing.
350 hrs of volunteering; most of it at an ophthalmologist's practice as an intern/scribe.
1400 hrs in research between two labs. 100 more via senior design work if that counts?
4480 hrs as electrical engineer in non medical related work via internships and a fulltime position. I did this every summer of college and after as fulltime.

I used to head a biomedical engineering club during undergrad, and participate in some health clubs during undergrad, but these weren't earth shaking endeavors.

I don't like this mentality of collecting hours, but I understand that this is the reality of the process. I have sincere interests in applying MD because I want a formal education in medcine that i can augment with my engineering skills to make a strong impact in biomedical engineering research. Also, I enjoy the actual responsibilities of a doctor quite a bit after shadowing and volunteering ACTIVELY with patients and understanding how to perform and interpret tests in Ophthalmology. I know parts of my resume are very bleak, but what do you guys and gals think I can work on to reach where I want to be?

Thanks very much.
PS. Forgive me for a long thread and if this is not the right way to post. Its my first time.

Did you get paid for your scribe work?

Your AMCAS GPA is pretty low and, assuming you aren't a URM, will probably make your chances at 99% of the schools very, very slim. If you happen to be a URM, that all changes.

You certainly need to do well on your MCAT and apply broadly. You should also be trying to apply early (like, now).

 

[Ironmandoc]

Without a 3.0 sGPA you will be weeded out of most MD schools. Even if you aren't rejected pre-secondary due to your terrible gpa, you will not be competitive at US MD schools

 

[cyanide12345678]

Well the good thing is that your AMCAS doesn't matter. And only your TMDSAS matters. So a 3.4 cGPA and a 3.3 sGPA aren't all that disasterous. I mean if you can't get accepted to a texas school, then there is no way in hell you're getting admitted to any OOS school. You really need to take the mcat and see where you really stand. If you can pull off at 34 or 35 then you will probably get a couple of interview invites from Texas schools. Since you dont want to do further coursework, I highly suggest taking the mcat and seeing where you stand. Your texas residency might do the trick for you.

Edit: Though I fail to buy that 75 hours of shadowing made you want to completely change your field after your having had put a lot of effort into becoming an engineer. But on a side note, you should throw in some more medical related volunteering or health care related ECs (or any ECs for that matter since you don't have a lot of those). If your application was strong and your mcat was around a 34, you can expect an MD acceptance.

 

[cyanide12345678]

I looked at the MSAR for all texas schools. The 10th percentile GPA for incoming students has always been around a 3.4. So, around 20 people with your GPA have been accepted to each Texas school. So yea, ace that MCAT and you have a shot.

 

[MedPR]

And also stop using the excuse that full time job = can't take classes. Tons of people do it.

 

[swtbrnpelican04]

I looked at the MSAR for all texas schools. The 10th percentile GPA for incoming students has always been around a 3.4. So, around 20 people with your GPA have been accepted to each Texas school. So yea, ace that MCAT and you have a shot.

I would add that you should really practice your interview skills. The interview alone can make or break your application. If you nail the interview you should be able to get a spot.

Also don't give up if you aren't admitted your first go around. Just use the extra time to make your application stronger.

Your EC's are good. With a good MCAT and a great interview you should get a spot.

 

[The Dalek]

Thank you all for your thoughts and comments. To answer some questions that arose along the way:

MedPR,
No I did not get paid for that, nor am I a URM. Also, I did not mean to imply I was against taking any classes. I just meant to say I don't think I will have time for a year off to do a SMP. It seems just going back and taking additional undergraduate classes without a program like that would take atleast 23 hours of additional coursework with A's just to move my TMDSAS GPA a 1/10th of a point. The AMCAS GPA would jump quite a bit with that, but as the other poster has noted, it wouldn't effect my chances of acceptance in Texas as Baylor would be impossible with my stats no matter what I do.

Cyanide,
No, you are correct. Shadowing did not change my perspective on its own. Shadowing and volunteering in optho did, however, help prove to me that I could actually enjoy mainstream medical route, since my long term goals prior to that had simply been aimed around an indirect approach via medical research or biomedical engineering.

I hear what you guys are saying, and from the input I think its best for me to delay a year and prep for the MCAT some more as that is my main ticket to moving forward.

Do you guys think its a good idea for me to just go back to my undergrad school and take courses courses like genetics, biochem II, and mol. biology to try improve my gpa that 1/10th of a point? I suppose I could also take Biology there, so I don't need to rely on the AP credit.

Once again, thanks for the input.