A little late, but I got my call around 3:00 PST on Dec 1 (Dr. Kalamchi apparently tried calling my house phone buuuuuuut it was disconnected so he got my cell phone ^_^'') I definitely agree that community service is huge. Shedding some light on my situation (and hopefully easing some people's anxieties lol) my stats coming from undergrad definitely weren't the best. GPA 3.17 sGPA 2.95, DAT 20/19/20, Volunteer: a little over around 1500, Shadow Hours: at the time I interviewed 100, but I updated them when I worked part time at a clinic afterwards. Also my I didnt know it at the time but my personal statement was almost spot on a response to their vision and mission.
For anyone with a post december interview, good luck! If you're not coming from a good place academically, definitely play up your passion for the work you did and the people you served. I loved everything I did outside of school and tried my best to show it. In terms of academics, if you showed improvement over time EMPHASIZE IT AND TELL THEM HOW EXACTLY YOU CHANGED (study habits/sources of motivation/etc). From personal experience and working as an academic counselor, a common problem is a really rough start in college but eventually people can get the hang of things and turn from a C student to an A/B student quickly, but one number from a GPA doest quite reflect the arching improvement. Seeing people's stats at the beginning of the cycle was super intimidating but really, if you have an interview thats more than half the battle; the next part is showing how your goals really resonate with what ASDOH is projecting. I volunteered in a pretty intense mobile health unit that served the homeless, was on leadership for some culturally based education and health programs, and helped out with an elementary school. That's all well and good on paper but I think they really appreciate if you can elaborate the details and show your investment, make connections to the schools programs, and show you're in the career because you wanna do good for the community.
