DO Please help with schoo list! (3.49 cGPA, 3.39 sGPA, MCAT 507, TX resident)

[pr0digals0n]

hey, I'm new here. I havent really looked at DO schools until now but I would love some help coming up with some considering my stats. Any help would be GREATLY appreciated.

The only DO I know of in my state is TCOM so thats about it.

I am a clinical research coordinator (2 years) and also a founder of a nonprofit organization (help teens get into college aka free college counseling for underprivileged high schoolers). 125+ hours volunteering at local hospital.

mcat breakdown P/C-128 cars-125 B/B-128 P/S-126 Texas resident.

also, I heard you need a rec letter from a DO to apply to DO school. is this true?

PLZ HELP!!!

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[Faha]

Some schools do require a DO LOR. Contact the individual schools about this. Incarnate Word is a new school in Texas and may be accepting applications as early as July. You are competitive for any DO school with your stats so apply to at least 10 and you should receive several interviews. Are you applying to Texas MD schools also?

 

[pr0digals0n]

Some schools do require a DO LOR. Contact the individual schools about this. Incarnate Word is a new school in Texas and may be accepting applications as early as July. You are competitive for any DO school with your stats so apply to at least 10 and you should receive several interviews. Are you applying to Texas MD schools also?

yes I am, but only because its cheaper. i believe like $135 total for every school. but I am a realist and I dont think I have a shot. I do have a pretty good reason for the poor GPA but im not gonna get into that. in the end, its still what it is.

you think I have any shot of getting into an MD or even getting an interview in Texas? im putting my chances at like 5% (its not 0 becuase of my ec)

 

[Faha]

yes I am, but only because its cheaper. i believe like $135 total for every school. but I am a realist and I dont think I have a shot. I do have a pretty good reason for the poor GPA but im not gonna get into that. in the end, its still what it is.

you think I have any shot of getting into an MD or even getting an interview in Texas? im putting my chances at like 5% (its not 0 becuase of my ec)

You do have a chance for Texas MD schools, partly because 2 new schools opened this year so there are at least an additional 100 positions available.

 

[pr0digals0n]

You do have a chance for Texas MD schools, partly because 2 new schools opened this year so there are at least an additional 100 positions available.

you honestly think so? considering the competitiveness? I know Texas residency is probably the best state to apply to med school, but the GPA standard in Texas is highest of any state. even the lower end schools have like 3.8 GPA's.

are you referring to the one in rio grande? because the other one I know about is the dell school in austin but I know the average GPA they have is like a 3.9 for the first year. I know this because my friend got rejected and the letter they sent him said they had an average acceptance of 3.9 crazy like that.

 

[Faha]

Yes, Dell is competitive but they are admitting students who would otherwise go to other Texas MD schools so there are more openings in those schools since the students choose Dell. No matter how you look at it there are 100 more MD spots in Texas MD schools than there were 2 years ago.

 

[ArsèneLupin]

Any clinical shadowing? are you a URM?
Your GPA would give you some trouble for MD school acceptance however, the Texas schools have a wide range of GPA. I wouldn't bank on it but you might get an interview or two with a 507(29-30 equivalent). Your number may be fair enough for DO schools. Is this for this cycle or next?

 

[pr0digals0n]

Any clinical shadowing? are you a URM?
Your GPA would give you some trouble for MD school acceptance however, the Texas schools have a wide range of GPA. I wouldn't bank on it but you might get an interview or two with a 507(29-30 equivalent). Your number may be fair enough for DO schools. Is this for this cycle or next?

its for this cycle. I am not URM (white), but I am poor (if that even matters). and as far as anything that would be put as an EC (shadowing, volunteering, etc) I am more than golden on that. I made this to address more so the other 2 aspects of my app (mcat and GPA)

I also can do a post bac for the coming year to boost my gpa and even take the mcat again (since its built into most post bac programs second semester)

its just I dont know how much its going to cost to do a post bac (25k+ just for tuition) which is going to have to be out of state since those are the only ones open at this time. and if I do attend it and somehow get into med school it would be SUCH a waste to put me in so much debt. thats basically where I am right now. 1) do a post bac so I can do MD or 2) just apply DO. or maybe a 3) take mcat again and aim for the stars.

I have no problem with DO. but I am worried for the future if I want to do a specialty that might be difficult to get into if you're already an MD, much less a DO.

and also, would there be that big of a problem if I just took additional upper-level science courses at a local university to show I can do well in upper sciences? THIS I really would like to know.

 

[ArsèneLupin]

its for this cycle. I am not URM (white), but I am poor (if that even matters). and as far as anything that would be put as an EC (shadowing, volunteering, etc) I am more than golden on that. I made this to address more so the other 2 aspects of my app (mcat and GPA)

I also can do a post bac for the coming year to boost my gpa and even take the mcat again (since its built into most post bac programs second semester)

its just I dont know how much its going to cost to do a post bac (25k+ just for tuition) which is going to have to be out of state since those are the only ones open at this time. and if I do attend it and somehow get into med school it would be SUCH a waste to put me in so much debt. thats basically where I am right now. 1) do a post bac so I can do MD or 2) just apply DO. or maybe a 3) take mcat again and aim for the stars.

I have no problem with DO. but I am worried for the future if I want to do a specialty that might be difficult to get into if you're already an MD, much less a DO.

and also, would there be that big of a problem if I just took additional upper-level science courses at a local university to show I can do well in upper sciences? THIS I really would like to know.

If you come from an economically disadvantaged background some schools might let that play an effect but i wouldnt count it.

The two options are to raise that MCAT or GPA. 31 on the old scale was the average matriculation. scoring in the 80-85th percentile helps. that said you're score isnt drastically far off from the bell curve. How where your grade trends? if the issue was higher level science courses that may be something you want to address. you could do a diy post bacc instead of a formal program. The debt of 25K added onto the debt of medical school is unfortunately a drop in the giant debt bucket. It sucks but its not such a huge debt. the GPA is a harder issue to correct and more off the median than the accepted stats. The MCAT could be easier to mediate. How close was your score to your practice? what was your previous hx studying for it?

 

[pr0digals0n]

If you come from an economically disadvantaged background some schools might let that play an effect but i wouldnt count it.

The two options are to raise that MCAT or GPA. 31 on the old scale was the average matriculation. scoring in the 80-85th percentile helps. that said you're score isnt drastically far off from the bell curve. How where your grade trends? if the issue was higher level science courses that may be something you want to address. you could do a diy post bacc instead of a formal program. The debt of 25K added onto the debt of medical school is unfortunately a drop in the giant debt bucket. It sucks but its not such a huge debt. the GPA is a harder issue to correct and more off the median than the accepted stats. The MCAT could be easier to mediate. How close was your score to your practice? what was your previous hx studying for it?

the week before the test I got a 514 on the scored test and this test score was like a nightmare for me. the 125 in CARS was totally out of left field. I had never gotten that low before. the kicker is I felt good when I took the exam so I have no idea what happened. truly upset about that to this day.

so as far as my grade trends, its a really long story that I wrote about in my personal statement but basically I found out my birth mother died at the beginning of my junior year and my grades that year were pathetic. my freshmen year I had around a 3.7 then sophmore a 3.75 then junior year 3.0 then senior year I barely recovered and got a 3.6

unfortunately for me the upper level sciences were the reason for the 3.0. that year I had 3 C's in all science classes (something I still havent gotten over)

tbh after I had found out about what happened to my mom I wanted to drop out I felt so bad. but hey, no point in looking at that now.

so thats the trend.

oh fyi, the only pre-med class I ever received a lower than an A was chem 1 where I got a B, but besides that I made all A's in those.

 

[ArsèneLupin]

the week before the test I got a 514 on the scored test and this test score was like a nightmare for me. the 125 in CARS was totally out of left field. I had never gotten that low before. the kicker is I felt good when I took the exam so I have no idea what happened. truly upset about that to this day.

so as far as my grade trends, its a really long story that I wrote about in my personal statement but basically I found out my birth mother died at the beginning of my junior year and my grades that year were pathetic. my freshmen year I had around a 3.7 then sophmore a 3.75 then junior year 3.0 then senior year I barely recovered and got a 3.6

unfortunately for me the upper level sciences were the reason for the 3.0. that year I had 3 C's in all science classes (something I still havent gotten over)

tbh after I had found out about what happened to my mom I wanted to drop out I felt so bad. but hey, no point in looking at that now.

so thats the trend.

oh fyi, the only pre-med class I ever received a lower than an A was chem 1 where I got a B, but besides that I made all A's in those.

I'm truly sorry to hear that. My condolences.

1 C might fly but 3 is a reddish flash. However them being isolated to that event makes the flag not as red. You had a good trend other years and its unfortunate that the GPA went that way. @Goro and other adcoms have better advise on how to address the outlier semester. My school's premed advisor told us to address grades similar situations in the unique experiences essay of TMDAS but I defer to the others on how to address this.

 

[pr0digals0n]

I'm truly sorry to hear that. My condolences.

1 C might fly but 3 is a reddish flash. However them being isolated to that event makes the flag not as red. You had a good trend other years and its unfortunate that the GPA went that way. @Goro and other adcoms have better advise on how to address the outlier semester. My school's premed advisor told us to address grades similar situations in the unique experiences essay of TMDAS but I defer to the others on how to address this.

ya....tbh the more I talk to people, the less realistic I think it is that I will become a doctor. 15 years dreaming of this to have it end up being an unfortunate situation...if you think of any way I could please let me know.

thanks for the conversation.

 

[ArsèneLupin]

ya....tbh the more I talk to people, the less realistic I think it is that I will become a doctor. 15 years dreaming of this to have it end up being an unfortunate situation...if you think of any way I could please let me know.

thanks for the conversation.

Don't despair. It is realistic. Like mentioned before DO is definitely a great possibility. DO (outside of tcom) also grade replacement.

 

[pr0digals0n]

Don't despair. It is realistic. Like mentioned before DO is definitely a great possibility. DO (outside of tcom) also grade replacement.

what are the chances I might want a specialty that DO couldnt get me? that might be as upsetting as my current situation.

 

[Goro]

What's more important. ....being a doctor, any kind of doctor, or being an "ologist"? Beggars can't be choosy.

what are the chances I might want a specialty that DO couldnt get me? that might be as upsetting as my current situation.

 

[pr0digals0n]

What's more important. ....being a doctor, any kind of doctor, or being an "ologist"? Beggars can't be choosy.

very good point, sir.