Medical Prospective applicant -- What should my next steps be?

[tantacles]

Hello! I finally made the leap and joined SDN -- very excited to be part of this online community and share my journey to medical school. For my first post, I was hoping to get some advice on my current stats and potential next steps. While I have developed a plan after extensive research online, I find myself doubting my plan and in need of some direction (potentially validation) regarding my admission chances and next steps. Your advice and support would be much appreciated!

Stats:
- B.A. Psychology & Minor in Public Policy from Berkeley
- A.A. Biology, Pre Health (received May 2017 prior to transferring to 4-year)
- GPA (self-calculated per AMCAS guidelines): 3.46 cPA / 3.20 sGPA
- Strong upward trends in cumulative, but I admit science could be better (I took the bulk of my science classes Sophomore/Junior year, and Senior year was primarily major/minor coursework at Berkeley with no science upper divs)
-- F: 3.02 cGPA / 2.43 sGPA
-- So: 3.57 cGPA / 3.48 sGPA
-- Jr: 3.53 cGPA / 3.12 sGPA
-- Sr: 3.74 cGPA

Coursework:
- Completed lower division pre-reqs (excluding biochem) while at community college; earned As and Bs
- Completed one upper division bio course at my 4-year w/ a B+
** I experienced a difficult transition to college my freshman year (several personal and emotional challenges). While I'm a good student, my study skills suffered during this time, and as a result, I needed to repeat my first Calculus series (D --> B), which is counted and one contributing factor to my low sGPA. Also, during this time, I got a D in a lower-division non-science breadth requirement (i.e. World Music!). However, I was later granted academic renewal due to high academic performance and the grade is discounted from my institution GPA, but I included it in my AMCAS GPA calculations.

Hours/ECs:
-350+ hours as a Patient Advocate at a local hospital (helping oncology/surgery px navigate dr's appts; work with px via phone to generate an individualized list of questions for dr's re: treatment options, prognosis; accompany px to appts and serve as a scribe, recording dr's recommendations to provide a comprehensive, written summary post-appt for continued reference)
- 96 hours of research (earned concurrently w/ aforementioned Patient Advocate role) in which I supported a health policy study (no publication) re: patient advocacy and how it impacts patient outcomes/satisfaction
- 240 hours as a Health Educator delivering health education classes to local 9th-grade students; promoted to Senior Health Educator after 1 semester (helped train new educators)
- 112 hours on a 2-week service trip to rural South India (facilitated health education classes on nutrition, women's health, and reproductive health to elementary/secondary students, observed basic med procedures and shadowed local doctors on mobile clinics)
- Leadership: Served as Orientation Coordinator for school's orientation program (paid position)
- Work: Worked part-time all throughout undergrad (Shift Manager at a retail store --> front desk manager --> concurrent Student Assistant at SPH and Orientation Coordinator)

Since graduation, I am working full-time as a Patient Advocate at a mental health tech company. Medical school has always been a dream, and I naturally gravitated towards health-related opportunities. After being out of school a year and further reflection, I would like to pursue it wholeheartedly and apply to medical school.

Regarding timeline, I was hoping to apply for the 2022 cycle, but I'm worried that my application as-is is not strong enough (especially given my sGPA and hours). I've researched post-bacs and SMPs and am considering an online post-bac offered through UCB extension to take some more science upper-divs. The goal is to demonstrate my ability to do well in these classes and raise my undergrad GPA. If I were to pursue a post-bac, this would likely push my application to the 2023 cycle. My other option would be to study for the MCAT this winter, aiming for a 515+, take the exam in January, and apply in June 2021.

I'd love some advice on whether a post-bac is the best next step or if I should focus on strengthening other aspects of my application and apply next cycle for Fall 2022 as I had initially planned. In addition to working full-time, I am looking into additional clinical/shadowing opportunities for next spring and just generally serving my community (recently signed up to tutor K-12 students impacted by distance learning). I will say I tend to focus on areas that I can improve, and right now, I can only see the negatives in my application, so objective advice would be much appreciated.

If you've stuck through until the end, thank you!

Hey there! I think given your strong upward trend, you do not necessarily need to do a post-baccalaureate program. that being said, it is impossible to tell you what your chances are without an MCAT score. Your story of difficulty adjusting during freshman year is not a unique one - it's one that many medical school applicants have had, but your GPA trend largely makes me unconcerned about your freshman year.

So here's my advice: Take the MCAT and do your absolute best. Come back, and let us know how you did, and then we can tell you what your chances are. Based on your GPA and extracurriculars, I think you could very well apply for the 2022 cycle.

I think the two places I would work on for extracurriculars are:

1. Volunteer. It doesn't have to be clinical volunteering. It can be at a soup kitchen, a homeless shelter, building houses for veterans, meals on wheels, I mean literally anything. But I would want to see some sustained service of people less fortunate than yourself.

2. Shadowing - Find a physician you can shadow (this could be hard, so start calling around to every doctor you can!) who can let you shadow in their clinic or hospital with them. You don't need too many hours of this (I think 30-40 is enough), but it will help admissions committees to know that you've seen what the job is like. The shadowing you did in south India is not enough. I want to know that you've seen what medicine looks like here as presumably you will practice medicine in the United States if you train here.

3. Research - You have some research, which is good, but more is more, so if you can either continue your research or find another opportunity, that would be great. There are many schools, though, at which the research you have will be sufficient, so I wouldn't go crazy if you can't find anything and you can fulfill the first two.

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[Goro]

OP, this is one of those few times i disagree with my wise young colleague tantacles. You only have one good year (SR) and a decline in your sGPA in your JR year. Hence, you have too few data points to prove that you can handle med school. I personally get worried about undulating grade trends.

Thus go for a SMP or DIY post-bac. I suggest more service to others less fortunate than yourself, as many of the schools that reward reinvention also are service loving schools.

 

[tantacles]

Hi Goro, thank you for your perspective. My Jr year decline and lack of classes during Sr year were also a concern for me. That’s what initially led me to exploring post-bacs. However, going back to tantacles point, do you think a strong MCAT would mitigate these concerns for adcoms? I’m fully committed to putting in the work to study and obtain a strong score, but if the grade trend would still be a red flag, then I see the benefit of completing a few post-bac classes. Also, if I go the post-bac route, would you recommend focusing on science upper divs or strengthening my lower div pre-reqs? I’m worried that having completed all my pre-reqs at a community college will be a red flag.

Sorry, I missed the part of your post where you mentioned you did all of your pre-requisites at a community college. I see it there now.

In this case, I'm going to back-pedal a bit. I would say a post-bacc is all but necessary for you.

 

[Goro]

Hi Goro, thank you for your perspective. My Jr year decline and lack of classes during Sr year were also a concern for me. That’s what initially led me to exploring post-bacs. However, going back to tantacles point, do you think a strong MCAT would mitigate these concerns for adcoms? I’m fully committed to putting in the work to study and obtain a strong score, but if the grade trend would still be a red flag, then I see the benefit of completing a few post-bac classes. Also, if I go the post-bac route, would you recommend focusing on science upper divs or strengthening my lower div pre-reqs? I’m worried that having completed all my pre-reqs at a community college will be a red flag.

A strong MCAT doesn't remediate a weak GPA. In fact, it highlights the discrepancies.

Read my post on reinvention for premeds.