School list help for low GPA applicant

[Breadman10]

Hi all,

I've been super stressed and debating if med school is for me with how competitive it has become, but I have made a school list to apply for the next cycle starting in May '24, maybe some of you all that know more about this can relieve my nerves and help refine my school list.

My cGPA is 3.58, sGPA (AAMC) is 3.57 but for AACOMAS it is around 3.55. My MCAT is 512 (I was scoring 516 or higher on all my practices ;(, perfectly even breakdown, all 128).

Clinical Volunteering

• ~500 hours as a volunteer EMT (trying to get some more in the new state I live now)
• ~100 hours working as a patient care assistant in emergency room

Non-Clinical Volunteering

• ~500 hours working in a sexual assault clinic
• ~400 hours tutoring middle school children in biology
• I go to a local soup kitchen every Christmas and thanksgiving, maybe ~100 hours
• I play guitar and bass at a local assisted living facility every week or so, I also have played in a band for multiple charity fundraisers, not sure if I would put this

Shadowing

• 50 hours with a hypertension specialist
• 35 hours with a P.A in the ER
• (Going to try and shadow a D.O, its hard since I just moved to a new area).

Other

• I was a caption of my rugby team for two years
• I work at the NIH (national cancer institute), I'll be here for 2 years and have already been here for 4 months. I won't have a publication before I apply but I love my job so far and can speak to what I have learned here

My list is below. I am a New York resident with string ties to Virginia and weaker ties to Michigan. I am applying to a lot of DO schools, I think I would really love to be a D.O. I've never shadowed one but the doctor who helped my mother when she had to undergo surgery was a D.O, and she speaks very well about them and D.O's in general. I have been reading more about what it means to study osteopathy.

Please let me know what you think about my chances, and more importantly my list! Thank you all!

School	Location	Type
NYIT	NY- LI	DO
Rowan - SOM	NJ	DO
NYMC	NY- LI	MD
Touro Middletown	NYC	DO
Touro Harlem	NYC	DO
LECOM	PV	DO
Hackensack Miridian school of medicine	NJ	MD
Philidelphia college of osteopathic medicine	PV-Phi	DO
Drexel University College of Medicine	PV	MD
Jacobs School of Medicine	Upstate NY	MD
Albany Medical college	Upstate NY	MD
SUNY Downstate	NYC	MD
SUNY Upstate	NY-Upstate	MD
Rennaissance School of Medicine, Stony Brook	NY-LI	MD
University of Rochester	NY-Upstate	MD
Frank Netter School of Medicine at Quinnipiac University	CN	MD
Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine	VA	DO
WVSOM	WV	DO
MSU	MI	DO
Central Michigan University COM	MI	MD
Michigan State University College of Human Medicine	MI	MD
Liberty Univerity COM	VA	DO
VA Tech School of Medicne	VA	MD
Lewis Katz Temple	PA	MD
Layola Chigaco	IL	MD
NE Ohio Medical University	OH	MD
Eastern Virginia Meedical School	VA	MD
Pennsylvania State University college of medicine	PA	MD
Rush	IL	MD
Tulane	LA	MD
Wright State University	OH	MD

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[Goro]

School	Location	Type
NYIT	NY- LI	DO
Rowan - SOM	NJ	DO
NYMC	NY- LI	MD
Touro Middletown	NYC	DO
Touro Harlem	NYC	DO
LECOM	PV	DO
Hackensack Miridian school of medicine	NJ	MD
Philidelphia college of osteopathic medicine	PV-Phi	DO
Drexel University College of Medicine	PV	MD
Jacobs School of Medicine	Upstate NY	MD
Albany Medical college	Upstate NY	MD
SUNY Downstate	NYC	MD
SUNY Upstate	NY-Upstate	MD
Rennaissance School of Medicine, Stony Brook	NY-LI	MD
University of Rochester	NY-Upstate	MD
Frank Netter School of Medicine at Quinnipiac University	CN	MD
Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine	VA	DO
WVSOM	WV	DO
	MI	DO
	MI	MD
Michigan State University College of Human Medicine	MI	MD
	VA	DO
	VA	MD
Lewis Katz Temple	PA	MD
Layola Chigaco	IL	MD
	OH	MD
Eastern Virginia Meedical School	VA	MD
	PA	MD
Rush	IL	MD
Tulane	LA	MD
	OH	MD

My list above. You need to invest in MSAR Online and target those MD schools where your GPAs are above thir 10th %ile.

I have eliminated schools that I feel are donations, or have some other defects.

ADD:
MUCOM
CUSOM
Wake
U Miami
Tufts
Hofstra (maybe)
NovaMD
TCU
Albany
NYMC
GWU
Gtown

 

[Breadman10]

My list above. You need to invest in MSAR Online and target those MD schools where your GPAs are above thir 10th %ile.

I have eliminated schools that I feel are donations, or have some other defects.

ADD:
MUCOM
CUSOM
Wake
U Miami
Tufts
Hofstra (maybe)
NovaMD
TCU
Albany
NYMC
GWU
Gtown

Hey, thank you for your help! I actually do have MSAR, and for all of those schools my GPA is in their 10th percentile. Did you eliminate some of those schools (Penn State, NE Ohio medical school, MSU, Central Michigan SOM) because they don't accept many OOS applicants, or because my GPA is too low.
When I browse MSAR, it looks like their are very few schools in my GPA range, I plan to take some courses to raise my GPA in a DIY post-bacc, hopefully that will raise it a bit.

Again, thank you so very much for your help

 

[Faha]

You have several state public MD schools on your list that admit few non residents with your stats and no connection to the state.
I suggest these schools with your stats:
All 4 SUNYs
NYMC
Albany
Vermont
Quinnipiac
Hackensack
Drexel
Temple
Jefferson
Penn State
George Washington
Virginia Commonwealth
Eastern Virginia
Wake Forest
NOVA MD
TCU
Creighton
Rosalind Franklin
Rush
Loyola
Medical College Wisconsin
Western Michigan
Oakland Beaumont
Belmont
NYITCOM
LECOM
Touro-NY
PCOM
WVSOM
VCOM (all schools except Monroe)
CUSOM
DMU-COM
KCU-COM
ATSU-KCOM

 

[Breadman10]

You have several state public MD schools on your list that admit few non residents with your stats and no connection to the state.
I suggest these schools with your stats:
All 4 SUNYs
NYMC
Albany
Vermont
Quinnipiac
Hackensack
Drexel
Temple
Jefferson
Penn State
George Washington
Virginia Commonwealth
Eastern Virginia
Wake Forest
NOVA MD
TCU
Creighton
Rosalind Franklin
Rush
Loyola
Medical College Wisconsin
Western Michigan
Oakland Beaumont
Belmont
NYITCOM
LECOM
Touro-NY
PCOM
WVSOM
VCOM (all schools except Monroe)
CUSOM
DMU-COM
KCU-COM
ATSU-KCOM

Thank you so much for that list and the insight!

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Specific responsibilities in your clinical and nonclinical experience would be helpful. It would also be nice to help at the food kitchen outside the Thanksgiving and Christmas holiday time. Hunger is around all the time.

I also assume you have access to the various NIH OITE resources.

Career Services Center

www.training.nih.gov