School List Help (MA, non-trad, 3.6/510)

[winny4220]

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Hello everyone! Would anyone be able to help me figure out some good schools to apply to?

I am a non-traditional student, graduated from NYU with a degree in linguistics, then completed a pre-med post-bacc at Georgetown. I am from Massachusetts. I am a white female, first-generation college student.
- cGPA = 3.59, sGPA = 3.48, aacomas sGPA = 3.50 (I know, low GPA )
- MCAT TBD (taking in May) but latest FLs range between 512 (127/131/127/127) to 509 (125/129/128/127). Aiming for around 510, but hopefully higher!
- Approximate hours as of today:
Shadowing: 17.5 hr
Clinical: 472 (624 if including work as PT aide)
leadership: 43
volunteer: 38
research: 120

Clinical work has been as a medical assistant and a physical therapy aide. Leadership is a youth soccer coach. Volunteer includes big brother big sister, mentor for science club for girls (another youth group), and volunteering in a hospital. Research is linguistics from undergrad. Shadowing was in ENT and pediatric ER, and I have two other opportunities lined up in pediatrics in the next few months. I have been cold emailing probably hundreds of Drs, but in MA the hospitals have A LOT of shadowing restrictions unfortunately.

I went straight from undergrad into an accelerated post-bacc, so there was not a lot of free time for extracurriculars. I also had to work to support myself during that time (hence the pt aide job, it was the closest to clinical I could get) I know that my hours are low, and some of my experiences are not "long term", but I am still hoping to apply this cycle as I am getting older and would like to get started on the medical journey. My primary interests in medicine are in pediatrics and improving access to care, I might want to go into pediatric neurology or neonatology, but nothing like surgery or dermatology (I work in dermatology now). I might also like to do emergency medicine.

My personal statement centers around language and barriers in medicine regarding communication. I have some experiences in clinic trying to assist with deaf patients and Spanish-speaking patients that I drew upon which have impacted how I think about physicians. I have some pretty strong LORs from physics, biochemistry, linguistics prof, and the PA I work with. Georgetown writes us committee letters.

My ultimate goal is an MD school, but I realize that my gpa is a nonstarter for UMass chan and other schools. I am absolutely open to attending a DO school, but based on what has been said about matching a such I would rather MD. I also have found it difficult to find information about DO schools and the resources available to attendees (hospital affiliations, etc). If anyone could help me figure out what schools might be a good fit, I would really appreciate it! Any other advice about shadowing, what DO schools are better than others, or application in general are also welcome .

I will still apply to UMass as an instate applicant, but otherwise these are some schools I was thinking about:
- Chan
- BU
- UVM
- Rosalind Franklin
- Drexel
- Quinnipiac
- NYMC
- Eastern Virginia Old Dominion
- Lewis Katz Temple
- Penn State
- Loyola
- Wisconsin

DO:
- UNECOM
- PCOM
- NYITCOM
- Tuoro NY
- LECOM

 

[wysdoc]

Hello everyone! Would anyone be able to help me figure out some good schools to apply to?

I am a non-traditional student, graduated from NYU with a degree in linguistics, then completed a pre-med post-bacc at Georgetown. I am from Massachusetts. I am a white female, first-generation college student.
- cGPA = 3.59, sGPA = 3.48, aacomas sGPA = 3.50 (I know, low GPA )
- MCAT TBD (taking in May) but latest FLs range between 512 (127/131/127/127) to 509 (125/129/128/127). Aiming for around 510, but hopefully higher!
- Approximate hours as of today:
Shadowing: 17.5 hr
Clinical: 472 (624 if including work as PT aide)
leadership: 43
volunteer: 38
research: 120

Clinical work has been as a medical assistant and a physical therapy aide. Leadership is a youth soccer coach. Volunteer includes big brother big sister, mentor for science club for girls (another youth group), and volunteering in a hospital. Research is linguistics from undergrad. Shadowing was in ENT and pediatric ER, and I have two other opportunities lined up in pediatrics in the next few months. I have been cold emailing probably hundreds of Drs, but in MA the hospitals have A LOT of shadowing restrictions unfortunately.

I went straight from undergrad into an accelerated post-bacc, so there was not a lot of free time for extracurriculars. I also had to work to support myself during that time (hence the pt aide job, it was the closest to clinical I could get) I know that my hours are low, and some of my experiences are not "long term", but I am still hoping to apply this cycle as I am getting older and would like to get started on the medical journey. My primary interests in medicine are in pediatrics and improving access to care, I might want to go into pediatric neurology or neonatology, but nothing like surgery or dermatology (I work in dermatology now). I might also like to do emergency medicine.

My personal statement centers around language and barriers in medicine regarding communication. I have some experiences in clinic trying to assist with deaf patients and Spanish-speaking patients that I drew upon which have impacted how I think about physicians. I have some pretty strong LORs from physics, biochemistry, linguistics prof, and the PA I work with. Georgetown writes us committee letters.

My ultimate goal is an MD school, but I realize that my gpa is a nonstarter for UMass chan and other schools. I am absolutely open to attending a DO school, but based on what has been said about matching a such I would rather MD. I also have found it difficult to find information about DO schools and the resources available to attendees (hospital affiliations, etc). If anyone could help me figure out what schools might be a good fit, I would really appreciate it! Any other advice about shadowing, what DO schools are better than others, or application in general are also welcome .

I will still apply to UMass as an instate applicant, but otherwise these are some schools I was thinking about:
- Chan
- BU
- UVM
- Rosalind Franklin
- Drexel
- Quinnipiac
- NYMC
- Eastern Virginia Old Dominion
- Lewis Katz Temple
- Penn State
- Loyola
- Wisconsin

DO:
- UNECOM
- PCOM
- NYITCOM
- Tuoro NY
- LECOM

Please update this post when you have an official MCAT score because we can’t help you build a list without knowing it.
Chan is the same school as UMass, and in Massachusetts there is also Tufts

 

[winny4220]

Please update this post when you have an official MCAT score because we can’t help you build a list without knowing it.
Chan is the same school as UMass, and in Massachusetts there is also Tufts

Yes, I know chan is the same as Umass, I just worded it weird. Otherwise, will do! I know about tufts too but that's another one based on my gpa I feel I might not be competitive for.

Thank you!

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Welcome to the forums.

On your activities, you have little service orientation activities such as food distribution, shelter volunteer, job and tax preparation, legal support, transportation services, or housing rehabilitation. You need 150 hours or your file may be screened out at most schools. I don't consider activities with fewer than 50 hours unless it is shadowing.

Your PS idea is not unique to medicine. These are also skills we need for nurses who are around patients much more than you would as a doctor. Which activities show you are comfortable with advocating for these patients beyond just needing a translator?

ChooseDO has a directory similar to the MSAR for the AACOMAS programs.

Have you attended recruitment sessions?

 

[winny4220]

Welcome to the forums.

On your activities, you have little service orientation activities such as food distribution, shelter volunteer, job and tax preparation, legal support, transportation services, or housing rehabilitation. You need 150 hours or your file may be screened out at most schools. I don't consider activities with fewer than 50 hours unless it is shadowing.

Your PS idea is not unique to medicine. These are also skills we need for nurses who are around patients much more than you would as a doctor. Which activities show you are comfortable with advocating for these patients beyond just needing a translator?

ChooseDO has a directory similar to the MSAR for the AACOMAS programs.

Have you attended recruitment sessions?

Thank you for the feedback! Would my activities like big brother big sister and science club not be service oriented? For BBBS I currently work with a young girl who is a political refugee from Africa, and science club for girls is a nonprofit focusing on building confidence in young girls and poc in the STEM fields. I guess maybe I'm not understanding what they are specifically looking for in terms of "service oriented". These are also on going activities, so by application time I will have more hours and I will continue to participate in them up until matriculation.

And for my ps, I didn't explain that well enough about perhaps. I think that is very helpful what you bring up about nurses. It's difficult to explain without posting my entire personal statement, but I think that where physicians and nurses differ is in taking on responsibility. Nurse are often the ones implementing plans and staying with the patient the most, but at the end of the day the physician is the person who, hopefully, has the greatest understanding of the illness and thus the most responsibility in helping the patient to understand what they are experiencing. I work now with a PA, and even though she practices in office without a physician, she defers to a doctor at our other clinic for difficult cases.

As for activities that show this, I don't really know where to go for that. As a pre-med MA, I'm not really high enough or experienced enough to challenge any medical decisions made in the clinic. I do my best when I am with them to ensure every complaint is addressed, and that they are set up for success when they leave our office, but what else would I be able to do?

I have not attended any recruitment sessions.

I apologize for the long response. I really appreciate your advice, I don't know any doctors or anyone in healthcare personally so I am navigating this whole thing on my own. Thank you again!

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Thank you for the feedback! Would my activities like big brother big sister and science club not be service oriented? For BBBS I currently work with a young girl who is a political refugee from Africa, and science club for girls is a nonprofit focusing on building confidence in young girls and poc in the STEM fields. I guess maybe I'm not understanding what they are specifically looking for in terms of "service oriented". These are also on going activities, so by application time I will have more hours and I will continue to participate in them up until matriculation.

In these roles, you are a mentor and subject matter expert. You gain understanding of life challenges, but it's clearer to determine your impact with food distribution, shelter volunteer, job/tax preparation, legal support, transportation services, or housing rehabilitation. (I think you should get a bit more credit with BBBS, but I'm relaying the debates I have had on the subject.)

And for my ps, I didn't explain that well enough about perhaps. I think that is very helpful what you bring up about nurses. It's difficult to explain without posting my entire personal statement, but I think that where physicians and nurses differ is in taking on responsibility. Nurse are often the ones implementing plans and staying with the patient the most, but at the end of the day the physician is the person who, hopefully, has the greatest understanding of the illness and thus the most responsibility in helping the patient to understand what they are experiencing. I work now with a PA, and even though she practices in office without a physician, she defers to a doctor at our other clinic for difficult cases.

Just giving you help on crafting your PS. Make sure your readers see the difference.

As for activities that show this, I don't really know where to go for that. As a pre-med MA, I'm not really high enough or experienced enough to challenge any medical decisions made in the clinic. I do my best when I am with them to ensure every complaint is addressed, and that they are set up for success when they leave our office, but what else would I be able to do?

I want to confirm if translating is all you do as an MA. You have to describe your responsibilities in W/A.

I have not attended any recruitment sessions.

I apologize for the long response. I really appreciate your advice, I don't know any doctors or anyone in healthcare personally so I am navigating this whole thing on my own. Thank you again!

We have been working with healthcarestories.org so you can interview a current physician or healthcare provider. Sign up for "workshop 3" which is getting paired asynchronously with a physician. Be patient as these sessions need to be mutually scheduled in April.