Should I Apply?

[BASBaseball15]

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I would like to thank everyone in advance for any advice given.

So here's my story. I played collegiate baseball while in undergrad. Because of that, I believe my GPA suffered a bit. After college, I knew that I wanted to go into the medical field but I was not sure exactly what it was that I wanted to be. I got my job as a scribe in August of 2017 and have loved it ever since. I was promoted to chief in November 2017. Within the last few months, I have decided that I really want to be a physician. I have scheduled my MCAT and have been studying for it, but have not taken it yet. I will not be applying without a minimum MCAT score of at least a 510 so let's just use that for my MCAT. I would greatly appreciate any advice that you all could give me.

1. Major: Molecular Biology - 3.44 cGPA and 3.51 Science GPA
2. MCAT: 510
3. State of residence: Virginia
4. Ethnicity and/or race: Caucasian/White
5. Clinical experience (volunteer and non-volunteer): 800+ hours as a medical scribe (currently chief medical scribe since November 2017). I'm not entirely sure where to put these hours.
6. Research experience and productivity: None while in undergraduate.
7. Shadowing experience and specialties represented: ER only.
8. Non-clinical volunteering: A ton of volunteering activities while in undergrad with my baseball team; as for the exact hours, I would have to go back and estimate. I graduated in May 2017 and I am volunteering a few times a week coaching my alma mater high school baseball team.
9. Other extracurricular activities (including athletics, military service, gap year activities, leadership, teaching, etc): Outside of work, I like to coach baseball via individual lessons or with the JV baseball team. Giving back to the sport that gave me so much is very important to me.
10. Relevant honors or awards: Dean's List (3.5 GPA or higher in a semester) x6 in undergrad. Member of the Tri-Beta Honor society. 4x all conference academic team. I held a leadership role on the university baseball team 3 out of my 4 years (co-captain/captain).
11. Anything else not listed you think might be important: I am currently the chief medical scribe of an ER. I would greatly appreciate any advice you all would be willing to give me.

Schools I plan to apply to:

DO - Virginia Tech, Liberty University, Campbell University, PCOM - Philadelphia. MD - EVMS, VCU, UVA, Rowan, FAU, FSU, and Universit of South Carolina.

If you have any recommendations for me on the east coast I will look into them! I know my GPA is a bit less than ideal but I'm confident that I can make up for it in my MCAT score.

 

[Groy]

If you can attain that 510 MCAT and pick up a few more hours shadowing another medical specialty I see no reason as to why you can be a good candidate for some of the programs, you mentioned, especially the DOs.

It seems that you picked a few programs to stay regional, which is understandable, but be sure to explore each one in depth to be certain you'd be a good applicant there. I'd stay away from any research-intensive program since your research background is so limited.

Virginia Tech is not a DO school, but an MD school in Roanoke. They are highly research-oriented so without any research, I'd suggest not applying there. VCOM in Blacksburg is the DO school you're thinking of, they are not affiliated with Tech, but are close in proximity. Easy to get confused.

I'd also check out LECOM, VCOM Carolinas, LMU in Tennessee, and WVSOM.

I'm a med student in Virginia, so feel free to pm me with any other questions.

 

[DocJanItor]

Also a med student living in VA. Your ECs need a little bit of work but other than that you've got a really good start.

Volunteering - it's good that you volunteer with your HS baseball team. That will be something good to write about on your applications. Generally speaking, however, med schools want you to volunteer with underserved populations like the homeless, at a free clinic, habitat for humanity, etc. Basically something where you're helping those who are less fortunate.

Shadowing - ER might count for something, but you should probably have 1-2w of full time shadowing directly with a physician. This is so you can see what their day is actually like rather than just going from code to code.

Schools - MD is going to be a little bit of a reach with your GPA. If you can boost it up .1 or so with a few classes then that would help you a lot. VCU and UVA are almost definitely out of reach unless you get a stellar MCAT (like 515 or greater) or have some other boost for your application (URM, personal connection, etc.) Just remember that while a high MCAT score is impressive, it won't always make up for your GPA. https://www.aamc.org/download/321508/data/factstablea23.pdf

For DO you're pretty golden, especially if you get a 510.

VCOM in Blacksburg is the DO school you're thinking of, they are not affiliated with Tech, but are close in proximity.

Actually, they are affiliated. From their website: "VCOM-Virginia operates within a public/private collaboration with Virginia Tech, sharing resources for the purposes of education, research and student activities." The only reason I know is that I have a strong connection to that school.

 

[BASBaseball15]

Also a med student living in VA. Your ECs need a little bit of work but other than that you've got a really good start.

Volunteering - it's good that you volunteer with your HS baseball team. That will be something good to write about on your applications. Generally speaking, however, med schools want you to volunteer with underserved populations like the homeless, at a free clinic, habitat for humanity, etc. Basically something where you're helping those who are less fortunate.

Shadowing - ER might count for something, but you should probably have 1-2w of full time shadowing directly with a physician. This is so you can see what their day is actually like rather than just going from code to code.

Thank you for your insight.

While in undergrad I probably had around 50-100 hours helping underserved populations with the baseball team. We did things such as feeding the homeless and working with habitat for humanity. We also partnered with several charities such as Vs. Cancer (pediatric cancer patients) and the American Heart Association for fundraising and events.

As for the shadowing aspect, I think I have access to shadow a family medicine physician and an ophthalmologist (not sure how much the latter would help).

 

[BASBaseball15]

If you can attain that 510 MCAT and pick up a few more hours shadowing another medical specialty I see no reason as to why you can be a good candidate for some of the programs, you mentioned, especially the DOs.

It seems that you picked a few programs to stay regional, which is understandable, but be sure to explore each one in depth to be certain you'd be a good applicant there. I'd stay away from any research-intensive program since your research background is so limited.

Virginia Tech is not a DO school, but an MD school in Roanoke. They are highly research-oriented so without any research, I'd suggest not applying there. VCOM in Blacksburg is the DO school you're thinking of, they are not affiliated with Tech, but are close in proximity. Easy to get confused.

I'd also check out LECOM, VCOM Carolinas, LMU in Tennessee, and WVSOM.

I'm a med student in Virginia, so feel free to pm me with any other questions.

Thank you for your insight, this helped me out a ton.

After looking at all of those programs, I am definitely putting them all on my list. I think if I can get around that 510 MCAT score, I will be a solid candidate for all of them. As I said below, I think I can shadow a family practice physician and an ophthalmologist but I'm not sure if the latter would be significant on my shadowing experience.

 

[Groy]

Agree with Dr. Itor. Would help to bolster your ECs. You should have a good shot. I probably wouldn't bother with research at this point unless you can pin down something solid.

"VCOM-Virginia operates within a public/private collaboration with Virginia Tech

Yeah, you're right, they share resources and VCOM students have access to Tech's facilities, etc, but I meant that VCOM is not VT's official medical school. Carilion is the official medical school of VT and will be integrated as it's 9th college this summer.

That in no way is meant to be a knock on VCOM, it is a great school and I highly encourage OP and others to apply there.