MD & DO SOLVED

[shakirafan24]

---

Members do not see this ad.

Solved

 

[Goro]

Sorry, forgot to mention but my cGPA and sGPA now is 3.21. I am a first generation college student and a first generation ESL student as well. Not sure if those are relevant but more info helps.

Yes, that helps.

 

[Goro]

Hi all,

Undergrad GPA- 3.08 cGPA, 2.91 sGPA. I graduated a semester early due to costs and finishing my requirements early. I also needed to become a financial provider for my extended family so it helped me care for them.

Diy Postbacc (41 credits) - 3.75 GPA

Fantastic! Classic reinvention!

MCAT - 489 first scored attempt (ended up almost getting into a car accident beforehand so my nerves were really jumbled and I completely bombed the test. Not using this as an excuse but as a lesson for working on my test anxiety), 521 second attempt. I also voided twice due to test anxiety. I am currently working on reducing my test anxiety with a therapist and it worked for my second scored attempt.

Also fantastic!

EC's-

Work - 3000 hours as an anesthesia tech in two different hospitals, 500 hours as an ophthalmic tech, pharmacy tech 1200 hours, and behavioral tech 1500 hours. I am currently working as a home health and hospice intake specialist right now so my hours for that are still pending but are at least 2000.

Great numbers here, but what do you do as an intake specialist?

Volunteering - this is my weakest application part.

250 hours from a hospital gift shop. This was also shut down due to COVID.

I am applying for more volunteer positions that I'm passionate about like a local crisis line and a domestic violence shelter committee to help add more hours.

Yup, this you need to work on. Engage in service to others less fortunate than yourself, in a nonclinical setting. Nothing clinical either.

Shadowing-

65 hours in both surgical and primary care settings.

LORs-

I'm really worried about this. My college has a committee and I even went to a meeting during my junior year for a letter but was indirectly told I should try for podiatry instead or to go for dentistry. Since then, I have not asked for another committee letter but I have 2 science professors who have taken multiple classes with, my PI for my undergrad research, 1 MD LOR from a shadowing experience, and my supervisor from my gap year job so I'm not sure if this will be okay?

Get some LORs from your post-bac professors. An MD LOR isn't going to help.

I am aiming for DO schools this cycle but I'm not sure how I look right now. I was looking at SMPs but they're way too expensive for me. I couldn't even afford them if I tried, so that's why I opted for a DIY postbacc but is there anything else I should do? Should I even try at MD schools? I think the earliest I can apply this cycle is mid July so I'm not sure if that's late for them.

You don't need an SMP. And MD schools will be on the table once your get in some service as as mentioned above. Many of those such schools are service loving.

Your eventual school list can be:
I recommend:
Columbia
Case
Vandy
Dartmouth
BU
Duke
Pitt
Mayo
Mt Sinai
Einstein (maybe)
Temple
UCSF
EVMS
Hofstra
Emory
Jefferson
U VM
Miami
Drexel
Albany
Tufts
NYMC
TCU
Your state schools
Rush
Loyola
Rosy Franklin
Tulane
Wake
MCW
SLU
Creighton
Wayne State
Netter
NovaMD
NYU.LI
Gtown
GWU
NOTE: as a reinventor, you need DO schools on your list. Any DO school. Include UNECOM if you’re from the NE, OSUCOM if you’re from the Plains states and PacNW if you’re from that region. I can't recommend LMU, SOMA, RVU, BCOM, ICOM and LUCOM, for different reasons. Avoid those new schools that haven't graduated a class yet, if possible.

 

[Goro]

Thank you so much for responding! Your review and advice is super helpful!!

As an intake specialist, I’m essentially an outreach person for home health and also hospice patients. I directly speak to them about services and outline any clinical concerns such medication changes, substance abuse, etc. I also work directly with providers and case management for patient monitoring and check ups. Not direct patient care at all but more clerical I think.

Do you interact with the patients in person at all.

As LizzyM points out, you need to close enough to smell them (figuratively).

 

[Goro]

Unfortunately, I work entirely remotely. My patient interactions are via call or video.

Wise @LizzyM, what say you?

 

[LizzyM]

Current work is not what I would consider clinical in the strictest definition but I have to assume that the applicant has thousands of hours of face-to-face experience given work as an anesthesia tech ,ophthalmic tech, and behavioral tech 1500 hours.

I would hope that the applicant would be cut some slack with regard to community service given the family circumstances but there is no guarantee.