WoeBot62
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- Feb 10, 2025
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I graduated with a dismal gpa of around 2.2 (both cumulative and science) in 2022. I was quite sick throughout college, completely pulling out from classes in fall of 2019 and again in fall of 2020. In these two semesters, all of my classes are marked as “WI”, which stands for “Withdrawal Illness”. Then, in Spring of 2021, my dad became extremely ill while abroad and I once again dropped all of my classes and rushed to meet him and take care of him for the next 8 months as he couldn’t fly. These withdrawals are listed as “WC”, or “Withdrawal for good cause”.
I ended up graduating a semester late, and had no upward trend throughout my undergraduate career until my last semester. I didn’t do especially well, but for the first time, I had a semester gpa above a 3.0, thanks to one professor who completely changed my life. Although I didn’t get to do any formal research, my independent project in this class led to a poster presentation and my co-authorship on a publication (this was not a participation trophy type thing, it was only our project that was chosen for this).
My gpa and lack of any MCAT, plus finances, ruled out SMPs. There was no formal postbacc in my area, so I decided to do a DIY postbacc. I reached out to the only 4-year colleges in my city and found out that: (1) The public Ivy was unwilling to let me take any courses, as I would have to be accepted as a transfer student and did not meet the minimum cutoff for acceptance (2) The other two were small private schools that did not have any space in any of the relevant courses. At this point, my only option was to take my courses through the University of California system’s various online extension schools, and some in person through my local community college. All in all I took 32 credits through community college and 20.6 through extension schools. My postbacc gpa was about 3.80, and this raised both my cumulative and science gpas from to 3.08.
On the MCAT I got a 503, then a 508. I am hoping to take it one more time.
My extracurriculars:
1. 100 hours of shadowing a PCP
2. When my dad (a physician) got sick, he switched entirely to telemedicine, and I became his primary coordinator, being the line of communication between him and patients, sending patient refills, handling controlled substance requests, etc. I was officially his employee but I do not know if medical schools will count it because it was under my dad, and that is obvious given we have the same (uncommon in the US) surname, although I did have another senior supervisor. This was between 2020 and 2023, and its at least 1500 hours.
3. While I was abroad, I volunteered as a lab tech at a cholera research center and also volunteered to help build one of the country’s first hospices. This was not voluntourism, but I’m worried medical schools will view it as such because it was abroad. About 180 hours at each place.
4. My volunteering in the US is more recent and I am pretty sure I will not have acquired 100 hours at every place by the time I apply. One is with the local summer youth employment program, which is long term and very rewarding, but at 2 hours once a month, it’s not easy to build hours. The other is with Ronald McDonald House Charities (Children’s Hospital), where I just started volunteering. I will have 100 hours by the time I apply. I also volunteer at the local food pantry with relative frequency, but that is not a formal program, just individual volunteering on my own terms (about 200 hours).
I’m planning on applying this cycle, but I realize my application is just a big bucket of red flags: the withdrawals, the bad grades, the online/cc postbacc, so many of my ECs being abroad.
I am unsure of how to proceed and would appreciate some advice. I am Asian from Texas, if that matters.
I ended up graduating a semester late, and had no upward trend throughout my undergraduate career until my last semester. I didn’t do especially well, but for the first time, I had a semester gpa above a 3.0, thanks to one professor who completely changed my life. Although I didn’t get to do any formal research, my independent project in this class led to a poster presentation and my co-authorship on a publication (this was not a participation trophy type thing, it was only our project that was chosen for this).
My gpa and lack of any MCAT, plus finances, ruled out SMPs. There was no formal postbacc in my area, so I decided to do a DIY postbacc. I reached out to the only 4-year colleges in my city and found out that: (1) The public Ivy was unwilling to let me take any courses, as I would have to be accepted as a transfer student and did not meet the minimum cutoff for acceptance (2) The other two were small private schools that did not have any space in any of the relevant courses. At this point, my only option was to take my courses through the University of California system’s various online extension schools, and some in person through my local community college. All in all I took 32 credits through community college and 20.6 through extension schools. My postbacc gpa was about 3.80, and this raised both my cumulative and science gpas from to 3.08.
On the MCAT I got a 503, then a 508. I am hoping to take it one more time.
My extracurriculars:
1. 100 hours of shadowing a PCP
2. When my dad (a physician) got sick, he switched entirely to telemedicine, and I became his primary coordinator, being the line of communication between him and patients, sending patient refills, handling controlled substance requests, etc. I was officially his employee but I do not know if medical schools will count it because it was under my dad, and that is obvious given we have the same (uncommon in the US) surname, although I did have another senior supervisor. This was between 2020 and 2023, and its at least 1500 hours.
3. While I was abroad, I volunteered as a lab tech at a cholera research center and also volunteered to help build one of the country’s first hospices. This was not voluntourism, but I’m worried medical schools will view it as such because it was abroad. About 180 hours at each place.
4. My volunteering in the US is more recent and I am pretty sure I will not have acquired 100 hours at every place by the time I apply. One is with the local summer youth employment program, which is long term and very rewarding, but at 2 hours once a month, it’s not easy to build hours. The other is with Ronald McDonald House Charities (Children’s Hospital), where I just started volunteering. I will have 100 hours by the time I apply. I also volunteer at the local food pantry with relative frequency, but that is not a formal program, just individual volunteering on my own terms (about 200 hours).
I’m planning on applying this cycle, but I realize my application is just a big bucket of red flags: the withdrawals, the bad grades, the online/cc postbacc, so many of my ECs being abroad.
I am unsure of how to proceed and would appreciate some advice. I am Asian from Texas, if that matters.
