Hello,
I was wondering if anyone could give me and tips/advice or realistic outcome of my med school applications. I am a very non-traditional student and am unsure how it impacts the application process. I did not apply this cycle due to health issues. I plan to apply next cycle as early as possible.
A little background, I graduated with a Finance and Accounting Double major in 2015. I then did consulting for a year and a half before going back for medicine Post-BACC. Prior to entering college in 2011, my main goal was actually medicine and I was accepted to one of the "accelerated" med school programs even though I turned it down. Medicine has always been my passion but circumstance at the time along with societal/family pressure did not allow me to go into it at the beginning. See below:
Race/Gender: White/Male
Age: 24
State of Residence: Ohio
Majors/GPA: Double major in Finance and Accounting (3.93 overall GPA, 150 credit hours). Also received my CPA (essentially a Masters/highest designation in Accounting field - test similar to MCAT, but for accounting [i.e. tests all knowledge of business learned throughout 150 credit hours]).
Post-Bacc/GPA: 4.0 GPA (took Physis 1&2, Chem and OChem 1&2, BioChem for Medicine, and Bio 1&2) [Also took Psych and Soc for DO applications, received 4.0 in those as well].
Overall GPA Business & Post-BACC: 3.96 (200 credit hours total).
MCAT: 510
Work Experience:
~3500 Hours doing Risk Consulting for a Large Tier Consulting Firm (This is where my very non-traditional aspect comes in to play. I averaged around 60 hours of work a week not including travel time. While not directly related to medicine, being that it was consulting, I learned to pick up a lot of valuable skills along the way. [Verbal Skills, breaking bad news to client, written and formal skills, leading teams of 20+ employees, etc.]. Additionally, worked on certain Hospitals as clients).
CPR/Blood Borne Pathogen/Water Safety Instructor: On top of being a LG supervisor on my campus, I also taught the CPR/BBP/ and Water Safety Lessons. (Water Safety was included here as I have a very strong desire to go into Pediatrics and I accumulated hundreds of hours of working with children). ~2000 hours.
Shadowing/Volunteering/Research:
Clinical Volunteering: Med Clinic Volunteering (I ran the lab that analyzed different metrics [glucose, A1C, Lipids, etc]. I was able to have direct patient contact. This clinic was for the homeless and those who lost their insurance). ~250 hours.
Food Bank: Assisted in feeding those in need and also helped out in the accounting and finance areas as a volunteer. ~100 hours.
Mission Trip: Installed clean water filters in third world country for those that did not have access to clean drinking water. ~65 hours.
Research: Assisted in a lab looking to reverse the effects of heart attacks. (More to this, but will not get into it here). ~50 hours.
Shadowing: Shadowed many different specialties including: Pediatrics (20 hours), Nephrology (30 hours), EM (10 hours), 20 hours of shadowing mission trip doctors in third world country. ~85 hours.
Hospital Intern (unpaid): This was in their strategic planning department, but thought it was relevant because it allowed me to communicate with CEO/executive of 15,000+ employee hospital. Additionally, I conducted demographic research to medically under-served areas and created presentation that was given to executives that allowed them to apply for a federal grant to build a new hospital center in this under-served area. (It did not go through due to change in CEO around a year after internship ended). ~300 hours.
Misc Items:
Participant in Bike to Cure events: Participated and helped to create 30+ person team for Bike to Cure for cancer. Spent many hours fundraising and getting participants, etc.
LORS:
Extremely strong LOR from schools med committee (Highest Recommendation).
Two strong LOR's from well known scientific research professors.
Extremely strong LOR from Nephrologist MD (Ran residency program at large 15,000+ person hospital for 15+ years. Is also a professor at a med school).
Extremely Strong LOR from head partner at old Consulting Office (geared more towards leadership ability and desire to go above and beyond).
That is most of the significant part of background that I found relevant. I guess I am just curious what some of you thought my chances would be of getting into DO/MD had I applied this cycle given my differentiated background? (To be honest, I like DO route better personally for my career goals, but I do not want to limit myself and not do MD). Would it be reasonable to assume I would receive some interviews?
Any other suggestions or comments on how I could make my application stronger would also be greatly appreciated! My Finance and Accounting background makes me unsure how well I will do in my applications. Some people I talk to point it out as a strength, others a weakness.
Thank you all!
I was wondering if anyone could give me and tips/advice or realistic outcome of my med school applications. I am a very non-traditional student and am unsure how it impacts the application process. I did not apply this cycle due to health issues. I plan to apply next cycle as early as possible.
A little background, I graduated with a Finance and Accounting Double major in 2015. I then did consulting for a year and a half before going back for medicine Post-BACC. Prior to entering college in 2011, my main goal was actually medicine and I was accepted to one of the "accelerated" med school programs even though I turned it down. Medicine has always been my passion but circumstance at the time along with societal/family pressure did not allow me to go into it at the beginning. See below:
Race/Gender: White/Male
Age: 24
State of Residence: Ohio
Majors/GPA: Double major in Finance and Accounting (3.93 overall GPA, 150 credit hours). Also received my CPA (essentially a Masters/highest designation in Accounting field - test similar to MCAT, but for accounting [i.e. tests all knowledge of business learned throughout 150 credit hours]).
Post-Bacc/GPA: 4.0 GPA (took Physis 1&2, Chem and OChem 1&2, BioChem for Medicine, and Bio 1&2) [Also took Psych and Soc for DO applications, received 4.0 in those as well].
Overall GPA Business & Post-BACC: 3.96 (200 credit hours total).
MCAT: 510
Work Experience:
~3500 Hours doing Risk Consulting for a Large Tier Consulting Firm (This is where my very non-traditional aspect comes in to play. I averaged around 60 hours of work a week not including travel time. While not directly related to medicine, being that it was consulting, I learned to pick up a lot of valuable skills along the way. [Verbal Skills, breaking bad news to client, written and formal skills, leading teams of 20+ employees, etc.]. Additionally, worked on certain Hospitals as clients).
CPR/Blood Borne Pathogen/Water Safety Instructor: On top of being a LG supervisor on my campus, I also taught the CPR/BBP/ and Water Safety Lessons. (Water Safety was included here as I have a very strong desire to go into Pediatrics and I accumulated hundreds of hours of working with children). ~2000 hours.
Shadowing/Volunteering/Research:
Clinical Volunteering: Med Clinic Volunteering (I ran the lab that analyzed different metrics [glucose, A1C, Lipids, etc]. I was able to have direct patient contact. This clinic was for the homeless and those who lost their insurance). ~250 hours.
Food Bank: Assisted in feeding those in need and also helped out in the accounting and finance areas as a volunteer. ~100 hours.
Mission Trip: Installed clean water filters in third world country for those that did not have access to clean drinking water. ~65 hours.
Research: Assisted in a lab looking to reverse the effects of heart attacks. (More to this, but will not get into it here). ~50 hours.
Shadowing: Shadowed many different specialties including: Pediatrics (20 hours), Nephrology (30 hours), EM (10 hours), 20 hours of shadowing mission trip doctors in third world country. ~85 hours.
Hospital Intern (unpaid): This was in their strategic planning department, but thought it was relevant because it allowed me to communicate with CEO/executive of 15,000+ employee hospital. Additionally, I conducted demographic research to medically under-served areas and created presentation that was given to executives that allowed them to apply for a federal grant to build a new hospital center in this under-served area. (It did not go through due to change in CEO around a year after internship ended). ~300 hours.
Misc Items:
Participant in Bike to Cure events: Participated and helped to create 30+ person team for Bike to Cure for cancer. Spent many hours fundraising and getting participants, etc.
LORS:
Extremely strong LOR from schools med committee (Highest Recommendation).
Two strong LOR's from well known scientific research professors.
Extremely strong LOR from Nephrologist MD (Ran residency program at large 15,000+ person hospital for 15+ years. Is also a professor at a med school).
Extremely Strong LOR from head partner at old Consulting Office (geared more towards leadership ability and desire to go above and beyond).
That is most of the significant part of background that I found relevant. I guess I am just curious what some of you thought my chances would be of getting into DO/MD had I applied this cycle given my differentiated background? (To be honest, I like DO route better personally for my career goals, but I do not want to limit myself and not do MD). Would it be reasonable to assume I would receive some interviews?
Any other suggestions or comments on how I could make my application stronger would also be greatly appreciated! My Finance and Accounting background makes me unsure how well I will do in my applications. Some people I talk to point it out as a strength, others a weakness.
Thank you all!
