- Joined
- Jan 1, 2016
- Messages
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Hi all! I wanted to post on here as I am feeling hopeless about the 2019-2020 application cycle after reading a few threads on Reddit and SDN. I still don't know how these threads work as I tend to ramble a bit and try my best not to inconvenience any members by asking for help. However, I am feeling a little desperate for advice as I am planning to apply this year but have to face the facts that it would be difficult for me to get into any MD or DO school at this point. I would like some guidance on how to proceed.
I am a 22-year old Asian (Indian, ORM, I guess) female residing in the state of FL. I wish to mostly stay within my state, but have considered some recently opened MD and DO schools out of state due to my low stats. I am a non-traditional student (doing an SMP at UF, I am heading into my final semester in the fall) and have no positive trend in my GPA, as I am recovering from a major dip I took during my junior and senior semesters (horrible living environment partnered with declining motivation to stay afloat). I did very poorly in organic chemistry and some of biochemistry, as well as an immunology course, which I passed with a C. I retook organic I-II, as well as biochemistry, only to receive the same, if not worse, grades (I had received a total of 5 Cs/C-s and 1 D), which was how I walked out with nearly a 3.4-3.5 cGPA after my bachelors in biology. It doesn't help that I only went to college for 4 years either, as I don't think medical schools care how long it takes students to finish their degrees. Unfortunately, my ECs are not stellar either, and my first attempt at the MCAT was a 496. Please see below:
STATS: MCAT 496 (127/122/125/122) in June 2018, aiming for a retake in early-mid August
cGPA: 3.67 (with all of my courses from my master's and UG thus far), sGPA: 3.58
My SMP GPA alone is a 3.94, but I have a W due to the hurricane, and a B+ and B-, as well as an A-. The B- and A- were not included in the calculation of my SMP GPA, but were in the c- and sGPAs as I was a non-degree seeking student at the time.
Personal Info/Memberships: Asian
FL Resident
Bachelor's 2015-2017
Grad School 2017-2019
ORM, not a first-gen college student
Not from a medically-underserved community
Not economically disadvantaged (I have never qualified for any fee-assistance programs or financial aid other than merit-based scholarships which have covered roughly 80% of my educational expenses to this date)
English is not my first language, but it's functionally native to me
U.S. citizen (naturalized) (idk if this helps with anything)
Alpha Chi Sigma Member, Gamma Beta Chapter (served as secretary/recorder for some odd semesters), inducted spring 2016
Was CPR/AED/First-Aid certified and involved in my school wrestling team (for emergencies/injuries)
Member of Teaching Our Youth Sciences club for 2 semesters
Member of Health Occupations Students of America for my final 2 semesters of College
Extracurriculars (please note that some of these hours are self-reported, neither I nor the individuals who had provided oversight had kept track of exact hours. It takes the enjoyment out of the experience for me.):
Shadowing multiple specialties over the past several years (1000+ hrs) including gastroenterology, anesthesiology/pain management, oncology/hematology, internal medicine, family medicine, emergency medicine, and pediatrics
Volunteering at non-profit legal aid office doing mainly clerical work (underserved communities where the crime rate was high and the literacy rate was lower) for about 5 years (700-800 hours)
Tutoring/Mentoring - 1000+ hours. I tutor people of all ages who need help with mostly science and math. My mentoring really boils down to helping people select the right subjects to take, regardless of grade, and preparing for professional school like myself, because I'd never had the proper guidance and had to figure most of this out on my own, which is why this app cycle is such a struggle for me. I provide any resource I have to help students.
Hospital Volunteer (Medical/Surgical Center) - 40 hours. I didn't enjoy passing out ice, bedding, and refreshments because I didn't learn anything. However, I enjoyed connecting with patients and visiting doctors, and I guess I could say I got a glimpse of what hospitalists do and what kind of hours they work; that was fun.
Undergrad research assistant- 1000+ hrs. Poured my heart and soul into this as I am clearly lacking in clubs/activities sector of my college experience. Published 1 paper (not first or corresponding author) and actively participated in 2 of my own research projects. All of my projects, including published paper, are on nanomaterials research, specifically photocatalysts. No posters or presentations.
Humane society volunteer - 50+ hours. at the time, and even today, because I am not a student already in professional school, a lot of my medical/clinical volunteer opportunities were limited, so I worked at the humane society feeding pets, cleaning poop, and teaching visitors on how to properly handle and care for pets. I still try to volunteer there when I can, but I don't record my hours. I ended up adopting Dolly (my baby cat) from there. Best decision I'd made in 2018.
(below pulled from my CV)
Injection Preparation Volunteer (60 hrs)
Prepared patients for injection by collecting vitals, conducting a review of symptoms and recent medication history to confirm that no blood-thinners had been taken in at least 72 hours prior to the procedure unless otherwise noted by the physician. Assisted in various nerve block procedures, including but not limited to RF (radiofrequency ablation), epidural, peripheral, facet joint, occipital, and trigger point injections and prepared nerve block injections (commonly bupivacaine or lidocaine) via sterile techniques and adjusted transducer/probe per physician’s instructions for proper identification of injection sites during ultrasound (specifically during trigger point procedures).
Volunteer Medical Scribe, Primary care/geriatrics 2017-2019 (250+ hrs)
Assisted physician in the assessment and collection of patient- identifying information, vitals and health conditions, medications and diagnoses in the form of an HPI and other documentation on eClinicalWorks using ICD-10.
So in Oct. 2018, my house got destroyed by Hurricane Michael (so I withdrew from all of my responsibilities and focused on pulling my house back together. Still working on it now so it will be several months before I move back in. I'm an acting GC at this point (homeowner, so I can legally do all of this). See below:
General Contractor, Self-coordinated, 2018-2019 (already invested 400+ hours into this, still way more to go)
Some responsibilities included the prompt ordering of construction materials and making arrangements for delivery, total project financing, background-checking, paying, and hiring (sub-contracting) and subsequent release of licensed and insured individuals, preparation of thorough contractual agreements between homeowners and workers, management of construction workers and maintenance of the property from the time of Hurricane Michael to the completion of my entire home restoration, assisted homeowners in retrieving building/remodeling permits so that all restoring activity is up to 2017 Florida Building Code, and assisting homeowners in maximizing insurance pay out by regularly working with both construction workers and insurance company to properly document all activity on the property, keeping record of all expenses (for contents, restoration, additional living expenses and all damages as a result of Hurricane Michael) to ensure that all expenses are covered at no cost to the homeowner in a reasonable amount of time. My family lost their home in October 2018 to Hurricane Michael (Category 5) and are currently undergoing a total interior rebuild that may take several months to complete.
Now, I did little things here and there like community service for my campus organizations, like working with Big Bend, organizing donation/charity events, campus cleanup, etc. but I don't feel comfortable including those experiences in my application as they honestly seem so trivial to me and none of these were long-term commitments.
I have to add that I did involve myself in the application process last year, but shortly after submitting my app (before verification, actually), I did withdraw it after seeing my June MCAT score. Glad I did so because I went abroad immediately after and then came back just in time to face the hurricane.
Quite frankly, I am not impressive in any regard. Through my personal assessment, I find my stats to be sub-par. ECs are decent, but not quite there. Because of the situation I am in right now, I can't really do too much about the ECs, but I will pick up school in the fall and complete my masters. Right now, I am in the process of sorting through schools and am not too sure where to apply as far as MD school goes. I will also be applying to DO schools shortly. Please drop some recommendations below for any MD and DO schools that I could be a potential candidate for (I understand that at this point, none of these schools are reaches, but I am planning to improve my MCAT score in the coming months, maybe in the 506-510 range). I apologize if I am providing any sort of misinformation above and if all of this information seems superfluous; I am trying my best! Thank you all so much for your help, and I love being part of a knowledgable, close-knit community!
I am a 22-year old Asian (Indian, ORM, I guess) female residing in the state of FL. I wish to mostly stay within my state, but have considered some recently opened MD and DO schools out of state due to my low stats. I am a non-traditional student (doing an SMP at UF, I am heading into my final semester in the fall) and have no positive trend in my GPA, as I am recovering from a major dip I took during my junior and senior semesters (horrible living environment partnered with declining motivation to stay afloat). I did very poorly in organic chemistry and some of biochemistry, as well as an immunology course, which I passed with a C. I retook organic I-II, as well as biochemistry, only to receive the same, if not worse, grades (I had received a total of 5 Cs/C-s and 1 D), which was how I walked out with nearly a 3.4-3.5 cGPA after my bachelors in biology. It doesn't help that I only went to college for 4 years either, as I don't think medical schools care how long it takes students to finish their degrees. Unfortunately, my ECs are not stellar either, and my first attempt at the MCAT was a 496. Please see below:
STATS: MCAT 496 (127/122/125/122) in June 2018, aiming for a retake in early-mid August
cGPA: 3.67 (with all of my courses from my master's and UG thus far), sGPA: 3.58
My SMP GPA alone is a 3.94, but I have a W due to the hurricane, and a B+ and B-, as well as an A-. The B- and A- were not included in the calculation of my SMP GPA, but were in the c- and sGPAs as I was a non-degree seeking student at the time.
Personal Info/Memberships: Asian
FL Resident
Bachelor's 2015-2017
Grad School 2017-2019
ORM, not a first-gen college student
Not from a medically-underserved community
Not economically disadvantaged (I have never qualified for any fee-assistance programs or financial aid other than merit-based scholarships which have covered roughly 80% of my educational expenses to this date)
English is not my first language, but it's functionally native to me
U.S. citizen (naturalized) (idk if this helps with anything)
Alpha Chi Sigma Member, Gamma Beta Chapter (served as secretary/recorder for some odd semesters), inducted spring 2016
Was CPR/AED/First-Aid certified and involved in my school wrestling team (for emergencies/injuries)
Member of Teaching Our Youth Sciences club for 2 semesters
Member of Health Occupations Students of America for my final 2 semesters of College
Extracurriculars (please note that some of these hours are self-reported, neither I nor the individuals who had provided oversight had kept track of exact hours. It takes the enjoyment out of the experience for me.):
Shadowing multiple specialties over the past several years (1000+ hrs) including gastroenterology, anesthesiology/pain management, oncology/hematology, internal medicine, family medicine, emergency medicine, and pediatrics
Volunteering at non-profit legal aid office doing mainly clerical work (underserved communities where the crime rate was high and the literacy rate was lower) for about 5 years (700-800 hours)
Tutoring/Mentoring - 1000+ hours. I tutor people of all ages who need help with mostly science and math. My mentoring really boils down to helping people select the right subjects to take, regardless of grade, and preparing for professional school like myself, because I'd never had the proper guidance and had to figure most of this out on my own, which is why this app cycle is such a struggle for me. I provide any resource I have to help students.
Hospital Volunteer (Medical/Surgical Center) - 40 hours. I didn't enjoy passing out ice, bedding, and refreshments because I didn't learn anything. However, I enjoyed connecting with patients and visiting doctors, and I guess I could say I got a glimpse of what hospitalists do and what kind of hours they work; that was fun.
Undergrad research assistant- 1000+ hrs. Poured my heart and soul into this as I am clearly lacking in clubs/activities sector of my college experience. Published 1 paper (not first or corresponding author) and actively participated in 2 of my own research projects. All of my projects, including published paper, are on nanomaterials research, specifically photocatalysts. No posters or presentations.
Humane society volunteer - 50+ hours. at the time, and even today, because I am not a student already in professional school, a lot of my medical/clinical volunteer opportunities were limited, so I worked at the humane society feeding pets, cleaning poop, and teaching visitors on how to properly handle and care for pets. I still try to volunteer there when I can, but I don't record my hours. I ended up adopting Dolly (my baby cat) from there. Best decision I'd made in 2018.
(below pulled from my CV)
Injection Preparation Volunteer (60 hrs)
Prepared patients for injection by collecting vitals, conducting a review of symptoms and recent medication history to confirm that no blood-thinners had been taken in at least 72 hours prior to the procedure unless otherwise noted by the physician. Assisted in various nerve block procedures, including but not limited to RF (radiofrequency ablation), epidural, peripheral, facet joint, occipital, and trigger point injections and prepared nerve block injections (commonly bupivacaine or lidocaine) via sterile techniques and adjusted transducer/probe per physician’s instructions for proper identification of injection sites during ultrasound (specifically during trigger point procedures).
Volunteer Medical Scribe, Primary care/geriatrics 2017-2019 (250+ hrs)
Assisted physician in the assessment and collection of patient- identifying information, vitals and health conditions, medications and diagnoses in the form of an HPI and other documentation on eClinicalWorks using ICD-10.
So in Oct. 2018, my house got destroyed by Hurricane Michael (so I withdrew from all of my responsibilities and focused on pulling my house back together. Still working on it now so it will be several months before I move back in. I'm an acting GC at this point (homeowner, so I can legally do all of this). See below:
General Contractor, Self-coordinated, 2018-2019 (already invested 400+ hours into this, still way more to go)
Some responsibilities included the prompt ordering of construction materials and making arrangements for delivery, total project financing, background-checking, paying, and hiring (sub-contracting) and subsequent release of licensed and insured individuals, preparation of thorough contractual agreements between homeowners and workers, management of construction workers and maintenance of the property from the time of Hurricane Michael to the completion of my entire home restoration, assisted homeowners in retrieving building/remodeling permits so that all restoring activity is up to 2017 Florida Building Code, and assisting homeowners in maximizing insurance pay out by regularly working with both construction workers and insurance company to properly document all activity on the property, keeping record of all expenses (for contents, restoration, additional living expenses and all damages as a result of Hurricane Michael) to ensure that all expenses are covered at no cost to the homeowner in a reasonable amount of time. My family lost their home in October 2018 to Hurricane Michael (Category 5) and are currently undergoing a total interior rebuild that may take several months to complete.
Now, I did little things here and there like community service for my campus organizations, like working with Big Bend, organizing donation/charity events, campus cleanup, etc. but I don't feel comfortable including those experiences in my application as they honestly seem so trivial to me and none of these were long-term commitments.
I have to add that I did involve myself in the application process last year, but shortly after submitting my app (before verification, actually), I did withdraw it after seeing my June MCAT score. Glad I did so because I went abroad immediately after and then came back just in time to face the hurricane.
Quite frankly, I am not impressive in any regard. Through my personal assessment, I find my stats to be sub-par. ECs are decent, but not quite there. Because of the situation I am in right now, I can't really do too much about the ECs, but I will pick up school in the fall and complete my masters. Right now, I am in the process of sorting through schools and am not too sure where to apply as far as MD school goes. I will also be applying to DO schools shortly. Please drop some recommendations below for any MD and DO schools that I could be a potential candidate for (I understand that at this point, none of these schools are reaches, but I am planning to improve my MCAT score in the coming months, maybe in the 506-510 range). I apologize if I am providing any sort of misinformation above and if all of this information seems superfluous; I am trying my best! Thank you all so much for your help, and I love being part of a knowledgable, close-knit community!
