WAMC/Advice needed

[TacoMuncher2003]

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Hey all, I have a few questions and want to understand what the best option for me is. TIA

Demographics and short bio:

22 M URM Louisiana resident, ties to California and North Dakota, allied health major at state college. Father and mother are both second-generation immigrants, father is MD/PHD, mother graduated college in non-stem field.

I haven’t graduated yet, but I still have about 35 hours of pure BCP classes coming up and trying to raise GPA. First 3 years of college I was dealing with undiagnosed ADHD and depression and finally got medication for it. Since then, my GPA has soared and I have a very strong upwards GPA trend. Extremely interested in postbacc be it either a DIY or SMP anywhere. Not an excuse, but worth knowing, I have had to work every semester around 30+ hours a week on top of school to afford my tuition. I still need to retake Ochem lab, Physics 2 lecture and lab, I have C’s in both.

Stats:

MCAT: 514, only one take and is expiring next year. I am not against studying more for it and retaking it.

cGPA: 2.54

AACAS sGPA: 1.91

AACOMAS sGPA: 2.25

Clinical Experience:

3500+ hours as phlebotomist and lab assistant

1250+ hours as medical assistant in outpatient clinic

Leadership:

SGA senator 3 years of college

1200≈ hours leadership 3 years of esports executive board and 3 years of esports player/captain of teams I was on

Nonclinical Volunteering:

50 hours volunteering for service organization by cleaning campus dorms and community spaces

Shadowing:

100 hours of general surgery

10 hours of cardiothoracic surgery

30 hours of orthopedic surgery:

Awards: 3 leadership awards from esports, 2 from SGA, 1x Presidents List, 1x Honor Roll, 1x Dean’s List

Hobbies:

Fishing, hunting, cooking, gardening

 

[Faha]

Which URM community are you from? If you are Hispanic, are you fluent in Spanish?

 

[TacoMuncher2003]

Which URM community are you from? If you are Hispanic, are you fluent in Spanish?

Mexican-American. Grandparents on my father's side are from Mexico and do not speak English, and mothers side is El Salvador and Mexico and also do not speak Spanish. I speak conversationally and am working on getting my medical Spanish certification to be able to use it in my medical assistant job.

 

[Faha]

You will need to raise your cGPA and sGPA to 3.0 in order to avoid being screened out at most schools. After you graduate, you could do a DIY post bacc at a local college (community college is fine) and take undergraduate level science courses in order to increase your sGPA to 3.0. You will need to retake the MCAT since it will expire before you apply. You would also benefit from 150+ hours of non clinical volunteering such as food bank or homeless shelter since some schools screen at 150 hours. Let us know in another year or two how your are progressing and post your new MCAT score when available.

 

[TacoMuncher2003]

You will need to raise your cGPA and sGPA to 3.0 in order to avoid being screened out at most schools. After you graduate, you could do a DIY post bacc at a local college (community college is fine) and take undergraduate level science courses in order to increase your sGPA to 3.0. You will need to retake the MCAT since it will expire before you apply. You would also benefit from 150+ hours of non clinical volunteering such as food bank or homeless shelter since some schools screen at 150 hours. Let us know in another year or two how your are progressing and post your new MCAT score when available.

Thank you for the advice. I am currently working towards getting a retroactive withdrawal for a semester my freshman year where I had failed all my classes, which was 16 credit hours. After that happened, I went to my PCP and was diagnosed with ADHD and put on medication. Since then, my grades and involvement at my college have soared yet that one semester has dragged my GPA down so much. I had calculated the effect of that semester and if I can get it removed, it would raise my cumulative GPA to a 3.14 and would make applying to a SMP much more feasible. If it does get dropped, do you think that an SMP is a better option? Also, I am restudying to retake the MCAT this coming May and am very confident for it. Thank you for the recommendation for nonclinical volunteering as well.