WAMC and Post Bac advice

[troyafshari]

Hi all, I’m in the process of reinvention and could seriously use some advice or perspective on my path forward.

• graduated spring 2021 from UCONN (CT resident) with a psych BA and a 2.86 (this was after getting a 1.87 and 2.14 my freshman semesters)
• I got mostly Bs, Cs and 2 Ds in the science prereqs I have taken, I still need 2
• white male

Volunteering/shadowing/clinical hours/research

• Since march 2021 I've been using my EMT license to work as a vaccinator for several Covid vaccine clinics, ultimately leveling up to clinical site lead for one of these clinics (1000+ hours) currently out of commission after tearing my ACL and meniscus last month
• 300 volunteer hours from a combination of a medlife service trip as well as many hours at flu shot clinics, blood drives, and bone marrow donor drives
• 100 hours of shadowing with various specialties (internal medicine, cardiology, ortho, orthopedic surgeries)
• I have 2 years of undergrad research studying pain reduction and drug addiction in relation to the endocannabinoid and opioid systems (it was slow going because of covid)

I plan on starting either a DIY or formally guided postbac in fall 2022. During this I will retake a few prereqs and take new upper-level science classes to enhance my science GPA, I also plan on accumulating a lot more volunteer hours and getting my MCAT done by the end of the program. My question is HOW LONG will I need and HOW MUCH gpa repair is going to be necessary, and does my existing upward trend give me any advantage? I plan on doing the postbac for at least fall spring and summer 2023 (one continuous year). Will the upward trend combined with three semesters of 3.7-4.0 postbac GPA put me in range for DO schools? I'm considering that I may have to apply to some SMPs out of the postbac but I'd prefer not to if it’s not completely necessary, maybe if I nail the MCAT? All advice is appreciated. I know I have a long uphill journey ahead of me!

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[candbgirl]

What is your sGPA? (Including every science course you have ever taken -there are no grade replacements ). Have you retaken the Ds? Depending on your answer it might be feasible for you to do a DIY post bacc. You currently aren’t competitive with 2.86 cGPA. You have to take enough courses to get yourself above 3.0 and as close to 3.2 as possible. As things stand now your GPA wouldn’t make it through an auto screen. You might want to to look seriously at DO schools. And remember to always have a backup plan.

You have enough shadowing but most of what you have listed in not really clinical. But might be okay for nonclinical volunteering. The way you described your activities, the people didn’t seem sick, injured or dying. They seemed to be healthy people getting vaccinations, giving blood, doing bone marrow drives etc. They were not sick.
So at some point you are going to have to get 250+ hours of clinical experiences with direct patient interaction.

 

[troyafshari]

What is your sGPA? (Including every science course you have ever taken -there are no grade replacements ). Have you retaken the Ds? Depending on your answer it might be feasible for you to do a DIY post bacc. You currently aren’t competitive with 2.86 cGPA. You have to take enough courses to get yourself above 3.0 and as close to 3.2 as possible. As things stand now your GPA wouldn’t make it through an auto screen. You might want to to look seriously at DO schools. And remember to always have a backup plan.

You have enough shadowing but most of what you have listed in not really clinical. But might be okay for nonclinical volunteering. The way you described your activities, the people didn’t seem sick, injured or dying. They seemed to be healthy people getting vaccinations, giving blood, doing bone marrow drives etc. They were not sick.
So at some point you are going to have to get 250+ hours of clinical experiences with direct patient interaction.

No, I plan on retaking the Ds during postbac, and my sgpa is about a 2.3 (from 8 classes). As I said in the post, my goal is to get within range of DO schools. I'm not seriously considering MD at this point.

To add more context, the medlife trip had us orchestrating and volunteering at medical/dental clinics in isolated towns across the Ecuadorian amazon for two weeks. The vast majority of these patients of which we saw about 100-150 per day were certainly sick.

I would argue that being a site lead or vaccinator at a busy covid clinic in a hospital is a much more clinical experience than say a scribe position, but maybe that's not how admissions committees would view it. I have another 50-100 hours of hospital patient aid work from high school (2016-17) but I felt it was less relevant since it's 5 years old.

 

[candbgirl]

So does the 2.3 include the Ds? The Ecuadorian trip won’t be impressive to many ADCOMS. Trips like that are considered voluntourism. Just a heads up on that. You can do a search and see what ADCOMS think about this subject. And while I agree totally with you about scribing there have been several discussions on the subject. But the good news is you can use some of it it for nonclinical volunteering that you need too. And just a FYI, what happened in HS stays in HS. Don’t get all upset about needing hours in this area or that area. You won’t be applying for several years. So you have time. It’s going to take you awhile to get your GPAs under control. What (you have to do is convince ADCOMS that you are up to the rigors of med school. This means stringing 3-4 semesters of full time upper level science courses together, earning at least a 3.7. GPA. It will be very hard for you to budge your GPA at this point but if you do this and possibly a SMP, you might be able to convince ADCOMS to give you a chance. Of course there are no Guarantees so always have a backup plan.