WAMC: cGPA 3.3, sGPA 3.79, MCAT 507 | Nontrad Nurse VA

[hzyl]

1. cGPA: 3.3 sGPA: 3.79
2. MCAT score: 507 (126/129/124/128)
3. State of residence: VA
4. Ethnicity and/or race: ORM - Chinese female. First generation college student/immigrant parents
5. Undergraduate institution or category: Large public university - both degrees + post-bacc
   BS in Psychology
   BS in Nursing (GPA: 3.94)
6. Clinical experience (volunteer and non-volunteer):
   - ICU RN for 5 years (?12,000 hours lol)
   - Volunteer at rural free clinic (~50 hours)
   -ER Scribe ~500 hours
7. Research experience: none
8. Shadowing experience and specialties represented
   ~40 Critical Care
9. Non-clinical volunteering: TBD - looking for opportunities
10. Other extracurricular activities (including athletics, military service, gap year activities, leadership, teaching, etc)
    Taught a class at local nursing school ~ 120 hrs
11. Relevant honors or awards
    Nursing Honor Society
12. Anything else not listed you think might be important
    Medicine has always been on the horizon for me but it didn’t feel attainable. Cumulative GPA is heavily weighed down by my first degree but huge upward trajectory. I did very poorly in my first degree (due to family obligations, working while in college, needed to mature) but finished strong; went straight into nursing school and did well. I did a DIY post-bacc while working full time as a nurse. Did not do as well on the MCAT as I had hoped and I’m unsure if I have time to retake it for this cycle.
    
    2011-2012: 1.32
    2012-2013: 2.71
    2013-2014: 3.63
    2014-2015: 0.53 Yikes
    2015-2016: 3.23
    2016-2017: 3.93 Graduated with BS Psych
    2017-2018: 4.0
    2018-2019: 3.93 Graduated with BS Nursing
    Post-bacc: 3.9

Any insights on what other schools I should apply to? Open to DO but prefer MD. Looking to apply to ~20 schools total. Preference to stay local to VA/east coast but open. All help is greatly appreciated.

MD
EVMS
Virginia Tech
VCU
UVA
Wake Forest
Drexel

DO
Campbell
Liberty
VCOM
Rowan University

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[Faha]

You could add these schools to your application:
West Virginia
Temple
Jefferson
Penn State
NOVA MD
Tulane
TCU
Creighton
Belmont
Rosalind Franklin
Loyola
Rush
Medical College Wisconsin
Oakland Beaumont
Wayne State
Albany
Vermont
Quinnipiac
Add PCOM and WVSOM to your DO list.

 

[MD_Maker]

Challenging app. Your MCAT score will unfortunately hold you back. Is a retake possible? Otherwise, being a nurse is an interesting background. The rest of your app is a little sparse. Do you have anything else, like volunteering, marginalized identities, particular skills/talents? Based on what you presented here, DO will likely be attainable, but MD is not a sure thing. You still have some work to do.

 

[hzyl]

Challenging app. Your MCAT score will unfortunately hold you back. Is a retake possible? Otherwise, being a nurse is an interesting background. The rest of your app is a little sparse. Do you have anything else, like volunteering, marginalized identities, particular skills/talents? Based on what you presented here, DO will likely be attainable, but MD is not a sure thing. You still have some work to do.

I ultimately decided against a retake after a lot of consideration. I'm still working full-time and I had to take 3 weeks off of work to study for the first try. I don't think I can meaningfully increase my score in time for this cycle. Unfortunately, I ran out of time on the bio section despite never running out of time 7 full lengths that I took. Unlucky or test day nerves, I guess.

My application is a bit sparse but I've been in the workforce for 5 years and it's been difficult to spread my attention across so many facets of the application. I'm continuing to volunteer at a free clinic and I grew up in a low SES immigrant parents but I'm 30 now and in a higher SES.

 

[MD_Maker]

Ok, good luck on your journey. Not optimal, but it sounds like you're doing what you can.