WAMC cGPA 3.55, sGPA 3.36 / CSE Major

[sparrows]

Hello! This is my first time posting on any pre-med forum & as a nontrad student I'm kind of nervous about it haha. I would appreciate any insight y'all have!

• State/Country of Residence: Ohio
• Ties to other States/Regions: Grew up and went to my first college in Texas
• URM? (Y/N): No - Asian American
• Year in School: Junior? I think? I've been taking college classes on and off since 2013.
• Undergraduate Major(s)/Minor(s): Computer Science and Engineering
• Graduate Degrees (if applicable): N/A
• Cumulative GPA: 3.547 (strong upward trend 2.9>3.2 pre-2017 --> 3.9>4.0 2018-ongoing)
• Science GPA: 3.357 (same but haven't taken many science courses recently)
• MCAT Score(s): Haven't taken it yet, but expecting a 510-515 based on practice tests (513 avg).
• Research Experience: Three years of CS internships (~5100 hours) on primarily biomedical engineering projects. Mostly programming/software engineering work, but got to use a lot of my biology/medical knowledge to liaison with clinicians, pharmacists, etc. 500 hours of this was as a team lead on a bio-inspired engineering project.
• Publications/Abstracts/Posters (include how you were credited e.g. first author, second author, etc.): One publication (co-author), one poster presentation at astrobio conference.
• Clinical Experience (paid or volunteer): One summer (80 hours) of hospital volunteering way back in 2013. Have been trying to get more since January 2020, but... you know.
• Physician Shadowing: 50 hours shadowing an opthalmologist in 2013. Also haven't been able to get any more despite trying since January 2020, but I've made several good connections with physicians and ask them a lot of in-depth questions over email or phone calls instead.
• Non-Clinical Volunteering: Lots, but haven't tallied it up yet. Hundreds of hours of STEM outreach programs (programming workshops I've run for kids, events showcasing VR technology with scientific/medical applications), hundreds of hours at animal shelters, at least 40 hours organizing food donations during the pandemic with Food Not Bombs
• Other Extracurricular Activities: Member of an astronomy society for a year, lots of hobbies (crocheting, drawing, painting, playing piano/flute), Society of Women Engineers, gave a talk at a university on being a woman of color in CSE
• Other Employment History: School/SAT tutor (200ish hours)
• Immediate family members in medicine? (Y/N): Nope
• Specialty of Interest (if applicable): Pediatrics, OB/GYN, Pathology, but open to more.
• Interest in Primary Care (Y/N): Maybe
• Interest in Rural Health (Y/N): No, specifically want to come back to work in my underserved urban community
• Medical School List: Case Western (top choice), NEOMED, Toledo, Ohio State, Wright State, Ohio University, Cincinnati, Wayne State, Pittsburgh, Rochester, University of Michigan, Central Michigan, Michigan State, Penn State, Buffalo, SUNY Upstate, Lake Erie.

Anyway. I don't know how favorably med schools will look at CS internship experience even though it's mostly bio- or medically-oriented, and I'm worried that my low sGPA and lack of clinical experience is going to bring me down. Any advice on how to spin my weird, varied experiences? Or on schools to add/drop?

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[Shunsui]

Carle Illinois

 

[sparrows]

Carle Illinois

Thank you! I haven't looked into them yet but I definitely will.

 

[HumblePerspective]

I come from a similar background (EE/BioE grad/undergrad, East Asian, nontrad) and am going to an MD school this coming summer/fall. Here are my 2 cents:

I attended Carle Illinois's showcase (their equivalent of an interview) this year and I can tell you they absolutely favor students with a strong engineering or related background, especially when it comes to programming, problem-solving, and innovation. Think of the program as a modified MD with a slight flavor of PhD. However, the program has very few spots compared to other MD schools, and they do emphasize diversity. Frankly, your GPA seems to be on the lower end (despite the upward trend) for an ORM, so you should aim for a higher MCAT score (Maybe 515) to maximize your chances. But then again, if you really have something unique to offer they might take you regardless of your stats.

For other schools, what I can tell you from experience is that they look for 1. markers of success (mostly through scores and EC achievements) 2. commitment to medicine (continuous clinical experience) 3. Traits that fit the school's mission. You have to have all three to at least get a chance at an interview, at which point your stats won't matter as much and you can shine with your experience/maturity. From the information you gave, I do think you need to look for clinical volunteering/work immediately if your plan is to apply this coming cycle. Every school I interviewed with asked me questions along the lines of "Why do you want to do MD instead of research/engineering PhD, or continue with current work?" You need some bullets to justify your answer.

Lastly, apart from the schools in Ohio, I would recommend adding "mid-tier" private schools like Medical College of Wisconsin, Georgetown, George Washington, Creighton, Thomas Jefferson, Drexel, etc. (in no particular order) to your list. Unless you have no intention to attend them even if accepted, that is.

That's it for now. I hope this is helpful! Feel free to PM me with any questions.