WAMC MD: URM, cGPA 2.3, sGPA 2.6, 513 MCAT, SMP 3.61

[DaGingerbreadman]

1. SMP GPA: projected 3.61
2. cGPA: 2.3; sGPA: 2.6
3. MCAT 513 (129/127/129/128)
4. Florida (US Citizen)
5. Ethnicity Nigerian-American (URM)
6. Undergrad: private local undergrad
7. SMP: Local well ranked schoool
8. Last 30 credits: 4.0 masters
9. Clinical experience: 3000 hours (medical assistant/ phlebotomist)
10. Non-Clinical Volunteering:
    1. Ministry Team Lead (10 hours)
    2. Back-to-School Physical MA (8 hours)
    3. Crisis Text Line Counselor (100 hours)
    4. Health Literacy Through Storytelling Chair (0, should be 100 by may)
    5. Charity Fashion Modelling (8 hours)
11. Non-Clinical Work:
    1. Worked 500+ hours as a hotel night auditor at
    2. Worked in school cafeteria 3+ years
    3. MA/phleb for 1.5 years
    4. Freelance Modelling
12. Research: Currently working on some review posters for some independent symposiums

I started undergrad as a finance major while trying to do med school prereqs, which tanked my grades, so I switched major to premed/bio. Graduated after 5.5 years, did a gap year for clinical hours, and am now almost finished with my SMP, hosted by a medical school. I was told previously I may have been accepted to a DO school, but am quite interested in pursuing derm, so only want to apply to MD programs, preferably that have home derm residencies. I thought doing some minor modelling might contribute to a derm narrative positively but, I'd just be happy to get into MD atp...

A lot of school reps that give talks in my program have a cutoff of 3.7+ SMPgpa to be considered, so I'm considering redoing my first semester of courses, where my gpa was a 2.9. I'm not sure if the time out is worth it just to increase my gpa from 3.6 to 3.7. I plan to apply this May.

Howard
Meharry
Morehouse
Charles Drew
Florida State
U Florida
Central Florida
Florida Atlantic
Florida International
Miami
NOVA MD
Tulane
Rosalind Franklin
Medical College Wisconsin
Oakland Beaumont
Wayne State
Indiana
Vermont
Hackensack
Drexel
Temple
George Washington
Eastern Virginia
Wake Forest

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Which schools from your list have actively recruited at your SMP and/or have recruited you?

Can you confirm that you were born and raised in the United States? I know you said you were a citizen, but I'm interested in how your background will be viewed through holistic review.

Did you get your automatic invite/offer to NOVA DO? Have you talked with their admissions and student services teams about your interest in dermatology? What about match lists from the last 3 years?

What advice have you received from your SMP faculty/director? How will they support your application?

My one worry is your non-clinical volunteering. I don't pay attention to activities with fewer than 50 hours, so that leave 100 hours of crisis text line. Now if you invoke an articulation acceptance, the following advice won't matter: you need 150 hours minimum of service orientation activities such as food distribution, shelter volunteer, job/tax preparation, transportation services, or housing rehabilitation to avoid getting screened out in regular decision from most schools. The rules may be different since you have worked for your education before attending your SMP (and whatever you answered above about your upbringing), but I need to put that out there in case you want to apply on your own.

 

[Faha]

Add the newer MD schools such as Alice Walton, Belmont, Methodist (when it opens) and Roseman (when it opens). You should also apply to DO schools and I suggest these:
LECOM (all schools)
NOVA
OCOM
BCOM (both schools)
PCOM Georgia and South Georgia
ACOM
LMU-DCOM (all schools)
WCU-COM
NYIT-AR
ARCOM
UIWSOM
BUCOM
WVSOM
UP-KYCOM
MU-COM
KHSC-COM
DUQCOM

 

[DaGingerbreadman]

Which schools from your list have actively recruited at your SMP and/or have recruited you?

Can you confirm that you were born and raised in the United States? I know you said you were a citizen, but I'm interested in how your background will be viewed through holistic review.

Did you get your automatic invite/offer to NOVA DO? Have you talked with their admissions and student services teams about your interest in dermatology? What about match lists from the last 3 years?

What advice have you received from your SMP faculty/director? How will they support your application?

My one worry is your non-clinical volunteering. I don't pay attention to activities with fewer than 50 hours, so that leave 100 hours of crisis text line. Now if you invoke an articulation acceptance, the following advice won't matter: you need 150 hours minimum of service orientation activities such as food distribution, shelter volunteer, job/tax preparation, transportation services, or housing rehabilitation to avoid getting screened out in regular decision from most schools. The rules may be different since you have worked for your education before attending your SMP (and whatever you answered above about your upbringing), but I need to put that out there in case you want to apply on your own.

These schools recruited at the SMP. While I was unable to attend all meetings, the general GPA requirement was a 3.7+ SMP GPA.
Tulane (MD)
University of Alabama (MD)
Florida Atlantic (MD)
USF (MD)
UF (MD)
WVU (MD)
Drexel (MD)
Meharry (MD)
Edward Via COM (DO)
Alabama COM (DO)
West Virginia COM (DO)

I was mostly raised in the US, though did high school in Nigeria, and lived in Europe during college (valid triple citizen). After college and returning to the US, I was homeless briefly, got a scooter to go to work, got an American drivers license and a motorcycle, and in two vehicle accidents. Still trying to figure out hospital bills following those events, but will likely incorporate these aspects into a narrative. I could gloss over living abroad though, if you believe it would hurt my narrative?

I have not, but it was my general understanding that pursuing a derm match through DO was a dead-end. In the last 3 years they have had 2-3 matches out of class sizes 350-370.

I've worked on cultivating good standing with professors to request LORs. Beyond that, they recommend focusing on completing coursework as strongly as possible.

Ah I see. I could try and do some service orientation activities after the program, but atp I'm spread a bit thin. I'm working on some poster presentations and hoping the health literacy outreach will generate more hours. I'm concerned to shoe in a lot of service after the program, as I don't want it to be obvious I'd be doing it for a requirement

 

[DaGingerbreadman]

@Mr.Smile12 Do you think I should take the additional classes to raise my gpa, given the extra info I provided?

 

[Mr.Smile12]

@Mr.Smile12 Do you think I should take the additional classes to raise my gpa, given the extra info I provided?

You must work with your SMP faculty. What additional classes are left, and what do they advise?