MD & DO WAMC post-retake? (3.41, 504 > 516, ORM)

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FajitaEnjoyer3000

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  1. cGPA and sGPA as calculated by AMCAS or AACOMAS: 3.413 cGPA, 3.189 sGPA
  2. MCAT score(s) and breakdown. Include all (non-voided) attempts. 504 in April 2023, 516 in August 2024
  3. State of residence or country of citizenship (if non-US) Michigan
  4. Ethnicity and/or race White
  5. Undergraduate institution or category UMich
  6. Clinical experience (volunteer and non-volunteer): Summer as a night shift CNA on a cardiology ward, year of scribing in an orthopedic clinic, observed surgeons during my brief stint as an ortho researcher, currently seeing patients and performing cosmetic treatments in dermatology -- about 1750-2000 hours in total
  7. Research experience and productivity Coming up on 1 year as a dermatology research coordinator - I've conducted several trials for large sponsors, created proposals for investigator-initiated trials, and started/finished several cosmetic studies for the research directors - will be about 1500 hours by the time I hit the 1-year mark
  8. Shadowing experience and specialties represented Don't have any explicit shadowing experiences, but I have observed four orthopedic surgeons and two dermatologists -- I'm looking to shadow some ER and FM docs as that's where I feel my interests lie
  9. Non-clinical volunteering Heavily involved in a summer camp for kids whose parents have cancer in undergrad (served on admin board, raised ~$180,000 annually to provide all camp services for free) -- about to begin volunteering in pediatric heme/onc and ICU at the local children's hospital - easily another ~1500ish hours
  10. Other extracurricular activities (including athletics, military service, gap year activities, leadership, teaching, etc) In a social (with judicial/philanthropy leadership positions... might not talk about this part) fraternity and a professional fraternity (helped put on a medical conference at my school)
  11. Relevant honors or awards lol
  12. Anything else not listed you think might be important Extensive family history with cancer makes me very cancer-oriented. Tons of clinical experience, lots of learning from failures, struggling with mental health, plus I have a rare disability I can talk about. I also think I qualify as a re-applicant as I tried to basically "grit and altruism" my way through the 23-24 cycle but couldn't get my letters in time and was really struggling with the research job I had at the time. Over the last year I've worked in a different position full-time for a year, improved my MCAT, learned how to meditate, and had a lot of time to confirm my career interest.


    **I also want to note that I'm aware my GPA is not stellar and that I know a postbacc/SMP would help with that -- it's just not financially feasible for me**

As far as schools go, I want to stay in the Midwest and I'm comfortable going MD or DO, I just want to be a doctor and I don't care what the letters after that say. Tentatively right now I'm thinking:
  • MSU CHM
  • MSU COM
  • Michigan (chances are EXTREMELY low imo given I was an undergrad there
  • Wayne State
  • Oakland
  • WMU Stryker
  • Ohio State
  • Cincinatti
  • Loyola
  • UIC
  • Rush
  • Medical College of Wisconsin
  • Pitt (maybe a big reach)
  • Penn State
  • Drexel
  • Ohio COM
  • Des Moines COM

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I suggest adding these schools to your application:
Central Michigan
Toledo
Rosalind Franklin
Temple
New York Medical College
Albany
Hackensack
Vermont
Quinnipiac
George Washington
Eastern Virginia
Wake Forest
NOVA MD
Belmont
TCU
Tulane
Creighton
Iowa
Indiana
Alice Walton
Roseman
 
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Only retake if you are told to retake by admissions staff (by consensus). You should get some attention at least within Michigan as long as you demonstrate mission fit.

I totally get the connection with cancer, but your non-clinical community service should be more diverse than a camp counselor with cancer patients/families or fundraising. Diversify your hospital/shadowing experience and your community service, though you can find some connections with organizations working with cancer patient advocacy groups. Specifically, you need at least 150 hours (by submission) of typical service orientation activities: food distribution, shelter volunteer, job/tax preparation, transportation services, or housing rehabilitation).

As for DO schools, OHCOM typically focuses on Ohio residents. I would add Marian COM in Indiana instead. LECOM and PCOM could also be added if you were serious about DO as an option, though their campuses aren't based in the midwest.

Also if the lack of money is preventing you from succeeding in the application process, it won't get easier when you are in medical school when you are leveraged in loans of several hundred thousand. What scholarships are you looking into? NHSC?
 
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Only retake if you are told to retake by admissions staff (by consensus). You should get some attention at least within Michigan as long as you demonstrate mission fit.

I totally get the connection with cancer, but your non-clinical community service should be more diverse than a camp counselor with cancer patients/families or fundraising. Diversify your hospital/shadowing experience and your community service, though you can find some connections with organizations working with cancer patient advocacy groups. Specifically, you need at least 150 hours (by submission) of typical service orientation activities: food distribution, shelter volunteer, job/tax preparation, transportation services, or housing rehabilitation).

As for DO schools, OHCOM typically focuses on Ohio residents. I would add Marian COM in Indiana instead. LECOM and PCOM could also be added if you were serious about DO as an option, though their campuses aren't based in the midwest.

Also if the lack of money is preventing you from succeeding in the application process, it won't get easier when you are in medical school when you are leveraged in loans of several hundred thousand. What scholarships are you looking into? NHSC?

This is great feedback, thank you!

Without getting too personal we had a family cancer diagnosis over the weekend... so I think I might not be in a good space to volunteer with kids with cancer. I live in a major city so there are a ton of volunteer opportunities, and I have a 4-day work schedule so I can commit to my day off being a volunteer day. How would volunteer tutoring (with elementary/middle school aged kids at local public schools) look? Animal shelters?

However, are you saying my volunteer hours don't count because they're too cancer-oriented? Am I supposed to be "checking boxes" instead of pursuing something I'm passionate about and that has driven me towards applying to medical school?

My stance on the SMP/post-bacc has continued to change as I've gotten closer to actually applying because you do make a very valid point -- if I'm going to be putting myself in hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt to go to medical school, a master's would hypothetically only be a drop in the bucket at that point.

As to the retake, I'm confused -- are you saying I shouldn't have made a 2nd attempt if schools didn't specifically tell me my low MCAT was why I wasn't accepted?
 
This is great feedback, thank you!

Without getting too personal we had a family cancer diagnosis over the weekend... so I think I might not be in a good space to volunteer with kids with cancer. I live in a major city so there are a ton of volunteer opportunities, and I have a 4-day work schedule so I can commit to my day off being a volunteer day. How would volunteer tutoring (with elementary/middle school aged kids at local public schools) look? Animal shelters?

However, are you saying my volunteer hours don't count because they're too cancer-oriented? Am I supposed to be "checking boxes" instead of pursuing something I'm passionate about and that has driven me towards applying to medical school?

My stance on the SMP/post-bacc has continued to change as I've gotten closer to actually applying because you do make a very valid point -- if I'm going to be putting myself in hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt to go to medical school, a master's would hypothetically only be a drop in the bucket at that point.

As to the retake, I'm confused -- are you saying I shouldn't have made a 2nd attempt if schools didn't specifically tell me my low MCAT was why I wasn't accepted?
I'm only communicating what years of file deliberations have shown me.

1) Tutoring and teaching are overrepresented activities among prehealth applicants, even with Tier 1 elementary school kids. Unless you are working as an employee/substitute, it's not going to set you apart.

2) Animal shelters, while I am certainly very supportive, do not give you a strong sense of community needs such as housing, financial need, or food insecurity.

You can be very passionate about something, but does it necessarily prepare you for medical education? Passion can be inferred from the hours spent in an activity and the throughlines that comes from what you have been doing. Not everyone in cancer advocacy is a physician. That said, if you just found out your family has been affected by a recent cancer diagnosis, I'm sorry to hear and I wish you a strong approach as needed to address it... but you can learn about cancer and become an advocate in so many ways other than being a physician (some are more patient-facing, some focus on treatment management). I would encourage you to look at the departments that feed into your cancer center, which generally encompass so many other departments that look for more than just cancer warning signs... that's all I'm suggesting at the minimum. I presume your CNA work already does this.

Some adcoms will appreciate your advocacy though. If that is really something that drives your motivation, someone will understand (as cancer does affect 1 in 3-4 Americans if my memory is correct). The question is whether you can corral that passion in a professional way and/or be passionate about overall health and wellness or empathetic palliative care.
 
I'm only communicating what years of file deliberations have shown me.

1) Tutoring and teaching are overrepresented activities among prehealth applicants, even with Tier 1 elementary school kids. Unless you are working as an employee/substitute, it's not going to set you apart.

2) Animal shelters, while I am certainly very supportive, do not give you a strong sense of community needs such as housing, financial need, or food insecurity.

You can be very passionate about something, but does it necessarily prepare you for medical education? Passion can be inferred from the hours spent in an activity and the throughlines that comes from what you have been doing. Not everyone in cancer advocacy is a physician. That said, if you just found out your family has been affected by a recent cancer diagnosis, I'm sorry to hear and I wish you a strong approach as needed to address it... but you can learn about cancer and become an advocate in so many ways other than being a physician (some are more patient-facing, some focus on treatment management). I would encourage you to look at the departments that feed into your cancer center, which generally encompass so many other departments that look for more than just cancer warning signs... that's all I'm suggesting at the minimum. I presume your CNA work already does this.

Some adcoms will appreciate your advocacy though. If that is really something that drives your motivation, someone will understand (as cancer does affect 1 in 3-4 Americans if my memory is correct). The question is whether you can corral that passion in a professional way and/or be passionate about overall health and wellness or empathetic palliative care.
Yeah, I figured the teaching/tutoring might be a little too "generic" for lack of a better word, and thank you for the kind words, I really appreciate it. Again, this is great feedback -- I'll look into what other volunteering opportunities are available in my neighborhood as I would love to branch out a little bit. Thanks for all your help.
 
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Yeah, I figured the teaching/tutoring might be a little too "generic" for lack of a better word, and thank you for the kind words, I really appreciate it. Again, this is great feedback -- I'll look into what other volunteering opportunities are available in my neighborhood as I would love to branch out a little bit. Thanks for all your help.
It shouldn't be hard except for the scheduling. :) Check your local community centers, faith centers, or city hall. We also do have the SDN Activity Finder:
 
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