WAMC/Reapp, MD/DO school list help (3.28/507)

[nameishardtothink]

Background: Me: 27, Asian. Current SD resident (Moved here 4 years ago from CA)

Stats: Engineering Major, undergrad in CA.
During school, one of my engineering class needed physiology, and I failed twice (F during summer school, then D). Got the D because I found out my engineering class didn't need the class, so I didn't bother anymore. This was all before I want to become Premed. I decided Premed late, and did other premed prerequisite the last 2 years, and I did 5 years total in undergrad.

After graduation, I did 15 units of DIY post-bacc credit (1 biology, 1 genetics, 2 Anatomy & Physiology) and I got 4.0. (This is done in SD state university).

retake MCAT: 507 (127/124/127/129) took in 2023 after my DIY post-bacc (
MCAT: 495 (124/122/125/124) took in 2021

Clinical experience (all within recent 4 years and done in current state)

• Covid vaccine clinic volunteer (50 hrs, ended)
• PCT/Med Aide at Prison (3600 hrs, full time job, ended)
• Domestic Violence Shelter Volunteer (500 hrs, on going, on call and check in new clients on weekend, has in person interaction)
• CNA at long term care facility (300 hrs, prn, will quit soon, too harsh on my body)
• PCT at ER (just started, prn, currently have 72 hrs)

Nonclinical experience

• Research engineer for a start-up that provides multilingual mental health providers services (4000 hrs, ended cuz the startup didn’t work out, part of the founding team, this was before all my clinical experience listed above)
• Environmental engineer (current job, work with underserved communities with municipal improvement projects, just trying to make some money to afford me and my pup 🐶 and the app fees)

I have no medical/biology related research experience, but I am not into research, so I didn’t want to force it. I did put some of my engineering research/project on activity and they had posters. But never got asked about them during interviews.

LOR: My post-bacc professors wrote me 2, but I am not sure if one is strong enough because she told me she did not have enough time after she agreed a few months ago. I will reach out to them again so they can either update the date or rewrite it (if possible). I will also try to get a physician LOR from my ER for the upcoming cycle.

Writing theme: My central theme has been working with underserved populations because I was part of the population and wanted to give back. I want to discuss the stigma and challenge underserved populations encounter, and how they are unaware of the abundant available resources leading to the gap in health care. My strength is I share a similar background as them and my diverse experiences with different groups allowed me to emphasize and provide more inclusive care and treatment plans for a diverse population. And I can become an advocate to link those populations to the available resources.

I am open to considering DO, but wish to make myself "ok" for MD schools (especially my state MD). I have plenty of clinical hours, but my grades aren’t the best.

• Should I retake my MCAT?
• Should I do postbacc/smp? If this, do I apply this summer, or wait until after finishing postbacc/smp?

Which of above options will help maximize my chance more? I wish to not do SMP because of its high risk, but if it's the only viable option, I am open to it as well.

The reason I still want to try MD if possible is I am interested in urology and anesthesiology (may change), and they are getting more competitive. So if I have to work harder now to get into MD so I can have more options when it comes to residency, I am willing to put in the effort.

Last cycle, I applied late and didn't include DO because I was told I had a good chance at my State MD (their avg MCAT was 508) because a white guy got accepted with 503 applying late. Anyway, it was stupid and I should know better. It will not happen again.

Last cycle school list: (late for all of them, September - October completion date, a lot of stupid mistakes, pls don't judge)
- Albany
- TCU-Anne Burnett (Missed ddl)
- Carle Illinois (R)
- Charles Drew (not even a secondary)
- George Washington (R)
- Georgetown (R)
- Howard (just send in update letter hope still II chance)
- Meharry (just send in update letter hope still II chance)
- Morehouse (just send in update letter hope still II chance)
- Temple (just send in update letter hope still II chance)
- Penn State (just send in update letter hope still II chance)
- South Dakota (got II, rejected)
- WFU (didn't complete secondary)
- SLU (missed the Preview exam)
- MCW (just send in update letter hope still II chance)
- Rush (didn't complete secondary)
- Oakland OUWB Missouri (didn't complete secondary)

I will also apply for DO for sure. DO is better than no school. Need help with some suggestions for DO options. The only thing with the school preference is I don't want to go back to Cali for med school or SMP. And I don't care if I need to go to the middle of nowhere. That is even better for my husky.

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[Mr.Smile12]

Ideally you need another 15 hours of postbac coursework that keeps your pbGPA above 3.8x. Fifteen hours is not convincing enough, even with your engineering degree. I don't know what other biomed courses you have that are included in your undergrad GPA.

UCLA Charles Drew is more an HBCU program, so unless you grew up in a predominantly Black/redlined neighborhood, you are not likely to be a fit. That said, you did apply to Howard, Morehouse, and Meharry, three HBCU programs as well.

My central theme has been working with underserved populations because I was part of the population and wanted to give back. I want to discuss the stigma and challenge underserved populations encounter, and how they are unaware of the abundant available resources leading to the gap in health care. My strength is I share a similar background as them and my diverse experiences with different groups allowed me to emphasize and provide more inclusive care and treatment plans for a diverse population. And I can become an advocate to link those populations to the available resources.

Maybe it's not clear how you were part of this population. How much detail did you describe your upbringing and childhood circumstances in Other Impactful Experiences or other secondary essays? Where did you grow up in California that was underserved?

Your non-clinical community service experiences do not point to the types of activities that reveal deep insights about the structural inequities historically underserved communities face. I'm sorry the start-up didn't work out, but the description does not sound like it was client-facing. Being an environmental engineer is helpful but also may not fit what adcoms are seeking.

 

[nameishardtothink]

Ideally you need another 15 hours of postbac coursework that keeps your pbGPA above 3.8x. Fifteen hours is not convincing enough, even with your engineering degree. I don't know what other biomed courses you have that are included in your undergrad GPA.

UCLA Charles Drew is more an HBCU program, so unless you grew up in a predominantly Black/redlined neighborhood, you are not likely to be a fit. That said, you did apply to Howard, Morehouse, and Meharry, three HBCU programs as well.


Maybe it's not clear how you were part of this population. How much detail did you describe your upbringing and childhood circumstances in Other Impactful Experiences or other secondary essays? Where did you grow up in California that was underserved?

Your non-clinical community service experiences do not point to the types of activities that reveal deep insights about the structural inequities historically underserved communities face. I'm sorry the start-up didn't work out, but the description does not sound like it was client-facing. Being an environmental engineer is helpful but also may not fit what adcoms are seeking.

Thank you for your feedback. I will look into other 15 hours of postbacc coursework that is available. I had taken biochem in undergrad. Any suggestions of courses I should take?

I grew up in a single mom family and we are all first gen asylum status immigrants, and we had medicaid (or MediCal). We were in SoCal area with many illegal immigrants. People with medical like my family were often rejected by many providers because they do not take that for insurance (or they were full already).

I thought working in the prison would show my involvement with inmates would be considered an underserved population. They also face many stigma and stereotypes when receiving treatment.

I did not list the Environmental engineer job on my activity, just some thing I am doing currently full time. But I mentioned it in secondary because my program provides funding to disadvantaged cities to improve their drinking water system (public health ish?)

 

[nameishardtothink]

HBCU program, so unless you grew up in a predominantly Black/redlined neighborhood, you are not likely to be a fit

My understanding was they like people helping all kind of underserved population. I worked with inmates, domestic violence victims, uninsured patients. And because of my geographic location, many of that group is native american populations. I don't want to single them out, but should I be explicit? Would that make my claim of working with underserved populations more valid?

 

[Mr.Smile12]

I would suggest listening to many of the admissions directors' recruitment presentations to mentoring organizations. I'm not sure why they did not pick up your application from the communities you served. I would suspect that if you perceive your mission this way, you ought to have gotten noticed by many of the PRIME programs that the UC medical schools offer. It doesn't sound that you have. Partly this could be because of your MCAT and past academic history being in engineering (and them thinking it's not enough biomedical coursework to know?).

Network with the schools and do some homework about the PRIME programs. Look if you qualify for NHSC. Strategically think about how you wrote your Other Impactful Experiences. Add the DO schools like Western University in Pomona and Midwestern AZ. Arizona schools in general have an affinity for those who have experience with indigenous populations.

 

[nameishardtothink]

I would suggest listening to many of the admissions directors' recruitment presentations to mentoring organizations. I'm not sure why they did not pick up your application from the communities you served. I would suspect that if you perceive your mission this way, you ought to have gotten noticed by many of the PRIME programs that the UC medical schools offer. It doesn't sound that you have. Partly this could be because of your MCAT and past academic history being in engineering (and them thinking it's not enough biomedical coursework to know?).

Network with the schools and do some homework about the PRIME programs. Look if you qualify for NHSC. Strategically think about how you wrote your Other Impactful Experiences. Add the DO schools like Western University in Pomona and Midwestern AZ. Arizona schools in general have an affinity for those who have experience with indigenous populations.

I didn't apply for any UC schools because I did all of those clinical experiences in South Dakota and my state resident is not CA anymore. I also mentioned in my main post that I don't want to go back to CA for medical school. I just had bad experience from middle school to undergrad with cali education.

 

[Faha]

The only realistic MD school with your stats is South Dakota. Apply broadly to DO schools and I suggest these:
DMU-COM
ATSU-KCOM
KCU-COM
TUNCOM
AZCOM
UIWSOM
NYITCOM (both schools)
LECOM (all schools)
PCOM (all schools)
UP-KYCOM
WVSOM
LMU-DCOM
ACOM
WCU-COM
Noorda-COM
Touro-Montana
RVU-Montana
ICOM
KHSC-COM
BUCOM
DUQCOM
BCOM (both schools)
OCOM

 

[candbgirl]

Don’t worry about MD v DO. You have to be in med school to match to any specialty. So keep the important thing in mind(getting into a med . I wouldn’t retake the MCAT. What you have now is okay. And many schools average multiple scores. Good luck.

 

[nameishardtothink]

Don’t worry about MD v DO. You have to be in med school to match to any specialty. So keep the important thing in mind(getting into a med . I wouldn’t retake the MCAT. What you have now is okay. And many schools average multiple scores. Good luck.

should I take more postbacc classes upcoming fall semester and submit reapp this summer (because it is too late for spring now)? I will definitely apply for DO, but still would like to improve my chance for MD if possible.