rundohundo
New Member
Advertisement - Members don't see this ad
Hey y’all. Stats below, story above. Thanks for any advice in advance.
From what I’ve heard, I am a very rare applicant. An advisor from the school I received my degree from told me my application aside from my GPA is great, and my MCAT is flat out amazing, but the "GPA sticks out like a sore thumb that’s just too noticeable.” So here’s the shortened version of my story.
My first two semesters of college went awesome. I maintained a 3.9x average, had a great social life, had a bunch of opportunities lined up, it was going great… Then the woman that raised me died. Because of the pampered lifestyle she, and she alone, gave me, I had to grow up extremely quickly after her passing (I know, woe is me). On top of that, she died from complications of COVID. Because of the volunteer work I was doing WITH COVID, I blamed myself. Life started to spiral out of control from there. For about a year and a half I didn’t do anything to live my dream of being a doctor. Failed a couple of classes (Spanish and Orgo I lab), mixed in with the wrong crowd, forgot why I was burning my paychecks to stay in school. For a bit I even thought about dropping out and playing music to pay the bills.
Then I met my former boss (who is now more like an uncle to me). He was apart of a startup Telehealth company, and he wanted me to be a part of it too (which is what he told everyone who he spoke to for more than five minutes). Long story short, his company reignited my passion for medicine, and my passion for helping out wherever I could. He made me realize I was 20 years old, and I was drinking my life away like it was already over. I had to pick myself back up.
Over the next few years I got back into the running. Started getting clinical experience again, volunteering, shadowing, and I tried to get my grades back up (slight upward trend in BCPM classes for final 3 semesters). Fast forward to September and I take the MCAT. At this point I was planning on taking a semester off to fix whatever was happening with my studying habits, and then I was going to take a year or two in a DIY-post-bacc to get ready to apply.
Then I got a 522.
So now, I’m trying to find out if I can apply this cycle, and exorcise my demons this year.
Here are my stats, and please be brutally honest with me. I’ll apply both DO and MD, but at the end of the day, I’m not even sure I have a shot… But do ya’ll think I do?
Demographics – GA resident, ORM (middle eastern), T50 undergrad
Stats (before post-bacc) – cGPA/sGPA: 3.0/2.98 (upward trend in science classes last 3 semesters)
– MCAT: 522 (130/132/131/129)
Post-bacc — so far 18 credits of science classes, with which I am anticipating a 4.0 (have high A’s in all of them as of now), will attempt 9 more by June 30th. If I can maintain a 3.8 avg I may have around cGPA/sGPA of 3.2/3.3 (hypothetical, I know, but I have hope)
Research – 500 hours remote clinical lab studying congenital rubella with WHO (underserved area)(no pubs)
180 hours in wet lab studying genetic mutations on yeast (no pubs)
700 hours researching for invention of digital stethoscope (co-inventor, patent pending, is that a pub?)
500 hours researching radiation therapy (1 pub)
Job Experience — 1,000+ hours working for a startup focused on Telehealth communications (left because, obviously, I wasn’t doing too well in school; but they’re doing amazing now and I still have a great relationship with them)
1,000+ hours at various minimum wage jobs
Clinical Experience – 500 hours volunteer at COVID testing and vaccination center in underserved area
300 hours volunteering at free clinic in underserved area
Non-Clinical Volunteering – 400 hours habitat for humanity
150 hours foundation tasked with building homes for underprivileged in SE Asia
Leadership – 180 volunteer hours as a youth flag football coach
Shadowing – 150 hours in various specialties (DO included)
Letters of Rec – 1 generic (probably) STEM LOR, 1 great non-STEM LOR, 1 amazing mentor LOR, 1 great volunteer LOR, 1 amazing boss LOR, can get DO LOR if needed
Award — Community service award
From what I’ve heard, I am a very rare applicant. An advisor from the school I received my degree from told me my application aside from my GPA is great, and my MCAT is flat out amazing, but the "GPA sticks out like a sore thumb that’s just too noticeable.” So here’s the shortened version of my story.
My first two semesters of college went awesome. I maintained a 3.9x average, had a great social life, had a bunch of opportunities lined up, it was going great… Then the woman that raised me died. Because of the pampered lifestyle she, and she alone, gave me, I had to grow up extremely quickly after her passing (I know, woe is me). On top of that, she died from complications of COVID. Because of the volunteer work I was doing WITH COVID, I blamed myself. Life started to spiral out of control from there. For about a year and a half I didn’t do anything to live my dream of being a doctor. Failed a couple of classes (Spanish and Orgo I lab), mixed in with the wrong crowd, forgot why I was burning my paychecks to stay in school. For a bit I even thought about dropping out and playing music to pay the bills.
Then I met my former boss (who is now more like an uncle to me). He was apart of a startup Telehealth company, and he wanted me to be a part of it too (which is what he told everyone who he spoke to for more than five minutes). Long story short, his company reignited my passion for medicine, and my passion for helping out wherever I could. He made me realize I was 20 years old, and I was drinking my life away like it was already over. I had to pick myself back up.
Over the next few years I got back into the running. Started getting clinical experience again, volunteering, shadowing, and I tried to get my grades back up (slight upward trend in BCPM classes for final 3 semesters). Fast forward to September and I take the MCAT. At this point I was planning on taking a semester off to fix whatever was happening with my studying habits, and then I was going to take a year or two in a DIY-post-bacc to get ready to apply.
Then I got a 522.
So now, I’m trying to find out if I can apply this cycle, and exorcise my demons this year.
Here are my stats, and please be brutally honest with me. I’ll apply both DO and MD, but at the end of the day, I’m not even sure I have a shot… But do ya’ll think I do?
Demographics – GA resident, ORM (middle eastern), T50 undergrad
Stats (before post-bacc) – cGPA/sGPA: 3.0/2.98 (upward trend in science classes last 3 semesters)
– MCAT: 522 (130/132/131/129)
Post-bacc — so far 18 credits of science classes, with which I am anticipating a 4.0 (have high A’s in all of them as of now), will attempt 9 more by June 30th. If I can maintain a 3.8 avg I may have around cGPA/sGPA of 3.2/3.3 (hypothetical, I know, but I have hope)
Research – 500 hours remote clinical lab studying congenital rubella with WHO (underserved area)(no pubs)
180 hours in wet lab studying genetic mutations on yeast (no pubs)
700 hours researching for invention of digital stethoscope (co-inventor, patent pending, is that a pub?)
500 hours researching radiation therapy (1 pub)
Job Experience — 1,000+ hours working for a startup focused on Telehealth communications (left because, obviously, I wasn’t doing too well in school; but they’re doing amazing now and I still have a great relationship with them)
1,000+ hours at various minimum wage jobs
Clinical Experience – 500 hours volunteer at COVID testing and vaccination center in underserved area
300 hours volunteering at free clinic in underserved area
Non-Clinical Volunteering – 400 hours habitat for humanity
150 hours foundation tasked with building homes for underprivileged in SE Asia
Leadership – 180 volunteer hours as a youth flag football coach
Shadowing – 150 hours in various specialties (DO included)
Letters of Rec – 1 generic (probably) STEM LOR, 1 great non-STEM LOR, 1 amazing mentor LOR, 1 great volunteer LOR, 1 amazing boss LOR, can get DO LOR if needed
Award — Community service award
