DO What are my chances? Biomedical Engineering Student, PA resident

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If you are applying to most DO schools you should fine. While your GPA is below average your MCAT is at or above the median for most DO schools. You may want to do some DO shadowing since some schools desire a LOR from a DO physician. Accumulate more clinical volunteering hours. Apply in June and submit your secondaries by July and you should receive several interviews.
 
PhillyBoy22 said:
Hello everybody,

Long time lurker of SDN, I am very thankful for this forum. Without it I would be undoubtably lost in this whole mess of pre-medicine.

I want to know what people think my chances are for entering DO school in 2016. Even though my pre-health advisor and PI are against DO (which I don't understand) I have done a lot of research and reading, I resonate more strongly with the DO philosophy. My stats are below:

Bioengineering major with a biology minor (expected to graduate in May 2016)
Pennsylvania Resident
MCAT: 29 ( 9 / 9 / 11 ).....taken in Jan. 2015
cGPA: 3.30
sGPA: 3.10

I have 2 strong letter of rec so far and I plan on having 5 by the time I apply which will be right as soon as the cycle starts. Also, I've been working on my personal statement and feel that it is quite good.

In my opinion, I have poor EC's. 2 semesters of research at a medical school. Strong leader in a human rights advocacy organization at my university. A member of four other organizations (2 of which are health related). Less than 30 hours shadowing in emergency room and ortho surgeon. Less than 100 hours volunteering in community.

I have plans in the summer to conduct research at my university (in engineering). I will also be a volunteer over the summer doing clinical research in an emergency room. I will also be volunteering at another local hospital.

Please be straight forward and honest, no bull**** please. No matter what is said, I will still apply early and VERY broadly (almost every DO school).

Thanks in advance for your help!
Click to expand...

Keep building on your ECs but I think you should be fine. Start with PCOM but don't apply to them all! That's going to be overkill. Maybe 10 or so. Good luck!
 
PhillyBoy22 said:
Hello everybody,

Long time lurker of SDN, I am very thankful for this forum. Without it I would be undoubtably lost in this whole mess of pre-medicine.

I want to know what people think my chances are for entering DO school in 2016. Even though my pre-health advisor and PI are against DO (which I don't understand) I have done a lot of research and reading, I resonate more strongly with the DO philosophy. My stats are below:

Bioengineering major with a biology minor (expected to graduate in May 2016)
Pennsylvania Resident
MCAT: 29 ( 9 / 9 / 11 ).....taken in Jan. 2015
cGPA: 3.30
sGPA: 3.10

I have 2 strong letter of rec so far and I plan on having 5 by the time I apply which will be right as soon as the cycle starts. Also, I've been working on my personal statement and feel that it is quite good.

In my opinion, I have poor EC's. 2 semesters of research at a medical school. Strong leader in a human rights advocacy organization at my university. A member of four other organizations (2 of which are health related). Less than 30 hours shadowing in emergency room and ortho surgeon. Less than 100 hours volunteering in community.

I have plans in the summer to conduct research at my university (in engineering). I will also be a volunteer over the summer doing clinical research in an emergency room. I will also be volunteering at another local hospital.

Please be straight forward and honest, no bull**** please. No matter what is said, I will still apply early and VERY broadly (almost every DO school).

Thanks in advance for your help!
Click to expand...

You should be fine for really most programs. Your MCAT is exceptional for DO programs and your GPA is well above the lethal sub 3.0 threshold. I would say if you have some time before your May 2016 graduation date, perhaps during a summer, you can retake some coursework that you got a C or worse in. Grade replacement makes GPA building much more easy. Obviously do not let this get in the way of required coursework or other opportunities, but it could help. In the end you are in a good position and I hardly believe you need it, but getting your cGPA up to 3.5 would put you in an absolutely amazing place. Your EC are a little weak, but you seem to have a good plan. I would also focus on some volunteering opportunities. You gotta show your humanistic side. Seriously though, no bull**** here. You are looking good man.
 
Thank you everyone I really appreciate it! @igor_raptor i will try to do my best. PM me maybe we should talk futher
 
You'll be very competitive at any DO school.

PhillyBoy22 said:
Hello everybody,

Long time lurker of SDN, I am very thankful for this forum. Without it I would be undoubtably lost in this whole mess of pre-medicine.

I want to know what people think my chances are for entering DO school in 2016. Even though my pre-health advisor and PI are against DO (which I don't understand) I have done a lot of research and reading, I resonate more strongly with the DO philosophy. My stats are below:

Bioengineering major with a biology minor (expected to graduate in May 2016)
Pennsylvania Resident
MCAT: 29 ( 9 / 9 / 11 ).....taken in Jan. 2015
cGPA: 3.30
sGPA: 3.10

I have 2 strong letter of rec so far and I plan on having 5 by the time I apply which will be right as soon as the cycle starts. Also, I've been working on my personal statement and feel that it is quite good.

In my opinion, I have poor EC's. 2 semesters of research at a medical school. Strong leader in a human rights advocacy organization at my university. A member of four other organizations (2 of which are health related). Less than 30 hours shadowing in emergency room and ortho surgeon. Less than 100 hours volunteering in community.

I have plans in the summer to conduct research at my university (in engineering). I will also be a volunteer over the summer doing clinical research in an emergency room. I will also be volunteering at another local hospital.

Please be straight forward and honest, no bull**** please. No matter what is said, I will still apply early and VERY broadly (almost every DO school).

Thanks in advance for your help!
Click to expand...
 
Are you from the Tri state area? If so, I'm assuming your top DO choices might similar to what mine were (PCOM, NYCOM, ROWAN) . I can give you my 2cents based on my cycle last year. I applied with a 3.5 cumulative and science and a 30 MCAT to MD schools all along the east coast and those 3 DO schools I mentioned before. I was not offered an interview at PCOM, but interviewed at NYCOM and Rowan. I interviewed early in the cycle at both of those, and definitely was average in terms of the applicants they had received at that point in the cycle. Your GPAs are likely on the low end for the tri state schools (based on my experience and their published stats.) I did not get into NYCOM, but got into Rowan. I was wait listed at the MD schools I interviewed at, but was pulled off one later in the cycle. I think your MCAT is fine, the GPAs are definitely on the low end for the bigger name DO schools. I would apply early/broadly and definitely do not underestimate the competitiveness of DO schools. I would have happily gone to Rowan or NYCOM had I not been pulled off of a wait list. That being said, I certainly did underestimate them in terms of my competitiveness. EC wise I was weak. Tons of research, academic and industrial - but I had weak clinical ECs (all of this could have been a factor in my rough cycle)

TL;DR: MCAT is fine, GPAs are low for the big name schools. Apply early and broadly.

Good luck! and if you can bring those GPAs up by grade replacement to 3.4-3.5s, I think you'll be golden if you want to stay at the big names in the area. You should be fine for other DO schools based on what everybody else has said. Just wanted to give you my experience with the tri state schools if you were looking to stay local.
 
@Xylene I am from the Tri-State area and I will be applying to PCOM, NYCOM, and ROWAN I definitely appreciate the advice. I will not be applying to MD schools and my tentative list of D.O. schools I would like to apply to are as follows:

NSU - FL
ATSU - SOM - AZ
LECOM - FL
CUSOM - NC
DMU-COM
RVU
TCOM
VCOM
CCOM
PCOM
UNE-COM

Schools to add / drop ?
 
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I'm in a similar boat (Biomed engineering) and interested to see how things turn out for you! Does anyone have any insight to how much an engineering degree influences the way that MD schools look at your app? I've heard that a lower GPA in engineering is more 'understood' in applications, but I've also heard schools don't pay as much attention (go figure). Anyways, good luck!
 
@PhillyBoy22 Sorry, didn't mean to be discouraging, just wanted to give you my take on it, having just applied last year and having been told my stats were shoo in for DO and fairly safe for MD. I had a pretty rough cycle and based on my experiences the 3.6+/27-29 crowd on the DO side of the cycle were a dime a dozen at least at the schools I applied to. Based on your school list, I think you have a good plan for a broad application and I'm sure you will be successful! Good luck with everything!

@arianna_n I think it depends on your definition of low engineering GPA. If you're below a 3.3 and without a stellar MCAT. You're probably not going to beat out the non engineer with a 3.6+ and 31+ MCAT for MD schools. My BME friends with the lower end GPAs that fared well in the cycle were all 34+ MCATs. The ones that had 30-32 scores but low GPAs didn't really get pardoned for the lower GPA. Just my n=1 experience with applying. That is if you're going on grades alone, I'm sure if you've done something really unique research wise because of being an engineer that could change things.
 
The engineering students I know all fared pretty well on the MCAT, so I don't know how representative it was… I'm curious because I feel like I sit on the lowish GPA/ok MCAT side (3.59 and 33), and I was curious as to whether or not there was any merit to the idea some had mentioned that engineering GPAs were looked upon less harshly (probably wishful thinking on my part!).
 
Oh lol, thats what you meant by lowish GPA. I wouldn't worry about that being considered a low GPA and your MCAT is solid. You're fine for an MD application. You should have a great cycle as long as you apply to a good mix of schools and have a well put together application with regards to all the other stuff you need ECs, PS, etc.
 
Xylene said:
@PhillyBoy22 Sorry, didn't mean to be discouraging, just wanted to give you my take on it, having just applied last year and having been told my stats were shoo in for DO and fairly safe for MD. I had a pretty rough cycle and based on my experiences the 3.6+/27-29 crowd on the DO side of the cycle were a dime a dozen at least at the schools I applied to. Based on your school list, I think you have a good plan for a broad application and I'm sure you will be successful! Good luck with everything!

@arianna_n I think it depends on your definition of low engineering GPA. If you're below a 3.3 and without a stellar MCAT. You're probably not going to beat out the non engineer with a 3.6+ and 31+ MCAT for MD schools. My BME friends with the lower end GPAs that fared well in the cycle were all 34+ MCATs. The ones that had 30-32 scores but low GPAs didn't really get pardoned for the lower GPA. Just my n=1 experience with applying. That is if you're going on grades alone, I'm sure if you've done something really unique research wise because of being an engineer that could change things.
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Depends. A 3.3 from CalTech/MIT should be very competitive. On the other hand, a 3.3 from the school with the reputation of grade inflation is a red flag, I know many ivy schools have this kind of reputation. my ex went to one of the ivy for engineering, and most of the class averages are B,B+,A-( it's on the transcript).
 
@becomingdoctor I'd agree with you in general, but once again it's probably going to come down to that MCAT. If the MCAT is not competitive/below the school's average that GPA is probably going to negatively impact you even if it comes from a top school.
 
So after doing a lot of research I have come to the conclusion that NSU is definitely my top school (on paper). This could obviously change if I get an interview and don't like the scene (doubtful). But my question is, with my low GPA does anyone think it's possible for me to at least get an interview? I've heard a lot of people are saying, when an interview is granted, that "the spot is yours to lose"
 
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user3 said:
chances are nearly 100% if you apply broadly enough (15-20 schools). I would not apply to CCOM, KCUMB, DMU, Western's, or OOS public schools.
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May I ask why not those schools, specifically CCOM & COMP?
 
Kinda pissed the CIB doesn't get shipped until next week but I researched the school's websites and created a priority list below...(applying to ~20 total)

Reach) DMU
Reach) Western
Reach) CCOM
Reach) KCUMB (auto screen at 3.25 sGPA?)
1) NSU
1) LECOM-B
1) TCOM
1) ATSU-SOMA
2) AZCOM
2) PCOM (PA)
2) VCOM (VA)
2) RVU
2) ATSU-KCOM
2) CUSOM
2) Rowan
3) PCOM (GA)
3) VCOM (CC)
3) VCOM (AL)
3) UNE COM
3) NYIT
3) Touro CA

Any thoughts or suggestions on this list?
 
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PhillyBoy22 said:
UPDATE: So I finished the semester strong, and here are my updated stats.

cGPA: 3.34
sGPA: 3.19

Kinda pissed the CIB doesn't get shipped until next week but I researched the school's websites and created a priority list below...(applying to ~20 total)

Reach) DMU
Reach) Western
Reach) CCOM
Reach) KCUMB (auto screen at 3.25 sGPA?)
1) NSU
1) LECOM-B
1) TCOM
1) ATSU-SOMA
2) AZCOM
2) PCOM (PA)
2) VCOM (VA)
2) RVU
2) ATSU-KCOM
2) CUSOM
2) Rowan
3) PCOM (GA)
3) VCOM (CC)
3) VCOM (AL)
3) UNE COM
3) NYIT
3) Touro CA

Any thoughts or suggestions on this list?
Click to expand...

List looks like mine honestly. Looks good, keep us updated
 
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