MD What are my chances? + what should I do to improve my chances?

[MonkeyoftheEast]

I'm a senior majoring in biochem at a decent university, taking a gap year.
cGPA: 3.56 (likely to drop this semester, probably a 3.5 at the lowest)
MCAT: 34 (BS:12 11 11)

ECs:
5 years (summers/winters) at the health effects division of EPA (reviews animals studies and sets guidelines for safe levels of a particular chemical)
4 semesters research in a pathology lab
1 semester as a peer teacher in an intro bio lab course
2 semesters language conversation partner (I speak chinese with people who are trying to learn)
3 semesters, founding member of a club dedicated to raising money for a local hospice
~10 hours working with the patients at the hospice
~20 hours volunteering at an elementary school

Shadowing:
if it all goes as planned I should have about 40+ hrs of shadowing before June 1st.

I am here because I don't know what steps I should take next to increase my chances of getting accepted into an MD program. I realize I am lacking in terms of clinical exposure, and plan on building on that for a bit this gap year I am taking - either through volunteer work at a clinic or volunteer work at a hospital. It's a bit hard to calculate the volunteer hours I have done since I didn't really record the hours I put in that weren't done through the school's volunteer org.

My main concern is a rather sticky situation where I got accused for sharing answers (or something like that, after 2 appeals they still have yet to explain the situation to me clearly) and ended up with a D+ in the class. However, since no formal report was submitted (besides my professor's own adamant stance on how I was guilty) it is just a bad grade on my transcript. Any advice on how to address this at an interview? (I don't want to confront the professor anymore, this event happened almost 2 years ago and basically broke my trust in people and caused me a whole lot of depression and angst- took me a while to get over it.)

I'm currently juggling the options of a:
-post bac (which may not be justified, my GPA isn't great, but it's not horrible),
-going through a teaching program to become a teacher for a year (I only volunteered one semester in college, but spent a lot of time working with children in highschool, and would love to teach science)
-simply going back to the government agency (Least appealing, while the people are great the work is boring, though financially viable)
just taking a year off to explore my artistic side; finally get around to learning piano, get some travelling in, just seeing the world as a 22 year old.

Naturally, I'll be volunteering/shadowing on the side, as much as possible. What would be the better choice?

Thanks for taking the time out to read this; I would appreciate any and all feedback.

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[dancingmate]

What school volunteering org did you participate in, and did you work in a hospital through that organization? You say you are going to build upon your clinical exposure during your gap year, but you plan on applying this June? If you plan on applying the 2014-2015 cycle to matriculate in Fall 2015, you definitely need to start clinical volunteering NOW. 10 hours in a hospice isn't enough, and adcoms need to see that you have tested the waters in the medical field. Start volunteering in a clinic or hospital now, and continue through your gap year. I'd go a couple times a week.

Also, what is your science GPA? Applying this cycle, I realized that they do look at your science GPA a lot. If yours is lower than 3.5, I would consider doing a post-bacc to raise your science GPA and then apply the following June. I personally don't see a point in doing a post-bacc to raise your GPA while you are applying, because you will already have submitted your grades (you can send grade updates from a post-bacc if you want, but it may be too late/not all schools are receptive to updates). If you plan on applying this June, then during your gap year (2014-2015) you should do something you enjoy. Work, teach, explore your artistic side, whatever it may be. Just make sure to be productive, because most secondary applications will ask what you are doing during your gap year.

As for the D+, maybe someone else has insight on how you should approach that topic of discussion. They may or may not ask you about it during interviews.

Good luck!

 

[Catalystik]

I'm a senior majoring in biochem at a decent university, taking a gap year.
cGPA: 3.56 (likely to drop this semester, probably a 3.5 at the lowest)
MCAT: 34 (BS:12 11 11)

ECs:
5 years (summers/winters) at the health effects division of EPA (reviews animals studies and sets guidelines for safe levels of a particular chemical)
4 semesters research in a pathology lab
1 semester as a peer teacher in an intro bio lab course
2 semesters language conversation partner (I speak chinese with people who are trying to learn)
3 semesters, founding member of a club dedicated to raising money for a local hospice
~10 hours working with the patients at the hospice
~20 hours volunteering at an elementary school

Shadowing:
if it all goes as planned I should have about 40+ hrs of shadowing before June 1st.

I am here because I don't know what steps I should take next to increase my chances of getting accepted into an MD program. I realize I am lacking in terms of clinical exposure, and plan on building on that for a bit this gap year I am taking - either through volunteer work at a clinic or volunteer work at a hospital. It's a bit hard to calculate the volunteer hours I have done since I didn't really record the hours I put in that weren't done through the school's volunteer org.

My main concern is a rather sticky situation where I got accused for sharing answers (or something like that, after 2 appeals they still have yet to explain the situation to me clearly) and ended up with a D+ in the class. However, since no formal report was submitted (besides my professor's own adamant stance on how I was guilty) it is just a bad grade on my transcript. Any advice on how to address this at an interview? (I don't want to confront the professor anymore, this event happened almost 2 years ago and basically broke my trust in people and caused me a whole lot of depression and angst- took me a while to get over it.)

I'm currently juggling the options of a:
-post bac (which may not be justified, my GPA isn't great, but it's not horrible),
-going through a teaching program to become a teacher for a year (I only volunteered one semester in college, but spent a lot of time working with children in highschool, and would love to teach science)
-simply going back to the government agency (Least appealing, while the people are great the work is boring, though financially viable)
just taking a year off to explore my artistic side; finally get around to learning piano, get some travelling in, just seeing the world as a 22 year old.

Naturally, I'll be volunteering/shadowing on the side, as much as possible. What would be the better choice?

Thanks for taking the time out to read this; I would appreciate any and all feedback.

Applying with a subpar cGPA and a downward grade trend with virtually no active clinical experience is a terrible idea. Do the postbac AND gain decent experience interacting with sick and injured folks, THEN apply.

 

[MonkeyoftheEast]

@dancingmate: the school org controls most of the volunteering that goes on in the college town. Unfortunately I was unable to secure a spot volunteering at a hospital - my own fault. Aside from the D+, most of my science courses have been B/A's. I'm planning on applying this June because I figured it wouldn't hurt to throw my application in, just to test my luck. I do plan on doing more clinical/hospital volunteer work but that likely won't happen until after I graduate.

@Catalystik: I realized I dropped the ball with getting clinical experience, but after the D+ experience my sophomore year I really didn't think I had a shot anymore. But the past year and a half or so I figured that I really didn't see much meaning in anything else, which is why I wanted more exposure to different options I have. I wouldn't call it a downward trend though; my grades have typically (per semester) jumped up and down from as low as 3.2 (D+ again) to a 3.7 last semester, just I kind of screwed up in more than one of my classes this semester and feel kind of down about it.

From the looks of the responses so far I'm getting that a post-bac program w/ clinical volunteer/shadowing on the side is the optimal path - can't say I disagree, but is it really just a bad idea to apply this upcoming cycle? Thank you both for your responses, by the way.

 

[Catalystik]

I wouldn't call it a downward trend though; my grades have typically (per semester) jumped up and down from as low as 3.2 (D+ again) to a 3.7 last semester, just I kind of screwed up in more than one of my classes this semester and feel kind of down about it.

Adcomms will see your cGPA and BCPM GPA displayed on a year-by-year grid, rather than term-by-term, which may even things up for your (unfortunately) inconsistent-appearing grades. Can you figure out what that will look like for us? And DancingMate is right, we need to know your sGPAs at the same time.

Screen shot of AMCAS Verified Grade Point Averages summary: http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?p=11226358 Note that postbac work is on a separate line and a great GPA won't be diluted by a bad final college term.

From the looks of the responses so far I'm getting that a post-bac program w/ clinical volunteer/shadowing on the side is the optimal path - can't say I disagree, but is it really just a bad idea to apply this upcoming cycle?

How can you convince adcomms that you know what you're getting yourself into if you haven't tested medicine as a career? Why should they take a chance offering you one of their precious med school seats when you might change your mind and decide you don't like being around sick folks?

 

[Goro]

100% concur with my learned colleague.



How can you convince adcomms that you know what you're getting yourself into if you haven't tested medicine as a career? Why should they take a chance offering you one of their precious med school seats when you might change your mind and decide you don't like being around sick folks?[/QUOTE]

 

[rgerber85]

I'm going to have to agree with Catalystik. You haven't stepped a toe into the ocean of medicine and you're considering medicine as a career?

I'm not an attending.. I'm not faculty.. but get your feet wet. Once you have a bit more exposure to patient care then apply. I can see you getting an interview, but it's there you'll have to explain X & Y. When it comes to that, don't make excuses.

You were in pathology? Were you published?

All in all, I would hold off applying and get a bit more exposure to medicine. Good luck.

 

[MonkeyoftheEast]

Hi again, I just ran the numbers and my sGPA comes out to 3.56 as well.
Edit: wait, do you include intro psych for science gpas? it's more of a social science right? if not I'm at a 3.57... huge improvement am I right?

@Catalystik: I think I see what you're saying; for the most part my motivation comes from having helped patients around as a kid (back in highschool I logged at least a couple hundred hours at a local hospital) and all around just liking understanding how the body works and whatnot. I also almost had my leg amputated in 9th grade because my father didn't quite know what an infection was and I was too stupid at the time to recognize the symptoms. I'm not in it for some noble cause to save the world, but recently just exposure to hospice patients alone has served as a huge eye opener for me - you really only read about the disorders that mutations can cause, seeing them in person is a whole different story. I'm still adjusting to it. I'm definitely going to look into more hours of clinical exposure/shadowing and volunteer work. Do you have any specific recommendations? Thanks again.

@rgerber85: Don't make excuses as in...just telling them I had troubles in the class? Or just be completely candid about it and tell them my side of the story? I didn't commit any offense - my professor claims I did, but the fact that I'm graduating from my school this May is evidence in and of itself that his claims aren't well supported (my school has a strict honor policy - no 2nd chances). And unfortunately, due to my incompetence, I could not collect enough data to be published in my lab - this...shouldn't reflect negatively, right? I just followed the suggestions of my PI, mixing in my own judgement when necessary...

I understand that I'm not a very strong candidate - it's possible I might even come to not like medicine, though from what exposure I've had so far I feel like I will. I'll definitely look into getting more exposure; and god forbid, but if I screw up this semester as well I might have a <3.5 sGPA, so a post-bac might be inevitable. Even with all that said; would applying this upcoming cycle, just to test my luck, be potentially detrimental to subsequent applications? I ask because I made the decision to switch back into pre-med my junior year and took the MCAT last summer - meaning that I really only have this cycle and next before the score is unusable, and since they're updating the MCAT I'm not confident I could do well on the new one (what are they throwing in? like anthropology or something?)

But yeah, I'll probably run this stuff by an adviser at school as well - a post bac with volunteering/shadowing on the side sounds like a fun year. Any other suggestions? I'm all ears. Well. Eyes.

Thanks, you guys are great!

 

[Catalystik]

Hi again, I just ran the numbers and my sGPA comes out to 3.56 as well.

@Catalystik: I think I see what you're saying; for the most part my motivation comes from having helped patients around as a kid (back in highschool I logged at least a couple hundred hours at a local hospital) and all around just liking understanding how the body works and whatnot. I also almost had my leg amputated in 9th grade because my father didn't quite know what an infection was and I was too stupid at the time to recognize the symptoms. I'm not in it for some noble cause to save the world, but recently just exposure to hospice patients alone has served as a huge eye opener for me - you really only read about the disorders that mutations can cause, seeing them in person is a whole different story. I'm still adjusting to it. I'm definitely going to look into more hours of clinical exposure/shadowing and volunteer work. Do you have any specific recommendations? Thanks again.

For beefing up your ECs: I think that volunteering in hospice for 3-4 hours per week over the next 1+ years is a terrific source of active clinical experience. Keep up with the elementary school volunteer gig as well. And be sure that the shadowing includes someone in office-based primary care so you get a view of medicine from the trenches and can handle common interview questions regarding problems facing practicing physicians.

 

[MonkeyoftheEast]

@Catalystik: I don't think I'll be able to stay at this university; I'll probably have to move back up to northern Virginia, leaving the friends I've made at the hospice so far behind ; but I'll look for something similar - it's been a GREAT experience and an eye-opener for me. If you don't mind, I'd like to ask for your opinion on another matter. I'd like to stay in Virginia for my post-bacc, and am currently looking at the programs offered at VCU (which I noticed is partnered with the INOVA hospital system, a large one in VA and my ideal medical school) or a program at Georgetown - which should be a lot more vigorous, and more reknown - at about twice the cost. What do you think? On one hand there's the guaranteed interview if I break a 3.5 (should be possible if I quit my non-school related habits like gaming) at VCU, on the other there's a higher name recognition with Georgetown, so I would have a lot more options upon completion of the program, though classes I imagine would be a bit harder. I think that in terms of opportunities offered by both universities they're about equal - shouldn't be any difficulty in finding a shadowing or volunteering opportunity. Personally I'm partial towards VCU, but as you've pointed out I'm going into this a bit rushed so maybe I'm not weighing these options correctly. Thanks again for your time.

 

[Catalystik]

The VCU program is a known and respected Special Masters Program. I've observed more folks with successful outcomes from that program, perhaps because the other is more expensive and more-competitive to get into. I am not familiar with the specific particulars of alum overall success getting into MD schools from either, though.

An interview guarantee isn't something to depend on, in so far as getting an acceptance. Aim for a GPA of 3.7+ for the SMP to be worth the investment. A 3.5 will certainly get you into a med school, but that includes DO med schools, for which you are competitive as you stand, stats-wise.