What are my chances?

[Armina]

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I am a financially, educationally and socially disadvantaged individual (grew up in a financially disadvantaged family, was the first in my family to get a high school/college education, and immigrated to the US without prior knowledge of English). Limited financial resources in addition to lingual/cultural barriers very much impacted my social and educational circumstances throughout my life. Also, tumor induced HAs severely deteriorated my health at a young age and interfered with my education. Despite these difficulties, I finished middle school with straight As and graduated from high school with a 4.3 GPA. However, due to cultural barriers, lingual barriers and personal struggles (domestic violence), I developed severe depression in high school which worsened in college. My GPA dropped to 2.4 from an initial 2.89 by my third semester in college and I lost all motivation. After this period, however, I studied psychology to help myself and by becoming mindful and by developing healthy habits, received 3.7 GPAs during my last 2 years in college. After graduating from college, to strengthen my confidence, to identify my passion and to find my place in the society, I worked for a while. I worked as an ophthalmic assistant for 7 months and then as a medical scribe for 1 year. While working full time as a medical scribe, I also finished my premed courses and studied for MCAT. I ended up with a slightly lower than 500 score on MCAT but received strong letters of recommendations from doctors, professors and my internship supervisor (interned at Alzheimer's association) and applied to some postbacc programs. At this point, I am waiting to hear from those postbacc programs but given my history, do you think I also have a chance at applying for some DO programs?

 

[Rusrus]

I am a financially, educationally and socially disadvantaged individual (grew up in a financially disadvantaged family, was the first in my family to get a high school/college education, and immigrated to the US without prior knowledge of English). Limited financial resources in addition to lingual/cultural barriers very much impacted my social and educational circumstances throughout my life. Also, tumor induced HAs severely deteriorated my health at a young age and interfered with my education. Despite these difficulties, I finished middle school with straight As and graduated from high school with a 4.3 GPA. However, due to cultural barriers, lingual barriers and personal struggles (domestic violence), I developed severe depression in high school which worsened in college. My GPA dropped to 2.4 from an initial 2.89 by my third semester in college and I lost all motivation. After this period, however, I studied psychology to help myself and by becoming mindful and by developing healthy habits, received 3.7 GPAs during my last 2 years in college. After graduating from college, to strengthen my confidence, to identify my passion and to find my place in the society, I worked for a while. I worked as an ophthalmic assistant for 7 months and then as a medical scribe for 1 year. While working full time as a medical scribe, I also finished my premed courses and studied for MCAT. I ended up with a slightly lower than 500 score on MCAT but received strong letters of recommendations from doctors, professors and my internship supervisor (interned at Alzheimer's association) and applied to some postbac programs. At this point, I am waiting to hear from postbac programs but given my history, do you think I can also apply for some DO programs?

I understand that crud happens in life, but unfortunately the damage has been done to your academic record, so there's a good chance that you'll need to defer a few years to give yourself a fighting chance.

The upward trend in your last two years of college is a plus. What is your cumulative GPA and science GPA currently? What about in the last 60 credit hours (not sure if you incorporated your last semester of pre-med courses)? A <500 MCAT is going to close many doors for you as some DO schools have minimums around 500, so I'd recommend that you mentally prepare yourself to retake the MCAT; however, do not do so until your GPA is "repaired."

Right now, I think you're on the right track in pursuing a post-bacc. If you were to apply now, it'd simply be a donation to the schools. Personally, I'd say that you should apply once your c/sGPA are >3.0 as many schools have a minimum GPA as well and once that is done, prepare for your MCAT and aim for 508, which will be competitive for all schools. Once the time comes to apply, reach out to the letter writers and ask them to re-date the letter so it reflects your current self (and of course stay in touch and update them!)

 

[Armina]

T

I understand that crud happens in life, but unfortunately the damage has been done to your academic record, so there's a good chance that you'll need to defer a few years to give yourself a fighting chance.

The upward trend in your last two years of college is a plus. What is your cumulative GPA and science GPA currently? What about in the last 60 credit hours (not sure if you incorporated your last semester of pre-med courses)? A <500 MCAT is going to close many doors for you as some DO schools have minimums around 500, so I'd recommend that you mentally prepare yourself to retake the MCAT; however, do not do so until your GPA is "repaired."

Right now, I think you're on the right track in pursuing a post-bacc. If you were to apply now, it'd simply be a donation to the schools. Personally, I'd say that you should apply once your c/sGPA are >3.0 as many schools have a minimum GPA as well and once that is done, prepare for your MCAT and aim for 508, which will be competitive for all schools. Once the time comes to apply, reach out to the letter writers and ask them to re-date the letter so it reflects your current self (and of course stay in touch and update them!)

Thank you so much for your advice. My CGPA is 3.3 and my SGPA is 3.2. For many of the reasons you mentioned, I, too, think that I should first enroll in a post-bacc program.

 

[Rusrus]

Thank you so much for your advice. My CGPA is 3.3 and my SGPA is 3.2. For many of the reasons you mentioned, I, too, think that I should first enroll in a post-bacc program.

Your c/sGPA are slightly on the lower end of the spectrum for DO schools. Though it may not be necessary, it would definitely help your application to do the post-bacc and maintain that upward trend. From there, I'd recommend you retake the MCAT and get your application in as early as possible to increase your chances.

Also, are you URM or ORM?

 

[Armina]

Your c/sGPA are slightly on the lower end of the spectrum for DO schools. Though it may not be necessary, it would definitely help your application to do the post-bacc and maintain that upward trend. From there, I'd recommend you retake the MCAT and get your application in as early as possible to increase your chances.

Also, are you URM or ORM?[/QUOTE

URM

 

[Goro]

I am a financially, educationally and socially disadvantaged individual (grew up in a financially disadvantaged family, was the first in my family to get a high school/college education, and immigrated to the US without prior knowledge of English). Limited financial resources in addition to lingual/cultural barriers very much impacted my social and educational circumstances throughout my life. Also, tumor induced HAs severely deteriorated my health at a young age and interfered with my education. Despite these difficulties, I finished middle school with straight As and graduated from high school with a 4.3 GPA. However, due to cultural barriers, lingual barriers and personal struggles (domestic violence), I developed severe depression in high school which worsened in college. My GPA dropped to 2.4 from an initial 2.89 by my third semester in college and I lost all motivation. After this period, however, I studied psychology to help myself and by becoming mindful and by developing healthy habits, received 3.7 GPAs during my last 2 years in college. After graduating from college, to strengthen my confidence, to identify my passion and to find my place in the society, I worked for a while. I worked as an ophthalmic assistant for 7 months and then as a medical scribe for 1 year. While working full time as a medical scribe, I also finished my premed courses and studied for MCAT. I ended up with a slightly lower than 500 score on MCAT but received strong letters of recommendations from doctors, professors and my internship supervisor (interned at Alzheimer's association) and applied to some postbacc programs. At this point, I am waiting to hear from those postbacc programs but given my history, do you think I also have a chance at applying for some DO programs?

I suggest retaking the MCAT, but not until your scoring well on practice exams,.

Your < 500 score is lethal for tons of DO schools (and all MD).
You MAY have luck with:
LECOM (both)
UIW
RVU-UT
ICOM
ACOM
LMU
KYCOM
the 3 VCOMs
the two AR schools

Doing an SMP with linkage is also suggested. You sound like someone who would e successful at my program (and others)