DO What are my chances??

[BrunoMarsFan]

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Hi, I'm trying to understand where the weaknesses in my application are and any other insight that I could do to improve it. This will also be my first application cycle, so I appreciate any advice anyone has for me!

1. cGPA and sGPA (calculated using the AMCAS/AACOMAS Undergrad GPA Calculator from the r/premed subreddit)

• cGPA: 3.35
• sGPA: 3.31
  • For anyone curious, my AMCAS sGPA is a 3.22.

2. MCAT Score Breakdown (all attempts)

• 8/02/2024: 495 (123/125/124/123)
• 5/23/2025: 500 (124/125/124/127)

3. State of residence or country of citizenship (if non-US)

• California (CA)

4. Gender and Ethnicity and/or race

• Asian (Filipino/Chinese)

5. Undergraduate institution or category

• University of California - Riverside
• Major: Biology
• Certificate: B.S. Biological Sciences

6. Clinical experience (volunteer and non-volunteer)

• Ophthalmic Technician (Hands-on patient care, operating medical machinery, scribing for the doctors)
  • Compensated full-time for over the last 2 years, so about 3500-4000 hours or so.
• I am also currently applying to volunteer at my local VA where I'll be tasked with a variety of direct and indirect patient care activities.

7. Research experience and productivity

• No non-academic research experience. The only research I've done was part of a Dynamic Genome class (10 weeks) that focused on independent procedures. No papers were publicized.

8. Shadowing experience and specialties represented

• 64 hours between 2 doctors (8 hours/week, 5 weeks each): Pediatrician and Anesthesiologist, both MD.

9. Non-clinical volunteering

• ~350 hours: Volunteering as part of Key Club when I was a high school student (High School Club focused on Volunteer Opportunities)
• ~30 hours: Meal prepping for meals to be home delivered for individuals who are unable to shop and cook for themselves and who live alone.

10. Other extracurricular activities (including athletics, military service, gap year activities, leadership, teaching, etc.)

• Just hobbies:
  • Playing Piano since I was 4 y/o.
  • Playing Soccer since I was 6 y/o.

11. Relevant honors or awards

• I made the Dean's Honor List for 4 different quarters during Undergrad.

12. Anything else not listed you think might be important

• I had a terrible Freshman year (got an F in one of my Calculus classes, which plummeted my GPA), and had a pretty decent upwards trend afterwards.
  • (sGPA: 2.78 -> 3.13 -> 3.13 -> 3.3)

• LORs:
  • Ophthalmologist: I worked directly under him for the last 2 years. I feel confident it's a strong letter.
  • Anesthesiologist: That I shadowed under as listed above.
  • Pediatrician: That I shadowed under as listed above.
  • 2 STEM Professors: One of them I feel decent about, the other I feel a little more confident it'll be strong. However, it has been 2-3 years since I was last in their classes.

List of Schools (staying in California would be nice, but I'm not strict on that preference):
- CHSU-COM
- LMU-DCOM
- WVSOM
- Noorda-COM
- UNE-COM
- AZCOM
- PNWU-COM
- BCOM
- UIWSOM
- ARCOM
- WCUCOM
- ACOM
- UP-KYCOM
- NYITCOM
- PCOM


If any further context or clarification is needed, please let me know! Thank you to anyone who can provide any advice or insight into what I should be focusing on!

 

[Faha]

Your MCAT scores of 495 and 500 are too low for AZCOM and NYITCOM. I suggest these schools with your stats:
CHSU-COM
TUNCOM
NOORDA-COM
UIWSOM
WCU-COM
ARCOM
NYIT-AR
ACOM
LMU-DCOM (all schools)
MU-COM
PCOM (all schools)
LECOM (all schools)
WVSOM
UP-KYCOM
BCOM (both schools)
ICOM
PNWU-COM

 

[BrunoMarsFan]

Your MCAT scores of 495 and 500 are too low for AZCOM and NYITCOM. I suggest these schools with your stats:
CHSU-COM
TUNCOM
NOORDA-COM
UIWSOM
WCU-COM
ARCOM
NYIT-AR
ACOM
LMU-DCOM (all schools)
MU-COM
PCOM (all schools)
LECOM (all schools)
WVSOM
UP-KYCOM
BCOM (both schools)
ICOM
PNWU-COM

Thank you for the suggestions! Would you happen to have any feedback on where the weaknesses in my application are? I was wondering if I should retake the MCAT again but I'm worried that if I don't knock it out of the park this time around, a 3rd attempt looks pretty bad.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Your non-clinical volunteering is listed rather oddly. Were your 300 hours of Key Club done in high school? I also don't pay much attention to non-shadowing experiences with fewer than 50 hours, so that wipes out your food pantry work.

What advice did your prehealth advisors give you? Your sGPA is lower than desirable, so depending on what is left, you should think about a postbac or SMP (your low sGPA should warrant the SMP). With your low MCAT, your best shot would be as a guinea pig student at a newer school under the accreditation pressure. If you grew up in the Inland Empire, you may have a slightly better shot within California, especially with your DO programs (with your MCAT).

 

[BrunoMarsFan]

Your non-clinical volunteering is listed rather oddly. Were your 300 hours of Key Club done in high school? I also don't pay much attention to non-shadowing experiences with fewer than 50 hours, so that wipes out your food pantry work.

What advice did your prehealth advisors give you? Your sGPA is lower than desirable, so depending on what is left, you should think about a postbac or SMP (your low sGPA should warrant the SMP). With your low MCAT, your best shot would be as a guinea pig student at a newer school under the accreditation pressure. If you grew up in the Inland Empire, you may have a slightly better shot within California, especially with your DO programs (with your MCAT).

Sorry, I should've clarified that better in the post, but yes the 300 hours of Key Cub were done when I was a high school student.

I was advised to get more non-clinical volunteering hours since mine are so low. (I misread the responsibilities in the application when I applied for the VA opportunity I mentioned in the post.) I was told my sGPA wasn't the best so I'd have to make up for it in other parts of my application if I didn't want to do a postbacc or SMP. I actually did apply for an SMP over at RFU because I have 2 brothers who went through the same program and matriculated into their MD school, but I got rejected and now I'm attempting to pivot to DO instead. Going to a pre-accredited school scares me though, but I haven't taken a look through the newer schools yet so I can try to give it a shot. And I didn't grow up in the Inland Empire, my childhood was in Sacramento before moving down to LA county, so I don't think that's giving me any favorability there.

 

[Faha]

Thank you for the suggestions! Would you happen to have any feedback on where the weaknesses in my application are? I was wondering if I should retake the MCAT again but I'm worried that if I don't knock it out of the park this time around, a 3rd attempt looks pretty bad.

Your only weakness is your MCAT scores. The risk of retaking your 500 is that you could do worse. A 500 is fine for many DO schools and most of the schools I listed have MCAT medians in the 498 to 502 range. You could also add the 4 VCOM schools.

 

[Futureleader2024]

The list is a little long. Plz look at Choose DO and see whose stats match yours.