What can I do to get to where I want? (Low cGPA, high goals)

[irohmi]

Hello! I'm new to this site so please correct me if I'm doing anything wrong.

I wanted to know (I've heard the SDN community was the place to go for these sorts of questions), with my specific situation, what exactly should I do to increase my chances (as much as possible) of getting into a great school (hopefully a UC/public MD/DO)? Open to everyone's opinions and ideas.

Stats:
cGPA: 3.14 BA English Major (switched from Economics, which was one of several reasons for my abysmal GPA from first two years), 3.67 Education Minor, UC Santa Barbara (strong upward trends)

Background: Raised in Compton with no access to healthcare most of my life, was too busy trying to make money at home to support family, neglected school and solely went to college for a degree with the plan of helping my family's business post-college. Also, I'm "ORM" (Korean-American) but definitely wouldn't say I grew up in a "traditional Asian-American" background. Parents weren't necessarily employed while I was in high school (although they worked really hard to find stable employment), so I had to find ways to support a family of five as the youngest daughter. One reason why I was pushed into the "money-making" business realm instead of focusing on what I really wanted to do at heart (medicine).

Volunteer: ~60 hours of TAing in under-served schools, ~1,000 hours of AmeriCorps service for aiding homeless children and families in Title 1 (homeless/unstable residence-based) elementary schools, ~30 hours nursing home volunteer, wrote an SAT prep book for impoverished teenagers who wanted to do well on their SATs, and finally going to be shadowing family physicians in two weeks.

Work: Coffee cart barista/cashier, CBEST (state-exams for future teachers) Instructor, SAT tutor, Supervisor for UCSB Dining Services, Proctor (for CBEST exams), founder of Amazon and eBay businesses (to support family), assistant manager for video store business (my mom's current business. Yes, video rental stores do still exist lol).

All the above mentioned is during and post-undergrad btw ^

Anyway, I understand GPA is crucial to pretty much every MD/DO school, which is the one significant thing I'm highly lacking in.

So everyone, what steps can I take to transform my below-average application into a great one?

Currently I am considering a DIY post-bac such as UCLA Extension's Pre-med/General Science Certificate program since I live closest to its campus and it's relatively cheap, but would a formal program serve me better? What do med schools think of extension schools? One worry for me is not having a chance of getting accepted into formal post-bacs anyway due to my tear-inducing GPA right now. At least informal routes usually don't require being accepted based on GPA.


Any other tips out there? Any success stories of post-bacs/If so, did you go for the DIY route or formal? How much does your socioeconomic background impact your chances of being admitted? How much does your ethnicity matter? (I've heard some horror stories of really high-stat Asian-Americans/ORM getting rejected to most or every school applied to because of their ethnic background/race...)

Or anyone who got accepted to med school who formerly had a sub-par undergrad cGPA... What did you do to get to where you are now?

Any advice or stories would be greatly appreciated Thank you very much

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[WedgeDawg]

Hey there, welcome to SDN!

As you've astutely pointed out, the biggest problem with your app right now is your GPA. I think rathe than a DIY postbacc, because your GPA is relatively low (<3.3 it looks like?), a special masters program (or SMP) might be the way to go, as long as you feel ready to do it and are in a good place to get a high (3.75+) GPA. Do you feel confident in your ability to handle upper level science coursework? If you haven't taken any science courses at all, you may need to do a couple of sciences courses before hand (likely through DIY postbacc), but I'm not super familiar with SMPs so I'm not 100% sure.

Second, you're going to need to do well on the MCAT. Whether that means self studying, taking a course, having a tutor, or any combination thereof, you need to figure out what works for you and do your best to score highly.

Third, you really don't have any clinical experience. I see that you're planning on shadowing soon, which is great, but you're also going to have to get some active clinical experience too. Working in a nursing home is great, as is scribing, working/volunteering in the ED, doing hospice work, etc. As long as you're working with patients in an active capacity, you're doing great, but you're going to need a lot more than the 30 hours you have now.

Lastly, I wouldn't worry too much about the whole ORM thing (Asians and Whites actually have similar rates of acceptances to med schools at most GPA/MCAT combinations, but those stats don't really do much to guide any particular individual anyway). You have a compelling life story which will help you, as will your other experiences.

So tl;dr, first step is fix your GPA (likely via an SMP), second is do well on the MCAT, and lastly get your clinical experience in order!

Not gonna lie, it's gonna be a long, difficult, and likely expensive road, but if this is what you want to do, this is the road you need to take.

Best of luck!

 

[Goro]

Go read my post on reinvention / for pre-med

 

[irohmi]

Thank you so much @WedgeDawg! I really appreciate your advice. Right now I'm focusing on applying to more formal post-bac programs/SMPS and gaining more clinical experience. Wishing you all the best!

 

[irohmi]

Thank you @Goro! I've heard about you and your legendary contributions before irl actually. I appreciate your helpful guidelines for reinventions!

 

[Gator2010]

Just a quick plug for an amazing clinical volunteering program in your area that I did. It is called COPE Health Scholars. I did my volunteering at St Mary's Medical Center in Long Beach, but they have sites all over the LA area. I was able to volunteer on numerous floors on the hospital and got so many amazing experiences. You also get a certificate once you complete the program from UCLA which is something nice to add to your application. I myself am a non-trad applicant with a low cGPA, so i understand your concerns. I am not affiliated with the program in any way aside from being a graduate of it. Feel free to PM me if you would like more info or have any questions!

 

[irohmi]

@Gator2010 Wow, sounds like a great program. I will check it out, thank you so much!

 

[westsidestoryz]

I was in a similar situation. Low GPA and non-trad as well. Shoot me a DM if you like some ideas!