Where should I apply?

[Morsetlis]

Where should I apply? I graduated from UC San Diego and am a resident of San Diego. Here are my stats/ECs:

3.63 cGPA Biochemistry, 3.5 sGPA, 36T MCAT

-500 hours of shadowing w/ two MD's and a DO in several hospitals and ambulatory care (I have a letter from each of them)

-100-200 hours of ER volunteering between December '09 and June '10 depending on how lazy I feel (no possible letter from this unless I really want an RN's letter of rec)

-Third author on JCI paper, to be published March '10 hardcopy (one year of 50 hrs/week work, a nice letter from MD/PhD mentor plus PI's letter)

-4-year commitment to medical missions to Mexico every few months, usually by car/bus. About to expand this to by private airplane farther into Mexico than just Tijuana, lol. I don't plan anything (but I can get a good letter from the director who is also on the adcom).

-EMT-B certification and intern/externship (no possible letter that means anything)

-TA'd for 4 classes, MCAT tutor for ExamKrackers, Academic Advantage high school tutor (letter from the PhD I TA'd for for several classes)

-Guild leading for 40 hours / week for two years in World of Warcraft (yes I'm including it, I kinda don't have any other clubs/leadership)

==

I am basically tired of doing the USMD dance, and the DO I shadowed turned me on to DO + Military medicine. So, which schools should I apply to? I am a CA resident but would consider practicing/studying anywhere in the US.

I am assuming:

-Both CA schools
-All the Touro's
-What else?

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[DbDan]

There is a thread specifically for this and it will probably get moved there but i'll bite. I'm going to assume you aren't applying this cycle since you are posting this now and all but a handful of applications are closed.

Personally, I think your stats are fine for whatever DO you want to go to. Your GPA is slightly above average and your MCAT is way above average for all of the DOs. Pick and choose which ones you'd like, would you like to stay in California? Would you like to go somewhere specific in the US? There are a handful of "top tier" schools which include Western, PCOM, Nova, DMU? I'm not sure the others that have their own associated hospitals, etc. Do some research, you have a few months before you have to make that decision.

That said, you are also competitive for most MD schools, why not take the shot an apply to the UCs as well? What are the actual factors to you not pursuing an MD? What do you mean you are "tired of doing the USMD dance"? If your answer is truely that you'd rather be a DO than by all means ignore this part of my recommendation but I am just curious. And honestly, I wouldn't put WoW as an extracirricular, but thats just me.

 

[PunkmedGirl]

Where should I apply? I graduated from UC San Diego and am a resident of San Diego. Here are my stats/ECs:

3.63 cGPA Biochemistry, 3.5 sGPA, 36T MCAT

-500 hours of shadowing w/ two MD's and a DO in several hospitals and ambulatory care (I have a letter from each of them)

-100-200 hours of ER volunteering between December '09 and June '10 depending on how lazy I feel (no possible letter from this unless I really want an RN's letter of rec)

-Third author on JCI paper, to be published March '10 hardcopy (one year of 50 hrs/week work, a nice letter from MD/PhD mentor plus PI's letter)

-4-year commitment to medical missions to Mexico every few months, usually by car/bus. About to expand this to by private airplane farther into Mexico than just Tijuana, lol. I don't plan anything (but I can get a good letter from the director who is also on the adcom).

-EMT-B certification and intern/externship (no possible letter that means anything)

-TA'd for 4 classes, MCAT tutor for ExamKrackers, Academic Advantage high school tutor (letter from the PhD I TA'd for for several classes)

-Guild leading for 40 hours / week for two years in World of Warcraft (yes I'm including it, I kinda don't have any other clubs/leadership)

==

I am basically tired of doing the USMD dance, and the DO I shadowed turned me on to DO + Military medicine. So, which schools should I apply to? I am a CA resident but would consider practicing/studying anywhere in the US.

I am assuming:

-Both CA schools
-All the Touro's
-What else?

You can find a list of all of the schools here: www.aacom.org.

Your stats are competitive for all of the DO schools, so its just a matter of you researching which schools would be a good fit for yourself and which schools you should stay away from.

 

[Morsetlis]

So they all pretty much love OOS students?

 

[Drrrrrr. Celty]

So they all pretty much love OOS students?

Lol your stats are amazing lol. You could always look at the well established schools ( pcom,dmu,ccom,kcom,kcumb<tcom>). Yes they almost all give a lot of love for OOS especially lecom.

<tcom> is a good school but i'm not sure how it works with out of staters or if its part of the texas medical school application.

 

[kristieb1]

You played WoW 40hrs a week and still managed to have those nice stats?

I commend you.

 

[dapdrow]

So they all pretty much love OOS students?

Some schools give preference to IS students or have more IS students but that doesn't mean they won't accept OOS students. You can check out their stats.

 

[Drrrrrr. Celty]

You played WoW 40hrs a week and still managed to have those nice stats?

I commend you.

That's impressive for a pre-med. If your not pre-med its relatively easy to do that. Its kinda sad how much pre-meds need to actually spend paying attention .
lol

 

[NAVYLABTECH08]

Just curious, why are you applying to D.O schools? You are slightly above standards for a lot of M.D schools. Are you just interested in the osteo-philosophy or are you applying to be safe? No problem, just curious?

 

[Morsetlis]

Just curious, why are you applying to D.O schools? You are slightly above standards for a lot of M.D schools. Are you just interested in the osteo-philosophy or are you applying to be safe? No problem, just curious?

I spent the 2010 cycle applying to MD schools with no luck.

Also, I want to go to school in Los Angeles, and I have like a snowflake's chance in hell of getting into UCLA. However, Western U is in Pomona..

 

[Cybii]

I spent the 2010 cycle applying to MD schools with no luck.

Also, I want to go to school in Los Angeles, and I have like a snowflake's chance in hell of getting into UCLA. However, Western U is in Pomona..

It just blows me away when people like you with amazing stats have no luck at MD schools... I have a friend with similar stats and was shown no love either. Jeez... It's like, what more do you want?!

 

[Morsetlis]

It just blows me away when people like you with amazing stats have no luck at MD schools... I have a friend with similar stats and was shown no love either. Jeez... It's like, what more do you want?!

A higher GPA?

Maybe I just write really, really bad essays. I'm certainly having a lot more people look at my essays this coming cycle.

 

[Cybii]

A higher GPA?

Maybe I just write really, really bad essays. I'm certainly having a lot more people look at my essays this coming cycle.

Well, re-looking at your GPA it is around average, nothing that would wave any red flags. Maybe it is something about the essays... did you get any interview invites? because then it might have something to do with how you interview?

 

[Everglide]

With those stats, I would say more OOS MD schools (aren't the CA MD schools difficult to get into?) and basically any DO school you're interested in. By the numbers you're fine for any DO school.

 

[Sam212]

I spent the 2010 cycle applying to MD schools with no luck.

Also, I want to go to school in Los Angeles, and I have like a snowflake's chance in hell of getting into UCLA. However, Western U is in Pomona..

You serious? did you just apply to Cali schools? even then you should have gotten into some school. You say that you wouldn't mind moving anywhere for school now. Here's what you gotta do, you should apply to at least 15 mid-low tier private Out of State MD schools. You'd get at least 5-8 interviews, if not more. You ought to at least do this before firmly deciding on a DO school. With your stats, you'd probably get into every DO school you'd apply. Apply to may be 3, if you don't have an acceptance by october, add a few more. But I think if you apply to enough MD schools, you'd probably have an MD acceptance by october. Good luck!

 

[mspeedwagon]

Your stats will carry you at all DO schools and most M.D. schools (outside of the Top 20). Good job. Get back to playing World of Warcraft.

You can find a list of all of the schools here: www.aacom.org.

Your stats are competitive for all of the DO schools, so its just a matter of you researching which schools would be a good fit for yourself and which schools you should stay away from.

 

[NAVYLABTECH08]

I spent the 2010 cycle applying to MD schools with no luck.

Also, I want to go to school in Los Angeles, and I have like a snowflake's chance in hell of getting into UCLA. However, Western U is in Pomona..

You have more than a snowflake's chance at md schools. You GPA is high enough. You MCAt is high enough. I think there is a serious red flag in your aaplication that may affect your DO chances too. You should get some pro to look at your PE and rehearse so interview skills. UC DAvis is screaming your name.

 

[Morsetlis]

You have more than a snowflake's chance at md schools. You GPA is high enough. You MCAt is high enough. I think there is a serious red flag in your aaplication that may affect your DO chances too. You should get some pro to look at your PE and rehearse so interview skills. UC DAvis is screaming your name.

Might have something to do with not having hospital experience (outside of shadowing) until after I submitted my app. I had extensive shadowing and volunteering though (the mexico thing, plus a few more).

I was also missing science professor LORs (that actually taught me).

I think I was just being sloppy overall.

I got interviewed this cycle at UCSD and NYMC.

Considering I only want to do EM I'm not too bothered about the whole MD/DO thing. I'm seeing more and more DO's now that I know what a DO is (I thought they were dieticians before). I just helped one draw blood today in the ER because she was bad at it.

 

[NAVYLABTECH08]

Might have something to do with not having hospital experience (outside of shadowing) until after I submitted my app. I had extensive shadowing and volunteering though (the mexico thing, plus a few more).

I was also missing science professor LORs (that actually taught me).

I think I was just being sloppy overall.

I got interviewed this cycle at UCSD and NYMC.

Considering I only want to do EM I'm not too bothered about the whole MD/DO thing. I'm seeing more and more DO's now that I know what a DO is (I thought they were dieticians before). I just helped one draw blood today in the ER because she was bad at it.

This makes more sense. No science LOR means not getting past secondaries. Ok, just make sure you get that Pre-med committee LOR or have 2 science and 1 other professor LOR ready for this new cycle. Also,make sure you have a D.O LOR ready to go and you should be crusing during the application cycle. I worked in the medical lab that surrorted a level 1 trauma center ER right before I went to med school and I got to see some rather interesting things regarding the traumas there. I'm not sure I am a ER type of guy but much luck to you my friend and future medical student.

P.S. I know how bad some residents can be in the ER. Once, I had a resident ask me for a missing CPK result. I saw that the CK-MB was done. I told her the CK-MB result and she persisted to ask for the CPK not knowing that they were the same thing. Scary!!! She had no clue what she was talking about or what the test she actually ordered was or was for. This is a intern mistake, not a resident mistake at a level 1 inter-city Emergeny room residency.