Young Applicant need advice!

[purerinterstate]

Need advice as a young applicant

I graduated uni at 18 with my high school diploma subsequently through an accelerated program. Being young and spending time with friends and having some tough professors left me with a 3.5 cGPA and a 3.2 sGPA and I have doubts on what to do next.

Biochemistry Major, Certificate programs in Ecology, Research, and Biotechnology

No upwards trend for the 3.5 GPA, somewhat downwards as I failed 3 classes but retook 2 of them as they were pertaining to my degree (brought to B, C (screw p chem but I got the high on the final so 🔥)) and used academic forgiveness to maintain a decent gpa. I took two graduate level science classes [biotech, glyco/protein biochem] just because and recieved A-, B respectively in them.
Due to my accelerated program I have appx 170 credits and 30 credits of As would make my sGPA go to 3.4

ORM, have not taken MCAT as I’m not ready yet. 19yrs young

ECs: During Undergrad
- 100 hours clinical volunteering
- 2 semesters community activism fellowship, awarded grant
- appx 700 undergrad research in chem wet lab non clinical including poster presentation, awarded grant, currently seeing eligibility requirements for publishing
- TA for biochemsitry for 4 semesters, 2 years of teaching students content + tutoring 20hrs/week
- 100 hours peer mentor for mentally handicaped students on campus, awarded stipend (is this a grant?)
- Would shadow allergist during summers regularly during undergrad
- Marketing Director for health club on campus with many events connecting students to health resources
- Co founded ecological activism hub under a larger movement at my university, being the only hub in my county of residence where I recruited students to learn and educate others on bills and legislation directly afflicting our environment. We facilitated marches, peaceful protests, and social media campaigns untill covid.
- member of robotics club
- completed a really niche engineering course on robotics but everything stopped after covid i dont think this is worthwhile but my name is on some pdfs involving the creation of an alternative energy vehicle that I stopped participating in after covid

Post Undergrad:
- MA for allergist full time 5 months
- CRC now in oncology
- Begining to assist with research project in another speciality after completing an observership for a residency program at a top university involving international subjects from my home country suffering from x disease (so so so excited but not 100% secured yet)

Okay so I have the ability to study for the MCAT for a while and I have some great support for it so with a decent MCAT, how much will I be held back with my GPA.
Do we think i am at an advantage being very young upon starting college courses (13, weird situation, really good at math, took AICE Math in 8th grade and then uni classes 9-12th)

I kind of really want to do instruction in my future and am considering MD-PHDs and I have interests in really competitive specialties. I havent applied to any masters because I cannot digest the COA as I am currently debt free and really could only see the worth in indebting if it meant that I could become a physician.

How much will I benefit from an SMP? I plan on increasing volunteer hours but my gosh a lot of local non profits are only open 9-5 when I work.
Should I go to a better uni in my state and retake a year of sciences that I could excel in? Should I do a masters if I am interested in potentially pursuing an MD PhD?

Open to clarifying on anything
I know I can’t get into harvard butttt whats it looking like for those T20s.. could I make it? I am in a state without any T30s although the top one here (T50) I would kill to get into

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[chilly_md]

I will move this out of WAMC since you have not taken the MCAT and would be a few years out from applying.

Being young and spending time with friends and having some tough professors left me with a 3.5 cGPA and a 3.2 sGPA and I have doubts on what to do next.

Biochemistry Major, Certificate programs in Ecology, Research, and Biotechnology

No upwards trend for the 3.5 GPA, somewhat downwards as I failed 3 classes but retook 2 of them as they were pertaining to my degree (brought to B, C (screw p chem but I got the high on the final so 🔥)) and used academic forgiveness to maintain a decent gpa. I took two graduate level science classes [biotech, glyco/protein biochem] just because and recieved A-, B respectively in them.

The sGPA is very low for MD schools, especially because you did not have an upward trend and when you retook failed classes, you didn’t ace them despite it being the 2nd time you were seeing the material. Admissions will unfortunately not give you a break or overlook it since you were completing the degree at a much younger age.

100 hours of clinical volunteering is very minimal. It does not come across that you have worked with patients and would have a good reason for why you want to pursue medicine. This becomes an even bigger issue for students applying at a much younger age than typical. Continuing to work as an MA for a year would help.

Medicine is an altruistic profession and you have not had any exposure to this, when many students have at least around 150-200 hours. And these should be in areas that get you out of a school environment. A lot of students have helped at local homeless shelters, soup kitchens etc and it is clear they are mature enough to take on medical school where they would now be interacting with patients and people from a variety of background.

Okay so I have the ability to study for the MCAT for a while and I have some great support for it so with a decent MCAT, how much will I be held back with my GPA.

A high MCAT score does not make up for a low GPA. MD PhD is at a higher standard, where many students have both exceptional stats as well as good research productivity. Your goal is to get into a medical school, whether MD or DO. T20/30 is unlikely with your track record in school so far.

You can take new upper division science courses at a local state university and ace those to show you are a better student and have good study skills now. Of the schools that reward this kind of reinvention, there are a couple well-known research powerhouse schools. I would not suggest an SMP for where you are at. Read this post from Goro:

Goro's advice for pre-meds who need reinvention (updated for 2021)

EDIT: Post in WAMC forum for recommended school lists. This thread isn't for that. So you want to be a doctor, but your GPA is terrible. Is that the end? Rule #1: Take a deep breath, and stop fussing. The sky is not falling. But you are going to need to reinvent yourself. This will take...

forums.studentdoctor.net

 

[gyngyn]

I suspect that you may not have a handle on your true gpa. All grades are included (re-takes are averaged in), without regard to your college's determination of gpa.
I suggest that you calculate both your overall as well as your BCPM gpa's using the devices provided here:
https://students-residents.aamc.org/media/7761/download

AACOMAS calculates things differently:

Calculating Your AACOMAS GPAs

help.liaisonedu.com

 

[candbgirl]

There is no academic forgiveness in AMCAS or AACOMAS. Every course you have ever taken in dual enrollment( hs), college or uni counts in your GPAs. So you should probably recalculate your GPAs including everything(Fs too).

 

[purerinterstate]

I will move this out of WAMC since you have not taken the MCAT and would be a few years out from applying.


The sGPA is very low for MD schools, especially because you did not have an upward trend and when you retook failed classes, you didn’t ace them despite it being the 2nd time you were seeing the material. Admissions will unfortunately not give you a break or overlook it since you were completing the degree at a much younger age.

100 hours of clinical volunteering is very minimal. It does not come across that you have worked with patients and would have a good reason for why you want to pursue medicine. This becomes an even bigger issue for students applying at a much younger age than typical. Continuing to work as an MA for a year would help.

Medicine is an altruistic profession and you have not had any exposure to this, when many students have at least around 150-200 hours. And these should be in areas that get you out of a school environment. A lot of students have helped at local homeless shelters, soup kitchens etc and it is clear they are mature enough to take on medical school where they would now be interacting with patients and people from a variety of background.

A high MCAT score does not make up for a low GPA. MD PhD is at a higher standard, where many students have both exceptional stats as well as good research productivity. Your goal is to get into a medical school, whether MD or DO. T20/30 is unlikely with your track record in school so far.

You can take new upper division science courses at a local state university and ace those to show you are a better student and have good study skills now. Of the schools that reward this kind of reinvention, there are a couple well-known research powerhouse schools. I would not suggest an SMP for where you are at. Read this post from Goro:

Goro's advice for pre-meds who need reinvention (updated for 2021)

EDIT: Post in WAMC forum for recommended school lists. This thread isn't for that. So you want to be a doctor, but your GPA is terrible. Is that the end? Rule #1: Take a deep breath, and stop fussing. The sky is not falling. But you are going to need to reinvent yourself. This will take...

forums.studentdoctor.net

Great to know. My hours are minimal in clinical volunteering for sure as those were done during COVID. I am logistically finding out how I can volunteer while working full time. I am leaning towards volunteering at a hospital during weekends while I still have them free and while I get more exposure in clinical research throughout the course of the next year I hope I can pamper my application.
Retaking the courses at my UG university I fear would not provide me any genuine learning experience, so would applying to a larger university with better programs in science be worthwhile? I could take the relavant courses there for reinvention and assuming I excel in them I could bring my sGPA close to a 3.5.
You mention an SMP may not be the best option, I read the linked post which was very very helpful thank you. Is it because an SMP does not prove that I have a good foundational strength for the science courses I did not exceed in? Does it help if my sGPA is comprised of mostly A/Bs and then the 3 Fs and C? Would it be wise to spend a year retaking science courses as well as a year for an SMP?

Thank you!

 

[purerinterstate]

I suspect that you may not have a handle on your true gpa. All grades are included (re-takes are averaged in), without regard to your college's determination of gpa.
I suggest that you calculate both your overall as well as your BCPM gpa's using the devices provided here:
https://students-residents.aamc.org/media/7761/download

AACOMAS calculates things differently:

Calculating Your AACOMAS GPAs

help.liaisonedu.com

I think you are right. I did my sGPA without grade forgiveness etc. using the list of courses they provide. But my cGPA includes the forgiveness. I believe my cGPA would be around 3.47 if corrected.

 

[purerinterstate]

There is no academic forgiveness in AMCAS or AACOMAS. Every course you have ever taken in dual enrollment( hs), college or uni counts in your GPAs. So you should probably recalculate your GPAs including everything(Fs too).

Yes you are right. My cGPA would be around 3.47, but my sGPA I calculated with the Fs so 3.25.

 

[gyngyn]

I think you are right. I did my sGPA without grade forgiveness etc. using the list of courses they provide. But my cGPA includes the forgiveness. I believe my cGPA would be around 3.47 if corrected.

Use the AAMC calculator to see your year by year gpa in both categories. That's how we are going to see them.
You might be surprised. It's better to go into this with eyes wide open.

 

[theoceanman]

Get 150+ hours in community service and do well on your MCAT if your wish is to just go to any medical school, including DO.

If you want to go for MD, you may require an SMP due to your lowering trend over time, especially failing courses which may mark you as a red flag towards many medical schools and even some DO schools. Regardless, your current course of action should involve a self-reflection of what it means to be in medicine and what you need to do to take steps in the right direction. Community service is one aspect, MCAT is another aspect, and perhaps an undergraduate post-bacc program to boost your sGPA and even cGPA may be necessary to go MD. Regardless, you do need more experiences in non-clinical volunteering, especially community service, or you risk being screened out at many places.

 

[purerinterstate]

Get 150+ hours in community service and do well on your MCAT if your wish is to just go to any medical school, including DO.

If you want to go for MD, you may require an SMP due to your lowering trend over time, especially failing courses which may mark you as a red flag towards many medical schools and even some DO schools. Regardless, your current course of action should involve a self-reflection of what it means to be in medicine and what you need to do to take steps in the right direction. Community service is one aspect, MCAT is another aspect, and perhaps an undergraduate post-bacc program to boost your sGPA and even cGPA may be necessary to go MD. Regardless, you do need more experiences in non-clinical volunteering, especially community service, or you risk being screened out at many places.

Absolutely. I don’t plan on applying this cycle but was hoping to be ready next cycle. I think if I want to have an appropriate GPA it might have to wait another year. I’ll look into post baccs and smps as both seem like they are designed for students similar to me and I will definitely catch up with my volunteering both clinical and non clinical.
I know some application desdlines haven’t passed for some programs so I will look into SMPs with linkages and perhaps a DIY post bacc at the top Uni in my state.
Would you say there’s any point to a masters in a medical adjacent field? All options besides state school DIY post bacc are expensive and I was considering applying for a MS in Biomed Engineering as I do have some interests there that could benefit me if I want to go for an MD-PhD. The standard for those are high but perhaps after I start the MD I could apply for the PhD.

 

[chilly_md]

I am leaning towards volunteering at a hospital during weekends while I still have them free and while I get more exposure in clinical research throughout the course of the next year I hope I can pamper my application.

Don’t do this. If you are going to continue working as an MA, you don’t need any other activity in the hospital. The volunteering you should be doing should be at a homeless shelter, soup kitchen, Habitat for Humanity, working with refugees etc.

You mention an SMP may not be the best option, I read the linked post which was very very helpful thank you. Is it because an SMP does not prove that I have a good foundational strength for the science courses I did not exceed in? Does it help if my sGPA is comprised of mostly A/Bs and then the 3 Fs and C? Would it be wise to spend a year retaking science courses as well as a year for an SMP?

Thank you!

An SMP is more expensive and if you do poorly, would close the door on medical school. Since the classes are typically at an advanced level and sometimes the same as part of the 1st year curriculum, it is more risk. You do not have your AMCAS or AACOMAS GPA calculated yet, but a 3.2 is in range of something where 30 credits of A’s would show a good improvement. You shouldn’t be retaking classes, they should be new ones in courses you haven’t done before. Some specific examples were listed in the link I shared.

 

[chilly_md]

All options besides state school DIY post bacc are expensive and I was considering applying for a MS in Biomed Engineering as I do have some interests there that could benefit me if I want to go for an MD-PhD. The standard for those are high but perhaps after I start the MD I could apply for the PhD.

The benefit from that kind of degree is really for your own career or interests. It will not help for admissions. DO schools factor master’s grades I believe though.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Where's your community service showing service orientation? Food distribution, shelter volunteer, job placement services, transportation services, or housing rehabilitation? You ecological advocacy goes under social advocacy/civic engagement.