MD & DO WAMC 3.3/513 Nontrad - Help w/ School List

[purplepuppy391]

1. cGPA and sGPA as calculated by AMCAS or AACOMAS
   cGPA: 3.3 sGPA: 3.1
   
   My undergrad GPA is from 5+ years ago, so I am taking diy postbacc courses now. Aiming to get a 4.0. If I take 6-8 classes and get a 4.0 I can bring my gpa up to a 3.4.
2. MCAT score(s) and breakdown
   513 (126/131/128/128)
3. State of residence or country of citizenship (if non-US)
   CA
4. Ethnicity and/or race
   Asian/Bi-racial
5. Undergraduate institution or category
   Rural State School (not in CA)
6. Clinical experience (volunteer and non-volunteer)
   Currently around 70-100 hospital volunteer hours. Hoping to have 100 more by the spring.
7. Research experience and productivity
   Did an undergrad research project for 2-3 semesters.
8. Shadowing experience and specialties represented
   Limited shadowing experience currently; shadowed a cardiologist and neurologist; will be getting more shadowing experience before I apply
9. Non-clinical volunteering
   Limited (10-50 hours)
10. Other extracurricular activities (including athletics, military service, gap year activities, leadership, teaching, etc)
    1. After graduation I taught english at a high school in a foreign country for a year.
    2. Was president of my university's pre-med club during undergrad.
    3. Tutored in undergrad and gave 2 years of tutoring experience postgrad
    4. Been working full-time in a different industry for the past few years
11. Relevant honors or awards
    Was a member of my university's National Senior Honor Society
12. Anything else not listed you think might be important
    I am a older first-generation nontraditional older student with a disadvantaged background. I had a downward gpa trend in undergrad following a death in my family. I want to go into primary-care and am very passionate about preventative care.

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[purplepuppy391]

@Goro Could I get your advice? Ty in advance!

 

[Goro]

What are your year by year gpas?

Contact your undergraduate schools registrar, and see if you could retroactively withdraw from any courses where you got bad grades, like Fs and D's

 

[Goro]

And in the meantime, you need to book up your volunteering. Especially service to others less fortunate than yourself, off campus and out of your comfort zone

 

[purplepuppy391]

What are your year by year gpas?

Contact your undergraduate schools registrar, and see if you could retroactively withdraw from any courses where you got bad grades, like Fs and D's

Hi Goro! Thank you for replying!

I did not get any F's or D's. My lowest grade is a C and there are 7 of them. I have one W.
GPAS:
Freshman: 3.00*
Sophomore: 3.88
Junior: 3.28
Senior: 2.83

*Got B's and C's my first semester due to adjustment coming from a rural high school, had a LOA second semester due to a change in my parent’s finances and being unable to pay for my tuition anymore and had to transfer to my in-state school)

The death in my family happened right at the end of spring semester my sophomore year, which is when the downward gpa trend begins.

If it matters here are my grades for the prereqs:
Bio: A,A
Gen Chem: A,B
Org Chem: B,B
Phys: B,A-
Calc 1/2: A,A-

 

[purplepuppy391]

And in the meantime, you need to book up your volunteering. Especially service to others less fortunate than yourself, off campus and out of your comfort zone

Yes! I just moved to a new city a couple weeks ago, so I have been looking for opportunities. I am looking at volunteering as a mentor/tutor for underprivileged girls and at a community clinic or planned parenthood. I have been looking into paid clinical positions as well.

 

[purplepuppy391]

@Goro Not sure if you saw my replies, but do you have any suggestions for schools to apply to if I increase my volunteering/clinical hours and do well in my postbacc courses?

I was going to ask about my MCAT score, but I saw that you told other ppl with 513's not to retake. I was looking on MSAR and 126 in C/P seems to be on the lower end for several schools I was looking at, so that's why I was considering retaking. I know CA tends to be competitive esp for Asians (not sure with being bi-racial where I would fall in but assuming Asian), so I didn't know if trying to increase my score is recommended or not.

 

[purplepuppy391]

@gyngyn @Faha @LizzyM @chilly_md If you all have any school suggestions, or suggestions regarding improving my application I would greatly appreciate it! Please and thank you in advance! 🙏

 

[Goro]

@gyngyn @Faha @LizzyM @chilly_md If you all have any school suggestions, or suggestions regarding improving my application I would greatly appreciate it! Please and thank you in advance! 🙏

As of right now I can't give you School suggestions other than apply to a lot of DO schools. You need to really get a stretch of very good grades to show that you have reinvented yourself. The downward GPA trend is really going to hurt until you do something about it

 

[purplepuppy391]

As of right now I can't give you School suggestions other than apply to a lot of DO schools. You need to really get a stretch of very good grades to show that you have reinvented yourself. The downward GPA trend is really going to hurt until you do something about it

Okay, understandable! Is 3 quarters of coursework long enough? I'm currently enrolled and was hoping to apply Spring/Summer 2023.

 

[Faha]

@gyngyn @Faha @LizzyM @chilly_md If you all have any school suggestions, or suggestions regarding improving my application I would greatly appreciate it! Please and thank you in advance! 🙏

You need 50 hours of in person physician shadowing and 200+ hours of non clinical volunteering before you apply next June.
I suggest these DO schools with your stats:
WESTERN
TUCOM-CA
TUNCOM
AZCOM
ATSU-KCOM
KCU-COM
DMU-COM
CCOM
MU-COM
PCOM (all schools)
LECOM (all schools)
Touro-NY
NYITCOM
ACOM
NOVA
UIWSOM

 

[purplepuppy391]

You need 50 hours of in person physician shadowing and 200+ hours of non clinical volunteering before you apply next June.
I suggest these DO schools with your stats:
WESTERN
TUCOM-CA
TUNCOM
AZCOM
ATSU-KCOM
KCU-COM
DMU-COM
CCOM
MU-COM
PCOM (all schools)
LECOM (all schools)
Touro-NY
NYITCOM
ACOM
NOVA
UIWSOM

Thank you! Do you think I can apply to any MDs if I can get a 3.7+ on my post-bacc courses over the next 3 quarters?

 

[Faha]

Thank you! Do you think I can apply to any MDs if I can get a 3.7+ on my post-bacc courses over the next 3 quarters?

Yes, let us know what your final GPA is next year.

 

[Goro]

Thank you! Do you think I can apply to any MDs if I can get a 3.7+ on my post-bacc courses over the next 3 quarters?

I don't understand the quarter system, never have. How does that relate to semester hours? 30 semester hours of good grades is what I routinely want to see

 

[purplepuppy391]

I don't understand the quarter system, never have. How does that relate to semester hours? 30 semester hours of good grades is what I routinely want to see

Tbh I am coming from the semester system so I don't either haha but CA seems to be on quarter system. I will see how that translates to 30 semester hours. Thank you!

 

[purplepuppy391]

Yes, let us know what your final GPA is next year.

Okay! Thank you so much!

 

[chilly_md]

@gyngyn @Faha @LizzyM @chilly_md If you all have any school suggestions, or suggestions regarding improving my application I would greatly appreciate it! Please and thank you in advance! 🙏

With many things still in flux, I can’t make any school suggestions right now. Agree with Goro that you would need to apply DO heavy and Faha’s list has many of the schools I usually recommend. CCOM, AZCOM and PCOM’s main campus might not consider you even after a year of post-bacc classes. You will need many more hours of clinical experience, non-clinical volunteering to the underserved and around 50+ hours of shadowing.

Keep in mind reinventers often have several hundred hours.