Is it ok to reappy to DO schools with my same stats?

[substatus]

So I applied super late for the 2019-2020 cycle (complete mid December) to 24 DO schools and recieved 2 II with 1 rejection and 1 waitlist (still waiting). My stats are 3.3 cgpa and 3.1 sgpa, one 5 credit class (was combined with lab) I failed freshman year brought it down from 3.4 cgpa and 3.3sgpa :/ but I retook it and scored a 4.0. These 10 credits averaged to 2.0 and really took a toll on the GPA but I had a good upward trend (3.6-3.9 last few semesters). I scored a 500 on my MCAT (sep 2019). I'm a nontraditional student (23 y/o female) who is a child of immigrants and the first to go to college in my family. I graduated with a BS in psychology and took a decent amount of upper level science courses which I scored great in (3.5> in A+P, microbiology, immunology).

My experiences include:

200+ hours clinical research in emergency medicine
hospital volunteer for 1 semester (~50 hours)
1 week study abroad/preclinical observation
DO shadowing for 3 months/120 hours
1.5 years in a undergraduate research lab with poster presentation as first author
TA for 1 semester in clinical immunology
E-board member for fitness club at my university (2 years)
Founder of a UN equality club
Co-founder of a non-profit aimed at providing resources to women in a disadvantaged country (since Nov 2018)
sales associate for 2 years
volunteered at my church for some years

I have 5 pretty good letters of rec from people who know me well:
my PI, science prof I TA'd for, psych prof, DO letter, and mentor (big position at my schools institute of global health)

I asked for feedback at the school I was rejected from and they said that I wasn't able to articulate my reason for medicine/DO well enough and I need to hone in on my interview skills. They also said "The committee on admissions would like to see additional clinical hands on experience showing your potential to be a future physician, and continued volunteerisms/community enrichment to show your humanism" which I feel like I've done by getting more clinical hours and continuing with my non-profit. They also said that although I have the competitive GPA needed, I could take also take more upper level courses to boost it.

During my gap year, I started working as an MA full-time around September, so I didn't have too much under my belt by the time I sent in apps but now have 1500+ hours. I also began working as an online english tutor since this past February. I would really like to send in my application ASAP but don't know how beneficial it would be take more classes/masters since I'd have to wait to get the grades and it would prolong my application until I signed up for them. I'm more sure of my reason for medicine now and If I work on my interview skills, do you think its okay to reapply right now with what I have, since I was already able to receive some II's so late?


Any insight is greatly appreciated!

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[Sky138]

Do you have a good answer for why medicine/why DO?

 

[substatus]

Do you have a good answer for why medicine/why DO?

I definitely do now! My PS was well written, but definitely a little confusing and the interviewer questioned a part about it that was difficult to answer. It was more about how I thought I wanted to go into sports medicine but had a negative experience that changed the way I thought about the field which opened other avenues. Now, I know I want to go into women's health and have a good angle for that. I've also always been a holistic person when it comes to things (I take the importance of mentality/state of being and nutrition/exercise very seriously) and DO fits everything I believe in.

 

[Faha]

You can reapply this month but you should apply broadly. I suggest all these schools:
ACOM
ARCOM
NYIT-AR
UIWSOM
UP-KYCOM
WVSOM
WCU-COM
MU-COM
PCOM Georgia and South Georgia
LECOM (all schools)
LMU-DCOM
BCOM
ICOM
CHSU-COM
LUCOM
Where were your interviews in this past cycle ? You should take additional undergraduate level science courses at a local college in the coming year to raise your sGPA in case you need to reapply next year.

 

[Sky138]

I definitely do now! My PS was well written, but definitely a little confusing and the interviewer questioned a part about it that was difficult to answer. It was more about how I thought I wanted to go into sports medicine but had a negative experience that changed the way I thought about the field which opened other avenues. Now, I know I want to go into women's health and have a good angle for that. I've also always been a holistic person when it comes to things (I take the importance of mentality/state of being and nutrition/exercise very seriously) and DO fits everything I believe in.

Well then there’s your answer. Good luck!

 

[substatus]

You can reapply this month but you should apply broadly. I suggest all these schools:
ACOM
ARCOM
NYIT-AR
UIWSOM
UP-KYCOM
WVSOM
WCU-COM
MU-COM
PCOM Georgia and South Georgia
LECOM (all schools)
LMU-DCOM
BCOM
ICOM
CHSU-COM
LUCOM
Where were your interviews in this past cycle ? You should take additional undergraduate level science courses at a local college in the coming year to raise your sGPA in case you need to reapply next year.

My interviews were at UNECOM and LECOM. I was waitlisted for an interview at LMU-DCOM and ACOM. So after reapplying, if I sign up and complete those courses by January, would I be able to send the grades in for an academic update even though I didn't list them on the application?

 

[Faha]

My interviews were at UNECOM and LECOM. I was waitlisted for an interview at LMU-DCOM and ACOM. So after reapplying, if I sign up and complete those courses by January, would I be able to send the grades in for an academic update even though I didn't list them on the application?

You can send an update with your grades in January.

 

[substatus]

You can send an update with your grades in January.

Right, but is that possible without having had them on the application?

 

[Faha]

Right, but is that possible without having had them on the application?

Yes, you just send an update to the schools and send the transcripts to the schools. You can check with AACOMAS to see if it can be done through them. If not then do it on your own.

 

[substatus]

Yes, you just send an update to the schools and send the transcripts to the schools. You can check with AACOMAS to see if it can be done through them. If not then do it on your own.

Thank you for your insight!! I really appreciate it

 

[DOgdad23]

I’m clearly not an adcom, so am adcom can correct me if I’m wrong, but as far as your personal statement goes I wouldn’t write about any specific field as the reason you want to go to medical school. Medical school trains you to be a physician; ObGyn residency trains you to be an ObGyn. You could work in women’s health as a nurse, a medical assistant, a nurse practitioner, PA, etc. Write about why you want to be a physician and how your experiences have impacted that. The reality is, most people don’t know what they want to do or change their mind in third year. The experience you had with women’s health is important and maybe even pivotal in your decision to become a physician, but there’s a lot of specialties that you may love that you haven’t even encountered yet. Always keep an open mind and really dig deep as to why you want to be a physician over anything else. Good luck this cycle!

 

[substatus]

I’m clearly not an adcom, so am adcom can correct me if I’m wrong, but as far as your personal statement goes I wouldn’t write about any specific field as the reason you want to go to medical school. Medical school trains you to be a physician; ObGyn residency trains you to be an ObGyn. You could work in women’s health as a nurse, a medical assistant, a nurse practitioner, PA, etc. Write about why you want to be a physician and how your experiences have impacted that. The reality is, most people don’t know what they want to do or change their mind in third year. The experience you had with women’s health is important and maybe even pivotal in your decision to become a physician, but there’s a lot of specialties that you may love that you haven’t even encountered yet. Always keep an open mind and really dig deep as to why you want to be a physician over anything else. Good luck this cycle!

Thank you! And you’re right, I’ll aim to focus more on the reason why but use my experiences with women/anecdotes as an outlet to express my passion for wanting to help treat people generally rather than talk about the field specifically. Would you be open to reading an excerpt once I get a better idea written?

 

[DOgdad23]

Thank you! And you’re right, I’ll aim to focus more on the reason why but use my experiences with women/anecdotes as an outlet to express my passion for wanting to help treat people generally rather than talk about the field specifically. Would you be open to reading an excerpt once I get a better idea written?

I have a couple weeks left of break, so if you have it written in that time frame I’d be more than happy to look over it and offer some suggestions in a timely manner. After that, I’ll be busy with the semester so it could take me longer to reply.