URM asian

[Dreamcatcher12]

(Stats are based on AMCAS calculation)
BCPM: 2.58
AO: 3.28
Total: 2.88
MCAT: September
Non-trad, Asian, 28 years old, immigrant, no research. Plenty of clinical experiences, shadowing, and underserved related volunteering(low-income clinic, soup kitchen, ..).

->My father passed away during my junior year, I was working full time as a factory worker so I had to pick up another job to help support the family (mom with disability and 2 younger brothers). ---->As the result, my grades have been dropping since then.
->I have 18 credit hours left to graduate but was denied financial aid due to excessive hours.
->took 2 years of school off to work on a new job that increased my household income substantially. Planning to come back Spring 2018 to finish my degree.
->I'd done many odd jobs including door to door sales, running food stand at festivals, etc to keep the family staying afloat. I had my fair shares dealing with low-income population, having come from one myself, and managed to bring my income from 25k to close to 6 figures this year. I can continue my career but my calling is in medicine.

Questions:
-Should I take the September MCAT and apply to DO schools even though I'm fairly late in the cycle?
-Should I include my circumstances in the personal statement? Does adcoms care about your life achievement or just strictly academically?

Thanks everyone

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[rufflev]

(Stats are based on AMCAS calculation)
BCPM: 2.58
AO: 3.28
Total: 2.88
MCAT: September
Non-trad, Asian, 28 years old, immigrant, no research. Plenty of clinical experiences, shadowing, and underserved related volunteering(low-income clinic, soup kitchen, ..).

->My father passed away during my junior year, I was working full time as a factory worker so I had to pick up another job to help support the family (mom with disability and 2 younger brothers). ---->As the result, my grades have been dropping since then.
->I have 18 credit hours left to graduate but was denied financial aid due to excessive hours.
->took 2 years of school off to work on a new job that increased my household income substantially. Planning to come back Spring 2018 to finish my degree.
->I'd done many odd jobs including door to door sales, running food stand at festivals, etc to keep the family staying afloat. I had my fair shares dealing with low-income population, having come from one myself, and managed to bring my income from 25k to close to 6 figures this year. I can continue my career but my calling is in medicine.

Questions:
-Should I take the September MCAT and apply to DO schools even though I'm fairly late in the cycle?
-Should I include my circumstances in the personal statement? Does adcoms care about your life achievement or just strictly academically?

Thanks everyone

I would recommend postponing the MCAT and apply the next year. Keep in mind that your cGPA is below 3.0, so you'll get screened out from a fair amount of DO schools. Only take the MCAT if you've been studying and are scoring around your target score.

The question you need to answer in your personal statement is "Why medicine?" Most of the time people decide to answer this question with a life story, incorporating experiences that overall cultivated your desire to pursue medicine.

EDIT - Your title states that you are URM, but I'd like to mention that Asians are not considered to be URM.

 

[LizLemongrab]

I would recommend postponing the MCAT and apply the next year. Keep in mind that your cGPA is below 3.0, so you'll get screened out from a fair amount of DO schools. Only take the MCAT if you've been studying and are scoring around your target score.

The question you need to answer in your personal statement is "Why medicine?" Most of the time people decide to answer this question with a life story, incorporating experiences that overall cultivated your desire to pursue medicine.

EDIT - Your title states that you are URM, but I'd like to not that Asians are not considered to be URM.

To my awareness, Southeast Asians and Pacific Islanders are generally considered URM due to overall low educational attainment in their populations and poverty line statistics. Schools also consider SES which is why they ask about our parents. You should be able to write a disadvantaged student essay that is separate from the personal statement that would better contextualize your stats. However, you would still need to bust out an eye-catching MCAT score to get your foot in the door because of the GPA. The personal statement answers "why should you pick me." The disadvantaged essay says "and this is how I got here."

 

[IslandStyle808]

To my awareness, Southeast Asians and Pacific Islanders are generally considered URM due to overall low educational attainment in their populations and poverty line statistics. Schools also consider SES which is why they ask about our parents. You should be able to write a disadvantaged student essay that is separate from the personal statement that would better contextualize your stats. However, you would still need to bust out an eye-catching MCAT score to get your foot in the door because of the GPA. The personal statement answers "why should you pick me." The disadvantaged essay says "and this is how I got here."

Southeast Asians are not considered ethnic minorities by AAMC guidelines. However, Pacific Islanders are considered minorities by those same guidelines. This is not about educational attainment as to why these guidelines are created, its based on how many of a certain ethnicity are serving the US population as physicians. If they are underrepresented as physicians, then they are considered URM.

 

[Fete]

(Stats are based on AMCAS calculation)
BCPM: 2.58
AO: 3.28
Total: 2.88
MCAT: September
Non-trad, Asian, 28 years old, immigrant, no research. Plenty of clinical experiences, shadowing, and underserved related volunteering(low-income clinic, soup kitchen, ..).

->My father passed away during my junior year, I was working full time as a factory worker so I had to pick up another job to help support the family (mom with disability and 2 younger brothers). ---->As the result, my grades have been dropping since then.
->I have 18 credit hours left to graduate but was denied financial aid due to excessive hours.
->took 2 years of school off to work on a new job that increased my household income substantially. Planning to come back Spring 2018 to finish my degree.
->I'd done many odd jobs including door to door sales, running food stand at festivals, etc to keep the family staying afloat. I had my fair shares dealing with low-income population, having come from one myself, and managed to bring my income from 25k to close to 6 figures this year. I can continue my career but my calling is in medicine.

Questions:
-Should I take the September MCAT and apply to DO schools even though I'm fairly late in the cycle?
-Should I include my circumstances in the personal statement? Does adcoms care about your life achievement or just strictly academically?

Thanks everyone

It seems like you've been through a lot but still persevered. If I was an adcom I would give you an interview, but I'm not. Keep pushing, you will make it to the finish line before you know it, and never give up.