WAMC/School List: 3.6 GPA/506 MCAT/URM

[Cute_Potatoe222]

This cycle (2024-2025) will be my first cycle.
Overall GPA: 3.6, Science GPA: 3.42, 506 (upward trend with a slight dip in my senior year)
State: Maryland
URM (African American) & low income
Clinical Experience: 200 hospice volunteering, 400 PCT at nursing home
Shadowing: 40 oncology, primary care
Volunteer: 1,000 underserved populations (refugees and women)
Leadership: 700 social justice and health equity clubs on campus-president and VP
Research: 480 ( 3 posters) all related to health disparities (medical anthropology stuff)
Awards: departmental honors, undergrad researcher of year, 2 volunteer awards

Should I apply DO?

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[Mr.Smile12]

Welcome to the forums.

Experience details are essential for us to gauge your chances. Tell us more about the hours of experience.

 

[MD_Maker]

Hm, your application appears at least to have a strong focus what with being personally low income, research on health disparities, and volunteering with underserved. As long as you have a strong narrative and a well written application, you may fair well with MD. That being said, I would recommend applying to a handful of DO schools just in case. Maybe 20-25 MD and 5-10 DO.

 

[Cute_Potatoe222]

Welcome to the forums.

Experience details are essential for us to gauge your chances. Tell us more about the hours of experience.

I was trying to be vague because they doxx students now

My clinical hours are being a PCT at a nursing home, I volunteer at a women's domestic violence shelter and a non profit helping refugee women, my leadership roles are about inclusion for minority and low income students, and my research is health disparities, and my awards are for helping refugees in my community. I do not have an MD or DO letter of recommendation if that helps.

 

[Cute_Potatoe222]

Hm, your application appears at least to have a strong focus what with being personally low income, research on health disparities, and volunteering with underserved. As long as you have a strong narrative and a well written application, you may fair well with MD. That being said, I would recommend applying to a handful of DO schools just in case. Maybe 20-25 MD and 5-10 DO.

Can I have help with a list of out of state friendly schools? My stats are not the best, so I'm not sure where I will have a solid chance with holistic review

 

[Mr.Smile12]

I was trying to be vague because they doxx students now

I don't know who "they" are, but I understand. There are ways to discuss without self identifying. Specific duties are pro forma and are generally not self-identifying. (I read to residents didn't reveal anything.)

Understand the concept of GIGO... the quality of advice you get depends on the info you give.

My clinical hours are being a PCT at a nursing home, I volunteer at a women's domestic violence shelter and a non profit helping refugee women, my leadership roles are about inclusion for minority and low income students, and my research is health disparities, and my awards are for helping refugees in my community. I do not have an MD or DO letter of recommendation if that helps.

All HBCU program sounds be in play, and I suspect service-oriented schools would be interested if they have metrics that are within reach.

You asked about holistic review processes, and we have some programs that would likely match if you have us more informative about what you are willing to share about yourself. In that case, I understand not wanting to docx.

 

[Cute_Potatoe222]

I don't know who "they" are, but I understand. There are ways to discuss without self identifying. Specific duties are pro forma and are generally not self-identifying. (I read to residents didn't reveal anything.)

Understand the concept of GIGO... the quality of advice you get depends on the info you give.


All HBCU program sounds be in play, and I suspect service-oriented schools would be interested if they have metrics that are within reach.

You asked about holistic review processes, and we have some programs that would likely match if you have us more informative about what you are willing to share about yourself. In that case, I understand not wanting to docx.

Im not sure what other information to add. But my activities are really centered around helping refugees and advocacy for minority/low income students. I have a strong LORs supporting my volunteer work and passion for helping underserved communities and I have received a state and university award for this. My research poster was about advocating for more minorities in research studies (for a certain disease) placed #1 at a conference and my other 2 posters are related to health disparities. I was heavily involved on campus and did tons of DEI initiatives. I am PCT at a low income nursing home, so I have tons to write about.

I hope this helps!

 

[MD_Maker]

Can I have help with a list of out of state friendly schools? My stats are not the best, so I'm not sure where I will have a solid chance with holistic review

Hm, you could start with MSAR and narrow to the 10th percentile for your MCAT score then check their interview % and matriculation % for OOS and sort by descending order. Also look at total # of applicants, then consider removing the "popular" schools that get quoted on every school list on sdn/reddit. With a focused app, I actual wouldn't worry too much about your stats. You may be the type of applicant that schools are willing to take a chance on. I would consider Charles Drew, a few Texas UTs, Kentucky, EVMS, Drexel (I'm actually not a fan of this school but an acceptance is an acceptance), etc. You can DM me for more

 

[Faha]

You do not need to apply to DO schools. I suggest these MD schools with your stats:
Maryland
West Virginia
Howard
Meharry
Morehouse
Charles Drew
Georgetown
George Washington
Drexel
Temple
Jefferson
Pittsburgh
Hackensack
New York Medical College
Einstein
Albany
Vermont
Quinnipiac
Virginia Commonwealth
Eastern Virginia
Wake Forest
NOVA MD
Miami
Belmont
Tulane
TCU
Creighton
St. Louis
Rosalind Franklin
Loyola
Rush
Indiana
Medical College Wisconsin
Oakland Beaumont
Wayne State

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Im not sure what other information to add. But my activities are really centered around helping refugees and advocacy for minority/low income students. I have a strong LORs supporting my volunteer work and passion for helping underserved communities and I have received a state and university award for this. My research poster was about advocating for more minorities in research studies (for a certain disease) placed #1 at a conference and my other 2 posters are related to health disparities. I was heavily involved on campus and did tons of DEI initiatives. I am PCT at a low income nursing home, so I have tons to write about.

I hope this helps!

Check your lists against some of these lists that offer opportunities to work with refugee health care clinics.

Student Asylum Clinics - PHR

The PHR Asylum Program collaborates with student-run human rights clinics to provide forensic evaluations for asylum seekers. The clinics are made possible by small groups of enthusiastic students and a growing group of Asylum Network members who are committed to training the next generation of...

phr.org

Have you connected with any mentoring groups for aspiring Black/African-American physicians, such as SNMA?

 

[Cute_Potatoe222]

I decided that I'm not ready to apply for 2024-2025 and will take 1 full gap year (technically 2 because of the application cycle). Before I graduate I am collecting all of LOR (1 non science, 1 PI, 1 volunteering, 3 science) and during my gap year I aim to build up my clinical experience and hopefully get a good clinical LOR. I am wondering if I should consider a postbacc because my grades are a bit all over the place. Here is my grade trend and I will also be retaking my MCAT

Freshman Year: overall 3.32 /science: 2.85
Sophmore Year: overall 3.68 /science: 3.77
Junior year: overall 3.8 /science: 3.78
senior year overall 3.55/ science: 3.3 (with one W in a prereq)


My senior year was clearly very bad and with registration opening for the summer I'm wondering if I should enroll or just leave my gpa as is?

 

[wysdoc]

I don't think you need to do a postbac.
If you don't feel personally ready to apply right now, take the year to feel more prepared and add to your experiences. Only take your MCAT again if you are scoring substantially higher on practice tests.

I'm going to merge this question with your previous WAMC thread to keep the details & replies in one place

 

[Cute_Potatoe222]

I don't think you need to do a postbac.
If you don't feel personally ready to apply right now, take the year to feel more prepared and add to your experiences. Only take your MCAT again if you are scoring substantially higher on practice tests.

I'm going to merge this question with your previous WAMC thread to keep the details & replies in one place

I studied while being a full time student, so I want to apply with a score that I know I gave my full attention to. I have tons of EC (more than whats allowed to be listed), but I think a full time clinical job will make me more confident in my app.