What else do I need to work on?

[Lemon Lover]

Hi all,

Was planning to apply to DO and MD programs this year but a poor MCAT and unpreparedness ultimately led me to not wasting the money. My question is, what do I need to do to bolster my application?

Stats:
sGPA: 3.40
cGPA: 3.43
GPA Trend: Huge upward trend (almost all A’s) last 7 quarters of college. Biochem, P-Chem, and Cell and Molecular Bio included here.
MCAT: 496, planning a retake in April. I was not ready and should not have taken it. Now I am able to spend my mornings studying and have taken the courses needed to understand the BC and Cell Biology better.
Clinical Experience: 300 hours in the ER, Hospital, and COVID vaccine clinic. 30 hours shadowing a DO Cardiologist and MD Anesthesiologist. Have about 4 months as a patient transporter and will continue this job until Med School.
Non-Clinical Experiences: Volunteered for about 20 hours at a food bank. This is where I feel I am lacking. Trying to get about 50 to 80 additional hours at the food bank. Feels like I’m checking a box, but if I don’t am I at a huge disadvantage? A couple years of club water polo and rugby in college. Worked all four years. No research due to wanting to make money through work.
Residence: WA
Schools: I have a few picks that I would be thrilled to go to, but it seems that these days beggars can’t be choosers.
- WSU
- Midwestern
- ATSU
- Rocky Vista
- University of New England
These are just some schools that from some quick research I think I would enjoy. I have others I hope to apply to but these are my top picks.

I understand a lot rides on me getting a good MCAT. I think with school done and being able to spend my mornings studying plus taking and finishing the more important MCAT classes, I should be able to get a better score. I also understand some areas are weak. I was hoping that some light could be shed on ways to either fix it, or if it’s even important for me to seek out opportunities like more shadowing or non-clinical volunteering.

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[cincincyreds]

Hi all,

Was planning to apply to DO and MD programs this year but a poor MCAT and unpreparedness ultimately led me to not wasting the money. My question is, what do I need to do to bolster my application?

Stats:
sGPA: 3.40
cGPA: 3.43
GPA Trend: Huge upward trend (almost all A’s) last 7 quarters of college. Biochem, P-Chem, and Cell and Molecular Bio included here.
MCAT: 496, planning a retake in April. I was not ready and should not have taken it. Now I am able to spend my mornings studying and have taken the courses needed to understand the BC and Cell Biology better.
Clinical Experience: 300 hours in the ER, Hospital, and COVID vaccine clinic. 30 hours shadowing a DO Cardiologist and MD Anesthesiologist. Have about 4 months as a patient transporter and will continue this job until Med School.
Non-Clinical Experiences: Volunteered for about 20 hours at a food bank. This is where I feel I am lacking. Trying to get about 50 to 80 additional hours at the food bank. Feels like I’m checking a box, but if I don’t am I at a huge disadvantage? A couple years of club water polo and rugby in college. Worked all four years. No research due to wanting to make money through work.
Residence: WA
Schools: I have a few picks that I would be thrilled to go to, but it seems that these days beggars can’t be choosers.
- WSU
- Midwestern
- ATSU
- Rocky Vista
- University of New England
These are just some schools that from some quick research I think I would enjoy. I have others I hope to apply to but these are my top picks.

I understand a lot rides on me getting a good MCAT. I think with school done and being able to spend my mornings studying plus taking and finishing the more important MCAT classes, I should be able to get a better score. I also understand some areas are weak. I was hoping that some light could be shed on ways to either fix it, or if it’s even important for me to seek out opportunities like more shadowing or non-clinical volunteering.

Unfortunately for US MD schools, the first thing they look at is MCAT and GPA. The average MCAT is usually between 510-512 and the Average GPAs are now about 3.7-3.8. Looking over your application you will need to greatly improve your MCAT score. As far as your GPA you will need to do a SMP program to raise that up. Unless you have these scores there really isn't a clinical or non-clinical experience that can compensate for low MCAT and GPA scores.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

I applaud you if you stopped yourself from throwing away money. You pinpoint the obvious areas of deficiency:
1) retake the MCAT and aim high; you're okay now for Pod, but 504-510 would be safe for DO, 510+ for lowest tier MD
2) boost your community service non-clinical experiences so that you don't feel like it's a chore (150+ hours suggested)
3) consider that sGPA: I don't know if DIY/undergrad postbac coursework will help you raise that sGPA above the 3.50 threshold, but you allude to an upward GPA trend
4) clinical experiences: can you describe the patient-facing activities you did?

 

[21Rush12]

You have the answer sorted out.

Your MCAT is not compatible with a successful application. You need to fix that as your first, second, and third priorities.

I recommend you prep thoroughly and DO NOT repeat the mistake of taking it when you’re not ready. Supplement the studying with some volunteer work, clinical or non-clinical, and a little shadowing here or there to show continued interest.

If you come back to the table with a 508+ you’ll have no trouble getting into DO school provided you write your application well, and if you can break 512ish I suspect you could get a low tier MD spot, again provided your application is well-written to explain the red flag.

 

[Dral]

Just work on that MCAT and get more hours in some non-clinical volunteering experiences and you should be in an ok spot.

Any research experiences or opportunities to do so?

 

[TragicalDrFaust]

Saying this as a non trad who worked through school, having to work will not excuse you from having the basic research and volunteering requirements. It will likely excuse you from having a passion project, ie an EC category where you’ve invested many hundreds of hours and had significant accomplishments (first authorships, high responsibility volunteering roles). But you still want to be hitting 150+ hours in your basic categories of clinical work, volunteering, research, leadership etc. Also recommend a few days worth of primary care shadowing since a slight majority of DOs go into primary care.

As others have said, MCAT is the priority. Look into the AAMC prep materials and UWorld question bank to start. As far as free and cheap resources, many university libraries have MCAT prep books and you can get an older edition of examkrackers or Kaplan for content review on eBay or chegg for a fraction of the price of new.

 

[Lemon Lover]

I applaud you if you stopped yourself from throwing away money. You pinpoint the obvious areas of deficiency:
1) retake the MCAT and aim high; you're okay now for Pod, but 504-510 would be safe for DO, 510+ for lowest tier MD
2) boost your community service non-clinical experiences so that you don't feel like it's a chore (150+ hours suggested)
3) consider that sGPA: I don't know if DIY/undergrad postbac coursework will help you raise that sGPA above the 3.50 threshold, but you allude to an upward GPA trend
4) clinical experiences: can you describe the patient-facing activities you did?

Thank you for your response and sorry for my delayed response… for some reason I never received a notification for the responses on this thread. I move on.

1. Already feeling a lot better about this exam and my study habits. I think a realistic target score is 507-510 but of course that doesn’t mean anything until the AAMC submits my score to their portal.
2. I have been volunteering at the food bank in town. Have added some hours to my current amount. I am hoping I continue it past my application submission and am able to state future hours volunteered. With that 150 should be no problem.
3. I have no desire to go back to undergrad. I understand it could benefit me slightly but the cost is not worth it in my opinion. Looking at the DO data a sGPA of 3.40 is within a standard deviation of what gets matriculated. DO is where I see myself going. Is this incorrect thinking? To address the GPA trend, my freshman year was poor, I believe under 3.0. 2nd year I had a 3.22, 3rd year a 3.48, and my final year a 3.96. My final year is where my biology, BC, and physical chemistry were taken. Among those three years I have a total GPA of 3.55.
4. My clinical experience will be just under a year by the time of application. I am responsible for taking patients to and from an imaging appointment within the hospital. I do have a hands on role with getting patients into beds, wheelchairs, etc. I am working with techs, nurses, and occasionally doctors.