WAMC for Non-Traditional Reapplicant (MCAT 512, low GPA) (2024)

Stats:

1. GPA
   • cGPA: 2.91 (postbacc 3.71)
   • sGPA: 2.80 (postbacc 3.81)
2. MCAT - 512 (128/127/127/130)
3. US citizen residing in CA
4. Asian female, first generation college student
5. Undergraduate - Cornell University, BA in Biological Sciences
6. Clinical experience (volunteer and non-volunteer)
   • Volunteer
     • Children hospital - 200 hours (2022-24)
   • Paid
     • Lead Medical Assistant at pain management clinic - 1635 hours (2022-24)
7. Research experience and productivity
   • Clinical Research Associate - 424 hours (2022-24)
     • (new) 3 poster presentations at 2024 Annual American Academy of Pain Medicine Meeting
8. Shadowing - 5 hours in Pediatric Critical Care Medicine, 8 hours in Pathology, 15 hours in PM&R, (new) 8 hours in Anesthesiology/Orthopedic Surgery
9. Non-clinical volunteering
   • Crisis Text Line - 70 hours (on/off from 2021-22, 22-23)
   • Soup Kitchen - 154 hours (2015-16)
   • Animal Rescue Volunteer - 64 hours (2014, 15)
   • Heritage Tour Guide - 32 hours (2014)
10. Other extracurricular activities (including athletics, military service, gap year activities, leadership, teaching, etc)
    • Accounting Assistant (2020-21)
    • Tutoring (2018-19, 20-21)
    • Veterinary Assistant (2019-2020)
    • Product Development Intern (2017-19)
    • Public Relations Chair for mentoring club (2014-16)
    • Restaurant Manager (2014-16)
11. No honors or awards
12. Anything else not listed you think might be important
    • (new) Certified Phlebotomy Technician I License

Went into Cornell pre-med but only because my parents wanted me to. Switched majors a lot during college and worked 20+ hrs/wk. Did not take care of my GPA during this time. After graduating, my parents still enforced med school onto me so I retook some prereqs at local cc. Could not handle the pressure so found a new job and moved out. Left in middle of semester otherwise my post bacc gpa would be 4.0.

Fastforward, I realized I actually loved medicine. Did makeshift postbacc at cc's and got all A's. Also took several upper level science courses at UCLA extension (online).

I applied 2023-24 cycle. Got 2 interviews. Currently waitlisted at Toledo. Rejected from Rush.

Did not apply DO because I did not know much about the profession. I was also working multiple jobs, studying for/taking MCAT, taking classes, and applied to 20+ MD schools so my plate was kinda full. Totally open to applying DO now.

Not really sure where to go from here.. Considering just straight applying to DO schools rn (not sure if too late).. I feel like my main weakness is my GPA so currently considering a Masters in Biomedical Sciences (please lmk if you have better suggestions!). But could also be lack of research?

Thank you!

What is included in your calculated postbac GPA? Is it just your local CC prereqs? Specifically how many credit hours are included between your UCLA extension courses and the CC coursework?

What feedback have you gotten from Rush, since you got a rejection from them?

Mr.Smile12 said:

What is included in your calculated postbac GPA? Is it just your local CC prereqs? Specifically how many credit hours are included between your UCLA extension courses and the CC coursework?

What feedback have you gotten from Rush, since you got a rejection from them?

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Thank you for replying!

Graduated in 2017 btw. I have 60.8 postbacc credits. Took 4 upper level courses at UCLA extension that equal to 10.1 semester hours.

When I got my rejection, the email said not to contact them for feedback so I didn't want to bother them.. Most schools actually said this but not sure if I can still contact them?

Faha said:

You could receive interviews at DO schools and I suggest these:
WESTERN
TUCOM-CA
TUNCOM
AZCOM
ATSU (both schools)
KCU-COM
Noorda-COM
BCOM (both schools)
UIWSOM
WCU-COM
ACOM
PCOM (all schools)
NOVA
ARCOM
LMU-DCOM (all schools)
LECOM (all schools)
WVSOM
UP-KYCOM
MU-COM
DMU-COM
NYITCOM (all schools)
Touro-NY
DUQCOM
CCOM
KHSC-COM
Touro-Montana
ICOM
I suggest these MD schools:
California University
TCU
Tulane
Creighton
Rosalind Franklin
Medical College Wisconsin
Oakland Beaumont
Wayne State
Wake Forest
Eastern Virginia
Georgetown
George Washington
Drexel
Temple
Penn State
Albany
Vermont
Quinnipiac
Belmont
Alice Walton (when it opens)
Roseman (when it opens)

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Thank you!

Mr.Smile12 said:

What is tough is that you have a lot of activities from your first foray into undergrad. What have you done more recently, at least since the COVID pandemic has mostly come under control in the US (2022 onward)? You may want to maintain some community service activities like your food bank work on weekends, just to restart it and keep adding to what you started about 10 years back. Crisis text line is understandable during the pandemic, but if you find an opportunity to leverage your skills as a shelter volunteer or similar, then you can show your value in working with others face-to-face.

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Since 2022, I volunteered at children’s hospital, was a lead medical assistant at a pain management clinic, and worked as scribe at ED (forgot to write that up there). I stopped recently cuz they weren’t paying my bills sadly.. Shelter volunteer was during college but I think that’s a great idea thank you!

Do you see no need in me doing a masters or research??

jejeje2379 said:

Since 2022, I volunteered at children’s hospital, was a lead medical assistant at a pain management clinic, and worked as scribe at ED (forgot to write that up there). I stopped recently cuz they weren’t paying my bills sadly.. Shelter volunteer was during college but I think that’s a great idea thank you!

Do you see no need in me doing a masters or research??

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The only reason why you would do a masters IN research is because you want to do research. Unless this is what you want, I don't see any reason for you to pursue bench research. You already have a solid postbac transcript, so do an SMP only if enough admissions folks tell you to, IMO.

If you want to do medicine, you have Faha's suggestions, and you must apply both MD and DO.

Mr.Smile12 said:

The only reason why you would do a masters IN research is because you want to do research. Unless this is what you want, I don't see any reason for you to pursue bench research. You already have a solid postbac transcript, so do an SMP only if enough admissions folks tell you to, IMO.

If you want to do medicine, you have Faha's suggestions, and you must apply both MD and DO.

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Thank you so much for your advice!