Hey All,
Looking for some feedback and tips--would appreciate any advice! Long post so bear with me! Note: The volunteering/shadowing numbers are rough estimates and I have to look at my master log sheet to finalize those. They are 95% accurage. My GPA numbers are exact.
Random Tidbits: 1st Generation College Student, Both of My Parents lack a High School Degree, and am a Texas Resident. I am currently 23 years old. My family has gone through economic hardship in the past, but we have since became stable.
uGPA: 3.486 (with grade replacement it's 3.516)
sGPA: 3.239 (with grade replacement its 3.294)
uGPA from last 60 hours: 3.87
MCAT: Taking it 5/18/13 and am expecting a 27 - 28.
gGPA (MPH): 4.0 based off 18 hours.
Clinical Experience:
-30 Hours @ Front Desk escorting patients to different parts of the Hospital.
-40 Hours of Shadowing Mixed Doctors ( Family Medicine)
-42 Hours of Shadowing through Drexel Universities Mini-Med Program (Vascular Surgeon)
-60 Hours Shadowing as part of a formal research/shadowing program ( EM Doctor)
Research Experience:
-450 Hours of Research at University Affiliated Research Clinic - No Publications. This was over 3 years with 3 hours/week.
-25 Hours of Research at Hospital as part of a formal research/shadowing program - I believe I got an Abstract from this, but I honestly don't have much detail on that.
Community Service:
-10 Hours every other Month, I participate in a "lock-in," where on Friday Night, a few adults and I get together with a bunch of kids in our community and we all spend the night at our community center. The idea is that we want the kids hanging out with us playing video games and soccer--instead of doing more questionable things.
-5 Hours/year x 3 for the Susan G Komen Race for the Cure event in my city. Pretty much serve at a water station, and pass off water to running participants (should I even list this :confused::confused:)
Work Experience:
- Worked 20 hours a week all through undergrad as Business Accounts Manager for my parents corporations. Been working for the past 6 years for a rough estimate of 6240 hours. This is specific truck stop jargon, but as BAM, consider me the account manager and financial consultant. I handle clients accounts in selling diesel. I sit on the board of directors for 3 of these companies, and own 50% of the shares in one.
***A notable feat of my work experience, is that I paid for my undergrad and grad school by myself and will be graduating graduate school with only about 5k in loans***
LOR - 1 being weak and 5 being strong:
- Graduate Adviser - I expect this to be around a 4
- Research Adviser from 3 Years - I have seen this letter and feel it is a 5.
- Physics Professor - I have seen this letter and feel it is a 2.5
- Biostats Professor - I have seen this letter and feel it is a 3.5
- Working on Obtaining a DO Letter for Osteopathic Schools.
- Some Osteopathic Schools have stated they will not accept a Biostats letter as a science, thus I might be obtaining a letter from my Genetics Professor. I honestly didn't get to know him at all, and I expect this letter would be weak at around 2.
^ 2 of my letters above are going to address my low GPA, and express that they feel my GPA is not indicative of my academic abilities.
Personal Statement - 1 being weak and 5 being strong:
- Due to the kindness of many SDN users, I have been able to have mine shredded up by multiple users. I personally feel my PS is strong at about a 4.
RED FLAGS:
- A "D" in Biochemistry the first semester of my Senior Year. This was about 2 years ago. I took Genetics the next semester and received an A. I am currently scheduled to re-take the course January of 2014.
------------------------------------------------------------
I am completely fine with Osteopathic Schools. My end goal is to be a physician and I can honestly care less about the letters behind my name.
Alrighty, so for MD, I plan on applying to all Texas Schools and all Michigan schools as I'm a former resident.
For DO, I plan on applying to pretty much all DO schools. Based off my personality and experience, I feel NOVA-COM would be my best "fit," thus when searching for a DO physician to shadow, I looked specfically for a NOVA-COM graduate. Would it be advantageous to obtain a second letter from another NOVA-COM graduate?
Anything else I can do from now until applying to improve my chances? As mentioned above, right now I'm just seeking letters from DO Physicians from my top DO pick and will rack up some more shadowing experiences.
I am currently scheduled to take PathoPhysiology and Medical Terminology online at community college this summer along with 2 graduate courses for my MPH--think it's worth it to stick with the CC courses or should I just focus on MPH? The reasoning for the PathoPhys course, was that it would push my sGPA for Osteopathic schools up to 3.3. Big enough psychological difference from 3.29 to 3.3--you tell me!
Specific Question: Do you think AdComs (either DO or MD) might be a bit forgiving of my low GPA seeing as how I was working and doing research? I do accept it was dumb in retrospect to let my academic career suffer due to work--but I was very hesistant to take on loans.
Also, is it even wise to apply with the D in Biochem? In my last 60 hours, I received a D in Biochem and an A- in Physiological Psychology. Adcoms will see that I have a planned enrollment of Biochem and factor that in yes? They won't just insta-reject?
Thanks for Reading--and hope yall had a great day!
Looking for some feedback and tips--would appreciate any advice! Long post so bear with me! Note: The volunteering/shadowing numbers are rough estimates and I have to look at my master log sheet to finalize those. They are 95% accurage. My GPA numbers are exact.
Random Tidbits: 1st Generation College Student, Both of My Parents lack a High School Degree, and am a Texas Resident. I am currently 23 years old. My family has gone through economic hardship in the past, but we have since became stable.
uGPA: 3.486 (with grade replacement it's 3.516)
sGPA: 3.239 (with grade replacement its 3.294)
uGPA from last 60 hours: 3.87
MCAT: Taking it 5/18/13 and am expecting a 27 - 28.
gGPA (MPH): 4.0 based off 18 hours.
Clinical Experience:
-30 Hours @ Front Desk escorting patients to different parts of the Hospital.
-40 Hours of Shadowing Mixed Doctors ( Family Medicine)
-42 Hours of Shadowing through Drexel Universities Mini-Med Program (Vascular Surgeon)
-60 Hours Shadowing as part of a formal research/shadowing program ( EM Doctor)
Research Experience:
-450 Hours of Research at University Affiliated Research Clinic - No Publications. This was over 3 years with 3 hours/week.
-25 Hours of Research at Hospital as part of a formal research/shadowing program - I believe I got an Abstract from this, but I honestly don't have much detail on that.
Community Service:
-10 Hours every other Month, I participate in a "lock-in," where on Friday Night, a few adults and I get together with a bunch of kids in our community and we all spend the night at our community center. The idea is that we want the kids hanging out with us playing video games and soccer--instead of doing more questionable things.
-5 Hours/year x 3 for the Susan G Komen Race for the Cure event in my city. Pretty much serve at a water station, and pass off water to running participants (should I even list this :confused::confused:)
Work Experience:
- Worked 20 hours a week all through undergrad as Business Accounts Manager for my parents corporations. Been working for the past 6 years for a rough estimate of 6240 hours. This is specific truck stop jargon, but as BAM, consider me the account manager and financial consultant. I handle clients accounts in selling diesel. I sit on the board of directors for 3 of these companies, and own 50% of the shares in one.
***A notable feat of my work experience, is that I paid for my undergrad and grad school by myself and will be graduating graduate school with only about 5k in loans***
LOR - 1 being weak and 5 being strong:
- Graduate Adviser - I expect this to be around a 4
- Research Adviser from 3 Years - I have seen this letter and feel it is a 5.
- Physics Professor - I have seen this letter and feel it is a 2.5
- Biostats Professor - I have seen this letter and feel it is a 3.5
- Working on Obtaining a DO Letter for Osteopathic Schools.
- Some Osteopathic Schools have stated they will not accept a Biostats letter as a science, thus I might be obtaining a letter from my Genetics Professor. I honestly didn't get to know him at all, and I expect this letter would be weak at around 2.
^ 2 of my letters above are going to address my low GPA, and express that they feel my GPA is not indicative of my academic abilities.
Personal Statement - 1 being weak and 5 being strong:
- Due to the kindness of many SDN users, I have been able to have mine shredded up by multiple users. I personally feel my PS is strong at about a 4.
RED FLAGS:
- A "D" in Biochemistry the first semester of my Senior Year. This was about 2 years ago. I took Genetics the next semester and received an A. I am currently scheduled to re-take the course January of 2014.
------------------------------------------------------------
I am completely fine with Osteopathic Schools. My end goal is to be a physician and I can honestly care less about the letters behind my name.
Alrighty, so for MD, I plan on applying to all Texas Schools and all Michigan schools as I'm a former resident.
For DO, I plan on applying to pretty much all DO schools. Based off my personality and experience, I feel NOVA-COM would be my best "fit," thus when searching for a DO physician to shadow, I looked specfically for a NOVA-COM graduate. Would it be advantageous to obtain a second letter from another NOVA-COM graduate?
Anything else I can do from now until applying to improve my chances? As mentioned above, right now I'm just seeking letters from DO Physicians from my top DO pick and will rack up some more shadowing experiences.
I am currently scheduled to take PathoPhysiology and Medical Terminology online at community college this summer along with 2 graduate courses for my MPH--think it's worth it to stick with the CC courses or should I just focus on MPH? The reasoning for the PathoPhys course, was that it would push my sGPA for Osteopathic schools up to 3.3. Big enough psychological difference from 3.29 to 3.3--you tell me!
Specific Question: Do you think AdComs (either DO or MD) might be a bit forgiving of my low GPA seeing as how I was working and doing research? I do accept it was dumb in retrospect to let my academic career suffer due to work--but I was very hesistant to take on loans.
Also, is it even wise to apply with the D in Biochem? In my last 60 hours, I received a D in Biochem and an A- in Physiological Psychology. Adcoms will see that I have a planned enrollment of Biochem and factor that in yes? They won't just insta-reject?
Thanks for Reading--and hope yall had a great day!