MD 32 MCAT/3.9 GPA - Too little non-clinical volunteering?

[MelloTangelo]

Hey guys!

It's already March, and I'm suddenly a little worried about my application! I'm hoping to apply this coming cycle, and as I put in the title, I'm sitting at a 3.9 GPA and 32 (10/11/11) MCAT (retake of a 26), but now I'm wondering if I have too little non-clinical volunteering.

By the time of my application, I should have the following.

-500 hours of paid clinical experience as an MA.
-20 hours of paid tutoring.
-80 hours of research (+publication)
-175 hours of clinical volunteering/shadowing (about 96 of these hours are shadow hours)
-24 hours volunteering at an elementary school.

Do you think there'll be any issues? I don't like having to volunteer just to make my application good, but I wouldn't want it to hurt me, either, so what do you guys think?

As for my schools list, I'm an Arkansas resident and looking at these schools.

-University of Arkansas (UAMS)
-Drexel
-George Washington
-Penn State
-St. Louis University
-Wake Forest
-Washington University in St. Louis

Any thoughts?

Thanks for the help, as always!

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[ConfusedChemist]

How on earth did you get a publication out of 80 hours of research???

 

[dr.0ne]

i had very little non-clinical volunteering,

in my (very limited) experience, adcoms hope to see a trajectory to your application, if you've racked up a lot of research hours, publications, presentations, and have made little progress in the way of non-med volunteering, i think that's okay. it shows that you made progress in a direction or field that you hopefully are more inclined towards. that was my situation. i dont expect to do a lot of service work when i go into medicine, not because i don't like it but that's not where my expertise and interests lie. i'd much rather contribute to society by practicing medicine doing translational research. just my 2 cents.

 

[Goro]

Forget Wash U. Otherwise, I think you'll be OK with U AR, but it can't hurt to get in some non-clinical ECs to demonstrate your humanism. You live in a lucky state, so milk it.

Add Rush, Rosy Franklin, Temple, VCU, EVMS, Oakland, Jefferson and Tulane and MCW to the list. Also consider AT Still, LMU, OSU COM, CCOM, DMU, MUCOM and Wm Carey. Suggest deleting Gtown, they get a gazllion apps and statistically is harder to get into than Harvard.

Hey guys!

It's already March, and I'm suddenly a little worried about my application! I'm hoping to apply this coming cycle, and as I put in the title, I'm sitting at a 3.9 GPA and 32 (10/11/11) MCAT (retake of a 26), but now I'm wondering if I have too little non-clinical volunteering.

By the time of my application, I should have the following.

-500 hours of paid clinical experience as an MA.
-20 hours of paid tutoring.
-80 hours of research (+publication)
-175 hours of clinical volunteering/shadowing (about 96 of these hours are shadow hours)
-24 hours volunteering at an elementary school.

Do you think there'll be any issues? I don't like having to volunteer just to make my application good, but I wouldn't want it to hurt me, either, so what do you guys think?

As for my schools list, I'm an Arkansas resident and looking at these schools.

-University of Arkansas (UAMS)
-Drexel
-George Washington
-Penn State
-St. Louis University
-Wake Forest
-Washington University in St. Louis

Any thoughts?

Thanks for the help, as always!

 

[Doug Underhill]

Please don't list your research in terms of "hours" if you have a publication. Just mention the lab and the publication. Getting a publication after only 80 hours of work will raise some eyebrows, but nobody will know if you don't list the hours.

The non-clinical volunteering is fine

 

[MelloTangelo]

How on earth did you get a publication out of 80 hours of research???

Please don't list your research in terms of "hours" if you have a publication. Just mention the lab and the publication. Getting a publication after only 80 hours of work will raise some eyebrows, but nobody will know if you don't list the hours.

The non-clinical volunteering is fine

I didn't realize I could get away with it without listing hours. I thought AMCAS asked for them specifically? Those are just a rough estimate, anyway, but the reason I have a publication is because I barely did any work in the lab! It was mainly data crunching with a program. It was a group of people on this project, too, so my PI wanted to go ahead and publish the results before the majority of the undergrads in said project graduated. Either way, thanks for the advice!

Forget Wash U. Otherwise, I think you'll be OK with U AR, but it can't hurt to get in some non-clinical ECs to demonstrate your humanism. You live in a lucky state, so milk it.

Add Rush, Rosy Franklin, Temple, VCU, EVMS, Oakland, Jefferson and Tulane and MCW to the list. Also consider AT Still, LMU, OSU COM, CCOM, DMU, MUCOM and Wm Carey. Suggest deleting Gtown, they get a gazllion apps and statistically is harder to get into than Harvard.

Thank you so much for your input, Goro! I've always seen you give really helpful advice, and this is no different. It was actually my pre-med adviser who recommended Wash U because they apparently 'know our students well', but if there's not much of a chance, I'll switch it out and look into all of these recommendations! According to my adviser, at my school, people don't apply to more than six or seven schools, so I was trying to stay around that, but I figure I might as well go for it to help my chances!

One more thing, though. For UAMS, I'll be a second time applicant (I got on the waitlist but ultimately did not get in). Will any other schools treat me like that?

 

[Goro]

Any school that you reapply to will want to see significant improvement.
One more thing, though. For UAMS, I'll be a second time applicant (I got on the waitlist but ultimately did not get in). Will any other schools treat me like that?