Chances for a worried pre-med senior

[MrWishfulDoc]

Hey everyone! I'm currently a senior who is planning on applying to med school this summer. While I have pretty good grades and hopefully will have a pretty good MCAT score, my extracurriculars are lacking. I'd be very happy to get into a moderately competitive medical school (maybe like UMASS, Jefferson, BU, etc.), but will really go anywhere that accepts me. Because I don't have very many ECs and "demonstrated interest," I'm worried that I won't get in anywhere, so I was hoping you guys could give me some idea of what is appropriate for my stats.

Overall things:

- Senior at ivy league university, need to take a few extra courses next year to graduate in the winter (because I switched majors), after which I'll be working somewhere, maybe a grocery store or in research.
- 3.86 GPA (difficult courseload, was math major before biology)
- Bio major
- Got a 27 on the MCAT diagnostic not remembering much about any of the intro sciences, hoping for 8-10 above that after I study, so hopefully a 35+?
- Will have 3-4 solid recs. My science course ones won't be very strong because they all have 200+ people and I don't go to office hours. The strong recs are from places where I worked as a tutor, as a counselor, and as an intern.

ECs:

- Work as a paid peer tutor 6 hours a week. My boss from this will be writing a very strong rec.
- Played a sport and worked as an EMT freshman year, but quit after that.
- Recruitment chair of my fraternity (does this even matter for med schools at all?)

Summer jobs:

Summer after freshman year: Worked at a golf course on the maintenance crew (20 hours per week) and traveled.
Summer after sophomore year: Worked as a counselor/teacher at a program for at-risk urban youth (40 hours a week). The program head will write me a very strong rec.
Summer after junior year: Did patient-oriented research at a clinic for the homeless. Worked 30 hours a week and compiled an internal report which was later used to make things run more efficiently in the clinic. The doctor who supervised my project said he would write me a glowing rec.

My essays will tell a unique story and I think they'll be pretty strong.

I have a random withdraw on my transcript from switching majors, but hopefully that won't matter.

So yeah, anyone have any idea about what med schools might be appropriate for someone with these kind of stats? I'm mainly worried because I have no extracurricular activities outside of my tutoring and fraternity involvement, except in the summers. My only real encounter with medicine that is shown here is through the few months I worked as an EMT, the clinical research thing in the summer after junior year (which I spent probably about 160 hours at), and the countless hours I've spent in the hospital for broken bones and other sports-related injuries.

Let me know!

Thanks in advance.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[DokterMom]

This is a mild deficiency that is entirely curable.

Since you'll be staying at school an extra semester anyway, what about applying in the spring right after you graduate? Add another activity now or start picking up EMT shifts again. Do some serious shadowing to make sure you demonstrate that you know what you're getting into.

Your GPA is stellar and an ivy undergrad never hurts. With a strong MCAT, a gap year spent devoted to providing stellar ECs, you could go from being 'average competitive' for 'mid-tier' programs (applying this year) to very competitive for top-tier schools.

 

[MrWishfulDoc]

Thanks for the response!

And yeah, that was the other path I was considering. The problem with that, though, is that I'd delay attending medical school another year, which is not something I'm sure I'd want to do. Since I'm already a bit behind, I don't want to spend an entire year working in a lab just so that I can have a chance at Hopkins instead of BU or something.

Lab work bores me and I hate doing things for the sole purpose of beefing up my resume. The summer internship at that clinic gave me a very good idea of what those kind of doctors do day-to-day, and I plan on explaining that I hope to do what those doctors are doing some day in my essays. I also worked probably around 160 hours total there. Is that not enough to convince admissions that I know what I'm getting into?

If my goal in becoming a doctor is to provide healthcare to those less-fortunate, underserved populations, will working in a lab running PCR actually help my application that much? I plan to talk about my experiences working and living in an underserved community, and how that has motivated me to become a doctor serving those populations. I plan to talk about the importance of patient-centered medicine, and how that will be my priority moving forward when dealing with these populations, which has shown to be extremely effective.

Either way, what kind of schools do you guys think I am competitive for now? For those medical schools that focus on primary care, am I a competitive applicant?

I'd hate to apply to places like BU, Jefferson, UMASS, Brown, Sinai, Tufts, NYU and be rejected from all of them. If I'm not competitive for those right now, I'll take a year off and beef up my ECs, but if I am, I'll apply this summer.

Any thoughts?

Sorry for the length of all this!

 

[Tt1992]

Just checking, are you a Massachusetts resident? As far as I know Umass only accepts instate for MD programs.

I agree that your GPA is great and your MCAT should be fine provided you up that score. Only thing that's hurting you is extra curricular but I feel like you have a good shot at mid to high tier schools.

Good luck!

 

[MrWishfulDoc]

Yeah, fortunately I am. Thanks!

Anyone else?

 

[Meihua]

You don't have to spend a year working in a lab if you don't want to. Your personal statement should line up with your activities and provide a cohesive explanation/story behind why you want to become a physician, and it sounds like bench research has nothing to do with that. However, the lack of volunteering may hurt you - why wouldn't someone whose PS is centered on helping underserved populations have started giving back to the community early on, and continued doing so throughout college?

GPA and projected MCAT are solid for the schools you've listed, and other than the lack of volunteering, I don't see any reason you can't apply this cycle. Do some shadowing as soon as possible, and start volunteering somewhere that you can continue through the application process.

 

[Alejandro]

TBH, I might suggest holding off applying this year.

It appears that it seems like you haven't taken the MCAT, and you might be studying or will start studying for in shortly. If you've already started, and your progress is well, and your test date will be june, maybe july at the latest, then I'd say go for it. Otherwise, I imagine that it will take some time to study for it (nobody can predict how long adequate mcat prep for YOU will take, often times even the student can't even predict it either!), and if you end up submitting your amcas even in late july, unless you have an incredible mcat score, you might not be noticed as well.

From what I've gathered on sdn and from my personal experiences with those who have applied as well-always apply early. That's the only thing you have to commit to yourself.

However, if you are pretty confident that you'regoing to score 35, go for it. Everyone's confidence is a little different, but I was just generalizing that not everyone only needs 2 months and whammo 35+ comes out of the bag. or even 30+ for that matter.