Lower MCAT score second time, advice welcomed.

[pagesixty]

cGPA: 3.5, sGPA: 3.5, CA resident, first July 2013 MCAT: 32 (10/10/12).

Considering I felt like I got destroyed after that first MCAT and got a decent score, I thought I could study more for this April 2014 MCAT and score higher. Unfortunately, ended up with a 29 (9/9/11) a point decrease in each section. I'm pretty distraught about what to do right now. I wanted to apply this cycle. I'm not sure if I should re-take for a THIRD time in August/September (honestly pretty bummed right now about the prospect of studying again and traumatized of scoring lower again... also with the new MCAT changes/additional sections coming soon I feel a time crunch to decide).

EC:
1. Physician shadowing: OBGYN 60~hours
2. Physician shadowing: radiology 50~hours
3. Undergraduate research: 200~hours
4. Health education tutor volunteer: 200~hours
5. Community service organization: 200~hours
6. Work study job in undergraduate: 450~hours
7. Waitressing/restaurant work: 8~ years
8. Studied abroad a semester
9. Non-profit health club vice president: 1~ year
10. Clinical care volunteer (direct patient interaction/care): ~300 hours
11. took 2 BCMP courses post-graduation and got A- and A+ in them.

School list MD (in no particular order): I tried to stray away from schools that take "most recent MCAT" considering my current situation .. any addition/subtraction suggestion from this school list is welcomed!
1. Central Michigan University College of Medicine
2. George Washington University Sch of Med & Hlth Sci
3. Howard University
4. Indiana University School of Medicine
5. Jefferson Medical Coll. of Thomas Jefferson Uni.
6. Keck Sch. of Med USC
7. Medical College of Georgia at Georgia Regents Uni
8. Medical College of Wisconsin
9. Meharry Medical College
10. Saint Louis University School of Medicine
11. SUNY at Buffalo Medical School
12. SUNY Upstate Medical University
13. The Commonwealth Medical College
14. Ohio State Uni. Coll. of Med.
15. University of Toledo College of Medicine
16. Tufts University School of Medicine
17. Tulane University School of Medicine
18. University of Alabama School of Medicine
19. University of Arizona College of Medicine-Tucson
20. UC Irvine
21. UC Riverside
22. University of Minnesota Medical School
23. University of Rochester School of Medicine
24. University of South Carolina School of Medicine
25. University of Washington School of Medicine
26. USF Health Morsani College of Medicine

In regards to DO, I have not researched schools yet, but suggestions would be nice.

Basically, should I bother re-taking for a third time? Should I continue with my application this cycle? I know I will be submitting as early as possible given my situation.
Thank you for your time!

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[aspirantmed]

If you don't have a copy of the MSAR, get one. Some of these schools accept few or no applicants out of state, and the OOS students they do interview/accept often have stats much better than the medians. That should help you cut out a good number of these.

Also, look into DO because you may very well get some looks from MD schools, but you're sitting on the fence somewhat and DO schools will look favorably on your scores/activities. Think of it as insurance against having to reapply..

 

[gyngyn]

You might check the mission statement for: UCR, Meharry and Howard. You are below the 10th% for USC. GW gets>13K applications.

 

[pagesixty]

If you don't have a copy of the MSAR, get one. Some of these schools accept few or no applicants out of state, and the OOS students they do interview/accept often have stats much better than the medians. That should help you cut out a good number of these.

Okay, will do. Were there any in particular that stood out to you regarding the OOS?

You might check the mission statement for: UCR, Meharry and Howard.

They all seem to have a common focus of improving health disparities in the community. Was there something in particular that made you select those in particular?

 

[lmn]

You'll want to look closer at schools you are applying to, while it takes a good amount of time overall, you'll save money and be able to apply to schools that may actually consider you as a candidate. UCR wants a strong connection to the Island Empire area, the other two are historically black medical schools.

 

[kayleel0ve]

I will be following this thread closely because I'm in a similar boat I think I'm just going to only apply to schools that take your highest MCAT