Reapplicant with low GPA, high MCAT: help with school list

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carrots28

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I am a reapplicant (2 waitlists last year, 5 interviews), c3.3 gpa, s3.19 gpa. I took a year off from immediately reapplying, got more clinical and patient experience through my job. Took one additional 3 credit science class and did well (was expensive to take more classes living in NY). Since last application, I have one published science paper; however it is not clinically related. I improved my MCAT from 26 to 514 on new MCAT.

(Edit: I forgot to mention I am hispanic, first gen American. I speak Spanish fluently. Also graduated from top 10 school)

I need help narrowing down this list of MD and DO schools:

MD:
Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine
Howard University College of Medicine
Meharry Medical College
Morehouse School of Medicine
Ponce Health Sciences University
Frank H. Netter MD School of Medicine at Quinnipiac University
The Commonwealth Medical College
University of South Carolina School of Medicine - Greenville
Rush Medical College of Rush University Medical Center
Wright State University Boonshoft School of Medicine
Drexel University College of Medicine
Albany Medical College
New York Medical College
George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences
Tulane University School of Medicine
Sidney Kimmel Medical College at Thomas Jefferson University
Temple University School of Medicine
Creighton University School of Medicine
Hofstra North Shore - LIJ School of Medicine
University of Miami Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine
Georgetown University School of Medicine
University of Buffalo State University of New York School of Medicine & Biomedical Sciences
Chicago Medical School at Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science
The University of Toledo College of Medicine
State University of New York Upstate Medical University
Wake Forest School of Medicine of Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center
Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine
State University of New York Downstate Medical Center College of Medicine
Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University
Tufts University School of Medicine
University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry
Stony Brook University School of Medicine
Emory University School of Medicine
Boston University School of Medicine
Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons
Weill Cornell Medical College
New York University School of Medicine
Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
California Northstate University School of Medicine
Universidad Central Del Caribe School of Medicine
San Juan Bautista School of Medicine

DO schools (don't have DO letter, just MD letter):
Touro COM
Rowan U. SOM
PCOM - PA
PCOM - GA
NSU COM
NYIT COM
Marian U COM
ATSU COM
UNECOM

Thank you!

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I would take off Howard, Meharry, and Morehouse if you're not URM since their mission is to produce mainly URM doctors.

I would take off the PR schools (Ponce, UCC, San Juan) if you don't speak Spanish at least conversationally.

Columbia, Cornell, NYU, and Mount Sinai seem a bit overly ambitious unless your application has a killer hook. A 514 is a great MCAT score but it's not crazily amazing. Feel free to throw some money at them though, there's always a chance.

Some people have strong opinions about Northstate; not me though, I'm from the northeast and know nothing.
 
Thank you very much for your advice. I am Hispanic/Latino (family from South American) and speak Spanish fluently. I was trying to find a straight answer for this, but it seems it is unclear if that qualifies me as URM. I think it might for some schools but not others.
 
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Thank you very much for your advice. I am Hispanic/Latino (family from South American) and speak Spanish fluently. I was trying to find a straight answer for this, but it seems it is unclear if that qualifies me as URM. I think it might for some schools but not others.

What country?
 
URM status will vary from school to school but many dont officially look at Bolivians as URMs. That said, Hispanics who can speak Spanish will be at an advantage in the process. Getting 5 IIs with a 3.2sGPA/26 last cycle certainly shows how schools put a ton of weight in obtaining hispanics who speak spanish so whether you are or arent a URM isnt really something to be be overly concerned with

At the same time getting 5 IIs and not closing the deal on any indicates potential issues at the interview.

Which schools are you a reapplicant at that you listed? Are you still an NY resident? Obviously you arent applying to all these schools, but the ones in your state and ones you arent a reapplicant at might be good ones to start your list with.
 
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Thank you for your suggestion. I applied to 28 ish schools last time (inc. all NY schools). Yes still an NY resident. You are right I think I did not do well in my interviews, especially MMI. I did practice for traditional interview questions, but with MMI it is harder to tell what is the right and wrong answer. Friends told me just to answer truthfully, show I am not a terrible person, so I wasn't sure how to best prepare for MMI style. The ones I got waitlisted on were traditional interview style format. I think I can do better on MMI as I have way more patient experience. I have to deal directly with difficult situations so I think I will be better able to respond to questions just based on experience.
 
Is there any way you can take some classes for a year or so before applying again? It's going to be tough to answer questions about why they should trust that you can do well in med school after not doing so well in college. A semester or two of As would clear that up.
 
Thanks again for your advice. My financial assistance from AAMC will end this year and since I am working full time this year i just overshoot the cutoff for any aid, which is why I am choosing to reapply after having taken the year off to build more patient experience. I live in NY close to the city so living expense is very high and tuition for one class is my two week salary, which is why I have only taken one class so far. I was hoping to retake the one science course I got a C in this fall while I am applying and provide an update mid cycle. I think I can take intro to psych this summer which I see some of the DO schools require. Or is it better to take a science class? I saw one class on genetics and evolution available to take this summer
 
You dont need post-bacc work youll get interviews with the right list.
 
Thanks for the clarification on URM earlier. I think I will take off Morehouse and Meharry as I am not a URM technically.
 
Your higher MCAT score should help you this time. Remove the schools that @DR. NickRiviera mentioned. You should add schools such as:
Oakland Beaumont
Western Michigan
St. Louis
CUNY (new school)
any private MD schools that open in 2017 ( Seton Hall, Henricopolis, Roseman, etc.)
 
Thank you for your suggestion. I applied to 28 ish schools last time (inc. all NY schools). Yes still an NY resident. You are right I think I did not do well in my interviews, especially MMI. I did practice for traditional interview questions, but with MMI it is harder to tell what is the right and wrong answer. Friends told me just to answer truthfully, show I am not a terrible person, so I wasn't sure how to best prepare for MMI style. The ones I got waitlisted on were traditional interview style format. I think I can do better on MMI as I have way more patient experience. I have to deal directly with difficult situations so I think I will be better able to respond to questions just based on experience.
There are books on how to handle MMIs. I would recommend buying one. They go over how to explain yourself in a logical way without telling you "the answer to this question is ___."

Also there are interview services, they could provide specific feedback. I think most are Canadian (since MMI is more common there) but it would probably apply somewhat.

You can also practice with scenarios you find on the UW ethics site.
 
There are books on how to handle MMIs. I would recommend buying one. They go over how to explain yourself in a logical way without telling you "the answer to this question is ___."

Also there are interview services, they could provide specific feedback. I think most are Canadian (since MMI is more common there) but it would probably apply somewhat.

You can also practice with scenarios you find on the UW ethics site.

Just to echo your advice regarding MMIs, I recommend Multiple Mini Interview (MMI) for the Mind (Advisor Prep Series). The book goes over 'strategies' that one can use to tackle any MMI question. I personally found it helpful due to my lack of experience with the interview style/format. Fortunately, I was accepted to a medical school that used it (my top choice).

I am no way affiliated with the book or author. Just giving my own anecdotal experience.
 
Here is a more realistic list:


Universidad Central Del Caribe School of Medicine
San Juan Bautista School of Medicine
The other PR school that takes mainlanders (not Ponce, I believe)


PCOM - PA
PCOM - GA
NSU COM
NYIT COM
Marian U COM
UNECOM
All 3 VCOMs
BCOM
KYCOM
Wm Carey
ACOM
NYITCOM-AR
ARCOM
DMU
LECOM (all)
 
Here is a more realistic list:


Universidad Central Del Caribe School of Medicine
San Juan Bautista School of Medicine
The other PR school that takes mainlanders (not Ponce, I believe)


PCOM - PA
PCOM - GA
NSU COM
NYIT COM
Marian U COM
UNECOM
All 3 VCOMs
BCOM
KYCOM
Wm Carey
ACOM
NYITCOM-AR
ARCOM
DMU
LECOM (all)

Thanks for your time in helping me out here. I do not have a DO letter which means I can not apply to some DO schools, such as VCOM. I settled on this final DO list based on research of which ones did not explicitly require a DO letter and did not have a strong in state preference (except for NYIT for which I am in state):
Touro COM
PCOM - PA
NSU COM
NYIT COM
ATSU COM
UNECOM
LECOM
LMU COM
CU SOM
 
I think that given your stats, you Need to broaden your list.

Thanks for your time in helping me out here. I do not have a DO letter which means I can not apply to some DO schools, such as VCOM. I settled on this final DO list based on research of which ones did not explicitly require a DO letter and did not have a strong in state preference (except for NYIT for which I am in state):
Touro COM
PCOM - PA
NSU COM
NYIT COM
ATSU COM
UNECOM
LECOM
LMU COM
CU SOM
 
Your higher MCAT score should help you this time. Remove the schools that @DR. NickRiviera mentioned. You should add schools such as:
Oakland Beaumont
Western Michigan
St. Louis
CUNY (new school)
any private MD schools that open in 2017 ( Seton Hall, Henricopolis, Roseman, etc.)

fyi, I'm pretty sure CUNY will only be open to students in their high school feeder program (Sophie Davis) but I could be wrong about that.
 
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