School list or General Thoughts

[GlucoseAddict]

Thank you to anyone who takes the time to go through this.

1. MCAT:
511 (127/126/128/130).
514 (129/126/130/129).

2. cGPA: 3.87 , sGPA: 3.78

3. Major: Biochem

1. State of residence or country of citizenship (if non-US): FL

1. Ethnicity and/or race: White

1. Undergraduate institution or category: Small LAC (rural)

1. Clinical experience (volunteer and non-volunteer)

-Free clinic volunteering (100hrs)
-Medical Housing Service (50hrs)
-Clinical Research (transplant) 300+ Hrs (one summer internship plus one year (gap year) employment).

1. Research experience and productivity

-Two publications (one poster, one article, both primary author) in transplant research.

1. Shadowing experience and specialties represented

-Transplant Surgery 120 hrs
-Anesthesiology 30 hrs
-Emergency 30 hrs (rural hospital, crazy fentanyl addicts)
-Cardiology 30 hrs

1. Non-clinical volunteering

-House Building Charity 15 hours

1. Other extracurricular activities (including athletics, military service, gap year activities, leadership, teaching, etc)

-Continuing transplant research (for gap year.)
-Volunteering, Free clinic and Medical Housing Service (Gap year)
-Organic and General Chemistry Tutor (1 year)
-Pilot
-Orchestral Brass

1. Relevant honors or awards

-Poster award from conference presentation.
-Scholarship for university summer leadership program and tuition for certain intro premed courses.
-School honor societies


Really just want some honest (brutal) opinions. Dream school is Mayo (any campus, they're all a reach for me), but wanna know if I stand within T25, T50, T100...

Feeling crushed after MCAT retake and CARS going no where. It was not representative of my practice exams or any CARS practice I had done. I felt good about them while testing and didn't run out of time, I practiced under real testing environments etc. so I have no idea what went wrong. Everything else on my retake i'm happy with. Wondering how much that'll effect admissions at certain schools or how far down the ladder it puts me. What schools will read into the CARS thing heavily?

I will be applying to every state school in FL, and throw in Miami too. Mayo will be the ultimate reach/goal but is there anywhere else i'd have a shot that's not in state?

Once again anything is appreciated and thank you for your time.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

It looks like you need more community service hours (which you point out are in your gap). Medical housing and house building needs to be augmented from 65 total to 100-150 minimum. What other experiences that have nothing to do with healthcare or tutoring do you have? Do not retake the MCAT as some schools take the average.

 

[GlucoseAddict]

By time of application I’ll hit at least 100-150. Still not sure about a retake. If I take it again I only need CARS to improve. Surely I can hold the sciences, after nearly a year of studying? It’s a risk for sure but would you really completely 100% rule it out?

 

[candbgirl]

By time of application I’ll hit at least 100-150. Still not sure about a retake. If I take it again I only need CARS to improve. Surely I can hold the sciences, after nearly a year of studying? It’s a risk for sure but would you really completely 100% rule it out?

I agree with @Mr.Smile12 -don’t retake the MCAT. If feel you must then don’t take it until you are scoring at or above your target goal(which should be around 520). But a 514 is fine. And even if some schools average it with your first score it isn’t a huge difference. What were your practice scores before your retake? You really have to get some nonclinical volunteering. Fifteen hours is not going to cut it. And there is no guarantee you will increase your MCAT score. You could just as easily go down. Much of your success will depend on your school list! Buy the MSAR and start researching schools where your stats are between the 10-90 percentile(or 25-90). Check for OOS friendliness. Public schools aren’t as friendly as private schools. Where would you like to live. Etc etc. Good luck!

 

[voxveritatisetlucis]

Unless you were Scoring 520+ across practice FLs, don’t retake. I would recommend

I didn’t include any FL schools since you already have those. Just apply to every school in FL since most app fees are 30
St. Louis
NYMC
Albany
Geisinger
Creighton
Rosalind Franklin
Loyola
Temple
Drexel
Jefferson
Georgetown
George Washington
Quinnipiac
Hofstra
Stony Brook
VCU
EVMS

 

[GlucoseAddict]

I agree with @Mr.Smile12 -don’t retake the MCAT. If feel you must then don’t take it until you are scoring at or above your target goal(which should be around 520). But a 514 is fine. And even if some schools average it with your first score it isn’t a huge difference. What were your practice scores before your retake? You really have to get some nonclinical volunteering. Fifteen hours is not going to cut it. And there is no guarantee you will increase your MCAT score. You could just as easily go down. Much of your success will depend on your school list! Buy the MSAR and start researching schools where your stats are between the 10-90 percentile(or 25-90). Check for OOS friendliness. Public schools aren’t as friendly as private schools. Where would you like to live. Etc etc. Good luck!

Thanks for your reply. For the retake my AAMC FLs were as follows:

FL1: 522 (130/128/132/132)
Fl2: 521 (130/130/130/131)
FL3: 522 (132/128/131/131)
FL4: 523 (131/129/132/131)

Before my first score they were this:

FL1: 512 (128/130/128/126)
FL2: 509 (127/129/127/126)
FL3: 516 (131/126/130/129)
FL4: 518 (130/130/129/129)

All taken in test like conditions. Even bought the same headphones they used at the test center to practice with. I though they were supposed to be representative so thats what's bugging me so much about wanting to retake a third time. I know the material. I test well on practice tests, I'm really at a loss as to what the disconnect is between practice and test day. I wasn't nervous at all for the retake.

If I stick with 514 Im likely going to stay in state (FL), not deal with OOS tuition costs. Thanks again for your advice.

 

[GlucoseAddict]

Unless you were Scoring 520+ across practice FLs, don’t retake. I would recommend

I didn’t include any FL schools since you already have those. Just apply to every school in FL since most app fees are 30
St. Louis
NYMC
Albany
Geisinger
Creighton
Rosalind Franklin
Loyola
Temple
Drexel
Jefferson
Georgetown
George Washington
Quinnipiac
Hofstra
Stony Brook
VCU
EVMS

Thanks for that list - FL is the likely goal for instate tuition reasons if I stick with my 514. I was scoring 520s for FLs for my retake, and upwardly trending that way for my first take:

9/10 511:
FL1: 512 (128/130/128/126)
FL2: 509 (127/129/127/126)
FL3: 516 (131/126/130/129)
FL4: 518 (130/130/129/129)

1/21 514:
FL1: 522 (130/128/132/132)
Fl2: 521 (130/130/130/131)
FL3: 522 (132/128/131/131)
FL4: 523 (131/129/132/131)

Again thanks for your reply. Thats about what my list looks like on MSAR now.

 

[candbgirl]

Thanks for your reply. For the retake my AAMC FLs were as follows:

FL1: 522 (130/128/132/132)
Fl2: 521 (130/130/130/131)
FL3: 522 (132/128/131/131)
FL4: 523 (131/129/132/131)

Before my first score they were this:

FL1: 512 (128/130/128/126)
FL2: 509 (127/129/127/126)
FL3: 516 (131/126/130/129)
FL4: 518 (130/130/129/129)

All taken in test like conditions. Even bought the same headphones they used at the test center to practice with. I though they were supposed to be representative so thats what's bugging me so much about wanting to retake a third time. I know the material. I test well on practice tests, I'm really at a loss as to what the disconnect is between practice and test day. I wasn't nervous at all for the retake.

If I stick with 514 Im likely going to stay in state (FL), not deal with OOS tuition costs. Thanks again for your advice.

You were scoring well above your actual earned score both times. I understand wanting to retake but unless you can figure out why your actual test performance drops so much I don’t think you should. @Goro always says testing anxiety is real and can be helped. Maybe go to your college testing center wig all of your scores and ask for help! Good luck!

 

[Goro]

Feeling crushed after MCAT retake and CARS going no where. It was not representative of my practice exams or any CARS practice I had done. I felt good about them while testing and didn't run out of time, I practiced under real testing environments etc. so I have no idea what went wrong. Everything else on my retake i'm happy with. Wondering how much that'll effect admissions at certain schools or how far down the ladder it puts me. What schools will read into the CARS thing heavily?

It's easy to bat .300 in batting practice. Facing a live pitcher with a 95 MPH fastball is a very different thing. Retaking a 514 would be foolish, and Adcoms do not like perfectionism.

I suggest:

ALL FL schools.
UCSF
U IA
U ILL
U MA
SUNY-SB
U WI
U Cincy
U CO
U VM
OH State
NYU-LI
Dartmouth
Pitt
Miami
SLU
Albany
Drexel
Albert Einstein
Rochester
Rush
Rosy Franklin
NYMC
EVMS
Wake Forest
Jefferson
Temple
Tulane
Hackensack Meridian
GWU
Gtown
Netter
MCW
Loyola
Emory
Tufts
Oakland-B
Western MI
Uniformed Services University/Hebert (just be aware of the military service commitment)
Nova MD