WAMC 3.98GPA (3.45grad GPA) 512 MCAT, nontraditional

[blurrynerd]

Hi there - I am seeking help on a school list, please!

I see myself in primary care with an interest in research (perhaps not as a clinician-scientist, but at least contributing to clinical trials, etc.)

Undergraduate: cGPA 3.97, sGPA 3.98 from a liberal arts institution
Graduate: 3.45 GPA with a PhD in a physical science from a T20 research institution

MCAT 512 (129/127/128/128) - I was aiming for higher and am contemplating an idea of a retake. Thoughts on this are welcome.

US/Canadian dual citizen. Lived most of my life in the US, but am currently living in Canada. I am planning on moving back to PA where I grew up and would prefer to attend school in PA for family reasons. Ties to OH, TN.

White, female

ECs
Clinical Employment: worker for local hospital system that would be assigned to mobile vaccine clinics in disadvantaged neighborhoods, community cold/flu clinics, and covid testing/care sites as needed. I collected patient personal health information, scribed, conducted patient eligibility screening for treatment, managed clinic flow, observed patients post vaccination, worked as part of a multidisciplinary healthcare team to deliver care to vulnerable populations including immigrants, refugees, those without health insurance, elderly shut-ins, etc. (2000 hours)

Clinical volunteering: Recreational therapy volunteer in a local rehabilitation hospital working with complex continuing care patients (100-150 hours by time of application).

Research Experience/Employment:
-Graduate research assistant (10000+ hours)
-Postdoctoral research fellow (10000+ hours)
-Productivity: 3 first author publications + other middle author publications, several research presentations at national/international meetings, most of my other work not found in journals (because science doesn't always turn out as planned) is published in my dissertation
Other contract/consultant positions with start-ups that I probably won’t talk about on my app as they don’t add much

Shadowing: 20 hours virtual, 10 hours of informational interviews with physicians (many disciplines inc. family medicine, emerg medicine, anesthesiology) I connected with during covid, working on 50 more hours of in person shadowing - in internal medicine and family medicine - prior to submitting application (30 hours virtual + 50 hours in person by time of app)

Non-clinical volunteering:
-Volunteer Scouter with a Scout group in a disadvantaged neighborhood (200 hours, will have 300 hours by submission)
-Volunteer with STEM education outreach organization that delivers free science workshops in schools, libraries and community spaces (100 hours)

Leadership:
-Volunteer Group Commissioner with Scouts (100 hours, will have 300 hours by submission)
-Founded and served as president of student networking organization in graduate school (200 hours)
-Executive board leadership position with my academic union (1500 hours)

Teaching:
-Teaching Assistant and Teaching Fellow in graduate school as a sole instructor (2000 hours)
-Taught graduate seminar as a postdoc (100 hours)

Hobbies:
-Sailing, crew for club sailboat races
-Music, minor in undergrad, still play in various settings

Honors/Awards:
-Deans list every semester in undergrad
-Phi Beta Kappa honor society in undergrad
-Recipient of grant to fund an international research collaboration in undergrad

Additional info:
-Activities listed are all things I have participated in since I started graduate school, I do not have anything listed from undergraduate even though I was a very involved student.
-Planning to take 2 missing prereqs at community college (it is a fraction of the cost of the other option)
-My other prereqs are >15 years old

My thoughts:
Albany
Einstein
Florida Atlantic
Rosalind Franklin
Rowan
Drexel
Case
Pitt
Univ. of Rochester
Univ. of Michigan
Emory
Quinnipiac
Dartmouth
Geisinger Commonwealth
George Washington
Georgetown
Buffalo (yes, I know they get lots of snow but I still love this school and city)
Temple
Loyola
Medical College of Wisconsin
NEOMED
Nova
Penn State
Vermont
Rush
Thomas Jefferson
Toledo
Brown
Tufts
Wake
West Virginia
Western Michigan
NYU Long Island
Ohio State

DO:
LECOM - Erie
LECOM -Seton Hill
PCOM
OUHCOM
I honestly don’t know if DO schools would be a great fit with my background in research, though I love the holistic DO philosophy.

I will probably also apply to Canadian schools, but just seeking info on the US schools at the moment.

Any perspective and insight would be appreciated! Many thanks!

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[Faha]

You have several state public schools on your list that admit few non residents with no connection to the state. You also have several reaches.
I suggest these schools with your stats:
Drexel
Temple
Jefferson
Penn State
Commonwealth Geisinger
Pittsburgh
Vermont
Quinnipiac
Einstein
Albany
New York Medical College
Hackensack
Georgetown
George Washington
Virginia Commonwealth
Eastern Virginia
Wake Forest
NOVA MD
Tulane
TCU
Creighton
St. Louis
Loyola
Rush
Rosalind Franklin
Medical College Wisconsin
Western Michigan
Oakland Beaumont
Wayne State

 

[Mr.Smile12]

I would advise you to make sure you itemize your Scouting hours directly working with the children (community service) versus leadership/administrative responsibilities.

The clinical experience though... unfortunately your informational interviewing and virtual observation is helpful for you but not valued by most faculty on admissions committees. If you do get 50 hours of in-person observation, you should be okay, depending on how much you were with doctors in your scribing for the mobile vaccine clinics.

Understand that if you get admitted to medical school, you must get used to being the bottom person on the totem pole... you know, the totem that is 20+ feet underground. Even if you are the smartest in the room, you can't come across as such.

You may have to take TWO Caspers (one for Canadian, another for US medical schools) and perhaps a PREview.

 

[blurrynerd]

Thank you for the school list suggetsions @Faha

Thank you for the input @Mr.Smile12

Re: Scouts - good point. I will have about 300 hours working with kids (service) and 300 hours of admin/managerial (leadership)

Re: Clinical experience, I spent about 500 hours of that time on the mobile vaccine team as a scribe. Shadowing opportunities (outside of the informational interviews and virtual shadowing) have been challenging for me to come by with covid, but I have two arranged and I will likely hold my app a cycle if I don't reach 50 hours by submission time.

Two Caspers - yikes, but that is good to know.

This is worth it to me, even if it means being 20+ feet underground on the bottom of the totem pole. I know that I have lots to learn, but all I can do is hope that someday I will have the opportunity to follow this path.

 

[lacrossegirl420]

I would retake the MCAT