MD & DO WAMC/ Help with school list: 3.43 cGPA 3.36 sGPA (URM, Low stats) MCAT retake pending

[Yasuo23]

cGPA and sGPA as calculated by AMCAS or AACOMAS
cGPA 3.43
sGPA 3.36
Significant upwards trend with deans list last 4 semesters (2 years) and a 4.0 last semester.
MCAT score(s) and breakdown
- MCAT 1: 506 ( 126, 125, 128, 127)
- MCAT 2: 511 (127, 127, 129, 128)
State of residence or country of citizenship (if non-US)
NJ
Ethnicity and/or race
Hispanic/Latino
Undergraduate institution or category
Public State University in NJ
Clinical experience (volunteer and non-volunteer)
Paid:
-553 hours MA @ Pediatricians office
- 1k + hours medical scribe @ Hospital
Research experience and productivity
None unless you count the roughly 20 hours I spent in a lab before that fell through
Shadowing experience and specialties represented
20 hours Pediatric surgery
30 hours Emergency Medicine
Non-clinical volunteering
Tutoring local high school students ~ 300 hours
Volunteer at a church ~ 100 hours
Volunteered at some fundraisers ~ 100 hours
Other extracurricular activities (including athletics, military service, gap year activities, leadership, teaching, etc)
Not much here. Something that does stand out is playing guitar.
VP of University club.
Relevant honors or awards
Nothing significant besides deans list last 2 years

Anything else not listed you think might be important
Graduated May 2022 and I was accepted into a 1 year Masters in Biomedical Sciences program at the same state university which starts in the Fall 2023 and ends in May 2024.

I would like to stay as close to home as possible with as low cost as possible. I qualified for FAP so I am looking to apply to at least 20 schools in the MD route.

My current school list is as follows:
MD:
RWJ Rutgers
Rutgers NJMS
Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine
Cooper Medical School of Rowan University
SUNY Downtown Health Sciences University College of Medicine
Drexel University College of Medicine
Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine
Albany Medical College
Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at the University of Buffalo
UCLA (far from home I know but I felt like my stats fall somewhat within their range)
Boston University (Assuming I do well on my retake of the MCAT, more of a YOLO application)

DO: This list is what I mainly need the most help in since I know I am a low stats applicant and want to apply broadly.
Rowan School of Osteopathic Medicine

Any help would be amazing, thank you!

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[Faha]

Are you fluent in Spanish ?

 

[candbgirl]

Are you applying in June? If so why aren’t you waiting to get your grades etc from the Masters program you have enrolled in.
Your 300 hours of tutoring is not nonclinical volunteering. It is tutoring/teaching.
Fund raising isn’t really nonclinical volunteering. What did you do at the church that you think is non clinical,volunteering?
The descriptors for Nonclinical volunteering are pretty explicit. I’m not sure you meet the standards for this activity.

 

[wysdoc]

Are you applying in June? If so why aren’t you waiting to get your grades etc from the Masters program you have enrolled in.
Your 300 hours of tutoring is not nonclinical volunteering. It is tutoring/teaching.
Fund raising isn’t really nonclinical volunteering. What did you do at the church that you think is non clinical,volunteering?
The descriptors for Nonclinical volunteering are pretty explicit. I’m not sure you meet the standards for this activity.

I agree with @candbgirl that if you are going to the work and trouble to enroll in a masters program to improve your chances at getting into medical school, it is much better to apply after you have your grades from the masters program to show your abilities.
So, could you wait until next May to apply?

 

[Yasuo23]

Are you fluent in Spanish ?

Yes, I speak it at home and have helped with translations.

 

[Yasuo23]

Are you applying in June? If so why aren’t you waiting to get your grades etc from the Masters program you have enrolled in.
Your 300 hours of tutoring is not nonclinical volunteering. It is tutoring/teaching.
Fund raising isn’t really nonclinical volunteering. What did you do at the church that you think is non clinical,volunteering?
The descriptors for Nonclinical volunteering are pretty explicit. I’m not sure you meet the standards for this activity.

Sorry you're right about the tutoring I just wasn't sure where to put it and I saw other posts include it under "non-clinical volunteering" so I went with that.

As for the church, I was more so involved with the collection and distribution of food items. Kind of like a food bank but it was under a church. Activities like those that were more so geared towards giving back to the community.

The fundraising thing was through the club I was part of but now that I think of it more it was less volunteering and more club activities.

Thank you

 

[Yasuo23]

I agree with @candbgirl that if you are going to the work and trouble to enroll in a masters program to improve your chances at getting into medical school, it is much better to apply after you have your grades from the masters program to show your abilities.
So, could you wait until next May to apply?

I'm no really sure what to say. Part of me knows it would probably be better to apply next year after my masters program but at the same time I am under huge pressure from my family. I personally would also like to try my chances now, as low as they may be, and try again next year with the program in hand if I am unsuccessful.

Quick question that I just thought of: since I qualified for FAP, and I honestly do think I'll qualify again next year, would I still get the 20 free primary applications assuming I use all of them this cycle?

Thank you

 

[wysdoc]

I'm no really sure what to say. Part of me knows it would probably be better to apply next year after my masters program but at the same time I am under huge pressure from my family. I personally would also like to try my chances now, as low as they may be, and try again next year with the program in hand if I am unsuccessful.

Quick question that I just thought of: since I qualified for FAP, and I honestly do think I'll qualify again next year, would I still get the 20 free primary applications assuming I use all of them this cycle?

Thank you

What you probably haven't taken into consideration too is how much time it takes to complete your application and all those secondary essays.
This could detract from the time you need to spend on getting great grades in your Masters program.
I'm not trying to pressure you, just to paint the big picture of how to set yourself up for success in the hopes of only having to do this application once.

 

[Yasuo23]

What you probably haven't taken into consideration too is how much time it takes to complete your application and all those secondary essays.
This could detract from the time you need to spend on getting great grades in your Masters program.
I'm not trying to pressure you, just to paint the big picture of how to set yourself up for success in the hopes of only having to do this application once.

I understand, thank you. Couldn't I prewrite all my secondary's in June and have them ready to go before school even starts? That is what I planned on doing.

I appreciate the advice and I will take it into consideration, but as of right now I do want to apply this year. Do you think you could give me a realistic expectation / school list?

 

[Faha]

Post your new MCAT score here when available and I will suggest schools.

 

[chilly_md]

What were your year by year GPA trends for both cGPA and sGPA? AMCAS and AACOMAS do not display it by semester.

 

[Yasuo23]

What were your year by year GPA trends for both cGPA and sGPA? AMCAS and AACOMAS do not display it by semester.

cGPA/sGPA
Freshmen: 2.776/2.6
Sophomore: 3.313/3.435
Junior: 3.722/3.667
Senior: 3.935/3.962

Sorry for formatting, wrote this on my phone lol

 

[chilly_md]

cGPA/sGPA
Freshmen: 2.776/2.6
Sophomore: 3.313/3.435
Junior: 3.722/3.667
Senior: 3.935/3.962

Sorry for formatting, wrote this on my phone lol

You may not need to do the masters depending on the MCAT retake, especially if you are open to DO schools.

 

[Yasuo23]

You may not need to do the masters depending on the MCAT retake, especially if you are open to DO schools.

I will post my score here when it releases in May.
I am very open to DO schools! I know my chances at an MD are low due to my low cGPA and sGPA.

 

[Yasuo23]

You may not need to do the masters depending on the MCAT retake, especially if you are open to DO schools.

Post your new MCAT score here when available and I will suggest schools.

Just got my retake MCAT score!

It’s a 511! (127,127,129,128)

Please let me know what scores are good for me! Thank you!

 

[chilly_md]

Just got my retake MCAT score!

It’s a 511!

Please let me know what scores are good for me! Thank you!

I suggest:
All NJ schools
Drexel
Temple
Georgetown
George Washington
Quinnipiac
Albany
NYMC
Einstein
Penn State
Vermont
Oakland
Wayne State
MCW
Miami
Nova MD
Tulane
Arizona Phoenix and Tucson (they value Spanish speakers I believe, check their special pre-reqs though)

Try these for DO schools:
Rowan
NYIT
Touro NY
DMU
PCOM
KCU
Marian
LECOM
UNE

 

[Faha]

Just got my retake MCAT score!

It’s a 511! (127,127,129,128)

Please let me know what scores are good for me! Thank you!

I suggest these schools with your stats:
Your 3 NJ state public MD schools
Hackensack
New York Medical College
Albany
Einstein
Vermont
Quinnipiac
Dartmouth
Tufts
Drexel
Temple
Jefferson
Penn State
George Washington
Georgetown
Virginia Commonwealth
Eastern Virginia
Wake Forest
NOVA MD
Miami
Tulane
TCU
Creighton
Loyola
Rosalind Franklin
Medical College Wisconsin
Oakland Beaumont
Wayne State
Loma Linda (if you fit their mission)
Arizona (Tucson and Phoenix)
For DO schools I suggest these:
Rowan
NYITCOM
Touro-NY
LECOM (all schools)
PCOM
NOVA
UIWSOM
AZCOM
CCOM
KCU-COM
ATSU-KCOM
MU-COM