WAMC this cycle or should I wait: 3.97 GPA, 512 MCAT, NY resident

[premedlovesbread]

Hey all!

I couldn't really get a straight answer from my pre-med advisor about whether I should apply this cycle or wait until I have more clinical experience and my application is stronger, so maybe you folks can help me out.

1. cGPA: 3.97
2. MCAT score(s) and breakdown: 512 (125 Chem/Phys, 132 CARS, 132 Bio, 132 Psych/Soc)
3. State of residence: New York
4. Ethnicity and/or race: White
5. Undergraduate institution or category: Small-ish liberal arts college in MI
6. Clinical experience: 230 hours as a home health aide for a woman with cerebral palsy who I helped with meds, catheter care, hygiene, and other ADLs; it wasn't technically a clinical setting but it did teach me a lot about the daily challenges of a patient with multiple chronic conditions, and she and I formed a great relationship over the months that I worked with her. I also have a full-time medical assistant job lined up for this year where I'll be working out of several different ambulatory clinics attached to the major hospital in my city--it won't start in time to include it on apps if I applied this cycle, but it would be something to talk about in interviews/secondaries potentially.
7. Research experience and productivity: 300 hours in a biochemistry lab, no publications but a few presentations at departmental showcases and one national conference
8. Shadowing experience and specialties represented: 4 hours of shadowing a family medicine physician (not great, I know, but I might be able to fit in some more shadowing back home before I apply)
9. Non-clinical volunteering: 45 hours at a COVID test site last year (I think that's probably non-clinical because I was just directing traffic and helping with setup/takedown), 15 hours teaching a creative writing workshop for kids in an alternative suspension program, 15 hours volunteering as a member of a senior honor society (again, not a lot of hours--I'm planning to start volunteering with a food pantry this year and maybe also get involved in some political advocacy because that's something I'm also interested in, but I'm aware that all of that won't be included on my primaries)
10. Other extracurricular activities: I was an English major in undergrad, so I did a lot of activities related to that department. I worked as a writing tutor, directed the student newspaper, interned with a visiting writer speaker series, and published poetry in the campus literary journal. I also did some political science research in affordable housing the summer after my freshman year when I thought I wanted to major in poli sci for a minute, and I hosted a radio show.
11. Relevant honors or awards: Dean's List all semesters, earned the top English Department senior award, member of the Phi Beta Kappa national honor society, won some miscellaneous awards for my academic and creative writing too but not sure if those are relevant
12. Anything else not listed you think might be important: I'm aware that my activities skew more English-related than medicine-related, but I decided a little late in the game that I was all-in as a pre-med. I was also advised to consider applying DO by my pre-med advisor. I'm certainly not opposed to that, but would like to hear your thoughts and recommendations about which DO schools to include (I'm applying mostly in NY and the New England region, but maybe a handful of schools in the Midwest because that's where I did undergrad.

Let me know if there's more info that would be useful, and thanks in advance for your help!

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[Faha]

Your shadowing and non clinical volunteering hours are very low. You need to accumulate 50 hours of physician shadowing (including primary care) and more non clinical volunteering with those much less fortunate than you. What is your MCAT score? You list 512 but your subscores add up to 521.

 

[premedlovesbread]

Your shadowing and non clinical volunteering hours are very low. You need to accumulate 50 hours of physician shadowing (including primary care) and more non clinical volunteering with those much less fortunate than you. What is your MCAT score? You list 512 but your subscores add up to 521.

My bad! Those subscores are supposed to be Chem/Phys 125, CARS 130, Bio 127, and Psyc/Soc 130. Part of me wants to wait because of the exact concern you brought up and because I'll have so much more clinical exposure by the end of this year. Is that a good enough reason to wait this cycle out, or is there any merit in applying?

 

[Darrow O'Lykos]

You could potentially apply based on grades alone, but it'd be pretty risky. I'd wait until next year. It'll look a lot better having some real clinical experience under your belt. Get another ~200 hours of volunteering in over the next year, and you'll have a great application. You've put yourself in a good position academically, so next application cycle you'll likely get many interviews, whereas if you applied this year, it'd be far more of a crapshoot, and then you'd have to deal with being a re-applicant, which makes things more difficult. Plus you'll get to experience life outside of being a student. It's pretty great and will be a nice break before you start the grind of med school.

Your writing honors/awards are absolutely relevant and should be included in your apps.

You should be fine applying to most MD programs in those areas outside of the t20 due to your MCAT. Pick the top couple DO schools to apply to as well and you should be okay.

 

[premedlovesbread]

You could potentially apply based on grades alone, but it'd be pretty risky. I'd wait until next year. It'll look a lot better having some real clinical experience under your belt. Get another ~200 hours of volunteering in over the next year, and you'll have a great application. You've put yourself in a good position academically, so next application cycle you'll likely get many interviews, whereas if you applied this year, it'd be far more of a crapshoot, and then you'd have to deal with being a re-applicant, which makes things more difficult. Plus you'll get to experience life outside of being a student. It's pretty great and will be a nice break before you start the grind of med school.

Your writing honors/awards are absolutely relevant and should be included in your apps.

You should be fine applying to most MD programs in those areas outside of the t20 due to your MCAT. Pick the top couple DO schools to apply to as well and you should be okay.

That seems very sensible, and I do think it will be really restorative to have some time off since college was a pretty difficult season. Thank you so much for the input!

 

[Faha]

My bad! Those subscores are supposed to be Chem/Phys 125, CARS 130, Bio 127, and Psyc/Soc 130. Part of me wants to wait because of the exact concern you brought up and because I'll have so much more clinical exposure by the end of this year. Is that a good enough reason to wait this cycle out, or is there any merit in applying?

Wait until next year and accumulate the shadowing and non clinical volunteering hours. Also more clinical volunteering with patient contact (in a different setting than your previous activity).