WAMC/Where to apply-high MCAT, relatively low everything else

[mw26933]

Looking to apply next cycle if possible

GPA: 3.67, sGPA: 3.64, upward trend from 3.3 end of freshman year
MCAT: 521 (132/127/132/130)
State of Residency: MO
White
Undergrad: T4
Clinical Experience: appx 100 hours as a volunteer EMT, not sure if this counts but 30ish hours shadowing techs in the ER for EMT license, basically they just had us do all the stuff they did but checked what we did, so it was definitely very meaningful and lots of patient contact but idk if it counts for anything
Research: appx 1200 hours, couple conference abstracts, should have a first author pub in mid level journal in next couple months, honors thesis
Shadowing: 26 hours, primarily in EM and pathology
Non-clinical volunteering: this is very rough, but 50 hours teaching health topics to high schoolers, some other sporadic stuff that maybe adds up to 70 hours max
Other extracurriculars: Div 1 athletics on a top 10 ranked team, leadership team for 3 years for a large student athlete ministry group
Honors/Awards: just a couple grants for research during 2 summers and a small grant from a conference to travel and present

Obviously I'll apply to in state schools (ie Mizzou), other than that I'm not quite sure what to do. Besides getting more volunteering hours before applying, anything else I should work on before applying also?

Thank you for your help!!

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[Mr.Smile12]

Looking to apply next cycle if possible

GPA: 3.67, sGPA: 3.64, upward trend from 3.3 end of freshman year
MCAT: 521 (132/127/132/130)
State of Residency: MO
White
Undergrad: T4
Clinical Experience: appx 100 hours as a volunteer EMT, not sure if this counts but 30ish hours shadowing techs in the ER for EMT license, basically they just had us do all the stuff they did but checked what we did, so it was definitely very meaningful and lots of patient contact but idk if it counts for anything
Research: appx 1200 hours, couple conference abstracts, should have a first author pub in mid level journal in next couple months, honors thesis
Shadowing: 26 hours, primarily in EM and pathology
Non-clinical volunteering: this is very rough, but 50 hours teaching health topics to high schoolers, some other sporadic stuff that maybe adds up to 70 hours max
Other extracurriculars: Div 1 athletics on a top 10 ranked team, leadership team for 3 years for a large student athlete ministry group
Honors/Awards: just a couple grants for research during 2 summers and a small grant from a conference to travel and present

Obviously I'll apply to in state schools (ie Mizzou), other than that I'm not quite sure what to do. Besides getting more volunteering hours before applying, anything else I should work on before applying also?

Thank you for your help!!

Have you met with your prehealth advisors on campus? What advice did they give you?

Yes more physician shadowing. Did you do more community service, especially with others in athletics and your faith-based organization?

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[Faha]

You need another 20 hours of physician shadowing. Also 100+ hours of clinical volunteering with patient contact (hospital or hospice setting would be good). That is your main weakness and your chances for interviews will be limited with your current hours.
I suggest these schools assuming more shadowing and clinical volunteering:
Your state public schools
Washington University
USF Morsani
Miami
Case Western
Cincinnati
Western Michigan
Ohio State
U Michigan
Iowa
Illinois
Rochester
Hofstra
Einstein
Mount Sinai
NYU
Jefferson
UVA
Vermont
Boston University
Tufts
Kaiser
California University
USC Keck

 

[mw26933]

Have you met with your prehealth advisors on campus? What advice did they give you?

Yes more physician shadowing. Did you do more community service, especially with others in athletics and your faith-based organization?

Sent from my SM-N960U using SDN mobile

Yeah, I've met with them, they've never even asked about volunteer hours though, they were more concerned with making sure I continued to get good grades this year. Unfortunately not significantly more community service, like 12 through a specific event but that was about it, most of the stuff we would do was once a year so we'd do something for 2 or 3 hours once every year.

 

[mw26933]

You need another 20 hours of physician shadowing. Also 100+ hours of clinical volunteering with patient contact (hospital or hospice setting would be good). That is your main weakness and your chances for interviews will be limited with your current hours.
I suggest these schools assuming more shadowing and clinical volunteering:
Your state public schools
Washington University
USF Morsani
Miami
Case Western
Cincinnati
Western Michigan
Ohio State
U Michigan
Iowa
Illinois
Rochester
Hofstra
Einstein
Mount Sinai
NYU
Jefferson
UVA
Vermont
Boston University
Tufts
Kaiser
California University
USC Keck

Thank you for that list of schools, I wouldn't have thought of most of those! Also for the additional clinical volunteering, would you mind telling me why hospital/hospice setting would be more advantageous than volunteering as an EMT? I had previously assumed that being an EMT would be better since you play some role in the patients care. I haven't seen any good volunteer clinical opportunities around me but I'll look into hospice programs!

 

[Faha]

EMT is sometimes seen as limited patient contact since there can be significant down time.