What are my chances? URM

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kole

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Hello. What do you all think my chances are at the schools listed, granted I get around a 515 on the MCAT? I know my gpa is low, and makes some of these schools a reach. Please provide your thoughts and possible suggestions to schools I should apply to. I would like to move north, somewhere cold. Gaining more clinical experience now, and will have much more by secondaries. Please be kind. :):):)

Year in school: Senior
Country/state of residence: Georgia
Schools to which you are applying: UChicago, UMichigan, UVA, UMaryland, Columbia, Emory, Morehouse, MCG(Augusta University), Meharry, Howard. Working list Maybe DO schools
Cumulative GPA: 3.41
Science GPA: 3.34
MCAT Scores: Kaplan practice highest was 502, average 496-498. With 50% content review. Take official in July aiming for 515.
Research: Class research project. Resulted in a poster presentation.
Volunteering (clinical): 4 hr at homeless clinic
Physician shadowing: 8/ anesthesiology (all OR), 24hr/ED (scribing)
Non-clinical volunteering: None
Extracurricular activities: Minority Association of Pre-Health Students (3 yr): Treasurer and Academic Director
Employment history: Medical Scribe- 6 months, Student Assistant in Housing-1 yr, The Home Depot- 1 yr, and Organic Chemistry Tutor- 2 yr
Please include time span and weekly commitment for volunteering/research/shadowing/extracurriculars: MAPS 1/week during each semster for 3 years
Immediate family members in medicine? (y/n): No
Specialty of interest: Radiology
Shadowing experience: 24 hr ED doc, 8 hr Anesthesiologist
Graduate degrees: None
Interest in rural health (y/n): No

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Definitely add some DO schools. And take out UChicago, UMich, Columbia, and UVA as these four like really big numbers (we're talking 3.85+ GPA's and 36/518 + MCAT medians). I would also take out U of Maryland as they have stats well above yours and being a public school, are less receptive to OOS students. URM status helps, but not enough to accommodate a 3.4/3.3 GPA for these particular schools. UMich's 10% GPA is a 3.6+ for example.

A 515 MCAT would really help, but it sounds like you have quite a bit of work ahead of you to achieve this goal. I would add some D.O. schools and low-tier/new M.D. schools (except Northridge).

You also need to bulk up on your volunteer hours both clinical and non-clinical (many applicants will have well over 100 hours of both). Scribing is good clinical experience, but you don't have a lot here that shows your altruistic side.
 
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Are you planning to apply in June? I hope not. You should plan to take a gap year or two. Your ECs are very weak. You really need to work on all of those. By taking the MCATin July, you won't get your score back until August. That's not good. You do realize that a 502 is about a 26 on the old MCAT? And your average of 496-498 is between a 23-24. Those are too low for any MD school. I know you are shooting for a 515 but you need to be realistic. Until you have a MCAT score it is impossible to help you with a realistic list of schools, but even with a MCAT you have holes in your application that you should fill. You really only want to apply one time with the best possible package. You don't want to be a reapplicant. Have you researched DO schools? Your GPAs are more in line with DO but your ECs are still weak.


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Are you planning to apply in June? I hope not. You should plan to take a gap year or two. Your ECs are very weak. You really need to work on all of those. By taking the MCATin July, you won't get your score back until August. That's not good. You do realize that a 502 is about a 26 on the old MCAT? And your average of 496-498 is between a 23-24. Those are too low for any MD school. I know you are shooting for a 515 but you need to be realistic. Until you have a MCAT score it is impossible to help you with a realistic list of schools, but even with a MCAT you have holes in your application that you should fill. You really only want to apply one time with the best possible package. You don't want to be a reapplicant. Have you researched DO schools? Your GPAs are more in line with DO but your ECs are still weak.


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A little harsh. I am applying this cycle, multiple medical schools (MDs) have told me that august would not be a problem. Practice MCAT were taken with only about 50% content review. ECs are weak but plan to increase during gap year. Thanks for what I think is constructive criticism.

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What community do you represent? And please don't say Macon.
I don't understand what you mean by "community". I hope you don't mean race as that doesn't matter, but I'm not from Macon.

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I don't understand what you mean by "community". I hope you don't mean race as that doesn't matter, but I'm not from Macon.

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Race definitely matters
 
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The GPA wouldn't even be so bad if you were hispanic/black, but your EC's suck and your MCAT is too low. You should take a gap year or apply to low tier med schools and DO schools
 
I don't want that to be that one focused of the thread.
Yet you put "URM" in the title of said thread? Regardless of your feelings on the matter, your chances will vary drastically depending on which community you belong to. If you want accurate advice from Goro and others, please disclose.
 
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