MD & DO 3.53 cGPA, 3.63 sGPA, 511 MCAT chances?

[drsoon07]

Hey Guys,

So here is my application profile:

Major: Bio (neuroscience track) at Top 20 private
Ethnicity: Half Guyanese, Half Puerto-Rican (URM?), I speak conversational Spanish, understand it well, know medical terms in Spanish. English is my first language.

FL resident.

cGPA: 3.53 (strong upward trend: 2.65 freshman year, 3.6+ thereafter)
sGPA: 3.63
MCAT: 511 (129/123/130/129)

Volunteering:
Health education fairs for the homeless: 36 hours
Tutor adults studying for GED: 48 hours
Teaching kids neuroscience: 48 hours

Clinical Experience:
Hospice volunteer: 352 hours (2 years)
ALS volunteer: 4 hours
Medical brigade in Honduras: 40 hours
Spanish medical clinic for uninsured: will be volunteering as an interpreter

Shadowing: 50 hours
2 neurosurgeons, 1 cardiologist

Leadership:
President, Vice president, and Treasurer of Neuroscience club on campus
Triathlon for kids with cerebral palsy planning committee
Co-ran Brain Bee events

Research:
Have gotten a couple grants/fellowships to do research
1 Summer in one lab: 320 hours
2 years in another lab: 800 hours
1 publication in review
many poster and oral presentations

Work Experience:
-worked at a consignment business for the past two years as a cashier and did manual labor: 200 hours (seasonal job)
-I plan to work as a scribe during my gap year

ExtraCurricular:
Cheerleader in college (I'm a male btw) 1 year, huge time commitment had to stop and focus on school
Sailing club: 1 year

Low gpa due to college transitioning/learning how to study curve.
I am not sure how the low CARS will affect me, I got 127-128 on all my practice exams.


School list:
FAU
FIU
FSU
UF
UCF
USF
Univ of Miami
Central Michigan
Rowan
EVMS
Marshall
Michigan State
Beaumont
Toledo
UMKC
U of SC greenville
VCU
Wright state
Albany
NYMC
Rosy Franklin
Creighton
Drexel
Netter
Dartmouth
George Washington
Georgetown
Temple
Jefferson
Loyola
Rush
SLU
Commonwealth
Wake Forest
Homer stryker

DO schools?

Any suggestions?

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[Goro]

Here is a more realistic list:

U VM
ALL FL schools
Duke (maybe)
Case
Both Mayos
St. Louis
Albany
Albert Einstein
Rochester
Rush (note: very service/experience oriented with a 150hr service requirement. Avg student has 800 hours of community service, and >1800 hours of health care exposure.)
Rosy Franklin
BU
MCW
Hofstra
NYMC
VCU
EVMS
Wake Forest
Jefferson
Temple
Drexel
Creighton
George Washington
Emory
USC/Keck
Tulane
Dartmouth
Loyola
Oakland-B
Uniformed Services University/Hebert (just be aware of the military service commitment)
Any DO program, starting with LECOM-B and Nova

 

[drsoon07]

Thanks Goro.

Any glaring weaknesses I should work on before applying?

 

[GrapesofRath]

It's hard to predict how any individual school or committee will evaluate potential URM status in situations like this but that is another potential factor here certainly. Likewise a 123 will have a varying effect by school which can also make how specifically schools will look at you a bit more complicated to predict

Your OOS list as is is full of low yield schools that either get >11k apps or aren't the best choices OOS many of them can be edited out without reducing your chances of success. As long as you apply to your state schools given what you've listed picking some reaches to see if some might classify you under URM status even with the 123 is fine. Service to your specific URM community is something some evaluators/schools could look for in particular and is worth adding if you aren't applying until next cycle

 

[drsoon07]

Would it be worth it to retake the MCAT for a better more balanced score?

 

[drsoon07]

I was told by a pre-health advisor to take a writing intensive class and ask for a recommendation letter from the professor to offset my low CARS score of 123. Do you guys agree or have a different opinion?