3.55 cGPA, 3.32 sGPA, URM- Need help with school list!!!

[bulldawg123]

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SCHOOL LIST HELP/ COMPETITIVENESS OF APP!!!

I am applying to MD schools this cycle and need help compiling a list of schools. Here are my stats:
Live in georgia; hoping to stay in southeast/east
URM African american male, first generation

My cGPA is 3.55 with an upward trend with a sGPA of 3.32 at the University of Georgia (Biology degree)

Just took the 5/20 MCAT so don't have score back yet but am thoroughly expecting ~508-510 (will update later, but assuming MCAT score will be competitive)

ECs: Shadowed an internist for ~40 hrs
Have been a volunteer YoungLife leader throughout college ( ~800 hours); about 10-15 hrs a week - YoungLife is an organization that leads and mentors high school students
Hobbies include photography/film (~100 hours) and exercise (~3 hrs/week)
2 non-medical mission trips to Nicaragua and Costa Rica (~400 hours)

Work experience: Work for the Recreational Sports Department at UGA. I work 9-12 hours every week
Student staff employee with YoungLife; in addition to volunteer commitments, this is about 5-7 hrs of additional requirements which include outreaching to the community
Have been employed part-time all of school while taking a full-time class schedule.
Worked every summer in between years.

@Goro @gyngyn

 

[Goro]

No clinical experience? Shadowing doesn't count in that regard, nor do the medical missions, which are treat as medical tourism.

SCHOOL LIST HELP/ COMPETITIVENESS OF APP!!!

I am applying to MD schools this cycle and need help compiling a list of schools. Here are my stats:
Live in georgia; hoping to stay in southeast/east
URM African american male, first generation

My cGPA is 3.55 with an upward trend with a sGPA of 3.32 at the University of Georgia (Biology degree)

Just took the 5/20 MCAT so don't have score back yet but am thoroughly expecting ~508-510 (will update later, but assuming MCAT score will be competitive)

ECs: Shadowed an internist for 40 hrs
Have been a volunteer YoungLife leader throughout college ( ~800 hours); about 10-15 hrs a week
Hobbies include photography/film and exercise
2 non-medical mission trips to Nicaragua and Costa Rica (1 week each)

Work experience: Work for the Recreational Sports Department at UGA. I work 9-12 hours every week
Student staff employee with YoungLife; in addition to volunteer commitments, this is about 5-7 hrs of additional requirements which include outreaching to the community

@Goro @gyngyn

 

[bulldawg123]

No clinical experience? Shadowing doesn't count in that regard, nor do the medical missions, which are treat as medical tourism.

What if my shadowing includes interactions with patients/ centrifuging blood? Both of which I specified in AMCAS
Is clinical experience not interacting with patients/physicians and seeing their interactions?

 

[bulldawg123]

Think of it from a different perspective. If you went on a police ride along, would you say you had law enforcement experience?

I see your point. So shadowing cannot be considered clinical experience in any sense?

 

[Goro]

Nope. Shadowing let's you know what a doctor's day is like.

Here's the deal: You need to show AdComs that you know what you're getting into, and show off your altruistic, humanistic side. We need to know that you're going to like being around sick or injured people for the next 40 years.

Here's another way of looking at it: would you buy a new car without test driving it? Buy a new suit or dress without trying it on??

We're also not looking for merely for good medical students, we're looking for people who will make good doctors, and 4.0 GPA robots are a dime-a-dozen.

I've seen plenty of posts here from high GPA/high MCAT candidates who were rejected because they had little patient contact experience.

Not all volunteering needs to be in a hospital. Think hospice, Planned Parenthood, nursing homes, rehab facilities, crisis hotlines, camps for sick children, or clinics.

Some types of volunteer activities are more appealing than others. Volunteering in a nice suburban hospital is all very well and good and all, but doesn't show that you're willing to dig in and get your hands dirty in the same way that working with the developmentally disabled (or homeless, the dying, or Alzheimers or mentally ill or elderly or ESL or domestic, rural impoverished) does. The uncomfortable situations are the ones that really demonstrate your altruism and get you 'brownie points'. Plus, they frankly teach you more -- they develop your compassion and humanity in ways comfortable situations can't.

I see your point. So shadowing cannot be considered clinical experience in any sense?

 

[bulldawg123]

Nope. Shadowing let's you know what a doctor's day is like.

Here's the deal: You need to show AdComs that you know what you're getting into, and show off your altruistic, humanistic side. We need to know that you're going to like being around sick or injured people for the next 40 years.

Here's another way of looking at it: would you buy a new car without test driving it? Buy a new suit or dress without trying it on??

We're also not looking for merely for good medical students, we're looking for people who will make good doctors, and 4.0 GPA robots are a dime-a-dozen.

I've seen plenty of posts here from high GPA/high MCAT candidates who were rejected because they had little patient contact experience.

Not all volunteering needs to be in a hospital. Think hospice, Planned Parenthood, nursing homes, rehab facilities, crisis hotlines, camps for sick children, or clinics.

Some types of volunteer activities are more appealing than others. Volunteering in a nice suburban hospital is all very well and good and all, but doesn't show that you're willing to dig in and get your hands dirty in the same way that working with the developmentally disabled (or homeless, the dying, or Alzheimers or mentally ill or elderly or ESL or domestic, rural impoverished) does. The uncomfortable situations are the ones that really demonstrate your altruism and get you 'brownie points'. Plus, they frankly teach you more -- they develop your compassion and humanity in ways comfortable situations can't.

So what do you recommend that I do? Is my application not competitive enough as is to be considered?

If so, will securing a volunteer position for this coming year help me towards this cycle? or since I will not be able to put that on AMCAS is it a lost cause?

If it is competitive, then do you have a list of schools that I should be looking at? Thanks for the help

 

[Goro]

I'm afraid that without clinical experience, you're not competitive. What say my wise collegues @gonnif, @LizzyM and @gyngyn???

So what do you recommend that I do? Is my application not competitive enough as is to be considered?

If so, will securing a volunteer position for this coming year help me towards this cycle? or since I will not be able to put that on AMCAS is it a lost cause?

If it is competitive, then do you have a list of schools that I should be looking at? Thanks for the help

 

[WedgeDawg]

Moving to WAMC

 

[LizzyM]

I would count shadowing as clinical experience but you have only 40 hours which isn't much. Putting it all in the future isn't an option. You have devoted an enormous amount of time to YoungLife which is a non-denominational Christian youth group when some other applicants would have had been a first responder to emergencies on campus or volunteered in the pediatric ward.

It is best not to be a reapplicant. At this point, I am afraid that you will be one. You are a black male which is a plus and it is possible that a late application with a summer of full-time clinical work or volunteer experience would be a positive but it would also be a gamble. I think that if you are going to have to apply this cycle, you do so late and with at least 200 hours of volunteer or paid work experience in a clinical setting speaking with, if not touching, patients.

 

[GrapesofRath]

Your GPA's are fine for an African American Male Matriculant(average for African American MD matriculants was 3.47 cGPA 3.35 sGPA and the HBMC's dont really affect that average) but as others have said you can obviously use some shoring up in weaker areas of the non academic parts of your app.

If you wait a year it a) gives you more time to prep for the MCAT and can ensure you give your best most prepared effort b) shore up the weaker parts of your ECs. Hit 508+ on the MCAT and you are a reasonable candidate for scholarship money as well from a number of MD schools. The higher you get on the MCAT, the more top schools can be in reach for you as a URM which are the ones that again tend to give the most scholarship money. I would say the best bet here is to wait a year. If you do, you can go from someone trying to scrap by to just get into a single MD school to being someone potentially having multiple big scholarship offers, including from some pretty high end schools if you give sufficient prep for the MCAT and refining your ECs.

80% of African Americans with your GPA who hit 27 on the old MCAT(502+) were accepted to an MD school last cycle who applied. Youll be fine if you just shore up the non academic areas of your app which will take a year. It's the best investment of your time you could make.

 

[bulldawg123]

Just an update: I have had one interview already and have two II's already scheduled. All with MD schools

 

[gyngyn]

Just an update: I have had one interview already and have two II's already scheduled. All with MD schools

Great!
What was your MCAT?

 

[bulldawg123]

Great!
What was your MCAT?[/QUOTE
MCAT was 508

 

[bulldawg123]

Great!
What was your MCAT?

508!

 

[bulldawg123]

I have been accepted at 2 schools, and will be attending MCG in the fall

 

[brainznbeauty]

I would count shadowing as clinical experience but you have only 40 hours which isn't much. Putting it all in the future isn't an option. You have devoted an enormous amount of time to YoungLife which is a non-denominational Christian youth group when some other applicants would have had been a first responder to emergencies on campus or volunteered in the pediatric ward.

It is best not to be a reapplicant. At this point, I am afraid that you will be one. You are a black male which is a plus and it is possible that a late application with a summer of full-time clinical work or volunteer experience would be a positive but it would also be a gamble. I think that if you are going to have to apply this cycle, you do so late and with at least 200 hours of volunteer or paid work experience in a clinical setting speaking with, if not touching, patients.

I understand opinions such as this are gold, however, I am afraid to say this is an example of why opinions on this platform are exactly that... opinions.

 

[LizzyM]

That's what keeps us humble.

 

[Goro]

I understand opinions such as this are gold, however, I am afraid to say this is an example of why opinions on this platform are exactly that... opinions.

You necrobumped this thread to gloat at LizzyM?