MD 3.7/3.6 and 519

[ed*26]

Hello everyone! Thanks in advance for the honest advice. I'll be applying this summer as a traditional student.

3.7 cGPA 3.6 sGPA (upward trend: from 3.2 freshman yr to 3.8+ this year with grad/upper-level)
519 MCAT: 130/131/128/130 (only take)
Ohio citizen, white female at large public school. Science major, humanities minor

Clinical experience: limited. ~40 hrs volunteering in the child life (emotional/social support) office in a children's hospital my freshman year.

Research: >1000 hrs, several posters, a summer fellowship & other smaller funding awards, completing my thesis this year (which should turn into a 1st author pub, though no guarantee by application season). Won runner-up for a poster at a regional conference. I have a leadership position within the lab.

Shadowing experience:
~200 hrs shadowing various doctors (fairly broad range of physician areas)
~40 were from a longitudinal experience recruiting research subjects under my project's physician co-PI

Non-clinical volunteering:
~150 hours unpaid internship at my city's public health department for minority health. Some clinical exposure in that we trained health providers on best practies
~60 hours on campus doing safe sex education for freshmen & residence life.

Other extra curriculars:
-Leadership: current president and co-founder of a multicultural sorority.
-If it helps, I've worked almost every semester/break of college

Honors/Awards: Pretty much what I mentioned above: a nice research fellowship last summer and some other minor research funding awards, plus some scholarships I got as an incoming freshman. Also that runner-up for a regional research poster forum.

At this point I think my biggest weakness is a mediocre GPA (barely above 10th for some higher-ranked schools), but I'm hoping the upward trend and MCAT can overcome that. Possibly also the lack of clinical experience.

My current school list is as follows:

Case Western (CCLCM is the DREAM)
Ohio State
Cincinnatti
Toledo
NEOMED
Drexel
Sidney Kimmel / Jefferson
Rush
Northwestern
Illinois
Indiana
NYU
Icahn Mount Sinai
Pitt
Boston University
Tufts
Rochester
Georgetown
George Washington

I'd also like some more information on whether applying to Temple and Maryland is a good idea, given low OOS stats.

Thanks!

Edited to take out some personal details.

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[Goro]

This is lethal:
Clinical experience: limited. ~40 hrs volunteering in the child life (emotional/social support) office in a children's hospital my freshman year.

Did you actually interact with patients? You need to get >100 hrs of this.

 

[ed*26]

This is lethal:
Clinical experience: limited. ~40 hrs volunteering in the child life (emotional/social support) office in a children's hospital my freshman year.

Did you actually interact with patients? You need to get >100 hrs of this.

The child life was direct patient contact - entertaining and distracting children who were inpatients. To clarify, I have had well over 100 hrs of direct patient experience on that, a post-op floor, and emergency floor, but that was mostly high school and I was under the impression that we shouldn't include activities from then. I wanted something different for undergrad, which is why I went the research/public health/sorority/shadowing route.

My research also has some patient contact, but I'm not sure if it fits within the scope. We see infants through young children with stroke, cerebral palsy, Down Syndrome, spinal-muscular atrophy, and complex congenital heart disease. Each data collection has a clinical assessment component with a licensed physical therapist.

I realized that I forgot to add that my sister has Down Syndrome, if that helps. She's had her fair share of surgery, rehabilitation, and modifications needed for school and life in general. She's mentioned in my PS as an entry point for my interest in medicine.

What would you recommend? I like to think that I've demonstrated medical and humanitarian interests but now you've got me wondering. There isn't much time before apps open in May/June...

 

[Goro]

Just get in as much patient contact experience as you can. it doesn't all have to be in a hospital...think clinics, nursing homes or hospice.

 

[GrapesofRath]

If you can fix the deficits Goro was alluding to you there's really absolutely no need to apply to these "safety" lower tier programs. You have plenty of options in your state and many of these OOS lower tier schools you listed arent high yield for a 3.7/37 anyway.

Apply to all the schools in your state. Use OOS for reaches or schools you would definitely attend over your IS and that cheap IS tuition if accepted.