3.72cGPA/500->504 (lol) MCAT/URM

[BonezBonezBonez]

I just want an idea of what my school list should look like, I feel like i know a lot but i also dont think i know enough so your help would be very appreciate

As stated in my title, I graduated May last year i have cGPA: 3.72, sGPA: 3.62, finished freshman year with a 3.4 GPA because of medical reasons so a slight upward trend there. I scheduled my MCAT retake for June 15th and from my practice i'm looking at between a 508-515, 504 actual, 21 years old, south Florida resident, black immigrant and recently became a citizen (yay!), speaks multiple languages (if that's relevant)

Volunteering/Shadowing:
- 70+ hours with my city's community garden project (essentially going around different parks in - town and taking care of fruit and vegetable plots)
- 250 hours volunteering as a tennis coach
- 80 hours volunteering at soup kitchens/food drives
- 110 hours volunteering for a local middle school as an after school tutor
- 270 hours of clinical volunteering
- 40 hours shadowing 2 separate physicians
- Was also president of my pre-health frat at my institution (Member for 2 years)

Work Experience:
- 600+ hrs as a substitute teacher
- 210 hours as a medical transport coordinator
- 500+ hours working as a teaching assistant for molecular biology and genetics
- 1000 hrs as a research manager in my local health system

Research:
- worked in two research labs for 6 months each (no publications or posters)
- 3 Posters (2 more on the way + 1 publication), first other on 2 posters

LORS:
- 1 letter from a physician, another from my manager (director of my department at the hospital), 1 from undergrad mentor, and another from the director of my school's premed department (he wrote me the letter before he was appointed)

I don't know if this is relevant at all, but the first time i took the MCAT my mom was diagnosed with a thyroid tumor, and the second time around she received another worst diagnoses 5 days before this exam. I know it affected me a lot, is this worth mentioning in secondaries when I fill them out?

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[candbgirl]

What’s a “ Medical Transport Coordinator”?

 

[BonezBonezBonez]

What’s a “ Medical Transport Coordinator”?

I coordinated transport for patients to and from the hospital for a third party organization licensed by the hospital. Essentially medical taxis, so i ordered transportation, made sure the pts go to and from their appointments alright, and that their insurance covered it

 

[Dream of the Endless]

I have 2 recommendations and a tip.

Tip: If you're redoing the same material (Like from AAMC right before your exam) your MCAT scores will likely be inflated.

Recommendation 1: You need clinical volunteering, man. Get that going ASAP so you can list it on your application as "hours I intend to complete" prior to your matriculation.

Recommendation 2: I strongly recommend spending some time looking at what letters schools require. For example, if they require an academic letter from a science teacher... You have none. Though non - traditional students have more leeway here.

 

[candbgirl]

I coordinated transport for patients to and from the hospital for a third party organization licensed by the hospital. Essentially medical taxis, so i ordered transportation, made sure the pts go to and from their appointments alright, and that their insurance covered it

It seems you have no direct clinical experience. What you describe sounds more administrative in nature than patient contact. In fact it sounds to me like you don’t even see the patients. You really shouldn’t apply without at least 150 hours of direct patient experience. I disagree with the above poster in that just starting your clinical work and then projecting a total number of hours is sufficient. The road is always paved with good intentions and I am sure you have the best of intentions to get the hours in BUT as we all know life happens and sometimes what you project isn’t what you end up doing. ADCOMS know this too so they might look at your projections and not give them much credence. Of course you can send updates to schools that accept them but by then the damage to your application might be done. So think about applying without Clinical Experience.
You will, at some point, have to answer the question “what makes you think you want to spend the next 30+ years working with the sick, injured and dying?”

Good luck on your retake.

 

[BonezBonezBonez]

I have 2 recommendations and a tip.

Tip: If you're redoing the same material (Like from AAMC right before your exam) your MCAT scores will likely be inflated.

Recommendation 1: You need clinical volunteering, man. Get that going ASAP so you can list it on your application as "hours I intend to complete" prior to your matriculation.

Recommendation 2: I strongly recommend spending some time looking at what letters schools require. For example, if they require an academic letter from a science teacher... You have none. Though non - traditional students have more leeway here.

Actually two of my letters are from professors I also took classes with, i should have mentioned that. And you and the below poster are absolutely right, i need to get on and do some clinical volunteering as soon as I can. I've already started doing so but it was not significant so I didn't include it in my original post

 

[BonezBonezBonez]

It seems you have no direct clinical experience. What you describe sounds more administrative in nature than patient contact. In fact it sounds to me like you don’t even see the patients. You really shouldn’t apply without at least 150 hours of direct patient experience. I disagree with the above poster in that just starting your clinical work and then projecting a total number of hours is sufficient. The road is always paved with good intentions and I am sure you have the best of intentions to get the hours in BUT as we all know life happens and sometimes what you project isn’t what you end up doing. ADCOMS know this too so they might look at your projections and not give them much credence. Of course you can send updates to schools that accept them but by then the damage to your application might be done. So think about applying without Clinical Experience.
You will, at some point, have to answer the question “what makes you think you want to spend the next 30+ years working with the sick, injured and dying?”

Good luck on your retake.

Thank you so much for your response. The only reason i put the hours is because i didn't really understand the forum and figured that would have been the best format to display them, either way, I have started doing some clinical volunteering but it's not a significant amount so far, since my retake isnt until June 15th, my application will be verified by the end of june and sent to a single school at that time, but once i receive my MCAT score i'll be sending out to my complete school list. By that time I hope to have a significant amount of clinical experience, but we'll see! I'm still hopeful, and I want this so im going to go for it.

 

[Faha]

If you can accumulate at lest 100 hours of clinical volunteering with patient contact before you submit your application it will help your chances for interviews significantly. With your current stats and assuming you will have 100+ hours of clinical volunteering on your application I suggest these schools.
Howard
Meharry
Morehouse
U Florida
Florida State
NOVA MD
Central Florida
Florida Atlantic
Florida International
Quinnipiac
Vermont
New York Medical College
Drexel
Temple
Jefferson
George Washington
Seton Hall
Oakland Beaumont
Wayne State
Rosalind Franklin
You may be able to add more schools if your MCAT score goes up significantly. Post your new score here when available.

 

[BonezBonezBonez]

If you can accumulate at lest 100 hours of clinical volunteering with patient contact before you submit your application it will help your chances for interviews significantly. With your current stats and assuming you will have 100+ hours of clinical volunteering on your application I suggest these schools.
Howard
Meharry
Morehouse
U Florida
Florida State
NOVA MD
Central Florida
Florida Atlantic
Florida International
Quinnipiac
Vermont
New York Medical College
Drexel
Temple
Jefferson
George Washington
Seton Hall
Oakland Beaumont
Wayne State
Rosalind Franklin
You may be able to add more schools if your MCAT score goes up significantly. Post your new score here when available.

Thank you for this, I will update once I receive my new score. I really appreciate it.

 

[BonezBonezBonez]

I just want an idea of what my school list should look like, I feel like i know a lot but i also dont think i know enough so your help would be very appreciate

As stated in my title, I graduated May last year i have cGPA: 3.72, sGPA: 3.62, finished freshman year with a 3.4 GPA because of medical reasons so a slight upward trend there. I scheduled my MCAT retake for June 15th and from my practice i'm looking at between a 508-515, 21 years old, south Florida resident, black immigrant and recently became a citizen (yay!), speaks multiple languages (if that's relevant)

Volunteering/Shadowing:
- 70+ hours with my city's community garden project (essentially going around different parks in - town and taking care of fruit and vegetable plots)
- 250 hours volunteering as a tennis coach
- 80 hours volunteering at soup kitchens/food drives
- 110 hours volunteering for a local middle school as an after school tutor
- 270 hours of clinical volunteering
- 40 hours shadowing 2 separate physicians
- Was also president of my pre-health frat at my institution (Member for 2 years)

Work Experience:
- 600+ hrs as a substitute teacher
- 210 hours as a medical transport coordinator
- 500+ hours working as a teaching assistant for molecular biology and genetics
- 1000 hrs as a research manager in my local health system

Research:
- worked in two research labs for 6 months each (no publications or posters)
- 3 Posters (2 more on the way + 1 publication), first other on 2 posters

LORS:
- 1 letter from a physician, another from my manager (director of my department at the hospital), 1 from undergrad mentor, and another from the director of my school's premed department (he wrote me the letter before he was appointed)

I don't know if this is relevant at all, but the first time i took the MCAT my mom was diagnosed with a thyroid tumor, and the second time around she received another worst diagnoses 5 days before this exam. I know it affected me a lot, is this worth mentioning in secondaries when I fill them out to explain my scores?

I updated the post! Would love your input. @Faha @Goro @LizzyM

 

[Faha]

With your MCAT of 504 and other stats I suggest these schools:
Howard
Meharry
Morehouse
UCLA Drew
U Florida
Florida State
NOVA MD
Central Florida
Florida Atlantic
Florida International
Quinnipiac
Vermont
New York Medical College
Drexel
Temple
Jefferson
George Washington
Seton Hall
Oakland Beaumont
Wayne State
Rosalind Franklin
Loyola
St. Louis
Creighton
TCU-UNT

 

[BonezBonezBonez]

With your MCAT of 504 and other stats I suggest these schools:
Howard
Meharry
Morehouse
UCLA Drew
U Florida
Florida State
NOVA MD
Central Florida
Florida Atlantic
Florida International
Quinnipiac
Vermont
New York Medical College
Drexel
Temple
Jefferson
George Washington
Seton Hall
Oakland Beaumont
Wayne State
Rosalind Franklin
Loyola
St. Louis
Creighton
TCU-UNT

Thank you!