3.85 GPA, super cool E.C's.. but 28 MCAT

[3bamboo]

Hey guys thanks for taking the time to give me some advice:
I posted this a little while back and now the official MCAT came in and I am worried..
I am going to apply early June, as soon as possible! (also white male)

9VR 9PS 10BS
My gpa is 3.81 (will hopefully rise to 3.85 by application time) science GPA around 3.75

For my "stand out EC" I worked for 5 months doing a research project in Antarctica during my junior year. Im pretty sure I can spend an entire interview talking about what its like to live for 4 months with only 30 people on a remote isolated station surrounded by penguins haha, so i figure that is my best statistic.

Other than that I have pretty typical EC's including:
2 years of grade school tutoring for low income students
1.5 years of working with UCSF medical students at a homeless clinic
1.5 years of volunteering at the haight ashbury medical clinic (shadow, taking BP, helping in the lab)
.5 year as a leadership member for peer health exchange
A couple of awards from my school
and during my year off I will work in a hospital as some sort of tech I am guessing..

Will that 28 just throw me out of the running? Does anyone know of people who got a 28 and still got in? I really don't want to retake the MCAT but would I be wasting my time applying? Any recommended schools for me besides University of Nevada (which is my only hope I think..) I would say MD only just because idk if I have the time to spend a year volunteering with a DO...?
thank you for any help you can give!!

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[Catalystik]

Hey guys thanks for taking the time to give me some advice:
I posted this a little while back and now the official MCAT came in and I am worried..
I am going to apply early June, as soon as possible! (also white male)

9VR 9PS 10BS
My gpa is 3.81 (will hopefully rise to 3.85 by application time) science GPA around 3.75

For my "stand out EC" I worked for 5 months doing a research project in Antarctica during my junior year. Im pretty sure I can spend an entire interview talking about what its like to live for 4 months with only 30 people on a remote isolated station surrounded by penguins haha, so i figure that is my best statistic.

Other than that I have pretty typical EC's including:
2 years of grade school tutoring for low income students
1.5 years of working with UCSF medical students at a homeless clinic
1.5 years of volunteering at the haight ashbury medical clinic (shadow, taking BP, helping in the lab)
.5 year as a leadership member for peer health exchange
A couple of awards from my school
and during my year off I will work in a hospital as some sort of tech I am guessing..

1) Will that 28 just throw me out of the running?
2) Does anyone know of people who got a 28 and still got in?
3) I really don't want to retake the MCAT but would I be wasting my time applying?
4) Any recommended schools for me besides University of Nevada (which is my only hope I think..)
5) I would say MD only just because idk if I have the time to spend a year volunteering with a DO...?
thank you for any help you can give!!

1) No.
2) Yes, and lower than that, too, where ECs were terrific, in applicants with your same demographic.
3) No. Though if you were planning to apply this cycle, your chances would be markedly diminished from what one might predict, so I'm glad you're planning for next June.
4) With a 3.85/28, consider looking into:
Toledo, Wake, Creighton (unfriendly to CC credit?), Nebraska, LSU-NO, NYMC, Vermont, Hofstra (newer)
Wayne, Wright, Drexel, FAU (new), Tulane, MSU (high OOS tuition), Oakland (newer in MI), Penn State (requires a research thesis), Commonwealth in Pa (seeks to train rural NE PA docs), Arizona X 2,
VCU, Louisville, UIllinois (high OOS tuition), Buffalo,
EVMS, RFU, Cooper (new)
5) Where did you get the idea that you need to shadow a DO for a year? About 50 hours is usually sufficient to get a decent LOR, and some get by with far less. Be sure your shadowing includes an office-based primary care doc, MD or DO. Adding some DO schools will markedly improve your odds if an MCAT retake is something you want to avoid.

 

[darklabel]

Hey guys thanks for taking the time to give me some advice:
I posted this a little while back and now the official MCAT came in and I am worried..
I am going to apply early June, as soon as possible! (also white male)

9VR 9PS 10BS
My gpa is 3.81 (will hopefully rise to 3.85 by application time) science GPA around 3.75

For my "stand out EC" I worked for 5 months doing a research project in Antarctica during my junior year. Im pretty sure I can spend an entire interview talking about what its like to live for 4 months with only 30 people on a remote isolated station surrounded by penguins haha, so i figure that is my best statistic.

Other than that I have pretty typical EC's including:
2 years of grade school tutoring for low income students
1.5 years of working with UCSF medical students at a homeless clinic
1.5 years of volunteering at the haight ashbury medical clinic (shadow, taking BP, helping in the lab)
.5 year as a leadership member for peer health exchange
A couple of awards from my school
and during my year off I will work in a hospital as some sort of tech I am guessing..

Will that 28 just throw me out of the running? Does anyone know of people who got a 28 and still got in? I really don't want to retake the MCAT but would I be wasting my time applying? Any recommended schools for me besides University of Nevada (which is my only hope I think..) I would say MD only just because idk if I have the time to spend a year volunteering with a DO...?
thank you for any help you can give!!

Retake the MCAT in January or April (Plenty of time to study, but start now!) And have everything ready for when applications open June 1st. Keep volunteering and taking classes from here until then and apply broadly. Heck, even apply to a few reach school since those are some good stats. Allopathic is possible (up in the air, but if you apply broadly, early and smartly, you'll get in somewhere) and you're a shoe in for a good Osteopathic school.

Best of luck.