3.9/518 GA ORM, 19yo

[gapremed123]

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Hello, thank you for stopping by. I started formulating my school list after getting my MCAT score back, and I already applied to a throwaway school and got my application verified.

I graduated high school in CA, lived in GA over COVID years, and going to undergraduate school in IN.
My relatives reside in VA near DC/MD.
However, I am willing to travel by myself for med school if necessary.
I am graduating after two years of study as I obtained around 100 credits from dual enrollment. I verified my plan of study with the dean and advisor, so I don't need to worry about the scenario that I am not graduating on time.
I completed all the prerequisites.

Stats:
- Asian male, GA resident
- 19yo, no gap year
- 3.9 sGPA/cGPA. I got one B and one B+ from dual enrollment.
These were the first courses I've taken in high school. Both math courses, 5 credits each. Otherwise straight As.
- 518 MCAT (130, 127, 131, 130)

Extracurriculars:
- Medical Scribe (cross-trained in ED, Neurology, and ENT, 200 hours)
- Shadowing (~70 hours in Radiology, 20 hours across Family Medicine, Cardiology, and General Surgery)
- Nonclinical volunteering at the nursing home (150 hours)
- Dry-lab research in cancer imaging and machine learning since last year. No pubs. Leadership experience as I was the first member of the research group; my PI was new to this university too.

Misc/Anticipated:
- Elected as Anatomy and Physiology TA next year
- Won a scholarship in the department
- Honors college
- Wanted to CS/Engineering initially, so I have experience in coding and took some relevant courses. I know Carle looks for people who can code so I thought it was worth mentioning.
- Taking Casper in July.

LOR/PS:
- Physics Professor
- PI (Medical Physicist)
- Non-STEM recommendation from the honors course. I barely knew her so this won't contribute much.
- Radiologist I've been shadowing
I edited my PS with him and the instructor from my school's writing lab. I am satisfied with how they turned out.
I believe LORs are good. I regularly communicated with them throughout the year.

Rough School List:
Emory
MCGeorgia

Indiana University

UVA
VTech
VCU
EVM
UMD
Georgetown
GWU

Penn State
UPitt
UPenn

Harvard
NYU
Mayo
Icahn
Dartmouth
Brown

Stanford
UCSF
UCSD
UCLA
USC

Duke

Carle

Case Western

I know it is top-heavy currently and haven't considered options outside my region well. Any suggestions are welcome.

@Faha @Goro

Thank you and please let me know if you need anything else.

 

[MyOdyssey]

Your MCAT is average or slightly below average for the heavy hitters and is weighed down by your CARS score. Have you taken many reading heavy classes in the social sciences & humanities? Would you stay another year to do so & perhaps retake the MCAT (would be high risk).

Georgetown is a service focused medical school. You’d need thousands of hours of nonclinical volunteering that helps the disadvantaged.

Consider adding Boston U.

 

[gapremed123]

Your MCAT is average or slightly below average for the heavy hitters and is weighed down by your CARS score. Have you taken many reading heavy classes in the social sciences & humanities? Would you stay another year to do so & perhaps retake the MCAT (would be high risk).

Georgetown is a service focused medical school. You’d need thousands of hours of nonclinical volunteering that helps the disadvantaged.

Consider adding Boston U.

I think I will move on with whatever A I get this cycle, but I will definitely consider. Thank you for the suggestion.

 

[Faha]

Top tier school expect far more clinical and non clinical exposure hours than yo have. I suggest these schools with your stats and ECs:
Medical College Georgia
Mercer
Emory
USF Morsani
Miami
Wake Forest
Duke
U Virginia
Virginia Commonwealth
Eastern Virginia
George Washington
Temple
Jefferson
Pittsburgh
Hofstra
Einstein
Mount Sinai
Rochester
Vermont
Tufts
Dartmouth
Brown
St. Louis
Washington University (in St. Louis)
Northwestern
Carle
Indiana
Western Michigan
Case Western
Ohio State
Cincinnati
Kaiser

 

[gapremed123]

Top tier school expect far more clinical and non clinical exposure hours than yo have. I suggest these schools with your stats and ECs:
Medical College Georgia
Mercer
Emory
USF Morsani
Miami
Wake Forest
Duke
U Virginia
Virginia Commonwealth
Eastern Virginia
George Washington
Temple
Jefferson
Pittsburgh
Hofstra
Einstein
Mount Sinai
Rochester
Vermont
Tufts
Dartmouth
Brown
St. Louis
Washington University (in St. Louis)
Northwestern
Carle
Indiana
Western Michigan
Case Western
Ohio State
Cincinnati
Kaiser

Thank you.

 

[deleted1091458]

Your MCAT is average or slightly below average for the heavy hitters and is weighed down by your CARS score. Have you taken many reading heavy classes in the social sciences & humanities? Would you stay another year to do so & perhaps retake the MCAT (would be high risk).

Georgetown is a service focused medical school. You’d need thousands of hours of nonclinical volunteering that helps the disadvantaged.

Consider adding Boston U.

For the love of God, please do not retake a 518 just to have a 0.00001% better chance at the 30 T20 schools.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Nonclinical volunteering at the nursing home (150 hours)

What did you do?

I would try to add non-clinical volunteering where you are out and about in community with people in need, such as food distribution, shelter work, job placement services, housing rehabilitation, or transportation service. You need to get more hours because the rest of your metrics are strong. Having this area be a weakness can often be the difference in getting an invitation and not.

So aside from the fact you can code, why should an admissions committee want to interview you? You have lived in many places, so that comes with some interesting insights about people and culture, but how can you connect it with being part of a community where a medical school serves?

 

[gapremed123]

What did you do?

I would try to add non-clinical volunteering where you are out and about in community with people in need, such as food distribution, shelter work, job placement services, housing rehabilitation, or transportation service. You need to get more hours because the rest of your metrics are strong. Having this area be a weakness can often be the difference in getting an invitation and not.

So aside from the fact you can code, why should an admissions committee want to interview you? You have lived in many places, so that comes with some interesting insights about people and culture, but how can you connect it with being part of a community where a medical school serves?

I talked and played board games with retired Professors w/ neurological conditions, carrying them around in a wheelchair. I would get more hours when I submit my secondary. Could you tell me an ample amount of hours so I can aim for that?

 

[Mr.Smile12]

I talked and played board games with retired Professors w/ neurological conditions, carrying them around in a wheelchair. I would get more hours when I submit my secondary. Could you tell me an ample amount of hours so I can aim for that?

Minimum to avoid getting screened out in 150 hours in total for nonclinical volunteering and 150 for clinical experience (volunteer, paid, shadowing). If your application shows very high metrics, you need to reach at least 250 hours in the two categories, sometimes 300+ to stay on par. (from my experience and file deliberations). True "service-focused" schools like Rush typically will see at least 500 hours of non-clinical service orientation experience (not tutoring/teaching or fundraising).

 

[Goro]

My relatives reside in VA near DC/MD.

This is not a tie for the schools in the area.

@Faha @Goro

I suggest bulking up on the service to others less fortunate than yourself.
I suggest these schools:
Cornell
Duke
Mayo
Northwestern
U Chicago
U VA
Vanderbilt
WashU
Yale
Case
Hofstra
Stanford
Baylor
BU
Pitt
Sinai
U MI
USF Morsani
UTSW
Brown
Rochester
SUNY-SB
USC/Keck
Albert Einstein
Dartmouth
Emory
NYMC
Ohio State
U Cincy
U IA
U MA
UCSF
Creighton
Gtown
Hackensack Meridian
Jefferson
Miami
NYU-LI
SLU
Tufts
U CO
U VM
IU
UCF
Uniformed Services University/Hebert (just be aware of the military service commitment)
VCU
Western MI
Mercer
MCG
Yes, it's a long list. Your job is to cull it down, based upon your needs/interests.

 

[gapremed123]

This is not a tie for the schools in the area.

I suggest bulking up on the service to others less fortunate than yourself.
I suggest these schools:
Cornell
Duke
Mayo
Northwestern
U Chicago
U VA
Vanderbilt
WashU
Yale
Case
Hofstra
Stanford
Baylor
BU
Pitt
Sinai
U MI
USF Morsani
UTSW
Brown
Rochester
SUNY-SB
USC/Keck
Albert Einstein
Dartmouth
Emory
NYMC
Ohio State
U Cincy
U IA
U MA
UCSF
Creighton
Gtown
Hackensack Meridian
Jefferson
Miami
NYU-LI
SLU
Tufts
U CO
U VM
IU
UCF
Uniformed Services University/Hebert (just be aware of the military service commitment)
VCU
Western MI
Mercer
MCG
Yes, it's a long list. Your job is to cull it down, based upon your needs/interests.

Thank you! Will look into these.