3.94 GPA, 523 mcat, short on volunteering

[FRL1596]

Hi all,

I know my numbers are pretty good but I'm short on volunteering. Here are some high and low points of my app:

Big Midwestern state school
Engineering major
Japanese minor
3.94 GPA
3.95 BCPM GPA
523 MCAT
100 hours medical volunteering (all in the last 6 months)
20 hours of other volunteering
0 hours shadowing although I watched several procedures during my volunteering
0 hours of research
President of my fraternity
2 full time summer engineering internships

Those internships were hard and really technical and I conducted several multi-month studies during them so I plan on talking em up. Volunteering was tough for me to do since I made the switch to pre-med late and as a result have been in 18-22 course hours/semester for the past 2.5 years. Working full time over the summers made it virtually impossible to do then as well. I have 3 rec letters and all 3 of the professors assured me they would be writing something to the effect of top 1% or best student ever so that's good.

I know my app has a lot of high points but how bad will my shortage of volunteer hours and total lack of shadowing and research hurt me? And can I reasonably expect to get into "dream level" schools given that situation? I plan on getting a ton of hours in this year but of course my app will already be submitted.

Thanks all.





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[Faha]

Where is your state of residence?

 

[brochacho123]

I highly recommend you take a gap year and get more clinical experience, shadowing and research. With a 3.94/523 you will be competitive at any school you apply to.

You can apply this year and there may be schools who bite on these stats (WashU).

 

[FRL1596]

When you say "may be schools who bite on those stats" you mean dream level schools correct? I know WashU is very good although they really emphasized volunteering in what I read on their secondary. I am a Texas resident.


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[FRL1596]

I'd really prefer not to wait a year because I went through a couple major changes in undergrad and I'm getting a little old lol


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[brochacho123]

When you say "may be schools who bite on those stats" you mean dream level schools correct? I know WashU is very good although they really emphasized volunteering in what I read on their secondary. I am a Texas resident.


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I was referring to schools with high GPA/MCAT medians. Pritzker and Vanderbilt are two other schools that come to mind.

I am not familiar with Texas schools, but you are the type of applicant OOS schools will interview despite being a Texas applicant. That is assuming you address your deficient areas. Other more informed posters can chime in on your chances at Texas schools

 

[FRL1596]

Ok thank you. I'm gonna apply to both. Something else that may hurt me is that I'm just now submitting my primary which I know is disadvantageous.


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[Faha]

Since you are a Texas resident apply to all the Texas schools and you should receive several interviews.

 

[FRL1596]

I will definitely do that- thank you.


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[candbgirl]

Your scores are amazing. It would be very sad if you are rejected because you really have no ECs to speak of. You have already switched from engineering to medicine so one big question is why medicine. You will be asked that if you get to the interview stage. You won't be able to talk about what a doc does on a daily basis and most importantly you won't really know if you even want to spend the next 40 years working with sick/injured people. Sometimes applicants are low on clinical stuff because they have focused on research but that's not your case. And it seems you have no volunteering with underserved people. You haven't shown your altruism to other people or groups. You have so many holes in your application you really need to take a gap year and fill them in. You have worked hard in school and obviously you are very smart but it takes more than that to be a good doctor. And you have to prove that to the ADCOMS.


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[FRL1596]

Your scores are amazing. It would be very sad if you are rejected because you really have no ECs to speak of. You have already switched from engineering to medicine so one big question is why medicine. You will be asked that if you get to the interview stage. You won't be able to talk about what a doc does on a daily basis and most importantly you won't really know if you even want to spend the next 40 years working with sick/injured people. Sometimes applicants are low on clinical stuff because they have focused on research but that's not your case. And it seems you have no volunteering with underserved people. You haven't shown your altruism to other people or groups. You have so many holes in your application you really need to take a gap year and fill them in. You have worked hard in school and obviously you are very smart but it takes more than that to be a good doctor. And you have to prove that to the ADCOMS.


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All of my medical volunteering hours are with underserved people and I've been fortunate in that I've gotten a lot of patient contact through those experiences. Clearly I still need to spend more time in this area. I really appreciate your advice!