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Nothing else to really do. You have a strong application all around. Your Mcat is around 85th percentile. Unless you feel that you can make significant improvement from this I don’t think it’s worth retaking.Hi everyone,
main question: Wondering if I should retake my MCAT? Aiming for low and mid-tier MD's, applying broadly to 30 US MD schools and a few reaches within that mix ( but I would not be upset if they rejected me). My advisors keep insisting on a retake and i'm hesitant, considering my average was a 513 and I scored only 2 points below that
Gpa: sGPA: 3.98 cGPA: 3.98
MCAT: 511 (127/124/130/130) on my mcat when I took it in August.I'm applying 21-22 cycle and will be submitting on the first day to maximize my chances. I submitted my committee letter app already and am pre-writing secondaries. I plan on applying broadly to 30 schools. My MCAT FL average was a 513, so 511 is within range.
Demographics: White female but am a first generation immigrant, Low SES and disadvantaged status. NY resident. I also speak a second language fluently, it was my first language, and I speak it at home w my fam. It's not a commonly spoken language, and I have been asked to translate once while shadowing which was super cool! I also speak Spanish at an intermediate level
EC's:
Research:
-5000+ hours by the time I apply
-Corona virus research summer program (online, helped organize this under the supervision of a physician. We did literature reviews and held a conference for members of the general public): 50 hours
-publication in a high impact journal
-4 oral presentations at national conferences
-Was on a research fellowship for 2 years
-2 awards for my oral presentations
Clinical:
-200 hours as ER volunteer (it was over 2.5 years, and I have lots to talk about since it was at a very crowded hospital). Stopped in late Feb because of COVID
-100 + shadowing hours (OB-Gyn, Heme-onc, urological surgery, thoracic surgery, gastric surgery, anesthesiology, etc)
Non-clinical:
-President and mentor of a mentoring initiative started at my college: 800+ hours, this is ongoing
-Health educator for a non-profit org: 144 hour
-Teaching assistant for summer students in a research program I was in: 100+ hours
Awards/Honors:
Research Fellowship
Phi Beta Kappa
Salutatorian as well as departmental honors
Scholarship to study abroad
Got an award for the mentorship I provided to research summer students at MSKCC
Academic honors program at my college (was also my second major, interdisciplinary focus and I wrote an honors paper on the link between health inequity and pop culture/history/etc)
Two research awards for my oral presentations
Work experience:
Research is above so I won't include that here
-College advisor under DOE: 300 hours (At my old high school, and my disadvantaged statement explains my motivation for participating in this activity)
-Bio tutor: over 800 hours, ongoing
LORS: PI from the first lab I was in, Current PI, Physician I worked with extensively (also the chair of her dept), clinical letter from a supervisor, bio prof who I tutored for
All my letter writers know me very well
As far as outreach, I spoke with admissions at Virginia Tech. I know they're a little picky (small class size, prefer a specific type of student, etc). They told me they can't give me specifics but that I have a good, broad range of activities and experiences
I've been interacting with students at Weill Cornell a lot. My previous PI is actually a professor there and like I said I was fortunate to get a really strong letter from him. I went to a zoom event cornell had for networking, then another event specifically for first gen/low income students. I'm also going to a conference they are holding tomorrow
I went to a few open houses (Oakland and SUNY Upstate so far) but will be going to more as they are offered
My PI has a lot of connections to his alma mater, and to the current institution we are working in so i'm hoping to meet with an admissions officer.
Are there any other things you recommend doing? I don't want to make it appear that i'm playing the system but it would be great to speak to more people to get my name out there
Of course having strong connections with medical schools through your research is good, but don’t bank on it getting anything beyond an interview. Everyone goes through the same process unless you donate millions to the medical school and even then no guarantees. Lucky for you your application is strong enough with it just standing alone.