MD & DO 505 MCAT, 3.69/3.60 GPA bad CARS score

[Dallicat]

Hi I was wondering what you guys thought of my chances of getting into MD/DO schools

Chemistry Major
Spanish Minor
GPA: 3.69 Science GPA: 3.6
MCAT 505 (127/123/127/128)
Clinical Shadowing: ~100 hrs (Majority at a variety of Pediatric Specialists in Spain and a few hours with an Orthopedic Surgeon)
Volunteering: Over 400 hours in with varying organizations
Research: Currently a Research Volunteer (Less than a year)
- 3 Mid Author Publications (Potentially 6 if they are accepted)
- 1 First author publication (If it is accepted)
Teaching experience: TA for the general chemistry class for 3 years in college
Honors: Omicrom Delta Kappa, Phi Sigma Iota, cum laude

I think my application is pretty solid aside form the MCAT score, my college counselor says that the 123 is really a big problem. Any feedback would be super helpful!

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[SpoiledMilk]

You need at least 50 hours of shadowing a US primary care physician. Overseas shadowing will not have the same kind of impact.
You need clinical volunteering experience with active patient interactions.
While CARs does get the most slack of the other sections, a 123 is in the 36 percentile. It could be a red flag that schools with auto-screens might screen out.
I think you are fine for DOs. But must be really selective with your MD list if you decide to not retake to improve the CARs subsection.

 

[os baculum]

You could consider
Howard (MCAT median 502 GPA median 3.41)
Meharry (499/3.52)
Morehouse SOM (503/3.61)
if you are AA

But Allopathic might be difficult given your stats. Just given Table A-23 from the AAMC someone with your MCAT and GPA has a 38-54% chance of acceptance to an allopathic school.


I regularly interview applicant at our medical school and quite honestly, I don't look at their activity list at all except for a talking point. All the feedback I give to the committee is based on how they answer my questions. Although n=1 and student interviews are very different from faculty ones. Most medical student interviews are given just to see if you get along with the people in the school. Which is what my perception was of all interviews actually that I went on during my application cycle several years ago. Once you secure an interview your stats don't matter so much for that school, since they already liked you enough to give you an II. That said, you do need to make the cut offs to get an interview in the first place. When I put in your stats to the MSAR, these are the only medical schools that came up with median stats at or below yours.

I don't know much about DO schools, but the median matriculated student had an MCAT of 502 and GPA of 3.52 last year so I think you should be fine applying DO.

Your ECs are strong otherwise. Shadow a US primacy care doc. Pedes is good, but yours is in Spain and I'm not sure how it will be perceived. Your volunteering, research, and leadership is strong otherwise. To boost your patient contact hours you can volunteer at a hospital or nursing home. Both are good options. But in general you lack US based patient contact.

 

[seren1051]

You could consider
Howard (MCAT median 502 GPA median 3.41)
Meharry (499/3.52)
Morehouse SOM (503/3.61)

But Allopathic might be difficult given your stats. Just given Table A-23 from the AAMC someone with your MCAT and GPA has a 38-54% chance of acceptance to an allopathic school.


I regularly interview applicant at our medical school and quite honestly, I don't look at their activity list at all except for a talking point. All the feedback I give to the committee is based on how they answer my questions. Although n=1 and student interviews are very different from faculty ones. Most medical student interviews are given just to see if you get along with the people in the school. Which is what my perception was of all interviews actually that I went on during my application cycle several years ago. Once you secure an interview your stats don't matter so much for that school, since they already liked you enough to give you an II. That said, you do need to make the cut offs to get an interview in the first place. When I put in your stats to the MSAR, these are the only medical schools that came up with median stats at or below yours.

I don't know much about DO schools, but the median matriculated student had an MCAT of 502 and GPA of 3.52 last year so I think you should be fine applying DO.

Your ECs are strong otherwise. Shadow a US primacy care doc. Pedes is good, but yours is in Spain and I'm not sure how it will be perceived. Your volunteering, research, and leadership is strong otherwise. To boost your patient contact hours you can volunteer at a hospital or nursing home. Both are good options. But in general you lack US based patient contact.

Uhh, is OP AA or URM?

 

[Faha]

Where is your state of residence?

 

[Dallicat]

Where is your state of residence?

California
but I have talked to several advisors and have decided to retake the MCAT, thank you all for your responses!