517 - 3.93 cGPA - nervous about applying late in cycle?

[syringes]

Hi, I am worried that I have applied too late and have shot myself in the foot! I submitted primary on August 24th so it is still being waiting for review to be verified, and so haven't received any secondaries yet.

That said I think I have a strong and unique application that I hope will make up for it.

1. 3.93 cGPA and similar sGPA.
2. 517, balanced except I did worse on chem/phys (127) and others were 131/129/130
3. Minnesota resident, went to in-state undergraduate where I'll also apply for med school.
4. White male, lower/middle class. I think according to AMCAS I am from an underprivileged economic background (family on government assistance and stuff like that)
5. UMN Twin Cities - Major in microbiology and minor in public health. Graduated with honors.
6. I have quite a bit of clinical experience - many hours volunteering in an ER, volunteering in community clinics, and for the last 4 years since graduating college I have worked in a community clinic that serves Native Americans. I've been a medical scribe, referrals coordinator, patient advocate and currently I am a licensed alcohol & drug counselor and so I work full time as a clinician currently.
7. Two primary research experiences, one immunological on malaria in Uganda another was public health focused on health disparities. My honors thesis was done there about rural health disparities in MN. I have two publications, on one i'm 1st author.
8. No shadowing but i have been a scribe in a family medicine clinic. I work very closely currently with family medicine physicians and addiction medicine.
9. Various social justice/political volunteering on campus and off. Lots of grassroots community service in Minneapolis.
10. One really significant part of my app is I founded a non-profit that is a syringe exchange and narcan distribution service. so I have been really involved on the front lines of the opioid epidemic in MN. that's been a wealth of leadership and community service experience
11. With it being COVID, then George Floyd happened, i run a non-profit that works with people who are homeless, so at the time I was going ot be taking my MCAT and stuff there was two compounding crises in the twin cities that took a lot of my attention. Also my mother passed away in July, so my MCAT and application got really delayed over the summer. I plan to discuss those things in my secondaries - but I am nonetheless nervous that i have applied late in the cycle.

I'm interested in community health, family medicine, rural, native american health.

School list:
UMN (in-state resident, lots of local connection, references from UMN physicians)
University of Hawaii
University of Washington
Oregon Health & sciences
NOrthwestern
Rush (chicago)
Columbia
Johns Hopkins
Emory
UC San Diego

Another question I had is can I add more schools or will that delay my application even more? On AMCAS it says that I'd have to resubmit and I don't want to be thrown to the back of the line for getting my application reviewed. I would like to add more schools if I can though (Namely Tufts - or any other suggestions for schools to add?)

Thank you!!

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[cc2425]

Adding more schools won't delay your AMCAS processing. I don't believe University of Washington accepts people from MN, and I think you should consider adding a few more schools that are less competitive.

 

[BJoverTrapper]

You're a little late to the game but not out at all. Washington, Hawaii, Oregon, and UCSD will be donations because of your OOS status, so I don't recommend filling out the secondaries unless you have FAP. You could consider adding some private schools around your stats (Pitt, Boston, Rochester, Mayo, Hofstra, Western Michigan, Einstein, Tufts) and some regional OOS friendly state schools (Ohio St, Michigan, Iowa, Cincinnati, Medical College of Wisconsin, Colorado).

 

[syringes]

You're a little late to the game but not out at all. Washington, Hawaii, Oregon, and UCSD will be donations because of your OOS status, so I don't recommend filling out the secondaries unless you have FAP. You could consider adding some private schools around your stats (Pitt, Boston, Rochester, Mayo, Hofstra, Western Michigan, Einstein, Tufts) and some regional OOS friendly state schools (Ohio St, Michigan, Iowa, Cincinnati, Medical College of Wisconsin, Colorado).

Thank you! Those are really good suggestions. I appreciate it. I actually have a lot of family ties to oregon/portland so I was hoping that would help me out.

 

[Faha]

You can remove U Washington since they accept less than 1% of applicants who are not from states in the Northwest. Also Hawaii accepts very few non residents with no connection to the state. You could add these schools:
U Chicago
Western Michigan
U Michigan
St. Louis
Case Western
Ohio State
Cincinnati
Rochester
Hofstra
Einstein
NYU
Mount Sinai
Cornell
Pittsburgh
Georgetown
Boston University
Dartmouth
Brown
Duke

 

[marpmd]

Agree completely with Faha, that’s a great list they posted. You have top school stats and experience, but remember that top schools are still ridiculously picky. Add some midrange schools to your list, even if it’s just a few, even if it feels like a waste. For your question of whether you are late....don’t worry about it for a second. You aren’t. You seem to be on top of your game and you are gonna get into a great school my homie (also try Pitt (I might be biased))

 

[syringes]

Thanks everyone!! Really appreciate the list Faha, that's so helpful thank you. And thanks for the reassurance and wise words marpmd. I'm still going to apply at washington and hawaii because I want to give it a shot. I also hope that my experience and passion working with Indigenous populations will be a helpful aspect for those schools.