Advice

[MoonLDCG47]

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[GoSpursGo]

I know this is a ridiculous question, but what KIND of Hispanic are you? If you're Mexican-American, you're a URM; if you're Argintinian-American, you are not. Silly I know, but that's the game for you.

You seem to be in fairly good shape, even better if you are in fact a URM. Your GPA's a little lower than you probably want; if you could get it up to around a 3.6 or 3.65 by the summer, that would be great. Other than that, just keep doing what you're doing; the more clinical hours you have, the better. Also, I highly recommend a Kaplan class to prep for the MCAT, as it really worked for me.

 

[Mobius1985]

It sounds like you have a good grasp of the expected extracurriculars, presuming that your 100 hours of volunteering are in a clinical situation where you interact with patients (and if it isn't then get that going ASAP). Your overall GPA is close to the mean for acceptees of 3.6. My concern is the low sGPA, by which I presume you really mean the BCPM (all biology, chem, physics, and math classes) GPA. If you have a recent upward trend in grades, that will help you. It will be important for you to excell these last two semesters before your application. This will push your GPA up a bit more and help resolve concerns that you may not do well in the upper-level science curriculum of a med school (presuming a fair share of the classes are science). As you are hispanic, you may be a member of a group considered under-represented in medicine, and that will help you in the admissions process. Spanish fluency, if applicable, would be important to mention on your application, and would be in your favor as well. Your leadership sounds strong, you've had a research experience, and you've shadowed. With a decent MCAT score and good recent grades, you have a good chance of doing well in your application cycle, from what you've revealed to us.

 

[MoonLDCG47]

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[GoSpursGo]

Thank you to you both. I really appreciate the prompt response! And yes, Go-Spurs-Go! As for what kind of Hispanic I am, I am technically not sure. I was born in Mexico, but am a U.S. citizen, well I am a double citizen. I don't know if that makes me Mexican-American or just Mexican, haha. And yes, my 100 hours are in a clinical setting, the ER actually.

I actually just went ahead and checked all three boxes on the AMCAS: Mexican, Mexican-American, and Chicano/Chicana 😛 In any case, you definitely count as a URM then. It won't make your application, but everyone seems to agree that it's looked on favorably by adcoms.