Application Advice

[jacksparrow1]

Hey all! I was hoping someone would give me some advice as I plan to apply next cycle.

I graduated last year in the spring of 2022 and have since worked at a Ivy League medical school research lab for 10 months and then for the last 5 months a manager and senior researcher at a biotech start up.

Not URM

cGPA: 3.68

sGPA: 3.55

MCAT 501--> 506 (126/125/127/128) both in 2022

Over 6k hours of patient care as an EMT (primarily paid but some volunteer)-includes as a supervisor

About 5k hours of research (cancer research for a few years at an R1 state uni, human organ research at an Ivy League medical school, and human organ research at a biotech startup as a manager) with 1 publication so far for Alzheimer's research in a low impact journal

About 700 volunteer hours including coaching baseball, tutoring, directing a language exchange program, tutor coordinator, and EMS/FD,

Should I retake my MCAT and if not am I competitive for MD or should I focus on DO? Also, is there anything else that I should improve over the next months before the next cycle begins?

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[Med Ed]

State of residence?

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Your profile here suggests "research career" given the accomplishments and hours described here. Why not a PhD?

There are no service orientation activities or anything that shows opportunities to stretch outside your comfort zone to be with those in distress. If you are serious, work in hospice first, then add activities like food pantries, housing rehabilitation, or job or tax preparation.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Posted in WAMC

 

[jacksparrow1]

State of residence?

Connecticut

 

[jacksparrow1]

Your profile here suggests "research career" given the accomplishments and hours described here. Why not a PhD?

There are no service orientation activities or anything that shows opportunities to stretch outside your comfort zone to be with those in distress. If you are serious, work in hospice first, then add activities like food pantries, housing rehabilitation, or job or tax preparation.

I juggled with the idea of either PhD or MD/PhD but patient care is my greatest passion and always has been (I grew up in a family of nurses). I started research during undergrad as a means to test it out and see if I enjoy it and then continued it after graduation because in the work that we do we bench, do procedures, etc. on ex-vivo human organs denied for transplant so it is very clinical. Plus it was a means to an end financially so it is much more lucrative than EMS was.

I definitley get what you are saying I will say that my volunteer EMS was in low income rural areas, all of my tutoring has been either for low income cities that offer a free tutoring program to their students or with individuals in struggling countries (Nicaragua and a few Middle East countries), In addition I coached baseball for a police activity league (PAL) that is targeted to struggling families to allow their kids to play sports without the financial burden in a low income urban environment. I also have some hours in a suicide hotline and global shapers community (UN project initiative group). So nearly if not all of my volunteering is service oriented and targeted to the less fortunate. I just don't have more in healthcare since I have had so much experience in it (working full time EMS for 3 years of college)I wanted to try new things .

 

[Faha]

You are competitive for all DO schools and could receive some MD interviews. I suggest these DO schools:
UNECOM
NYITCOM
Touro-NY
PCOM
LECOM
CUSOM
MU-COM
DMU-COM
CCOM
ATSU-KCOM
KCU-COM
AZCOM
TUNCOM
WVSOM
For MD schools you could try these:
UConn
Quinnipiac
Vermont
Albany
Drexel
Temple
Penn State
George Washington
Eastern Virginia
Wake Forest
NOVA MD
TCU
Creighton
Rosalind Franklin
Medical College Wisconsin
Oakland Beaumont
Any new schools that open in 2024 (there will be several)

 

[chilly_md]

Duplicate threads were merged.

 

[jacksparrow1]

Hi folks! I was wondering if anyone had opinions on if I should retake my MCAT.

Some other info so you have the full picture:

White, ORM from CT- I graduated in May 2022
cGPA: 3.68 sGPA: 3.55
About 6000 clinical hours (Approx 1k being volunteer) as an EMT
About 5000 Research hours (2 years in cancer research lab at state school, 1 year in organ perfusion lab at Yale, 1 year as a manager and scientist at an organ perfusion start up company, and some Alzheimer's psych research at undergrad)

I don't have the numbers right now but volunteering as a tutor and tutor coordinator for paper airplanes (tutoring students in Middle East English as they wait for VISAs), director of language exchange program between my undergraduate school and a nicaraguan school for English, coach in a PAL low income kids baseball league, then some additional smaller things like suicide hotline, global shapers community, New Haven reads (tutoring young children that are low income and struggling in school), etc.

I took my first MCAT March 2022 and got a 501 and then retook in September of 2022 and got a 506- I plan on applying for the 2024-2025 cycle and was wondering if anyone had opinions on if I should retake it? I plan on applying both MD and DO, I prefer MD but I know I would be very happy going DO too. I am happy to hear any thoughts as I'm sure most of you have a better understanding of this process than I do. Thank you!

 

[chilly_md]

Thread was unlocked and merged.

OP, follow the list of schools Faha gave you. Taking the MCAT for a 3rd time is unlikely to be beneficial. It is expected that there are score increases on repeated attempts.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Many schools average MCAT attempts for screening purposes. Your subsequent attempt needs to be a home run.

I see you have a decision:
1) your MCAT is good enough for DO schools and it's not too late to apply (but get it done soon). But it sounds like you really would rather go to an MD program in spite of what you said earlier. Otherwise why are you not executing on this plan?

2) You still have to address the lack of service orientation activities. Your description puts you in a lot of situations with children as a coach or a teacher. There not much that shows me you want to work with adults in distress in a position of humility (not an expert). What you do have will count, but you asked for something to improve upon...

3) retake the MCAT: Bet on yourself and get the 520+ you believe you deserve. If you do this, don't go forward with the current application cycle and submit early next spring.