MD & DO Be brutally honest with me, what are my chances for med school?

[axolotlz]

Hello everyone!

This is my first post in SDRN, and I want to see what my chances for getting into MD/DO school would be. I wish to get in to more in-state schools, than out-of-states. Here's some info:

- Bilingual (English/Spanish), first-gen college student, Hispanic, male, from Midwest
- cGPA 3.981 / sGPA 3.964
- Still haven't taken the MCAT2015 (will be taking in June)
- Volunteer translator 40 hrs at a dental clinic
- Teaching Assistant for both graduate & undergraduate anatomy courses (6 hrs/week)
- Tutor for first-gen students in Gen Chem, Bio, Statistics, Psych, and Spanish (4 hrs/week)
- Active in student org that works campus volunteer events every two months or so
- Limited research experience; have joined a Psych research team that will start this May
- No formal shadowing experiences; will shadow for first time this June
- Work ~20hrs at a not-medically-related job (I need to pay for things!)

Thanks, and be honest please.

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[Vain Brother]

which hispanic community do you represent? what is your state of residence?

your application looks good, though it's hard to give you specific advice without an MCAT score. applicants with your GPA are successful >75% of the time

 

[resiroth]

Your EC are weak, but you're addressing that. Nothing in your app will ruin you, except that without an MCAT there's no point in wondering. With a 20? 0 chance. With a 40? Shoe-in.

 

[WedgeDawg]

Your EC are weak, but you're addressing that. Nothing in your app will ruin you, except that without an MCAT there's no point in wondering. With a 20? 0 chance. With a 40? Shoe-in.

I wouldn't say that they're weak, just that they're not yet clinically focused. If OP is not applying this cycle, they will be perfectly fine as long as they address the clinical deficiencies; if they are applying this cycle, I would recommend waiting until next cycle so that they don't apply with essentially 0 clinical experience.

That being said, you really need an MCAT score in order for people to actually tell you where you stand.

 

[resiroth]

I wouldn't say that they're weak, just that they're not yet clinically focused. If OP is not applying this cycle, they will be perfectly fine as long as they address the clinical deficiencies; if they are applying this cycle, I would recommend waiting until next cycle so that they don't apply with essentially 0 clinical experience.

That being said, you really need an MCAT score in order for people to actually tell you where you stand.

I mean no research hours, no hospital volunteering hours, no shadowing hours. Those are the big 3. He's got the gravy, but not the meat. Right now his EC is very weak but he's addressing it so that helps.

It's kind of funny how applicants like OP either completely are ruled out of medicine, or competitive at top 20 on the basis of a single test haha. Although I suppose the step 1 is even more important in a way..:no pressure!

 

[axolotlz]

which hispanic community do you represent? what is your state of residence?

your application looks good, though it's hard to give you specific advice without an MCAT score. applicants with your GPA are successful >75% of the time

Mexican-American/Chicano from WI

 

[axolotlz]

I wouldn't say that they're weak, just that they're not yet clinically focused. If OP is not applying this cycle, they will be perfectly fine as long as they address the clinical deficiencies; if they are applying this cycle, I would recommend waiting until next cycle so that they don't apply with essentially 0 clinical experience.

That being said, you really need an MCAT score in order for people to actually tell you where you stand.

Thanks, that is helpful. It looks to me that a gap year would be very beneficial in maximizing my chances at getting into med school. I was thinking of becoming a scribe/translator post-graduation.


BTW the Psych research is medically related as we will be seeing PTSD patients and conducting MRIs and some blood tests

 

[PhillyMed777]

without an MCAT score, we can say nothing of any worth

 

[axolotlz]

I wouldn't say that they're weak, just that they're not yet clinically focused. If OP is not applying this cycle, they will be perfectly fine as long as they address the clinical deficiencies; if they are applying this cycle, I would recommend waiting until next cycle so that they don't apply with essentially 0 clinical experience.

That being said, you really need an MCAT score in order for people to actually tell you where you stand.

I'm really praying that I do well on the MCAT but this new scoring scale is not helping me in terms of establishing a goal score, thanks for your eval!

 

[Alejandro]

Dental clinic translation work is fine, but let's have you transition that into a medical clinic. Otherwise people will be like, uhhh...so do you want a DDS?

Hospital volunteer work is important, same goes with shadowing. I encourage you to focus on your patient interactionsand reflecting on what those have been. May become useful for your apps in the future.

I think there have been some good goals mentioned above--one thing: you're not applying this year, right? If you are, I would strongly urge against it.