Chances please! 3.5 s/c GPA, 31 MCAT

[hopeful101010]

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URM (African American female)
CA resident but I have very strong ties to Texas - Born and raised in TX, entire family still lives there

MCAT:
27 on first attempt (7 PS/8 VR/12 BS)
31 on second attempt (8 PS/10 VR/13 BS)

~3.5c and science GPA at an Ivy League university (if that matters)

Relevant ECs:
-extensive research experience with 3 publications (not first author publications)
-undergraduate teaching assistant
-one summer volunteering at a clinic (freshman year)
-4 hours clinical shadowing
-worked throughout college, also a varsity athlete

I am concerned about my lack of clinical experience. I am shadowing an oncologist this summer (I start next month, expecting ~75hrs) but I'm not sure if this will be enough.

My list of schools is a little top heavy because I am interested in continuing to do research throughout med school (I don't think I am competitive enough for MD/PhD programs). I have strong LOR from all of my research supervisors.

I am still working to narrow this down... Here is what I have so far:

Reach
UCSF
UCSD
Mayo
Baylor
UT Southwestern
UT Houston
Case Reserve
Emory
UCLA
USC

Maybe
UT San Antonio
LSU New Orleans
GW
UC Davis
Drexel
Jefferson
St. Louis

How does this list look? Am I completely wasting my time?
Thanks in advance for any help/suggestions!

 

[Lamel]

Being URM should help, and your research should help with the reaches, but nothing is guaranteed. Your clinical experience is indeed little, so try to get as much as you can during the application cycle (shadowing and more volunteering).

You should apply to all the Texas schools.

 

[Goro]

Goro suggests:

UCSD
ALL UTx's
Emory
UCLA
USC
GW
Drexel
Jefferson
St. Louis
All HBCs
U AZ
U CO
VCU
EVMS
Einstein
Tufts
all new MD schools
Rosy franklin
Rush
NYMC
Albany
Wake Forest
MCW
SLU
Loyola
The Philly triplets
Penn State
U Miami
Tulane
Any DO school, starting with Western and TUCOM-CA

 

[kthxbai]

I wouldn't bother applying with ZERO clinical experience.

Four hours are worth nothing, I'm sure the venerable adcoms would agree. Spend the year beefing up your extracurriculars (especially that clinical experience), and apply next year.

 

[hopeful101010]

I wouldn't bother applying with ZERO clinical experience.

Four hours are worth nothing, I'm sure the venerable adcoms would agree. Spend the year beefing up your extracurriculars (especially that clinical experience), and apply next year.

I have some clinical experience (I volunteered at a clinic one summer... ~60hrs) and the 4 hours of shadowing. Is this still too little to apply (even with the shadowing I will be doing this summer)?


Thanks so much for the advice guys! I REALLY appreciate it!

 

[NYCdude]

I know an African girl who got an interview at Harvard with a 30 MCAT. You are in great shape lol.

 

[kthxbai]

I have some clinical experience (I volunteered at a clinic one summer... ~60hrs) and the 4 hours of shadowing. Is this still too little to apply (even with the shadowing I will be doing this summer)?


Thanks so much for the advice guys! I REALLY appreciate it!

I'm loving your attitude about improving your application! Most folks would get defensive about tough love, but you're taking it in stride 🙂

I'm sure you'll be very successful down the line if you keep your head high and work on the few problem areas you've still got left.

That said, 60 hours of clinical experience is effectively nothing. Four hours of shadowing really is nothing. People on SDN get rejected with hundreds of hours of service (I know you're URM, but that still doesn't excuse you from showing commitment to medicine), so you need to keep up. Numbers aren't everything.

Where is your non-clinical volunteering? That's becoming an essential part of the application too.

I just don't think you're ready, URM or not. Take another year, improve your chances, and get it right the first time. If you keep up the good attitude, you'll be a-ok.