Disappointing Application Cycle

[Drexon]

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I applied during this application cycle, and although I got into a couple medical schools, the Medical College of Wisconsin and the University of Illinois, and had interviews at Duke, Case Western, and Northwestern, I was pretty disappointed that I did not get into a top 25 medical school. Here is basically my profile. I graduated from Northwestern in 3 years with a 3.7 GPA and a degree in economics, took the MCAT this past summer after I graduated, and got a 37. I thought my stats, along with my extracurriculars which I thought covered the bases (1 summer of research at Feinberg, shadowing 3 doctors, 1 year of volunteering at a free health clinic in Chicago) would be able to get me into a top med school which obviously did not happen. As I look back to what went wrong, I know it wasn't my interviews or essays as all my answers were thoughtful and were presented in a confident, self assured manner. I think the problem was the substance of my overall application, in the sense that I didn't spend a summer abroad in a poor country or didn't have a publication due to the fact that my research experience was only a summer. In a sense, there was no fascinating or unique circumstance that I could share because of my vanilla E.C.'s and the fact that I come from a pretty privileged background, as both of my parents are physicians. But honestly, is it really my fault that I have lived a pretty good life? I guess I could have taken a year off to further strengthen my application, but I know that most of my friends who go abroad in public health programs end up partying instead of really "making a difference", and I could not see myself doing that. Furthermore, I find research really boring and could not force myself to do that for a year. To close, I think I realize that in order to get into these top schools, it was more a matter of me not doing the aforementioned activities instead of just bad luck. What do you guys think?

You do have an decent resume but certainly not the best. I've known students with a much higher GPA ... 3.7 is good but is that your cumulative or science or what? I've had friends that rock a solid 3.9+ as a science and nonscience major. Granted that you do have a high MCAT i'm not going to focus too much on that.
But your EC seems to be lacking for you to get into a top 25 school. Granted that you have done shadowing, 1 summer of research and 1 year of volunteering.. that simply doesn't cut it.
My friends that got into a top 25 school have stellar EC. Years of volunteer which amount to hundreds of hours spent volunteering in the hospital setting, numerous hours of shadowing, years of dedication towards research, and lots of involvement in clubs.

Here's my bottom line:
i'm not trying to bash on your resume even though it may seem like it. But you seem to be content with what you have ... and that is your flaw!
you believe that you've done enough to garner an acceptance for a top 25 school. No one is entitled to get into medical school regardless of what they have done. My friends were never content with what they had on their resumes. They've always done MORE and strove to be the better applicant all without sounding too pretentious and hording their achievements and awards over our heads.
Best of luck in medicine, i wish you all the best.