Medical Do I have a better chance now as a reapplicant?

[Mr.Smile12]

Hi everyone! After a tough cycle resulting in one II and one WL, I've been planning what to do to improve my application for the next time I end up applying. The following is what I applied with originally:

1. cGPA (AMCAS): 3.74, sGPA (AMCAS): 3.80, cGPA (TMDSAS): 3.80, sGPA (TMDSAS): 3.86
2. MCAT Overall: 516 (130, 127, 129, 130)
3. Illinois Resident
4. ORM
5. Jesuit School
6. 300 Hours Volunteer at surgical care center of hospital, 120 Hours CNA Work
7. No research.
8. 8 Hours shadowing Pathologist, 8 Hours shadowing general surgery
9. 60 Hours volunteering coaching a youth soccer team for the park district
10. 80 Hours Captaining two intramural soccer teams (men's and coed), 245 Hours in the Music Program through my Music minor (Jazz Band), 360 Hours as a retail sales associate at Kohl's, 24 Hours Tutoring SAT and ACT math to high school students, 100 Hours performing lawn and yard maintenance self employed.
11. Dean's List every semester except for first semester freshman year (Semester GPA above 3.5), Scholarship from my suburb, 315 Hours of Classwork in the Interdisciplinary Honors Program
12. Biology Major and Music Minor; looking to attend Medical School promptly after I finish undergrad; Personal Statement and essays discuss my service to others through volunteering and CNA work and how direct patient care has impacted my vocation.
13. Schools currently: Texas A&M (R), Texas Tech Lubbock (R), UTSW (R), Baylor (R), Rosalind Franklin (R), Creighton (R), Drexel (Hold), Indiana (R), Temple (R), Loyola (R), Medical College of Wisconsin (R), Northwestern (R), Oakland (R), Rush (R), Thomas Jefferson (R), Southern Illinois (R), UIC (R), Louisville (R), University of Michigan (R), University of Wisconsin (R), SLU (II, WL), Western Michigan (R)

During the school year I added the following: 37 Credits at 3.95, 100 hours of undergrad research, 25 more hospital volunteering hours, 80 more hours at Kohl's. Obviously, I know my weaknesses of this cycle were my limited Shadowing and Non-clinical volunteering so I plan on bulking those up with 2 gap years (Applying for the 2021-2022 cycle). I just accepted a position as a scribe for a PCP and will work full-time for the full 2 years and am planning on using the rest of my time to volunteer at a nursing home to gain more non-clinical volunteering hours.

Finally, I would like to know what schools I should possibly apply to when I eventually reapply. I know Texas was a poor decision so I will for sure remove all Texas schools the next time. My final cGPA is 3.80 and final sGPA is 3.84 (Freshman 3.4/3.66, Sophomore 3.85/3.76, Junior 3.92/3.94, Senior 3.95/4.0). With those GPA's in mind and my 516 MCAT, what schools would you recommend?

Would this plan help make sure I get accepted next time I apply? If not, what do you think I could do to improve my application? Thank you so much for the help!

I'm a little disappointed you didn't boost your shadowing, especially with primary care disciplines, when you had a chance over the year.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Yeah I definitely did not take advantage of that opportunity during the year. I waited too long then they got canceled because of COVID, but that's still my mistake. Is there anything else you think I could do differently next time based on my plan?

I'm not sure. The fact you didn't resolve this deficiency in the year you did have while applying doesn't help you when it comes to answering the prompt on how you improved your application from the previous attempt. Now if you follow through with working as a scribe for two years before applying again, this probably will address the glaring hole.

There are no golden tickets to getting into medical school (unless you are in an early admissions track, and even then you must meet GPA/MCAT requirements). You just have to do the best you can and be realistic and respectful of the application process.