Do I need to apply to more schools?

[PatentForamenOvale]

Hi! I applied this cycle (first-time, CA resident, traditional) to 25 schools. I got 24/25 secondaries and other than 2 pre-II rejections, haven't heard anything else from the schools I applied to. I know its still early in the cycle, but all of this waiting is making me worry that maybe I overestimated my chances and need to add a few schools.

So here's my background:
GPA: 3.83 (c/s are the same)
MCAT: 526 (CP: 132 / CARS: 131 / Bio: 131 / PS: 132)
State: CA
Race: White/Filipino
Undergrad: Top 20, majored in computer science (and now doing my master's in bioengineering at the same school)
Clinical Exp: 400+ as an MA at a family practice, 80 hrs volunteering at a blood center over 2 years
Research: 1000+ hrs between 2 labs, 7th author publication (I also had a few posters, but didn't know how to include those in my app)
Shadowing: 100+ hrs in a variety of specialties
Non-clinical volunteering: 60 hrs at a local theatre (concessions / set building)
ECs: a mix of theatre/dance, being a course assistant/tutor, and being an officer/choreographer for the Filipino arts group at my school

I know for sure that volunteering is a weak point in my application, but another potential red flag is talking about having chronic back pain in my secondaries. I tried to make it clear that I have it under control now and how I've grown as a person through my struggle with it, but obviously some schools will still be weary.

Here's where I've applied so far:
Albert Einstein
Case Western
Dartmouth
UCSD
UCSF (no secondary yet)
Vanderbilt
Brown University
Columbia
Cornell
Harvard
Mt Sinai
Northwestern
Pitt
Stanford
Tufts
UCI
UPenn
UCD
Kaiser Permanente
NYU
Yale
JHU
UCLA
CCLCM (Rejected)
UChicago (Rejected)

My main interest is in being a physician-innovator, so research and engineering is important to me! Additionally, I'd love to get more involved in health equity and advocacy, but I know my ECs don't reflect that, so I'm sure saying that doesn't have much weight when schools look at my app.
Any feedback about what to expect or schools to add (or just telling me to wait it out if my school list is fine lol) would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

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[chilly_md]

WUSTL, Hofstra, Rochester, UVA and Keck would be nice additions.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Yes, the OP is right that the lack of service orientation will be a challenge. I don't know about the chronic back pain affecting any of your activities though. How have you had to adjust to it?

Carle Illinois and Texas A&M EnMed too... but you need to build more community service hours in service orientation activities to have enough for next cycle should you have to reapply.

 

[MyOdyssey]

UChicago and UCSF are extremely service oriented. Might explain your results there.

Wash U - St Louis - loves high stat applicants, esp if they have strong research backgrounds.

UVA - likes high stat out of stat applicants.

Carle Illinois wants candidates with an engineering background. Presumably you’ve taken linear algebra, differential equations, multivariable calculus and calculus based physics?

Continue to work on your nonclinical volunteering to the disadvantaged.

 

[PatentForamenOvale]

UChicago and UCSF are extremely service oriented. Might explain your results there.

Wash U - St Louis - loves high stat applicants, esp if they have strong research backgrounds.

UVA - likes high stat out of stat applicants.

Carle Illinois wants candidates with an engineering background. Presumably you’ve taken linear algebra, differential equations, multivariable calculus and calculus based physics?

Continue to work on your nonclinical volunteering to the disadvantaged.

Thanks for the feedback!

Now that I’ve got more time, I started volunteering at a food bank (started just this week) and should have around 30 hours by mid September…

I know it’s not much, but do you think it would be worth sending an update letter to the schools that accept one? I’d probably wait until November so I’d have more hours and because my lab just submitted a paper (I’m 3rd author) to a journal and an abstract to a conference.

Also, not sure what is good to include in update letters, but I could also add my final transcript (I’m on quarter system, so I submitted before my Spring quarter grades were in). My GPA went from a 3.88 to a 3.91, partly because of a 5 unit anatomy lab.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

You should update once you have at least 100 hours of any clinical or nonclinical experience IMO.