Medical Getting ready to reapply and need some guidance

[Mr.Smile12]

I applied this past cycle and received only one II from my state school and was ultimately rejected.

General stats/relevant info:
MCAT 510 (126/129/126/129) and cumulative and science GPA are both 3.77 and I attended a state school
2000+ hours of clinical experience working as a medical scribe in an ER
150 clinical service hours from teaching classes about cultural competence at a local boys and girls club
Double major with a B.S. in Supply Chain Management and a B.S. in Biochemistry. In the honors program of the business school and a member of Phi Beta Kappa through the college of liberal arts and sciences
unrelated to medicine but pertinent to my supply chain degree, I interned for a major fashion house in NYC and worked similar retail jobs throughout college
Studied abroad in Spain for a semester
Underrepresented (hispanic/first-generation) and native Spanish speaker

My plan as of now is to retake the MCAT. I was irresponsible in my study habits and only studied for 3 weeks. Went from a diagnostic of 493 -> 510 on the real exam. Now that I have graduated, I know that 2-3 months of committed studying can put me in a much better place. I am also in contact with a couple of different clinical labs at major teaching hospitals in my city so I can hopefully get some research experience in because I felt like that was a gaping hole on my application. I had 3 letters from professors and one from a PA, which i recognize is not ideal. This cycle I'll have MDs/DOs writing my letters but will likely just have to reuse the same academic letters as I'm no longer in courses. I applied to 23 schools, all MD, and have definitely learned my lesson. I'm planning to apply more broadly this cycle and throw in some DO. If you have any other advice to offer as to what else I can or should be doing, I would very much appreciate any input I can get.

Could you highlight your points of improvement and the results from your last school list? It may also help to use the template to get a more organized view of what you bring to the table with your application.

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[Goro]

Which Hispanic community do you represent? (and please don't say "Miami")

When did you apply? What was your school list?

 

[Mr.Smile12]

1. cGPA and sGPA as calculated by AMCAS or AACOMAS
   1. 3.77 for both
2. MCAT score(s) and breakdown
   1. 510 (126/129/126/129) *retaking aiming for 520+
3. State of residence or country of citizenship (if non-US)
   1. Arizona
4. Ethnicity and/or race
   1. Hispanic, for the sake of privacy my family is from a central American country
5. Undergraduate institution or category
   1. State school in AZ
6. Clinical experience (volunteer and non-volunteer)
   1. Medical scribe in ER and for a hospitalist, 2000+ hours
7. Research experience and productivity
   1. None
8. Shadowing experience and specialties represented
   1. None that I would submit on a resume. I am lucky to have a surgeon in my family and have shadowed them numerous times but that feels too informal to include given that they are family
9. Non-clinical volunteering
   1. Part of a club at my state school that put together and taught cultural competency classes at a local boys and girls club (150+hrs)
10. Other extracurricular activities (including athletics, military service, gap year activities, leadership, teaching, etc)
    1. Studied international business in Spain for a semester
    2. Interned for a major fashion house in NYC for a summer
11. Relevant honors or awards
    1. In the honors program of the business college
    2. Phi Beta Kappa
    3. New American University scholar
    4. Graduated Summa Cum Laude
12. Anything else not listed you think might be important
    1. Of note, I chose to pursue medicine in my junior year of college. I originally started in business and decided to add a degree in biochem my junior year of college. I had to take my second semester of physics online, which I now know is somewhat frowned upon.

Areas that I think need improvement: volunteering and research.
Like I mentioned, my plan is to get in a clinical lab ASAP. Re: volunteering, being a native Spanish speaker, I'm planning on volunteering at hospitals as an interpreter for a few hours every week. Hopefully this encompasses any gaps I might have had on my original post. Thanks again for any and all advice.

Edit: also considering going to do some clinical volunteering in the country that my family is from, but that's more just something I wanted to do and I'm not really sure how much value that adds to my application....

Second edit: I applied 2019-2020
School list:
UA Tucson
UA Phoenix
Mayo AZ
Chicago Med
Loyola
Jefferson
UCSD
UCSF
UCI
UCD
U of Miami
Creighton
Drexel
Georgetown
Northwestern (had my fees waived for being underrepresented)
Harvard (same as ^)
U of Colorado
NYU
Thomas Jefferson

So are you banking on your scribing experience to overcome your lack of other shadowing hours outside of family connections (which you could still include, but just don't get a LOR)? I don't think you necessarily need research as opposed to more clinical exposure and some primary care shadowing/exposure. That will be what stops you more than your MCAT. I understand pride could get you to retake the MCAT, but be aware many schools average your attempts when it comes to screening, so you have to record +10 or higher to give yourself a chance. I'd also make sure I network with AMSA, SNMA, and LMSA chapters to give yourself a better idea about the support systems at the schools you want to attend.

If you're throwing in DO schools, you really don't need to take the MCAT again. Networking advice still applies.

No I wouldn't shadow back at your family's home country, even if it's not a "voluntourism" trip. Do it in the United States. Your application screams US health care experience needed.

 

[Goro]

Central Americans are not generally considered URM. Spanish skills are always appreciated though.
I suggest a more modest list. No need to retake a fine MCAT like a 510, unless your score is expiring . A 520 score is something like the 95th %ile. Most people score the same ona retake, go up only a point or two, or even go down. Going from 510-> 520 is, well, unrealstic.

NYU-LI
Dartmouth
Rochester (maybe)
U ILL (maybe)
Emory
U CO
Tufts
Pitt (maybe)
CUSM
Nova MD
U WI
U VM
Miami
George Washington
Georgetown
SLU
Albany
Rush
Rosy Franklin
NYMC
MCW
VCU
EVMS
Wayne State
Wake Forest
Netter
Jefferson
Temple
Drexel
Creighton
Tulane
Loyola
Uniformed Services University/Hebert (just be aware of the military service commitment)
Oakland-B
Seton Hall
TCU/UNT
Your state schools
Any DO program. I can't recommend Nova, Wm Carey, BCOM, ICOM and LUCOM, for different reasons. MSUCOM? Read up on Larry Nasser and you decide. LMU has an accreditation warning, which concerns me. CalHS is too new and appears to be too limited in rotations sites. UIW refuses to post their Boards scores, which is fishy.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

That was all incredibly helpful. I've been in contact with a hospitalist who I was supposed to start shadowing pre-COVID, would you recommend I instead find a GP/PCP to shadow? Regarding retaking the MCAT, I'm afraid that a 126 in both C/P and B/B was too weak to be competitive at programs I wanted to give myself a shot at. I haven't scheduled a date to retake yet, partly because scheduling is closed because of COVID and because I wanted to see how I was scoring on FLs before scheduling. Also, how much of a disadvantage does it put me to have taken some online classes? Also worth noting, I got my general BIO credits from IB exams. I've since taken other upper division biology courses through my university, but not sure how that reflects on my application... Thanks again for all of your help, this has been invaluable in helping me map out my next steps

AAMC posted data on retakers : https://www.aamc.org/system/files/2019-09/MCAT-retake-policies-data-2019.pdf . So just making sure you understand what is observed. Your score could go up, could go down, or could stay the same, but obviously the higher you score, the more likely your retake will not improve as much as you think. It also suggests that the more time between retakes, the higher the likelihood for greater gains/changes.