Help me, advice please?

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Arewestilldoingphrasing?

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Hi, I am one year out from my application and am wondering what my chances are and what I should do to improve my application. I was born and raised in South America so I am hispanic and speak Spanish and moved here when I was ten. My cGPA is a 3.5 (3.3, 3.4, 3.2, 3.9 year by year) and I will be doing one more year of courses to show another year of strong GPA work before I apply. Assuming I make 3.9~4.0 (my senior year I fixed some learning issues I had been having so this is very feasible), I can push both my cGPA and sGPA up to about a 3.6. I have about 150 hours of clinical volunteering in a hospital, worked summers as a camp counselor for underprivileged youth, shadowed a surgeon about 70 hours and started a club at my school focused on providing supplies to the homeless. I also spent about 2500 hours in a research lab with multiple posters presented and a talk given at various conferences and won an award for my research.

I am wondering, if I get involved in volunteering a significant amount over the next year (say 200 hours or so in something I am passionate about), make the grades (3.9~4.0) and score well on the MCAT (512+), how do I look as an applicant? Am I competitive for top schools ( say US News top 25? or so), what about schools more in the middle (top 60)? I know ranking "does not matter" but I am trying to gauge my competitiveness at this point and if I accomplish my goals for the year.

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Without a MCAT score, no one can advise you on what your chances are because your chances could be wonderful or no chance at all. If you scored a 512+ you have a great shot on the flip side, if you score below a 500, you have a small chance. Take your mcat whenever you are ready and then the question is relevant
 
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Hi, I am one year out from my application and am wondering what my chances are and what I should do to improve my application. I was born and raised in South America so I am hispanic and speak Spanish and moved here when I was ten. My cGPA is a 3.5 (3.3, 3.4, 3.2, 3.9 year by year) and I will be doing one more year of courses to show another year of strong GPA work before I apply. Assuming I make 3.9~4.0 (my senior year I fixed some learning issues I had been having so this is very feasible), I can push both my cGPA and sGPA up to about a 3.6. I have about 150 hours of clinical volunteering in a hospital, worked summers as a camp counselor for underprivileged youth, shadowed a surgeon about 70 hours and started a club at my school focused on providing supplies to the homeless. I also spent about 2500 hours in a research lab with multiple posters presented and a talk given at various conferences and won an award for my research.

I am wondering, if I get involved in volunteering a significant amount over the next year (say 200 hours or so in something I am passionate about), make the grades (3.9~4.0) and score well on the MCAT (512+), how do I look as an applicant? Am I competitive for top schools ( say US News top 25? or so), what about schools more in the middle (top 60)? I know ranking "does not matter" but I am trying to gauge my competitiveness at this point and if I accomplish my goals for the year.
I don't think that a single good year can make up for the uneven performance, except at your state school, perhaps.

You're fine for any DO school.

Come back when you have an MCAT score and we can better advise.
 
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I don't think that a single good year can make up for the uneven performance, except at your state school, perhaps.

You're fine for any DO school.

Come back when you have an MCAT score and we can better advise.

Right, so assuming that I make solid grades (read 3.9+) in my postbacc program, it would show two years of consistency including my senior year of undergraduate work. Is the last two years around 3.9~4.0 not enough to make up for some uneven years early on? So say I make solid grades this coming year, my five years of undergraduate level coursework would look like:
3.3 (30 credits), 3.4 (18 credits due to family tragedy), 3.2 (30 credits), 3.9 (30 credits), 3.9ish (32 credits).
Likely finishing with about a 3.6 cGPA and 3.6 sGPA.
 
Right, so assuming that I make solid grades (read 3.9+) in my postbacc program, it would show two years of consistency including my senior year of undergraduate work. Is the last two years around 3.9~4.0 not enough to make up for some uneven years early on? So say I make solid grades this coming year, my five years of undergraduate level coursework would look like:
3.3 (30 credits), 3.4 (18 credits due to family tragedy), 3.2 (30 credits), 3.9 (30 credits), 3.9ish (32 credits).
Likely finishing with about a 3.6 cGPA and 3.6 sGPA.
Two years of great grades will be enough to convince Adcoms. There are MD schools and (all DO) that reward reinvention
 
Two years of great grades will be enough to convince Adcoms. There are MD schools and (all DO) that reward reinvention
Ok great. Aside from the metrics (GPA and MCAT), what should I be focused on? I recently moved so I'm not able to continue any of my old volunteering/research ECs and want to improve my application as much as possible in the next year.
 
Ok great. Aside from the metrics (GPA and MCAT), what should I be focused on? I recently moved so I'm not able to continue any of my old volunteering/research ECs and want to improve my application as much as possible in the next year.
Service to others less fortunate than yourself is always good.
 
Two years of great grades will be enough to convince Adcoms. There are MD schools and (all DO) that reward reinvention
Also, what are some schools that reward reinvention? Any of the D.C., Philly, NYC or Boston schools? I'd prefer to stay in the NE.
 
Also, what are some schools that reward reinvention? Any of the D.C., Philly, NYC or Boston schools? I'd prefer to stay in the NE.
Your state schools, the Philly Triplets and most other Albany/Drexel class schools, BU, Dartmouth, UCSF, Columbia, Mayo, Pitt, Duke, Vandy, Tufts
 
Do you have PR status?
South Americans are not generally considered UiM, but commitment to service and language skills are appreciated. Using those skills for the less fortunate is especially helpful.
Yes I do. I am actually hoping to find some volunteering where I could use my language ability but haven't found anything that stands out to me yet.
 
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