MD Help with school list and advice

[deleted1192074]

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[Faha]

UCSD, UCLA, USC, Colorado, Emory are unrealistic with a MCAT of 508. I suggest these schools with your stats and ECs:
Arizona (Tucson and Phoenix)
Tulane
Creighton
TCU
St. Louis
Rosalind Franklin
Rush
Loyola
Medical College Wisconsin
Oakland Beaumont
Wayne State
Belmont
NOVA MD
Wake Forest
Virginia Commonwealth
Eastern Virginia
George Washington
Georgetown
Drexel
Temple
Jefferson
Penn State
Hackensack
Albany
Vermont
Quinnipiac
Alice Walton (when it opens)
Roseman (when it opens)

 

[Mr.Smile12]

You need 50 shadowing hours to avoid getting screened out by most schools, and include primary care experiences though you have EMT already.

Itemize your non-clinical experience: service orientation activities should involve 150 hours (food distribution, shelter volunteer, job/tax preparation, transportation services, housing rehabilitation). Blood bank promotion does not directly address a community's needs in the same way. Tutoring and teaching belong in a different area.

Without a stated purpose as a physician, it's hard to determine whether your cycle will be successful. You should include DO programs since you have two DO schools in Arizona with an application advantage.

 

[deleted1192074]

You need 50 shadowing hours to avoid getting screened out by most schools, and include primary care experiences though you have EMT already.

Itemize your non-clinical experience: service orientation activities should involve 150 hours (food distribution, shelter volunteer, job/tax preparation, transportation services, housing rehabilitation). Blood bank promotion does not directly address a community's needs in the same way. Tutoring and teaching belong in a different area.

Without a stated purpose as a physician, it's hard to determine whether your cycle will be successful. You should include DO programs since you have two DO schools in Arizona with an application advantage.

Thanks for your comment! As far as shadowing, would I actually be screened out if I still have at least 50 expected hours? I just don’t want to have to delay my app another year due to this. I am in touch with my PCP to see if I can shadow her, so hoping to add that as well (but again, this wouldn’t probably happen until after I’d submit my primary app so I would have to list it as anticipated hours).

For the non-clinical, 200 is from packaging and distributing food, 100 is from organizing and running blood drives on campus during undergrad, and 50 is from mentoring(?) kids (part of a school org where we went to neighboring elementary schools in low-resource areas and taught them health-related lessons). ~100 is from organizing and leading volunteer events with school orgs around the area (such as packing school supplies to donate to low-resource areas, more food distribution, etc). The rest (~250) is more from leadership in terms of having officer roles for a few organizations - I’ve seen on reddit to just include them on non-clinical and insert the leadership roles in the description, but am curious on your thoughts on this.

I would be interested in applying to the AZ DO schools, but have not really considered applying DO my first time around. I’m not sure whether it would be worth attempting an MCAT retake but risking a later app, or going with Faha’s list with a few additions.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Thanks for your comment! As far as shadowing, would I actually be screened out if I still have at least 50 expected hours? I just don’t want to have to delay my app another year due to this. I am in touch with my PCP to see if I can shadow her, so hoping to add that as well (but again, this wouldn’t probably happen until after I’d submit my primary app so I would have to list it as anticipated hours).

You could be screened out because more applicants have more hours than you do. Remember ~65K applicants are going for 30K spots (MD/DO). Staying above the median is important for fundamental metrics. What individual schools is up to them.

For the non-clinical, 200 is from packaging and distributing food, 100 is from organizing and running blood drives on campus during undergrad, and 50 is from mentoring(?) kids (part of a school org where we went to neighboring elementary schools in low-resource areas and taught them health-related lessons). ~100 is from organizing and leading volunteer events with school orgs around the area (such as packing school supplies to donate to low-resource areas, more food distribution, etc). The rest (~250) is more from leadership in terms of having officer roles for a few organizations - I’ve seen on reddit to just include them on non-clinical and insert the leadership roles in the description, but am curious on your thoughts on this.

It depends on the activity. If it's all under one organization, do what you can. But making it an omnibus description makes it hard for screeners to figure out what you did and where you made an impact.

I would be interested in applying to the AZ DO schools, but have not really considered applying DO my first time around. I’m not sure whether it would be worth attempting an MCAT retake but risking a later app, or going with Faha’s list with a few additions.

If you are fluent in Spanish, you would have a stronger shot at the two Arizona schools on that list, but it is worth applying since you are IS. You need to address mission/purpose in any case.

 

[KaiBuzz]

UA PHX loves high MCAT scores so you’ll probably be screened out honestly.