Help with school list and balancing number of MD vs DO schools

[tvtrojan11]

I am a re-applicant this year. Last year I didn’t submit my primary until September and only completed secondaries for 9 schools. I had two interviews (rejection and waitlist). I recently met with the director of admissions at a school that rejected me to discuss my app. I was told to apply earlier, to apply to more schools, and that more clinical exposure would help.

Ohio Resident
GPA: 3.72
sGPA: 3.69
MCAT: 31
Shadowing: 60 hours
Volunteering (non-clinical): Mentor with Big Brothers Big Sisters for the past three years, group leader of a two-week international service trip
Volunteering (clinical): scribe at a free clinic since April (48 hours so far), 30 hours volunteering at a hospital
Work: I volunteered in a research lab for 2 years in undergrad, and I’m now going on my second year of working there full-time as a paid research assistant. I was also hired as an ACT/SAT tutor last month (10 hours/week).

School List:
Ohio State
Toledo
Cincinnati
Wright State
NEOMED
Virginia Commonwealth
St. Louis
Medical College of Wisconsin
Penn State
Miami
Temple
Loyola
Eastern Virginia
Wake Forest
Drexel
Albany
NYMC
Rosiland Franklin
Rush
Tufts
Kentucky
Louisville
Indiana
Creighton
Central Florida
Tulane
Oakland University William Beaumont
Vermont

I’m planning to apply to around 20 MD schools so any help cutting down the list or other suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Since this is my second cycle, I’m also going to apply to some DO schools. Any suggestions on how many DO schools I should apply to and which ones? My initial thought is 3-4 DO schools, but I’m not sure what the right balance is for how I should spend my limited time and money. Should I be applying to fewer MD schools and more DO schools?

Thanks for any advice!

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[Goro]

I suggest:


Ohio State
Toledo
Cincinnati
Wright State
NEOMED
Virginia Commonwealth
St. Louis
Medical College of Wisconsin
Miami
Temple
Loyola
Eastern Virginia
Wake Forest
Drexel
Albany
NYMC
Rosiland Franklin
Rush
Creighton
Tulane
Oakland University William Beaumont

Add
CCOM
OH COM
MUCOM
PCOM
MSUCOM

that should do it!

 

[brochacho123]

Kentucky and Louisville take very few OOS applicants
Rush has a minimum volunteering/service requirement (150hrs I believe?)

Where did you apply last cycle and where did you interview? Since they advised you to increase your clinical exposure, how much has this improved since the last cycle?

 

[tvtrojan11]

Kentucky and Louisville take very few OOS applicants
Rush has a minimum volunteering/service requirement (150hrs I believe?)

Where did you apply last cycle and where did you interview? Since they advised you to increase your clinical exposure, how much has this improved since the last cycle?

Last cycle I sent the primary to 16 schools but only completed the secondaries at:
Ohio State
Toledo
Cincinnati
Wright State
West Virginia
Virginia Commonwealth
St. Louis
Medical College of Wisconsin
Albert Einstein

I interviewed at Wright State (rejection) and West Virginia (waitlist). WVU only accepts MCAT scores from 2 years back, so that's why I'm not re-applying there.

As for clinical exposure, I have done 16 additional hours of shadowing, and I have been volunteering as a scribe at a free clinic since April. I'm at the clinic for around 16 hours a month, and one of the doctors who runs it will be writing me a LOR. It probably doesn't look great that I've only been doing it since April, but there's not much I can do about it at this point.

 

[brochacho123]

I believe you will be a re-applicant to all the 16 schools that recieved your primary. You need to add schools where you will be a first time applicant to increase your chances of an interview. Schools you previously applied to will like to see significant improvement in your deficient areas.

Ideally, you could take a gap year and increase your clinical volunteering and submit your primary and secondaries much earlier. Did you contact any of your IS schools for any feedback? If you decide to apply this year, increase your clinical exposure as much as possible and provide updates in the secondaries if given the opportunity to do so.

 

[tvtrojan11]

So even if a school knows that you've previously tried to get into med school, they won't hold it against you if you haven't been rejected by their own admissions committee?

I briefly considered a gap year, but this is the last year my MCAT is valid at most schools. I have only been able to get feedback from one school, but the person I spoke with seemed confident that applying earlier, applying to more schools, and adding the scribe position to my app would significantly increase my chances.

 

[brochacho123]

It is always more difficult as a reapplicant, since adcoms are left to draw their own conclusions on why you did not gain an acceptance.

It is wise to add schools you did not apply to since they have not reviewed any part of your application, though you will most likely have to describe how your application has improved.

The scribing will help, and more importantly start working on those secondaries asap (schools are already sending them). Best of luck