Hey Guys, I have a 3.56, 39R (reapplicant). Need to know my chances

[RG3forPresident]

I am a reapplicant, and I retook the MCAT and went from a 34 to a 39. Last year, I only applied to 8 schools, and got 4 interviews. This year, I turned everything in pretty fast, but I had to wait for a late letter of recommendation until 8/21. I am from VA. I went to UVA and graduated with a biology major. My stats are: 3.56 (c), 3.57 (s), 39R (14 PS/13 VR/12 BS)

This year, I submitted a secondary to:

Albert Einstein
Boston
Case Western
Creighton
Drexel (Reapplying)
EVMS
Emory
Dartmouth
GWU (Reapplying)
Georgetown
Jefferson
Mount Sinai
Penn State
St Louis
SUNY Upstate
Temple (Reapplying, got interview before)
Toledo (Reapplying, got interview before)
Vermont
Tufts
Tulane
Arkansas
Cincinnati
Louisville
Michigan
Pittsburgh
Rochester
UVA
VCU (Reapplying, got interview before)
Virginia Tech (reapplying)
Wake Forest
Brown
Cornell

My extracurriculars include:

Certified EMT

Volunteering as a Nurse/EMT using my certification at a free clinic, where I take vital signs, patient histories,and perform procedures such as EKGs, PFTs, and ABIs.

Volunteering at another free clinic at the front desk.

Working as a tutor, teaching 5th - 8th graders Math and JAVA.

Over 250 hours of shadowing (Walk in clinic and cardiologists).

Volunteering for about 100 hours at the ICU of a hospital

Worked at the Henry M Jackson Foundation (offshoot of Walter Reed) for a summer as a lab tech, where I worked 40 hours/week.

Was a research assistant at another lab for 1.5 years. Unfortunately, could not be published (money circumstances forced my lab people to leave the university).

Working currently at a company creating Android applications. One of the "hooks" of my app is my interest and knowledge of computers, and software programming, and how technology and medicine will soon go hand in hand.

Took a few classes such as biochemistry, my EMT class, a math class, and now a history class through my community college (I have already taken anatomy so I didn't know what to really take). I just wanted to take something I found interesting.

I have a few other random things, like AMSA for four years, working as the webmaster for my school's branch.

Really, I just want to know if I should expect getting in this year, as I am actually very worried. Otherwise, I'm going to start looking for MPH programs to apply to next year.

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[rubisco88]

Honestly, I think you should have gotten in last year with 4 interviews. What do you think is holding you back? 34 is a very respectable MCAT and your GPA is decent. Your ECs are fine also. I think that there may be a red flag (LORs or essays) in your application or you may interview poorly. You need to sit down and figure that out first because it's not your stats that are keeping you out.

When did you apply last year? Late/early..what month?

 

[RG3forPresident]

Honestly, I think you should have gotten in last year with 4 interviews. What do you think is holding you back? 34 is a very respectable MCAT and your GPA is decent. Your ECs are fine also. I think that there may be a red flag (LORs or essays) in your application or you may interview poorly. You need to sit down and figure that out first because it's not your stats that are keeping you out.

When did you apply last year? Late/early..what month?

I did have pretty poor essays last year, which I improved on vastly this year. if it's a LOR that is messing me up (hopefully not), I got two more recommendations from one of the doctors I shadowed (and continue to shadow), and my boss at the tutoring company where I work. They both liked me a bunch, so hopefully that'll make up for it.

BUT, if it is a LOR that is the problem, I sent the old ones in again, so hopefully not. If my LOR raises a red flag, would they still invite me for an interview though last year?

And I probably do interview poorly. I'm not "anti-social" but I get pretty nervous before them (even with my last one, when I had experience). I will get my friends to drill me with questions.

But, do you think the schools I applied to are good for my stats, and I'm not overreaching/whatever?

Also, I applied kind of late last year as well (still finishing secondaries in October). And I also had to inform schools that a recommendation I thought I had coming in was not going to happen. So it may have combined to make my entire application and personality come off as immature.

Thank you very much for the reply.

edit: and as for the schools where I got interviews:

I was waitlisted at West Virginia and Toledo, and rejected from Temple and NYMC. I really felt like I massively screwed up the Temple and NYMC interviews though. Was stuttering, and overall not very coherent in those.

 

[katiemaude]

If you got interviews, that probably means your LORs were fine (unless they received them after the interview) - someone correct me if I'm wrong. Something went wrong in the interview, I'm guessing.

 

[RG3forPresident]

If you got interviews, that probably means your LORs were fine (unless they received them after the interview) - someone correct me if I'm wrong. Something went wrong in the interview, I'm guessing.

Nope, I only sent in the minimum needed (2 science/1 nonscience + committee), so I'm pretty sure they had to get those to consider my applications (maybe?).

 

[rubisco88]

Your school list sounds reasonable. It must have been your interview skills, so work on that.

 

[Catalystik]

Were any of your ECs on the weak side a year ago? What have you improved in that area since you last applied? Any peer leadership? What type of research did you do (bench/clinical) and how much creative control did you have? Any nonmedical community service?

What grades did you get in the recent coursework?

Any legal issues or Institutional Action?

 

[RG3forPresident]

Were any of your ECs on the weak side a year ago? What have you improved in that area since you last applied? Any peer leadership? What type of research did you do (bench/clinical) and how much creative control did you have? Any nonmedical community service?

What grades did you get in the recent coursework?

Any legal issues or Institutional Action?

I think my ECs may not have been as good last year. I didn't have the EMT Certification, and so I did not have the free clinic volunteering. I also had less shadowing, and my tutoring job had not started yet.

My research was bench, and a lot of it was grunt work. HOWEVER, one of the cool things I did involved creating a JAVA program to mimic a certain program that was way too expensive for us to purchase. So I would like to use that to show how my knowledge of computers can combine with my other interests.

I don't have too much nonmedical community service. The only stuff would be when AMSA would do service events, including raising money for stuff like the Japanese earthquake victims.

I have no legal issues (other then 2 speeding tickets).

 

[Catalystik]

I'm glad you were aggressive about improving your ECs and I hope you'll be similarly proactive over this next year for the sake of interview conversations and update letters. If your recent grades were good and you work on your interview skills, there's reason to hope for a different outcome this season, provided there are no lurking red flags in a LOR.

 

[gyngyn]

I stopped counting when I saw 20 schools on your list where you have a good to very good chance of an interview (even as a re-applicant). Work on your interview skills and you should be golden this cycle.