Honest opinions on my school list and chances

[The-Adster]

I know I've posted a lot of these, but since I have my almost-final school list down (I want to take off some schools because of how much it costs), I wanted to know if you guys have some comments for me. Please be as brutal and honest as possible with this list, or if I should even apply at all. FYI, I got this school list from Faha and Goro here on SDN. I also used Wedgedawg's applicant rating system and the MSAR to help out with which schools to choose.

I unfortunately scored horribly worse than expected on my MCAT: 503 (128/123/127/125), but I am Hispanic URM (NM resident). My sGPA is 3.86, and my cGPA is 3.87. I have ~1200 clinical hours (shadowing, hospital volunteering, and internships paid and unpaid). I have ~150 volunteering hours at a senior living center. I only have 50 hours of research volunteering (no formal research, just a data collector), but I have ~50 hours tutoring/working with the underserved school students here in NM.

Keep in mind that yes, I am obviously still applying to DO (about 10 schools) because of my MCAT, but this is my MD school list:

• UNM
• Arizona (Tucson)
• Loyola
• TCU and UNTHSC
• Toledo
• Medical College at Wisconsin
• Loma Linda (yes, I am a Christian)
• West Virginia
• Wright State
• Kaiser Permanente
• FIU
• Rush
• Rosalind Franklin
• Oakland Beaumont
• Geisinger
• Tulane
• Seton Hall

I will be editing this list soon so that I can add it to my AMCAS. Ideally, I would like to narrow it down to the 10 to 12 schools I have the best shot at with these stats and horrible MCAT. Also, yes, I've taken the CASPer (actually just about an hour ago lol). Greatly appreciate any help!

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[Tiran145]

Honestly with that MCAT all except your state school and DO schools might be a donation.

 

[Batman297]

I had a 503 last cycle and applied to many of these schools including Toledo, Wright, Rosalind, Loyola, MCW. I’m IS Ohio and had a similar GPA and ECs. In my experience, I agree with the above post. I got into 1 MD and 1 DO school but they were both in state.

 

[GoHorseGo]

I had a 503 last cycle and applied to many of these schools including Toledo, Wright, Rosalind, Loyola, MCW. I’m IS Ohio and had a similar GPA and ECs. In my experience, I agree with the above post. I got into 1 MD and 1 DO school but they were both in state.

Congrats on the acceptances! Curious to see the number of interview invites you received?

 

[Batman297]

Thanks! 1 MD and 4 DO. When I got the acceptance from OUHCOM, I turned my other DO IIs down. Then I finally heard back favorably from the 1 MD school.

 

[NYCVillain]

Your URM status helps you tremendously. LizzyM calculator states you have an 80% chance of getting accepted into at least one medical school given your stats and your URM status as a Hispanic.

 

[The-Adster]

I had a 503 last cycle and applied to many of these schools including Toledo, Wright, Rosalind, Loyola, MCW. I’m IS Ohio and had a similar GPA and ECs. In my experience, I agree with the above post. I got into 1 MD and 1 DO school but they were both in state.

Thanks for the insight! I have 1 MD and 1 DO school here in my state of residence (NM). Hoping to at least get II’s to each.

So you ended up just keeping your 503?

 

[Batman297]

Happy to help! I was let down when I got my MCAT score but I took it kinda later (July 20) and I honestly didn't think I could do substantially better in the short period of time to still not be late for the cycle. I had also heard that if you get a mediocre score it can be better to just run with it rather than risk getting another unremarkable score because that confirmed your testing potential to adcoms. The MCAT score also never came up in interviews and I felt they went well. Personally, in your situation, I would definitely still apply with a 503. A cursory search through Burrell's website suggests you're quite competitive for them.

 

[The-Adster]

Happy to help! I was let down when I got my MCAT score but I took it kinda later (July 20) and I honestly didn't think I could do substantially better in the short period of time to still not be late for the cycle. I had also heard that if you get a mediocre score it can be better to just run with it rather than risk getting another unremarkable score because that confirmed your testing potential to adcoms. The MCAT score also never came up in interviews and I felt they went well. Personally, in your situation, I would definitely still apply with a 503. A cursory search through Burrell's website suggests you're quite competitive for them.

I sure will still apply! Especially to the low-tier MDs and ALL of the DO schools on my list. Appreciate the responses, and congrats on getting in!!