Medical How should I plan for reapplication?

[GoSpursGo]

Hi everyone,
I applied this cycle (AACOMAS and TMDSAS) and got 2 IIs from Texas schools. Unfortunately, I did not match this cycle and have been waitlisted, so I think it's safe to say I'll be reapplying. I'm currently finishing up my post-bacc program and I anticipate to finish up with a 4.0 post bacc GPA and 3.0+ sGPA and cGPA. I currently have a 505 mcat score, and 200+ hours of shadowing, extracurriculars, and research. I also worked as a scribe this year for 6 months.

My question is- in order to improve my application, I am thinking of retaking my MCAT for a 510+. I am planning to study from June to August of this year, and take the exam in mid or late August. Would an August test date be too late for Texas schools? Additionally, would working full time as a clinical research coordinator after retaking the MCAT help my application? Any and all advice would be appreciated.

A few clarifying questions:

1) What is your overall sGPA and cGPA? How many hours have you done in your post bacc?
2) Those 200+ hours, is that all categories together or each category individually? Because if it's total, that is probably a relatively low number of hours of clinical exposure.

Whether the clinical research coordinator job would help really depends how much patient care interaction you would get. Retaking the MCAT could certainly help, though obviously you have to be certain that you're actually going to improve your score. I'm not sure the score would be back in time to help you score additional interviews, but it would help at any schools where you already get interview invites.

1. So at this time, with one semester of post bacc work, my overall sGPA is 2.88 and cGPA is 3.1. I'm currently in the post-bacc program at TTUHSC El Paso and I'll be completing a total of 24 hours of graduate level post bacc work. I'm anticipating a 4.0 this semester, which should bring my sGPA up to 3.04 and cGPA to somewhere near 3.2 (this is ball park, I've only calculated by sGPA and not my cGPA).
2. The 200+ hours are for each individual category! So 200+ hours of shadowing, 200+ hours of research, and 200+ hours of extra curriculars.
3. For the MCAT, I feel a bit hopeful. My 505 was a retake from my previous 493 in 2019. So I do think that whatever I did last time certainly helped, I just have to implement a few more strategies that I wasn't able to do last time around.

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[Goro]

1) Work on interview skills
2) Finish the post-bac and continue doing well.
3) Have DO schools on your list next time (if you didn't already)
4) Engage in more service to others less fortunate than yourself.
5) For MD, you need to score 510+ on your mCAT retake. Do NOT retake until you are 100% ready.

 

[TheBoneDoctah]

Can you please break down your clinical and non-clinical hours and what you did for us? If you want MD, need to retake MCAT. You absolutely should not retake until you are scoring above your goal score...so for MD you should be scoring probably close to 512-513 on practices before attempting the real deal again. Not sure clinical research would be worth it as, depending on what the activity entails, you probably wouldn't be getting much clinical experience for your app. Research is overrated for medical school admissions. Again, on your reapp, add a good amount of DO schools.

 

[TheBoneDoctah]

Sure!
Clinical hours:
1. Remote medical scribe (October 2020 to March 2021), 23 hrs/wk for a total of 552 hrs.
2. Shadowing at pediatric clinic (February 2020 to August 2020), 6 hrs/wk for a total of 144 hrs.
3. Undergraduate intern/ shadowing at local health department (January 2019 to July 2019), 12 hrs/wk for a total of 288 hrs.
4. Clinic volunteer/shadowing at free medical relief clinic (September 2017 to June 2018), 3 hrs/wk for a total of 96 hrs.
5. Shadowing at Children's Medical Center in Dallas (December 2017 to January 2018), 6 hrs/wk for a total of 42 hrs.
6. Volunteer at local urgent care (June 2017 to August 2017), 9 hrs/wk for a total of 81 hrs.
7. Volunteer / shadowing at a cardiology clinic (July 2015 to August 2016), 4 hrs/wk for a total of 216 hrs.

Non-clinical hours:
1. Undergraduate teaching assistant for public health course (August 2019 to December 2019), 4 hrs/wk for a total of 64 hrs.
2. Transfer mentor at my university (August 2018 to March 2020), 1 hr/wk for a total of 64 hrs.
3. Event coordinator for campus organization - Future Healthcare Leaders of America (August 2018 to May 2020), 2 hrs/wk for a total of 112 hours.
4. Vice president of my sorority (November 2017 to August 2018), 3 hrs/wk for a total of 105 hrs.
5. Dancer for collegiate level Indian dance team (September 2016 to May 2017), 6 hrs/wk for a total of 168 hours.
6. Service chair for campus organization - Muslim student association (September 2016 to May 2017), 4 hrs/wk for a total of 112 hrs.

Volunteer experience:
1. Academic coach for non profit organization - UPchieve, (April 2020 to present), 10 hrs total (I usually do this whenever I have some down time from school).
The rest of my volunteer experience is through various community service events hosted by Future Healthcare Leaders of America, my sorority (Mu Delta Alpha), my collegiate dance team (KangaRaas), and Muslim student association. All together, from 2016 to present, I have 223 hours of volunteering / community service.

Research experience:
1. Coauthored on multiple cardiac studies which were published with the American Heart Association (Feb 2016). I have about 108 hours from my research projects.
2. Conducted a community needs assessment and developed a study regarding physician awareness and knowledge regarding reporting guidelines for measles, mumps, and rubella during my time as an undergraduate intern at my local health department. This was selected for poster presentation at the Texas public health association conference 2020. I have about 192 hours from this.

I know this is a lot, but I wanted to be as detailed as possible to get the best advice! Please let me know if you need anything else.

Everything looks good...except for you have a hole still in the "helping the less fortunate" area. You need to have a good amount of others helping people less well off than yourself. This would include things like soup kitchens, etc.

 

[TheBoneDoctah]

Makes sense. I'll focus more on improving that this time around. Also, just wanted to ask if an August test date would be considered late for TMDSAS? I understand that I should not retake until I am scoring above my goal, but in the case that I am scoring 510+, what would the "latest" test date be that I could sign up for?

Not too familiar with the Texas app. This is a better question for the others on here. @Goro

 

[Goro]

Not too familiar with the Texas app. This is a better question for the others on here. @Goro

Texas is a world unto itself. Reach out to wysdoc; she knows the state

 

[Mr.Smile12]

I dont think an August result would be late, but you could check with the two schools that interviewed you.

 

[GoSpursGo]

I mean, it's not ideal, but you also shouldn't rush it. I generally think that it may not help you score additional interviews, but having it come in late may help push you over the finish line for an acceptance at places where you already get an interview.

Bottom line, if you didn't get in this time, the question you should ask yourself is what will be different next time? I know you are anxious to get in ASAP, but you may be more successful if you sit out this application season, take the time you need to improve the MCAT, have it available on the day the application opens in 2022, and really flesh out your ECs.

 

[TheBoneDoctah]

To add to this, it's better to have your application perfect than to rush it to get it in earlier.