Medical I need to reapply. What should I fix in my application?

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GoSpursGo

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  • Year in school: Graduating Senior/4th Year
  • Country/state of residence: AZ, USA
  • Cumulative GPA: 4.00
  • Science GPA: 4.00 (This includes all the science classes I need to take.)
  • MCAT Scores: From July 2020: 504 (128/126/123/127)
  • Research – include any abstracts/posters/publications and how you were credited (eg. First author, senior author, etc): ~400 Hours in A Cancer Prevention/Control Research Internship (This was more of a public health internship and did not involve any lab research.) No publications.
  • Volunteering (clinical) – include hours/sites: ~150 Hours Local Hospital Emergency Department
  • Physician shadowing – include hours/specialties: ~100 Total Hours in Family Medicine, Cardiology, General Surgery, Oncology, Emergency Medicine
  • Non-clinical volunteering: ~650 Hours in A Wide Range of Areas (I am an Eagle Scout.)
  • Extracurricular activities: ~100 Hours in an Undergraduate Chemistry Club (with Leadership Position), Involved with A Religious Organization, Study Abroad,
  • Employment history: ~2 Years Part-time at A Pizzeria
  • Please include time span and weekly commitment for volunteering/research/shadowing/extracurriculars.: ~10 Per Week on Average (Most activities have been longer than 6-12 months.)
  • Immediate family members in medicine? (y/n): No
  • Specialty of interest: Still Undecided (I'm leaning toward a surgical specialty, but I do have a genuine interest in family medicine.)
  • Shadowing experience: As mentioned above, ~100 hours with physicians across various specialties, but I've also worked with nurses and other providers for another 100 hours or so.
  • Graduate degrees: None (Considering an SMP or MPH but both are not likely needed given my GPA.)
  • Interest in rural health (y/n): Yes (I have lived in a rural area all my life, have shadowed several rural physicians, and have a genuine interest in practicing in a rural area.)
  • LORS/Essays: This is obviously a very subjective area, but I picked letter writers that knew me very well and strongly recommended me. I'm confident in my LORs. I'm also not a perfect writer, but I took the time to do a pretty good job on essays.
  • Other Factors: Low SES, ORM, First-generation College Student
  • Progress Made in First Application Cycle: Maintained 4.00 GPA, Became a Chemistry Teaching Assistant (~20 Hours/Week), Was going to do more research/volunteering but the pandemic has canceled everything.
  • What I'm Planning to Address:
    • MCAT: This is by far the biggest red flag I see in my application. Personal factors (pandemic-related) made it very difficult to study/focus and I did not perform as well as I know I can. I dropped significantly from my FLs, but I didn't have the time/energy to retake. I'm going to dedicate 2.5 months of studying full-time (no work/school) to get my goal score of 510+.
    • Research: I also have a summer 2021 internship that will be roughly another 400 hours of clinical research.
    • Volunteering: I have a total of about 700 hours between clinical and non-clinical. Do I need more?
    • Clinical Experience: I don't have any clinical employment and only have around 250 hours of clinical experience (volunteering/shadowing). Do you think I need more?
    • Other?: I'm not sure what I should focus on besides my MCAT. Should I favor volunteering, research, or something else?
  • Schools I Applied To And Why: I applied to ~50 US MD schools. I paid for 20 out of pocket through AMCAS and 10 TMDSAS (interested in warm weather and cheap tuition). I also qualified for another 20 through FAP. A lot of these schools are much higher in average MCAT because I already selected them before getting my score back and had a huge fall from my last FL.
Yeah I wish I had something more insightful to say, but the problem is the elephant in the room--the MCAT. Do better on that and doors will be opened to you.

Everything else you have planned sounds fine, but honestly I think you have plenty of hours and it's just a matter of filling in the year on your CV with something meaningful that won't take up so much time that you can't study for the MCAT.
 
Would definitely retake the MCAT. You have a stellar application and will do well in the cycle if you get that up to 511+. This should be your main focus...but maintaining your clinical hours wouldn't hurt (as long as it doesn't interfere with MCAT).
 
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