Need some help with school list/chances - 4.0/33Q

[DirkFor3]

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Hey everyone, Thanks for reading this and I would greatly appreciate your responses.

MCAT:
29R (12PS / 7V / 10B) – this was the first time I took it in August and I unfortunately had a major throat infection and a 100+ fever during the test which was rough. I somehow still managed to do ok, but I decided to retake it in Jan because I thought the 7 in Verbal would hurt me.

Thankfully, the 2nd time, I improved to a 33Q (13/9/11)😀

GPA:
4.0; My school is part of the UT system and uses +/- so I’ve somehow had to avoid A-‘s to keep it at a 4.

Clinical Volunteer:
Shadowed an internal medicine doctor for 50 hours; hoping to shadow another 20 hours to get some more experience in before apps go out.

Have volunteered in the ER for about 50 hours so far (Should be above 100 by the time I submit my application.

EC’s:
- Have been tresasur of the Pre-Health honor society for the past year and a half; also have gotten 100 community service hours through the organization.
- I was the essay coordinator of an international essay competition this past summer
- Tutored General Chemistry for over 100 hours
- Was a Peer Led Team Learning (PLTL) leader for General Chemistry
- Have been a teaching assistant for Biology 2 – get to review material with a class of 40 students weekly
- Going to be a First Year Leader next year – get to act as the professor for a freshmen orientation class.
- Spent about half a year as a part-time writer for Examiner and a sports blog
- Written a few sports articles for the editorial on campus
- A Peer Advisor (RA) for Freshmen Pre-Health Students.
- Love playing intramurals

Research: Have been in a lab for a year and a half. No publications yet, but hoping to become a minor author on one eventually.

With Texas being my home state, I am definitely looking to apply at all the schools in the state, but I am also trying to find some out of state to apply too. I’ve thought about schools like Duke and some of the Ivy’s, but just out of curiosity, are there any high tier ones that you guys think I may have a decent chance at??


Thanks again for taking the time to read this and I appreciate everyone’s response.🙂

 

[plumhill]

Well, your GPA is excellent, and your MCAT is okay. For some of the top tier schools you'll have a lot of applicants with 35+ scores, though. You should be alright with all of your in-state schools...and even if you don't get into a top-tier school, you have some excellent options in texas!

ECs are good; you seem like a fairly well-rounded person. Is the association you're in AED, by chance?

Your volunteer hours are a little low, though. Most applicants will have about 150-200 (as a bare minimum) by the time they apply. I feel like this, above all else, would be what holds you back, if anything. Even if this isn't true, you run the risk of coming across as someone who spent all of their time studying and being somewhat involved in the community, but not being someone who was truly dedicated to helping the community and being invested in exploring a clinical setting. When you apply, you're really going to have to prove to adcoms that you're knowledgeable of what a clinical setting might be like, and that you are making a truly informed decision in applying to medical school.

 

[DirkFor3]

Thanks for the reply Plumhill!

The association is AED!

I had a quick question about the volunteer hours, though. Are you referring more specifically to the non-clinical community service (like through AED or other service organizations), or more in relation to a clinical setting? I feel that my community service hours will probably get a nice bump up from the 100 this semester, but I was definitely a little iffy on whether my clinical experience of 150 hours by May would be adequate.

 

[plumhill]

🙂 I only ask because I'm in AED as well (just got back from the national conference!)

I'm talking about both. You want to have a good amount of clinical and non-clinical volunteering hours, though if you have to pick one, I'd go with clinical. Keep getting more hours through AED but also look for volunteering opportunities on your own, to show that you've taken some initiative. If you can do anything where you have patient contact, that would be excellent! I don't know exactly what you do in the ED, so if you're getting patient exposure that way then that is good.

 

[DirkFor3]

That's awesome that you're in AED as well!! Thanks again for the advice!

I think one of the major things with what they have let me do in the ER at the hospital I work at is to go in and talk to the patients and family members as much as possible (which is something I have definitely enjoyed!) on top of helping the nurses/paramedics as much as I can. I do see your point, though, and I agree it probably would be a good idea to get a little bit more volunteer experience!

Does anyone else have any more advice?