Need some opinions and perspective

[Doook]

Hey guys. I'm usually not a fan of posting in these kinds of forums, but SDN veterans seem really knowledgeable (I've done a few weeks of forum lurking before registering). I was just looking for some perspective and opinions regarding my condition for med school applications. My low MCAT score was mainly due to a complete mental meltdown for not realizing how much pressure there would be. I usually score around a 32-34 on practice tests.

21yr old Asian Male

cGPA: ~3.76 (after recalculation with AMCAS)
sGPA: ~3.76 (after AMCAS recalculation)
MCAT: 27Q (P9 V8 B10) *Has been retaken recently

Major Achievements:
- Full academic scholarship to undergraduate university
- Howard Hughes Medical Institute Research Fellowship

Research:
- 3 Summers at the National Institutes of Health under the Cancer Research Training Award and Intramural Research Training Award
- 2 years in university lab working on drug delivery
- 4 co-authored published papers (1 paper is co-first authored)
- 4 poster presentations at conferences (including AACR in D.C this year)
- 1 invention disclosure (co-inventor) submitted for patenting (not in patent stage yet)

Clinical and Volunteering:
- 60 hours of volunteering in 4 different rotations at Georgetown Hospital University during one summer
- ~80 hours at Children's Hospital over the course of 2 years and still ongoing (during school)
- 15 hrs Shadowing Thoracic surgeon
- Tutoring through university for underprivileged high school students (Volunteer - upaid. 4 hrs/week, once a month for one year. Continuing throughout senior year as well)

Leadership:
- Co-Vice-President of College Student Interest Group in Neurology (CO-SIGN) for 1 year (club specializes in bringing in guest speakers to discuss neurology topics)
- Treasurer and exec board member for Vietnamese Student Association for 1 year (large 60 member club with monthly activities and trips. Worked with fundraising for Vietnamese charities)
- Staff for InnoWorks (science summer camp designed to introduce hands-on science to middle schoolers) <-- also goes under volunteer section

I am hoping for a significantly higher MCAT score to give me a shot at even making it into an MD school. I was wondering if anyone had any advice or could give me some perspective as to where I stand. I take criticism very well and would love for you guys to be as realistic as possible.

Thank you so much.

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[Catalystik]

Perhaps you've seen the link previously where AMCAS reports past chances of an acceptance based on three years of various combinations of applicants' cGPA and MCAT scores. They suggest that your chances could be about 53.1% with a 3.76/27.

You can see how your odds will change with a different MCAT score: http://www.aamc.org/data/facts/applicantmatriculant/table24-mcatgpagridall2007-09.pdf

Your shadowing could use some enhancement, perhaps with a primary care doc. This would be be something you could do over the summer and use for a later update letter. You didn't specify the duration of the tutoring and whether is was a volunteer position. If this is something you began recently, I'd suggest you continue during the application year and include that in the update letter too. The research looks terrific. The clinical experience is about average. The shadowing is on the low side. Leaderhip isn't mentioned, and would be another area for improvement if you have the time.

 

[Doook]

Thanks for the insightful reply Catalystik. That's the thing that has been bugging me. How do you get awesome clinical experience? I've met my med advisor and she said that the clinical side looks very solid. I'm not quite sure how it is possible to excel or stand out in terms of clinical volunteering.

I forgot to include leadership b/c I didn't want my original post to be too long. I will edit the original post and include more information.

 

[Catalystik]

"Awesome" clinical experience would require multi-years of medical volunteerism or employment. Ex-nurses, EMTs, and other health professionals with direct patient responsibility are "awesome" in that respect.

The leadership is good. I'd put the science camp under Teaching/Community Service (either is fine), as Leadership means peer leadership.