MD & DO Need suggestions ASAP

[Shinobiz11]

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So i just got my MCAT score back...here's my stats

cGPA: 3.63
sGPA: 3.47
MCAT: 24 (8/6/10)
URM: Hispanic

Just copied all this from my MDApps. I know my MCAT is the weak point and I plan to retake. Any DO schools who might be good backups just in case. I really want to stay in Michigan, but I'll travel if I have to. I'm already verified for both AMCAS and AACOMAS as well.

Letters of Recommendation:

Biology professor/adviser
French professor
Bio lab instructor
Tutoring coordinator
UROP administrator
Cardiology MD/Clinical professor
Mosque administrator
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Work/Activities: **Denotes most meaningful

Unorganized Activities - Wrote a paragraph on stuff I do in free time.
Mosque Volunteer - 900+ hours
Ranch Assistant - 250 hours
Contractor's Assistant - 350 hours
Emergency Department/Same-Day Surgery Volunteer** - ~180 hours
Honors/Awards/Recognitions
Martial Arts - 400+ hours
University Tutor** - 2 years
Research Assistant - 1.5 years; two different molecular projects. Oral and poster presentations.
High School Tutor - ~30 hours
Music Club - 45 hours; Founder and president
Shadowing - ~150 hours; Cardiology-MD | Family Medicine-DO | General Sugery-DO | Internal Medicine-MD | Podiatry
Super Science Friday volunteer - 6 hours
Elementary Culture Competence Program - 10 hours
Campus newspaper writer and video producer - 1 semester
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Worked on my personal statement for 4 months. Met with admissions members at a few schools.

 

[Goro]

Low tiers and all DO schools

 

[Shinobiz11]

Low tiers and all DO schools

Thanks. Now is this with the 24, or assuming I'll score higher on the retake. Also, how do you know which schools are low tier?

 

[gyngyn]

Which Hispanic community do you represent? Language skills? Commitment to service?

 

[Shinobiz11]

Which Hispanic community do you represent? Language skills? Commitment to service?

I am 50% Puerto Rican. Still have family there and everything. Proficient in the Spanish language. Not too many Hispanic volunteering activities where I'm at, but the cultural competence program I participated in was of our choice, so I presented Puerto Rico to the elementary students, gave them a Spanish lesson and demonstrated salsa music. Plus my French professor who I have the LOR from was the coordinator of that program and he mentioned it in my letter.

 

[gyngyn]

I am 50% Puerto Rican. Still have family there and everything. Proficient in the Spanish language. Not too many Hispanic volunteering activities where I'm at, but the cultural competence program I participated in was of our choice, so I presented Puerto Rico to the elementary students, gave them a Spanish lesson and demonstrated salsa music. Plus my French professor who I have the LOR from was the coordinator of that program and he mentioned it in my letter.

If you can attend medical school in Spanish, you have a good chance at the Puerto Rican schools.

 

[Goro]

This is with the 24, but also for being Hispanic, which is assuming you're in the URM Hispanic,. Not all of them are URM. Too hard to deal with hypotheticals for the new score. Low-tiers have MCAT medians around 30-33, and MCAT medians of 3.6 or less. More importantly, their floors (or 10th percentiles), stretch down to 4-5 points below the medians. Examples include Rosy F, Rush, SLU, Penn State, MCW.

Thanks. Now is this with the 24, or assuming I'll score higher on the retake. Also, how do you know which schools are low tier?

 

[zzxxzz]

This is with the 24, but also for being Hispanic, which is assuming you're in the URM Hispanic,. Not all of them are URM.

Perhaps worth noting that the mean MCAT score for Puerto Rican matriculants over '10-'12 was a 24.9. I think you'll be ok at DO and some MD schools.

 

[Shinobiz11]

Bumping this, any other thoughts? Highly considering not retaking...

 

[masaraksh]

Was the 10 in VR?

If so, studying PS/BS is sooooo high yield. You can probably retake after a month of studying and hit 10s in both.

 

[Shinobiz11]

Was the 10 in VR?

If so, studying PS/BS is sooooo high yield. You can probably retake after a month of studying and hit 10s in both.

PS = 8 , VR = 6 , BS = 10

PS was brutal on the May 8th test, was surprised I even scored that high. I bombed verbal when I was averaging 8-9's on practice tests

 

[masaraksh]

PS = 8 , VR = 6 , BS = 10

PS was brutal on the May 8th test, was surprised I even scored that high. I bombed verbal when I was averaging 8-9's on practice tests

Hmm.

Hard to say. If timing was an issue on verbal for you, then I would urge you retake. It seems reasonable to be able to get VR up to a 10. For PS, I think studying for a couple weeks is VERY high yield. I mean, its just gen.chem & physics which although they cover a lot, don't go into much depth with anything. I suggest the ExamKrackers review books. Should be able to get through the Genchem & physics in 2 weeks for sure.

 

[V5RED]

Personally, I don't consider you Hispanic. No offense, but as an actual Hispanic I don't know many PR's who are Muslim. If medical schools are going through your app many would probably feel like me. You are most likely "Asian" decent/Middle Eastern and thus, won't qualify for URM status.

That sounds ridiculous for multimate reasons. Not all Muslims are Asian, so if he has no Asian ancestry, making Asian would be a lie. All you know is he is 50% Hispanic. Hispanics can be Muslim if they wish. "As an actual Hispanic" is a silly way to justify your odd prejudicial ideas.

 

[zzxxzz]

Personally, I don't consider you Hispanic. No offense, but as an actual Hispanic I don't know many PR's who are Muslim. If medical schools are going through your app many would probably feel like me. You are most likely "Asian" decent/Middle Eastern and thus, won't qualify for URM status.

Being Muslim has literally nothing to do with one's ethnic background. Anyone can convert.

Besides, ~40% of Muslims in the U.S. are African-American, white, or Hispanic.

 

[Pdoc387]

Being Muslim has literally nothing to do with one's ethnic background. Anyone can convert.

Besides, ~40% of Muslims in the U.S. are African-American, white, or Hispanic.

I would argue this kid isn't an URM and here's why: (1) Percentage wise, how many Hispanics (not blacks) are Muslim? Not many I'd imagine considering the staple food of PR is Pork, Rice and Beans. (2) As he said, he doesn't do anything with the Hispanic Community. Thus, it is self-evident what he's doing. He's Hispanic when it benefits him, but for all other circumstances, he wants nothing to do with the Hispanic population at large. Again, I would never consider this kid a URM.

 

[V5RED]

I would argue this kid isn't an URM and here's why: (1) Percentage wise, how many Hispanics (not blacks) are Muslim? Not many I'd imagine considering the staple food of PR is Pork, Rice and Beans. (2) As he said, he doesn't do anything with the Hispanic Community. Thus, it is self-evident what he's doing. He's Hispanic when it benefits him, but for all other circumstances, he wants nothing to do with the Hispanic population at large. Again, I would never consider this kid a URM.

By this logic, I must not be American since I am a vegan and percentage wise, very few Americans are vegan. I must be Indian since India has the highest percent of vegans/vegetarians in the world. Also, you are making things up when you say he wants nothing to do with the Hispanic population at large.

 

[Pdoc387]

By this logic, I must not be American since I am a vegan and percentage wise, very few Americans are vegan. I must be Indian since India has the highest percent of vegans/vegetarians in the world. Also, you are making things up when you say he wants nothing to do with the Hispanic population at large.

No, I'm not. Please refer to his quote above where he stated in no uncertain terms there isn't much of a Hispanic community where he lives and thus, he doesn't do much with it. I find that hard to believe. Second, as to your analogy, you're wrong. He claimed he was 1/2 PR (i.e. 50%) and I would argue that's not really URM especially if the other 50% is White and/or Asian. You are entitled to your opinion, but I am too, and I stand by the fact that I do not consider him URM. However, it doesn't mean others will not.

 

[Shinobiz11]

Y'all need to calm down lol.

My dad's side of the family is very mixed, and that 50% stands out a lot more than the other percentages. Also, there isn't a large Hispanic community where I live. The closest one would probably be in Detroit or a farming town hours away from me. I have honestly only met a handful of fellow Latinos while attending undergrad because they are so rare. Out of the blue, my school even gave me a graduation scarf for being Hispanic. I honestly wished there were more Hispanics around because I always want to practice my Spanish. That's why I loved being in the Chicago area because were so many Hispanics and i was able to use Spanish everyday.

How can you make the assumption I don't want anything to do with the Hispanic population? I actually do eat rice and beans because my mom cooks it all the time. One of my mom's cousins told us we aren't real Puerto Ricans because we don't eat pork, i guess you are on her side. We do however eat a lot of avocados, watch TV shows from Puerto Rico and I play salsa music. Have you ever heard of quenepas? They are a fruit that has no name in English that i eat all the time when visiting MY FAMILY in Puerto Rico. You know, on the west side of the island, way out in El Campo, away from all the tourists. I can go into my great aunts or grandfathers backyard and take some time fruit right off the ground/tree.My mom converted when she was 19 and met my dad later in life. Just because you don't have the full picture, doesn't mean you can just assume all of this. If given an interview, I assume I would be asked about this and given the opportunity the explain my relationship with my community.

 

[Pdoc387]

Y'all need to calm down lol.

My dad's side of the family is very mixed, and that 50% stands out a lot more than the other percentages. Also, there isn't a large Hispanic community where I live. The closest one would probably be in Detroit or a farming town hours away from me. I have honestly only met a handful of fellow Latinos while attending undergrad because they are so rare. Out of the blue, my school even gave me a graduation scarf for being Hispanic. I honestly wished there were more Hispanics around because I always want to practice my Spanish. That's why I loved being in the Chicago area because were so many Hispanics and i was able to use Spanish everyday.

How can you make the assumption I don't want anything to do with the Hispanic population? I actually do eat rice and beans because my mom cooks it all the time. One of my mom's cousins told us we aren't real Puerto Ricans because we don't eat pork, i guess you are on her side. We do however eat a lot of avocados, watch TV shows from Puerto Rico and I play salsa music. Have you ever heard of quenepas? They are a fruit that has no name in English that i eat all the time when visiting MY FAMILY in Puerto Rico. You know, on the west side of the island, way out in El Campo, away from all the tourists. I can go into my great aunts or grandfathers backyard and take some time fruit right off the ground/tree.My mom converted when she was 19 and met my dad later in life. Just because you don't have the full picture, doesn't mean you can just assume all of this. If given an interview, I assume I would be asked about this and given the opportunity the explain my relationship with my community.

Perfect! Great answer...Loved it.