Non-trad reapplicant, should I wait another year?

[avocadoc]

I applied this 2018-2019 cycle to 10 schools (as an international due to my PR status pending at the time) and received only 1 interview (still waiting to hear back). All the other schools are pre-II rejections so far.

Residency: CA (just received my permanent resident card last week)
Undergrad cGPA: 3.97
Undergrad sGPA: 4.0
Pharmacy GPA: 3.73
School: Big 10 state school
Major: 2-year non-degree undergrad followed by 4-year PharmD (graduated in 2016)
MCAT: 512 (Aug 2017), 520 (Jan 2018)
Research: ~600 hours in molecular biology lab over a summer (no poster no pub)
Clinical Volunteering: ~150 hours in an outpatient clinic (stopped last year due to relocation for my job)
Non-Clinical Volunteering: 120 hours Chinese translator for progeria research foundation (over 4 years, ongoing), ~150 hours tutor for refugees/low-income newcomers (ongoing)
Shadowing: 20 hours general surgeon (ongoing), 160 hours intensivist (four years ago)
Work: Full-time staff pharmacist at a chain retail in underserved area (2 years), full-time staff pharmacist at a specialty (6 months, ongoing)
Leadership/Teaching: area specialty lead educating retail pharmacists on specialty medications (6 months), Microbiology TA (3 semesters)
Awards/Honors: Rho Chi in pharmacy school(similar to AOA in med school)

-Plan is to shadow more doctor, find another clinical volunteering
-Should I quit my job or go part-time and pursue research opportunities?
-Should I wait another year and apply in 2020 to increase my chances?

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[Faha]

You do not need more shadowing hours but more clinical volunteering hours will help. Now that you are a permanent resident I suggest applying more broadly this June. I suggest all these schools:
UC Davis
UC Irvine
Loma Linda
Kaiser
California University
Vermont
Quinnipiac
Albany
Hofstra
New York Medical College
Seton Hall
Penn State
Drexel
Temple
Jefferson
George Washington
Eastern Virginia
Virginia Commonwealth
NOVA MD
Oakland Beaumont
Western Michigan
Medical College Wisconsin
Loyola
Rosalind Franklin
St. Louis
Creighton
TCU-UNTHSC (new school)

 

[avocadoc]

You do not need more shadowing hours but more clinical volunteering hours will help. Now that you are a permanent resident I suggest applying more broadly this June. I suggest all these schools:
UC Davis
UC Irvine
Loma Linda
Kaiser
California University
Vermont
Quinnipiac
Albany
Hofstra
New York Medical College
Seton Hall
Penn State
Drexel
Temple
Jefferson
George Washington
Eastern Virginia
Virginia Commonwealth
NOVA MD
Oakland Beaumont
Western Michigan
Medical College Wisconsin
Loyola
Rosalind Franklin
St. Louis
Creighton
TCU-UNTHSC (new school)

Thank you for the list! Would you mind explaining how you came up with the list of schools? Also, some of them are low yields. Is it worth it to apply to them?

 

[Faha]

Those are schools where you could receive interviews based on your MCAT and GPA. In what manner are you referring to "low yield" ?

 

[avocadoc]

Those are schools where you could receive interviews based on your MCAT and GPA. In what manner are you referring to "low yield" ?

NYMC, Drexel, Temple, Jefferson, George Washington, Loyola, Rosalind Franklin all receive over 10,000 applications. Is it okay to apply to all of them? I really appreciate the list because I didn't have the chance to look into these schools due to my residency status. Also wondering how you looked at my GPA (undergrad vs. pharmacy) and the two MCATs. Did you average them?

 

[Faha]

Those schools do receive more than 10,000 applications. However, if a school receives 10,000 applications only roughly 7,000 of those applicants send in secondaries. Some of those schools interview over 1,000 applicants so a 1/7 or greater chance for an interview are decent odds for receiving an interview. Schools generally average MCAT scores. You do have an excellent undergraduate GPA and your 2nd MCAT of 520 should attract attention at some of the more competitive schools so you could add these also:
Einstein
Mount Sinai
NYU (they have a new school in Long Island)
Pittsburgh
Case Western
Rochester
Washington University
USC
UCLA
UCSD
I do not know why you only received 1 interview out of 10 schools you applied to with your good stats. It may have been because of your international status. Now that you are a permanent resident you should receive more interviews when you reapply but I suggest applying to many schools to increase your odds of receiving more interviews.

 

[Faha]

It would also be a good idea to notify the school where you were interviewed that you now have permanent residence status. Send the school documentation to prove that you are now a permanent resident.

 

[Walter Raleigh]

I do not know why you only received 1 interview out of 10 schools you applied to with your good stats. It may have been because of your international status. Now that you are a permanent resident you should receive more interviews when you reapply but I suggest applying to many schools to increase your odds of receiving more interviews.

Faha: I do believe it was because of her international status; @Goro always talks about the need for international students to be Harvard/Stanford material to be competitive for US MD schools.

 

[avocadoc]

It would also be a good idea to notify the school where you were interviewed that you now have permanent residence status. Send the school documentation to prove that you are now a permanent resident.

Thank you for the advice!

 

[M&L]

Thank you for the advice!

I see why you are in doubt when it comes to “low yield “ schools ... I was too . But someone advised me to add Drexel , I did , and now it is one of my two admissions .