NonTraditional Former Teacher, 3.8cGPA, 508 MCAT, what now?

[YeeOldeMillenial]

Good Morning!

I'm a nontraditional applicant (high school science teacher, earned my BS a decade ago, also have an MA in Teaching). I'm would be grateful for any input on whether or not I need to apply to more or different schools this cycle. I'm a married parent so there are many childcare/cost-of-living/spouse-job factors driving my choices, and I'm essentially worried that I'm being too picky. Here's my info:

1. cGPA - Undergrad: 3.80, Grad: 3.90
2. sGPA - Undergrad: 3.72, Grad: 3.60 (from a total of 7 science units included as part of my master's degree)
3. 508 MCAT - 124/125/131/128 (holy uneven scores, batman)
4. White lady in the Midwest
5. Undergrad: Honors Program at a Cal State
6. Clinical experience: 350 hours as a front office medical assistant in a private practice on weekends in college (10+ years ago)
7. Research experience: One first-author publication from a grant during undergrad, I designed my own project, collected data and wrote + published an article in a smaller journal
8. Shadowing experience: a few recent hours shadowing in the local rural Emergency Dept with a LOR from the physician I shadowed
9. Non-clinical volunteering: Public school teacher - specifically in special education of students in high-need (low income) schools from marginalized backgrounds with behavioral disorders and various disabilities, lots of volunteer projects engaging with & advocating for my awesome students
10. Other extracurricular activities: 2 years working full time in vaccine research as a benchwork scientist in a contract research organization, 5 total years teaching, and 3 years as a small business owner consulting/teaching parents about children's health/wellness
11. Relevant honors or awards: Earned my MA in Teaching from a large public university on a complete fellowship
12. Anything else not listed you think might be important: self-published a non-fiction book, LOR's from science professors, PI, Teaching mentors and bosses

Schools I have applied to: (apps are complete) [Reaches included for reasons related to quality of life (family/spouse/job nearby). I was thinking I would likely be admitted to my state school, so the others are more like shoot-my-shot schools, but now I'm getting cold feet of self-doubt and don't want to come up empty-handed]

My state school (my top choice!)
Stanford MD + MD/PSTP
UCLA
Keck @ USC
Kaiser
Harvard
NYU
Icahn/Mt Sinai

Considering adding:
U Minnesota
Dartmouth
U Colorado
Tufts
Case Western
OHSU

Short version: Concerned about the effect of my unbalanced and low MCAT, wondering what to expect. School list also limited to schools that accept 10 year old pre-reqs.

What else would you add?

Thank so much for considering offering feedback. I wish everyone good luck in this cycle and hope we cross paths as admitted students. It's a rough process, hang in there.

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[Faha]

Schools such as Stanford, UCLA, Keck, Harvard, NYU, Mount Sinai, Case Western are completely unrealistic with your MCAT of 508. OHSU and Minnesota admit few non residents with no connection to the state. You could add these schools:
Medical College Wisconsin
Loyola
St. Louis
Oakland Beaumont
Wayne State
Creighton
TCU-UNT
NOVA MD
Wake Forest
Virginia Commonwealth
Eastern Virginia
George Washington
Drexel
Temple
Jefferson
Seton Hall
New York Medical College
Albany
Vermont
Quinnipiac

 

[YeeOldeMillenial]

Thank you so much! Adding a few from this list that work for my family now.

Schools such as Stanford, UCLA, Keck, Harvard, NYU, Mount Sinai, Case Western are completely unrealistic with your MCAT of 508. OHSU and Minnesota admit few non residents with no connection to the state. You could add these schools:
Medical College Wisconsin
Loyola
St. Louis
Oakland Beaumont
Wayne State
Creighton
TCU-UNT
NOVA MD
Wake Forest
Virginia Commonwealth
Eastern Virginia
George Washington
Drexel
Temple
Jefferson
Seton Hall
New York Medical College
Albany
Vermont
Quinnipiac

 

[deleted966837]

I am a nontrad, and when I originally applied, I didn't fully appreciate how competitive admissions could be. Maybe you are in this position as well. Lots of students with stats better than yours get rejected for two or more cycles.

My point is to not rely on your state school to accept you. Also consider adding several DO schools.

Good luck!

 

[YeeOldeMillenial]

I am a nontrad, and when I originally applied, I didn't fully appreciate how competitive admissions could be. Maybe you are in this position as well. Lots of students with stats better than yours get rejected for two or more cycles.

My point is to not rely on your state school to accept you. Also consider adding several DO schools.

Good luck!

Thank you for sharing this. I believe I am underestimating it as well, and you may have just saved me from much heartache. Much appreciated.

 

[Nonpath2MD]

What concerns me most is your lack of any recent clinical experience. The only experience you have is from undergrad and that was 10+ years ago. What made you want to switch career? How do you know medicine is the better fit without any recent experience? I dont know your whole story so you may have a reasonable explanation for this. But without any recent clinical experience, I see this may be a tall order.

 

[YeeOldeMillenial]

What concerns me most is your lack of any recent clinical experience. The only experience you have is from undergrad and that was 10+ years ago. What made you want to switch career? How do you know medicine is the better fit without any recent experience? I dont know your whole story so you may have a reasonable explanation for this. But without any recent clinical experience, I see this may be a tall order.

Oh! I have been shadowing a physician in our local rural Emergency Department and he wrote me a recommendation letter. I was his children's biology teacher so he wrote from both the perspective of a parent and a physician. I was worried this wasn't enough, however, since it's only since I've been vaccinated that I've been able to shadow (about 5 months). Any thoughts? I know shadowing is important. Unfortunately it was something I wasn't willing to do when I was unvaccinated with unvaccinated kids in my household. Is this a significant issue with my application?

 

[Nonpath2MD]

Oh! I have been shadowing a physician in our local rural Emergency Department and he wrote me a recommendation letter. I was his children's biology teacher so he wrote from both the perspective of a parent and a physician. I was worried this wasn't enough, however, since it's only since I've been vaccinated that I've been able to shadow (about 5 months). Any thoughts? I know shadowing is important. Unfortunately it was something I wasn't willing to do when I was unvaccinated with unvaccinated kids in my household. Is this a significant issue with my application?

It's great that you have some recent shadowing but it's still just shadowing. I would recommend getting some hands-on experiences. As a nontrad, you really have to prove to adcoms you know what you are getting yourself into. Im afraid shadowing is not enough. Adcoms may be lenient on the clinical requirements because of COVID but they still want to see commitment. It takes years to put together a successful application. If I were you, I wouldnt add any more schools but wait to see how this cycle plays out.

 

[deleted966837]

I feel confident that you can get accepted this cycle if you apply to DO schools. That is the route that I took. Many people are faced with the dilemma of either reapplying MD with a stronger application or going DO. Lots of tradeoffs are involved, but it's something worth considering. In any case, I hope you can get into your top choice.