REAPP Help Improvements?

[Hungryogre5520]

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I am currently in my senior year of college and applied to 35 schools (broad) and got one II from my state school then a phone interview with no follow up, and the rest are rejects/ghosts so far. I am preparing for a reapplication and would appreciate any feedback or help on how to improve on any specific parts.

IN Resident, ORM

GPA: 3.96 sGPA: 3.98
MCAT: 502 -> 509 (127/123/128/131)

Clinical: 500 paid hrs operating room assistant (1000 hours now)
Nonclinical: 150 volunteer hours at food bank (300 hours now)
Was in the process of founding nonprofit at school at time of applying, up and running now
1300 Research hours with a poster presentation (1600 hours now)
Science course teaching assistant for 1 year (now 2)
100 Hours shadowing (140 hours now)
Restaurant server freshman year 400 Hours
Cultural club member 500 hours (600 hours now)
Sports (playing basketball) big part of my life so listed as hobby and most meaningful

LOR from 1 science, 1 nonscience, 1 paid clinical supervisor, 1 research lab PI -> think they are all solid

Red Flag: IA for plagiarism during an ochem lab sophomore year in which I copied the prelab procedure when writing it in my own words, the professor threw out like half the class for it and all charged with IA, when interviewing the interviewer seemed to understand the fact that she got half the class with that and understood it was kinda blown out of proportion, but i owned up to it and stated my growth as a TA where I have become a more conscientious individual promoting academic honesty

Thoughts: I think my best shot is my state school (IU), since they have one of the most instate heavy classes. I want to apply ED now, but they require a 510 minimum with a subsection of 125 or above for everything. Do you think I should retake it or apply RD with my 509 again? What else could I improve on? I will have more hours than what I listed above and plan on scribing during gap year. I know my IA held me back, and my MCAT can be higher, but IU interviewed me with that so maybe I have a shot. Also any DOs that I have a good shot at? Any feedback or thoughts?

 

[chilly_md]

You were already good with your shadowing before, but you did well to increase your clinical experience and time at the food bank. IU is your best shot, you should also apply to DO schools. Other MD schools that would be good include:

NYMC
Albany
Drexel
Temple
Penn State
Hackensack
Quinnipiac
VCU
EVMS
Vermont
George Washington
Georgetown
Loyola
Rush (if you can gain another couple hundred at the food bank)
Rosalind Franklin
MCW
Oakland
Wayne State
Creighton
Nova MD
TCU
Tulane
Belmont
Alice Walton (could still apply immediately now if you are fine with a brand new school)

Outside of the above and IU, largely do not think it is worth applying elsewhere with your applicant profile.

For DO:

Marian
KCU (the established school not KansasCOM)
PCOM
DMU
LECOM
NYIT
KCOM (Kirksville)
Campbell
WVSOM

 

[Hungryogre5520]

You were already good with your shadowing before, but you did well to increase your clinical experience and time at the food bank. IU is your best shot, you should also apply to DO schools. Other MD schools that would be good include:

NYMC
Albany
Drexel
Temple
Penn State
Hackensack
Quinnipiac
VCU
EVMS
Vermont
George Washington
Georgetown
Loyola
Rush (if you can gain another couple hundred at the food bank)
Rosalind Franklin
MCW
Oakland
Wayne State
Creighton
Nova MD
TCU
Tulane
Belmont
Alice Walton (could still apply immediately now if you are fine with a brand new school)

Outside of the above and IU, largely do not think it is worth applying elsewhere with your applicant profile.

For DO:

Marian
KCU (the established school not KansasCOM)
PCOM
DMU
LECOM
NYIT
KCOM (Kirksville)
Campbell
WVSOM

Thanks! I applied to most of the MD schools u listed but got rejected or haven’t heard anything yet 😭 do you think I should retake MCAT? IU requires a 510 to ED, but their ED is ~90% acceptance rate. Would that be too risky because I can’t apply anywhere until Oct when I receive a decision

 

[chilly_md]

Thanks! I applied to most of the MD schools u listed but got rejected or haven’t heard anything yet 😭 do you think I should retake MCAT? IU requires a 510 to ED, but their ED is ~90% acceptance rate. Would that be too risky because I can’t apply anywhere until Oct when I receive a decision

It certainly puts all your eggs in one basket. You'd need to bring up CARS by at least 2 points without declining by much in the other sections. I don't know if they give a breakdown further on their ED pool to see the average or median MCAT for that demographic (as well as how many total EDP applicants there are).

I'd characterize your clinical and non-clinical as pretty strong now. If you have confidence in raising your score, applying ED and then submitting DO apps after if it doesn't work out in October is a possible strategy. It would not really be late at that junction for those programs.