MD Suggestions for improvement and chances?

[pHDole]

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cGPA and sGPA are both 3.69
MCAT- 523 (130/130/131/132)
Texas Resident
Asian Male

MAJOR: Neuroscience
SHADOWING: 33 hours
Internist (25 hours)
Pediatric Neurologist (4 hours)
Pediatrician (4 hours)
RESEARCH: 2 summers (about 300 hours)- no pubs
EMPLOYMENT:
Tutor- 200 hours (self-employed, idk if this hurts me)
Computer camp instructor- 100 hours
EC's
CLUBS: One nonprofit, one community "culture and volunteering" club
Hobbies: piano, guitar, soccer
Volunteering- a few hundred hours for the two clubs, plus 200 hours at a hospital

Gap Year
I also am working as a virtual scribe (though i just listed it as a scribe on my app) during my gap year, but I wasn't able to put that on my primary app because I hadn't started yet when I submitted it.

Also, after an interview for a different scribe position, I got to shadow the head doctor for the rest of the day as "part of the interview process." Would i be able to list that as part of my shadowing experience in my secondaries and stuff?

Should be verified next week, have prewritten about 25 secondaries already

Here is my school list

Every single school in Texas
Tulane
Carle Illonis (didn't realize they were engineering focused, but i already applied and their secondary is free soo...)
Toledo
Albany
Michigan State Uni. College of Human Med
Nova Southeastern
Rush
Wright State U Boonshoft
Geisinger Commonwealth
Seton Hall
Med College of Wisconsin
Wayne State
U of South Carolina Greenville
Pitt
TCU and UNTHSC School of Med
Baylor
Kaiser Permanente
Morehouse
Geisel at Dartmouth
George Washington U
Jacobs School of Med at Buffalo
Wake Forest
Frank H Netter at Quinnipiac
U of Cincinnati
U of Rochester
U of Massachusetts
Keck (USC)
Western Michigan U Homer Stryker
USF Morsani
Sidney Kimmel at Thomas Jefferson U

 

[Faha]

You should receive several interviews from your Texas schools. You do not need to apply to 30 OOS schools. Send in the secondaries to those schools that you would choose over your Texas schools.

 

[pHDole]

You should receive several interviews from your Texas schools. You do not need to apply to 30 OOS schools. Send in the secondaries to those schools that you would choose over your Texas schools.

Thanks for the input!

You're probably right that I didn't need to apply to 40 schools, but I already submitted my primary and prewrote most of them so I will probably submit the secondaries too anyway, especially if they are cheap. Better safe than sorry. If I did remove any schools, are they any that you'd recommend I remove, just based on stats and all?

 

[Faha]

You could keep these schools
Tulane ( they accept a fair number of Texans)
Carle Illinois (didn't realize they were engineering focused, but i already applied and their secondary is free soo...)
Nova Southeastern
Seton Hall
Pitt
TCU and UNTHSC School of Med
Baylor
Kaiser Permanente
Geisel at Dartmouth
U of Cincinnati
U of Rochester
Keck (USC)
Western Michigan U Homer Stryker
USF Morsani
The other schools on your list are either state public schools that are unlikely to interview you since they assume you will prefer the lower Texas tuition to their tuition for non residents. You also had many private schools that will not interview you since your stats are too high and they will yield protect (they know from past experience that applicants with your state will decline an accpeptance).

 

[pHDole]

You could keep these schools
Tulane ( they accept a fair number of Texans)
Carle Illinois (didn't realize they were engineering focused, but i already applied and their secondary is free soo...)
Nova Southeastern
Seton Hall
Pitt
TCU and UNTHSC School of Med
Baylor
Kaiser Permanente
Geisel at Dartmouth
U of Cincinnati
U of Rochester
Keck (USC)
Western Michigan U Homer Stryker
USF Morsani
The other schools on your list are either state public schools that are unlikely to interview you since they assume you will prefer the lower Texas tuition to their tuition for non residents. You also had many private schools that will not interview you since your stats are too high and they will yield protect (they know from past experience that applicants with your state will decline an accpeptance).

Thank you, I really appreciate it!

 

[MyOdyssey]

Thanks for the input!

You're probably right that I didn't need to apply to 40 schools, but I already submitted my primary and prewrote most of them so I will probably submit the secondaries too anyway, especially if they are cheap. Better safe than sorry. If I did remove any schools, are they any that you'd recommend I remove, just based on stats and all?

The view of ad coms who post on this site is that a Texas resident will have a hard time getting interviews at OOS schools unless the Texas resident has a very strong application - stats and otherwise. Basically, out of state schools assume you'll choose cheaper in state options instead of equivalent out of state options. The exception to this are the elite out of state schools.

Thus, consider adding more of the higher level out of state schools to your list, starting with those that value a high MCAT such as Wash U, NYU, U Chicago, Columbia, Vanderbilt, etc.

The weaknesses I see in your application are (a) GPA is average, (b) not a lot of leadership and (c) not a lot of volunteering with underserved populations.

 

[pHDole]

The view of ad coms who post on this site is that a Texas resident will have a hard time getting interviews at OOS schools unless the Texas resident has a very strong application - stats and otherwise. Basically, out of state schools assume you'll choose cheaper in state options instead of equivalent out of state options. The exception to this are the elite out of state schools.

Thus, consider adding more of the higher level out of state schools to your list, starting with those that value a high MCAT such as Wash U, NYU, U Chicago, Columbia, Vanderbilt, etc.

The weaknesses I see in your application are (a) GPA is average, (b) not a lot of leadership and (c) not a lot of volunteering with underserved populations.

Perfect, thanks for the advice!

Yeah, I'm mostly worried about my GPA, especially since it doesn't line up with my MCAT. Making a schools list is hard for it because I'm 90%+ for MCAT and 10% or 25% or below for GPA at most schools.

I do have *some* leadership that I didn't include in my post, but it isn't a lot. Also, I've worked with underserved populations a bit, but it was in a foreign country, not the US. Idk if that would count? (btw I included all this stuff in my actual apps, I just didn't go into that level of detail in this post- sorry about that)

 

[MyOdyssey]

Perfect, thanks for the advice!

Yeah, I'm mostly worried about my GPA, especially since it doesn't line up with my MCAT. Making a schools list is hard for it because I'm 90%+ for MCAT and 10% or 25% or below for GPA at most schools.

I do have *some* leadership that I didn't include in my post, but it isn't a lot. Also, I've worked with underserved populations a bit, but it was in a foreign country, not the US. Idk if that would count? (btw I included all this stuff in my actual apps, I just didn't go into that level of detail in this post- sorry about that)

There's a stigma against short term trips to foreign countries on behalf of the disadvantaged. Check out threads on this forum concerning voluntourism:

Why is volunteering abroad looked at so unfavorably?

It is often coined with the term "voluntourism", which inherently portrays a negative image, but I am unsure why it is viewed this way. I can't speak for other international volunteer programs, but my experience was far from just a vacation. I volunteered in La Ceiba, Honduras for one month...

forums.studentdoctor.net

 

[pHDole]

There's a stigma against short term trips to foreign countries on behalf of the disadvantaged. Check out threads on this forum concerning voluntourism:

Why is volunteering abroad looked at so unfavorably?

It is often coined with the term "voluntourism", which inherently portrays a negative image, but I am unsure why it is viewed this way. I can't speak for other international volunteer programs, but my experience was far from just a vacation. I volunteered in La Ceiba, Honduras for one month...

forums.studentdoctor.net

My trips were to my home country, and they were just reacreational. I just volunteered when I got the chance as well because my family is full of physicians there and they gave me some good opportunities, so I think it is a little different from the post you linked.

That being said, I didn't make a huge deal about it on my app or anything, I just kinda noted it. I just thought it might be an example of helping the underserved.

Regardless, I appreciate the advice!