WA Resident, 3.63 cGPA, 3.58 sGPA, 515 MCAT, re-applicant

[KingCounty]

I applied and finished all my apps between September and November last season. I realize that factor, and the fact that I applied top heavy, did not help my application. My application looks like the following:

WA State resident
ORM
BS in Neuroscience
MCAT 515,
cGPA 3.63, sGPA 3.58

Experiences:
-Shadowing: over 400 hours: anesthesiology, geriatrics, sleep medicine, hospice and palliative care, general surgery, emergency medicine, rural medicine, adult neurology, pediatric neurology, movement disorders neurology
-2.5 years of hospice volunteer, where I go to patient homes and assist with homecare/respite, or provide companionship
-2 years of inpatient hospice volunteering, providing companionship, recreational needs assistance, and food preparation
-2 years working with students with disabilities, communicating with professors and students in regards to accommodations
-200 hours, no publications in physiology lab
-300 hours, no publications, in a neurogenetics lab, assisted with specimen processing
-Over 1800 hours of scribing at an Urgent Care, where I room patients, take vitals, complete medical history, ROS, and HPI. Then I brief the providers, re-enter patient room, and complete the rest of the chart, including ordering labs, STAT referrals, prep for procedures (lacerations, ortho, etc). As part of my job duties, I also process simple labs, perform UA's, gluco-sticks, rapid tests (for mono, HIV, flu, strep), and perform an EKG on patients. I am technically a scribe and Medical Assistant here (I have a registration).

I am worried about my lower GPA stats, and the fact that I don't have much research experience. Will this hinder me at mid tier schools? In my upcoming gap year, I will be moving with my fiancee, who is attending a top dental school, which happens to be a top tier medical school. I am hoping to pull some strings through my connections and work at a research lab under that medical school. Do you think I am okay with the clinical hours, and should pursue research?

Thanks so much for your advice.

KC

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[KingCounty]

I've looked at other threads, and so far my list is:

New York Medical College
Wake Forest
Albany
Drexel
Temple
Jefferson
Penn State
Rosalind Franklin
Tulane
Rush
USC
UWash
WSU

Reach schools:
UCSF (interviewed last season, is it worth to apply again?)
Penn (connections)
Dartmouth
Emory


Any that you would remove or recommend adding?

 

[Faha]

You could add these schools where you could receive an interview with your stats:
Quinnipiac
Vermont
Oakland Beaumont
Medical College Wisconsin
St. Louis
Creighton
Eastern Virginia

 

[KingCounty]

Do you think it's worth re-taking my MCAT or waiting another year to apply? If I waited, I would have substantially more research experience.

Thanks Faha!

 

[halamadrid17]

Whatever you do, do not retake...

 

[KingCounty]

Thanks for the reply halamadrid! It'd be a last resort I think, because my score would expire after this next cycle. Tbh, I was pretty bummed with my score, because my AAMC Scored was a 520 .. I really screwed my CARs section by not finishing last passage.

 

[halamadrid17]

I feel ya, I scored a 521 on AAMC practice and 517 on actual due to 126 CARS, but a 515 is still an excellent score for you to be competitive. Retaking would cause adcoms to question your judgement. As long as you didn't score a 123 or lower you should be alright