WAMC: 3.3 GPA 522 MCAT --Non-trad, don't know where I'm competitive

[avestruz]

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Hi! I am a non-trad who is applying in this cycle. I would love some advice for constructing my list. The striking difference between my MCAT and GPA are making it hard for me to figure out where I will be competitive. I would also like to mention that I have letters of recommendation which will hopefully help to dispel the “bright but lazy” stereotype which I strongly feel that I don’t fit into.


I attended T10 in Northeast on a full ROTC scholarship but was medically disqualified right before commissioning. Over the past years I have worked as a Spanish translator interpreter and eventually as a scribe/interpreter in an ED for a year. That’s when I realized that I wanted to go to medical school. I did a post-bac both because I had not taken all of the classes necessary for medical school and also because my undergrad GPA was weak, especially in the sciences (although there was an upward trend).

1. Cum GPA: 3.3 Science GPA: 2.99
   1. Undergrad Cum GPA: 3.22 Science GPA: 2.70
   2. Post-bac GPA 4.0 (24 credits including gen chem, orgo, biochem, anatomy)
2. MCAT: 522 132/128/130/132
3. Residence: PA
4. White Male
5. T10 northeast undergrad
6. Clinical Employment: 2000 hours
   1. Scribing and interpreting in an Emergency Department
7. Research: 700 hours + ongoing full-time job
   1. In vivo research for cancer genetics
   2. 1 poster presentation
   3. 1 submitted paper with first author
8. Shadowing: ~80 hours
   1. Surgery (OR and clinic): Orthopedic, neuro, trauma, general, urologic
   2. Primary care
   3. Pediatrics
9. Clinical volunteering: 150 hours + ongoing 4hr/wk commitment
   1. Spanish-speaking medical clinic interpreting for patients and taking vitals
10. Non-clinical volunteering: ~400 hours
    1. 4 years of extensive community service activities with ROTC and affiliated organizations. For 1 year I was the community service officer where I organized and participated in the unit’s projects.
11. I am a musician and gig regularly playing jazz, I also teach spanish and plan to tutor mcat this coming year.

Thank you so much for taking the time to read my story and for your help and advice!

School list (My hope is to go to a ranked MD school, preferably near or in a big city, if you think these are all longshots because of my undergrad gpa, please let me know some unranked schools that are known to have a good reputation):

Jefferson
Pitt
Temple
Einstein
Case Western
GW
Georgetown
Keck
Northwestern
Stony Brook
U of Vermont
SUNY upstate
Tufts
UC Davis
UCLA
UConn
U Illinios
U Michigan
UNC Chapel Hill
VCU
Wake Forest

@Goro If you have any thoughts about this list I would really appreciate your input as well. I read your posts about fixing low GPAs and it was very helpful.

 

[Faha]

You have several state public schools that admit few non residents with no connection to the state (UC Davis admits on average one non resident per year). Here is a more realistic list
Drexel
Temple
Jefferson
Commonwealth Geisinger
Pittsburgh
Hackensack
New York Medical College
Albany
Hofstra
Einstein
Vermont
Quinnipiac
Dartmouth
George Washington
Georgetown
West Virginia
Virginia Commonwealth
Eastern Virginia
Wake Forest
NOVA MD
USF Morsani
Miami
Tulane
TCU-UNT
Creighton
Loyola
Rush
Medical College Wisconsin
Western Michigan (like high MCAT scores)
Oakland Beaumont
Wayne State

 

[avestruz]

Thank you very much for taking the time to suggest this list! I appreciate your help.

@Goro If you have any additional input I would love to hear it-- your post on reinvention has been helpful and important to me. Thank you!

 

[Goro]

Thank you very much for taking the time to suggest this list! I appreciate your help.

@Goro If you have any additional input I would love to hear it-- your post on reinvention has been helpful and important to me. Thank you!

Add Case, Columbia, Vandy, Duke, BU, U VM, Tufts, Sinai, UCSF to the wise Faha's list.

Also, as a reinventor, you need to have DO schools on your list. Suggest PCOM, both LECOMs, all Touros, NYITCOM, VCOM, UNECOM, MUCOM, CCOM (but watch tuition!), KCU, KCOM, DMU and MUCOM.