MD WAMC: 3.98 GPA, 515 MCAT, TX Resident, ORM

[mithrandir45]

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Hello everyone! I’m a Texas resident and a junior in college, planning to apply to medical schools (M.D. only) this May. Here are my stats:

GPA & MCAT:

• GPA: 3.98 (4.00 GPA as calculated by TMDSAS)
• MCAT: 515 (127/128/129/131)

Demographics:

• White, male

Clinical Experience:

• 640 hours total as a medical and office assistant and ophthalmic technician in two separate ophthalmology practices.

Leadership & Extracurriculars:

• Founder and president of a national non-profit organization.
• President of a Natural Sciences club at my University.
• Director of Outreach for another non-profit organization
• Co-founder and treasurer of a religious campus organization.
• I have a position on the Leadership Council for two separate organizations, a professional university council and in our Honors program.
• Leader of a 250 person mentorship program for first year university honors students
• Played a D1 sport for a semester and currently coach at camps for younger athletes.

Teaching Experiences:

• 150 hours as a Teaching Assistant in Biology Lab.
• 75 hours as a private tutor for all the pre-med required courses.
• 100 hours as a mentor in various programs. In my college, I am a mentor in the pre-med program, and a mentor in an honors program.

Non-Clinical Volunteering:

• 640 hours total.
• I volunteer weekly at elementary schools, mentoring students and running STEM experiments. I presented a poster on this work at a research conference as the first author.
• A big portion of this also come from volunteering at my aforementioned non-profit organizations
• 50 hours volunteering at a children's camp for diabetes.

Clinical Volunteering:

• 50 hours at a local free healthcare clinic, with plans to double this in the coming year by volunteering at the same clinic.

Shadowing:

• 97 hours, primarily in ophthalmology, but I plan to shadow other specialties this year.

Research:

• Undergraduate researcher in an inorganic chemistry lab since my sophomore year.
• I have presented two posters at research symposiums

Target Schools:

• I ideally want to stay in Texas for medical school. I want to attend an established MD program. My top choices are in ranked order Baylor, UTSW, McGovern, Galveston, Dell, UT Health San Antonio, and Texas A&M.
• Am I competitive for in-state schools? Or should I apply to out of state schools as well to be safe?

Questions:

• Should I focus the next few months on retaking the MCAT in January to improve my score, or would it be more beneficial to dedicate that time to other aspects of my application? If so, what are my weaknesses and areas I should focus on until the next application cycle begins?

 

[wysdoc]

85% of Texas applicants who are accepted to med school matriculate in-state, so this is where your best chances lie. You are competitive for the TMDSAS schools.

Before May add to your non-medical volunteer hours doing something different (not tutoring or fund-raising, or admin work) where you have in-person contact with people in need.

 

[GoSpursGo]

Would not re-take MCAT. Focus elsewhere.

 

[mithrandir45]

Would not re-take MCAT. Focus elsewhere.

Thank you for your advice! What aspect do you think would be best for me to focus on?

 

[GoSpursGo]

Thank you for your advice! What aspect do you think would be best for me to focus on?

Agree with @wysdoc . Do more face to face

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Welcome to the forums.

I'll be more blunt that @wysdoc about your weaknesses in your profile. But my suggestions:

1) Attend the TMDSAS office hours. Know the process in this year before applying and understand what prematching and matching is all about. Set yourself up for success by watching all the video interviews with admissions professionals at all the schools and begin attending any scheduled recruiting events before you apply.

2) Your clinical experience seems to be concentrated in your ophthalmology experience, and I see very little exposure to primary care and/or health equity environments. Are you fluent in Spanish or another language? Regardless, you need to balance against your 640+97 hours of ophthalmology that you have banked, and anything less than 50 hours will look like you're just box-checking. (That's why I'm discounting your free clinic experience.)

3) Your leadership with campus clubs and non-profits goes under "leadership" and doesn't directly fulfill non-clinical "service orientation." Your tutoring, teaching, and coaching are variations of the same academic competency which is overrepresented in the applicant pool (i.e., it won't make you stand out... everyone has it).

4) Research is okay, but I don't get a sense how it fits your vision or purpose as a physician. Not your fault... like most premeds, it's a box-checking activity.

TL/DR: You aren't getting your hands dirty enough with communities representing the patients you will be seeing if you practice medicine in Texas. Your activities show a fear of being "uncomfortable" with those not like yourself from what I can tell. This will make your application less desirable than what adcoms are looking for.