WAMC, 504 MCAT, 3.95 GPA

[harmreductionist81]

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1. cGPA: 3.95 and sGPA: ~3.9 (As except in orgo 1)
2. MCAT: Second attempt 504 (124/128/125/127), first attempt 502 (123/126/127/126). There are two years separating these scores. I truly want to think I could retake and have it be better, but I'm at a loss for what I'm doing wrong.
3. State of residence: Pennsylvania
4. Ethnicity and/or race: White
5. Undergraduate institution or category: State school
6. Clinical experience (volunteer and non-volunteer): EMT(200 hours), work at crisis hotline(~100 hours), work at an outreach center for people who use drugs (~320 hours).
7. Research experience: microbiology research (pretty old by now, 220 hours), ecology research (160 hours), and more recently supporting projects on medical education research (~150 hours, ongoing).
8. Shadowing experience: Nothing substantial.
9. Non-clinical volunteering: Director of a nonprofit (2200+ hours) that works with individuals to help get them transportation and mobility services. Leading a group of about 20 people. This organization has existed for over 20 years. I have helped double our income in two years, plus created programs that help people get free transportation more easily. I don't want to get into details here for anonymity, but I've done a substantial amount of work for this org and have seen it directly impact people's lives (both health wise and their ability to get to work, etc.). I work on both the admin side and the in-person direct service side. I could talk about this work at length and have written about it in my personal statement.
10. Other extracurricular activities: Worked for federal government full time for two years in a public health program, have a recommendation from that and got a lot of experience with both direct service to people and with public health theory, grants writing/ evaluating, and more. I am also an ultrarunner, racing distances longer than a marathon in remote areas (and volunteer to help with those events).
11. Relevant honors or awards: various honors for my research (pretty old, so doesn't hold much weight), and have been asked to speak at various events locally for my nonprofit work.
12. Anything else not listed you think might be important. I have a public health background and am a nontraditional applicant. I've been out of school for five years at this point and have done quite a lot since then. Just not the typical "pre-med" stuff, more public health/social determinants of health/whole health focused. So I am worried about that (as well as my poor MCAT score, which concerns me). I have significant experience with my own health issues that have also changed how I view healthcare and being a physician.
13. LORs: I have one from my govt job, one from nonprofit, and one from my biochem professor.

School List:
Penn State
(was originally going to apply to Pitt and Geisinger, but now they seem way out of reach based on MCAT)
SUNY Buffalo (I have strong ties to Upstate NY)
SUNY Upstate
NEOMED
Rush
Alice Walton (couldn't find stats for this but I surprisingly felt like a good fit for them)
Arizona
Drexel & Temple (is this worth it with the low MCAT?)
I'm from upstate NY, so would have liked to apply to Albany, Vermont but that seems unlikely. Partner works in CA with the state school system so I considered applying to the school where he works so he could move closer to there but not sure that's enough of a connection to make applying worth it.

Open to applying anywhere at all, just feel demoralized after my score came back and don't know where to go from here. Also, if it's a situation where I really shouldn't apply with this score, let me know that too.
Thanks 🙂

 

[Faha]

When are you planning to apply?

 

[Mr.Smile12]

DO schools should be in play. The reputable old-guard includes NYCOM, PCOM, and VCOM. In California, Western has its campus in Pomona and another geared to PacNW candidates. Touro is also in California.