WAMC? 505 MCAT, 3.65 cGPA, 3.7 sGPA) URM NY Resident

[Incarsio]

Hola people! As the title implies, I scored 65th percentile on the MCAT so I'm a bit worried about chances at admission. I'm only interested in applying MD (I know, not the best idea) because that's what I've had my heart set on since starting this journey. Any advice is appreciated!

GPA

3.65 cGPA; 3.7 sGPA

MCAT

505 (125/124/126/127)

Biographical

NYC resident; Lived in Queens my entire life.

Afro-Latino (Puerto Rican), 23 y/o M

State school undergrad (Biology)

Experience

Clinical experience (3000 hours)

• 3000 clinical hours as an EMT for a Level 1 Trauma in a diverse neighborhood (Seen my fair share of codes, notes, etc)
• 24 clinical hours as a manager for the NYC Marathon in 2023; Helped organize race staff

Research (~350 hours)

• Meta-Analysis of adrenal ablation on NSCLC (350 hours)
• Currently a RA for Cornell's EM department (50 hours but still ongoing)

Publications (1 Pub, First Author)

Conferences (1 Conference, Poster presentation)

Shadowing (~30 hours)

• (30 hours) Plastic Surgeon

Volunteering (50 hours?)

• The RA position at Cornell is a volunteer position (unpaid), though it's definitely more research than volunteering.

Letters of Rec

• 1 from Operations Manager at Hospital I do EMS at
• 1 from my PI (MSKCC Doctor)
• 3 from Science Professors
• 2 from Non-Science Professors

Black and Latino Men in Medicine (BLMiM) participant (~60 Hours)

• Program run by Cornell to hear from doctors who've been in the field about their day-to-day and get an idea of what their positions are like; Honestly very similar to shadowing them as they would oftentimes walk around with us on zoom call.

E-Sports Team at my School (200 Hours)

• This team disbanded within literally my first year at the school and I don't really have any means of proving it, so I'm likely not going to put it on the app, just thought I should mention it incase yall think I should.

Airsoft (300 hours)

• Organized Airsoft events with a lot of the people at my EMS job, made a team and everything; Thought it'd show leadership skills.

Self-Taught Coder/Video Games (500 Hours)

• Taught myself how to code from a passion for video games, went on to teach a few friends the basics and they've gone on to make games/profit from it!

School List:

Albany Medical College
Albert Einstein College of Medicine
Charles R. Drew
Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine
Drexel University College of Medicine
Eastern Virginia @ Old Dominion
Geisinger Commonwealth
Georgetown University School of Medicine
Howard University
Mount Sinai
Keck
Jacobs @ Buffalo
Lewis Katz @ Temple
Loyola
Pennsylvania State
Rutgers NJ
Rutgers Robert Wood
SUNY Upstate
SUNY Downstate
Tufts
University of Arizona Tuscon
UCLA
UCSD
UCSF
University of Pittsburgh
Cornell

I know there are some real hail Mary schools in there (As if most aren't with my scores) but money isn't particularly an issue with the application so I'm just shooting my shot for the sake of it. Any advice on which MDs I should add or remove based on the app is greatly appreciated.

Likewise, I'm looking to know when I should look into retaking the MCAT? Say I don't have any interviews by X date, I should most definitely retake but what would X date be; Atop that I'm interested in knowing if my GPA warrants consideration of a post-bac or if I should move forward with it (For context I've been pretty consistently a 3.6-3.7 GPA student throughout my entire undergraduate career)

Thanks!

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[Faha]

Are you fluent in Spanish? You complete lack of non clinical volunteering will limit your chances for interviews.

 

[Incarsio]

Are you fluent in Spanish? You complete lack of non clinical volunteering will limit your chances for interviews.

Not fluent, I speak it at home but typically don't put it on my resume. Maybe B1 level?

 

[Faha]

I suggest these schools with your stats:
All 4 SUNYs
Albany
New York Medical College
Vermont
Quinnipiac
Hackensack
Howard
Meharry
Morehouse
Charles Drew
Drexel
Temple
George Washington
Georgetown
Eastern Virginia
Wake Forest
Methodist (when it opens)
NOVA MD
Miami
Belmont
Alice Walton
Roseman
TCU
Rosalind Franklin
Medical College Wisconsin
Oakland Beaumont
Wayne State

 

[Incarsio]

I suggest these schools with your stats:
All 4 SUNYs
Albany
New York Medical College
Vermont
Quinnipiac
Hackensack
Howard
Meharry
Morehouse
Charles Drew
Drexel
Temple
George Washington
Georgetown
Eastern Virginia
Wake Forest
Methodist (when it opens)
NOVA MD
Miami
Belmont
Alice Walton
Roseman
TCU
Rosalind Franklin
Medical College Wisconsin
Oakland Beaumont
Wayne State

Thanks for the list! on a random note do you think its actually worth applying this cycle? Or would I be better off delaying for a higher MCAT; I am almost 100% confident I could score higher, I was averaging 510+ on the FLs. I'm just not sure if it's worth shooting my shot and then reapplying or if I should just bite the bullet and delay.

 

[Faha]

Thanks for the list! on a random note do you think its actually worth applying this cycle? Or would I be better off delaying for a higher MCAT; I am almost 100% confident I could score higher, I was averaging 510+ on the FLs. I'm just not sure if it's worth shooting my shot and then reapplying or if I should just bite the bullet and delay.

If you can achieve a higher MCAT score it would be better to apply in June 2026. You would also benefit from 150+ hours of non clinical volunteering such as food bank, homeless shelter, etc, since some schools screen at 150 hours.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

OP: you won't try for DO?

 

[Incarsio]

OP: you won't try for DO?

Yeah, I'd rather not. I know there's functionally no difference between the two when it comes to actual day-to-day past school but I'm a bit dead set on MD ha-ha; Even if it means having to reapply.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Yeah, I'd rather not. I know there's functionally no difference between the two when it comes to actual day-to-day past school but I'm a bit dead set on MD ha-ha; Even if it means having to reapply.

Even if your chances are much stronger to become a doctor?

 

[mike-sheree]

Just my opinion as a physician of 48 years; I think your decision of MD vs DO is not well thought out.