WAMC and school list: 513, 3.72 sGPA

[fightingillini122]

-cGPA: 3.7
-sGPA: 3.72
-MCAT: 513 (129/127/127/130)
-IL resident
-ORM
-UI undergrad
-Clinical: 1200 completed, 1300 pending as MA
-Research: 800 hours at high level research institution. (1 pub, 4 posters)
-Shadowing: 200 hours
-Clinical volunteer: 170 hours in hospital setting, 200 hours for a cancer research foundation
-Nonclinical volunteer: 600 hours in after school service for underserved communities

Putting together school list now...any advice/would it be wise to wait until next cycle?

Thank you for any help

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[Faha]

I suggest these schools with your stats:
Illinois
Southern Illinois
Rush
Loyola
Rosalind Franklin
Medical College Wisconsin
Western Michigan
Oakland Beaumont
Wayne State
St. Louis
Creighton
TCU
Tulane
NOVA MD
Wake Forest
Eastern Virginia
Virginia Commonwealth
Georgetown
George Washington
Penn State
Drexel
Temple
Jefferson
Hackensack
New York Medical College
Albany
Vermont
Quinnipiac
If you are going to apply this cycle you need to submit your application in the coming week and all your secondaries by early September.

 

[fightingillini122]

I suggest these schools with your stats:
Illinois
Southern Illinois
Rush
Loyola
Rosalind Franklin
Medical College Wisconsin
Western Michigan
Oakland Beaumont
Wayne State
St. Louis
Creighton
TCU
Tulane
NOVA MD
Wake Forest
Eastern Virginia
Virginia Commonwealth
Georgetown
George Washington
Penn State
Drexel
Temple
Jefferson
Hackensack
New York Medical College
Albany
Vermont
Quinnipiac
If you are going to apply this cycle you need to submit your application in the coming week and all your secondaries by early September.

Thank you very much for your quick reply! My application is all done so I can submit later today even with a school list! Given my stats/EC is it reasonable to assume I will be able to get in MD this cycle? Was hoping to avoid a DO app if possible. I know nothing is for certain but am looking for any help I can get. Thanks again!

 

[wysdoc]

You are a good candidate but realize that the national % of applicants who gain acceptance is 40%.
WIth your good activities and decent grades/scores your chances are probably a bit better than 40%.
Nobody can "assume" but keep up with your applications by turning in secondaries as soon as you get them and see how it goes for you this year.

 

[fightingillini122]

You are a good candidate but realize that the national % of applicants who gain acceptance is 40%.
WIth your good activities and decent grades/scores your chances are probably a bit better than 40%.
Nobody can "assume" but keep up with your applications by turning in secondaries as soon as you get them and see how it goes for you this year.

Thank you for the information! One other quick question. My FL practice MCAT sat around 519-520 and I just simply didn’t perform up to par during the real thing. If this cycle doesn’t go as planned would you recommend retaking the MCAT or simply work on bolstering my EC? Thank you again

 

[wysdoc]

Thank you for the information! One other quick question. My FL practice MCAT sat around 519-520 and just simply didn’t perform up to par during the real thing. If this cycle doesn’t go as planned would you recommend retaking the MCAT or simply work on bolstering my EC? Thank you again

See how it goes before you doubt yourself, if things don't work out this year you could retake but I hope you won't have to

 

[fightingillini122]

See how it goes before you doubt yourself, if things don't work out this year you could retake but I hope you won't have to

Thank you for the help. I truly appreciate the advice!

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Thank you very much for your quick reply! My application is all done so I can submit later today even with a school list! Given my stats/EC is it reasonable to assume I will be able to get in MD this cycle? Was hoping to avoid a DO app if possible. I know nothing is for certain but am looking for any help I can get. Thanks again!

The state of Illinois has a ton of medical school slots, and you shouldn't have to apply to DO or retake the MCAT.

The question will be mission fit. 600 hours working as a school aid... is a lot of hours to work at a school. It doesn't tell me much about your mission fit so perhaps your personal background and geography help. I hope your application will have more compelling details for am II.

 

[fightingillini122]

The state of Illinois has a ton of medical school slots, and you shouldn't have to apply to DO or retake the MCAT.

The question will be mission fit. 600 hours working as a school aid... is a lot of hours to work at a school. It doesn't tell me much about your mission fit so perhaps your personal background and geography help. I hope your application will have more compelling details for am II.

Thanks for the reply! Didn’t want to get into too much detail on the initial post but I was not actually a school aid. I founded a free basketball program in which many schools in Chicago sent me players from their school. This program competed nationally in order to give these kids exposure to college basketball programs

 

[fightingillini122]

Hello again everybody,

I buckled down and have submitted to these schools:

Michigan
Wake Forest
UIC
Northwestern
Rush
Rosalind Franklin
Loyola
Georgetown
GW
TCU
Brown
Emory
Cooper
Temple
Drexel
Jefferson
Miami
Colorado
Wayne St
Wright St
Einstien
VCU
Quinnipiac
Vermont
MCOW
SLU
Tulane
Penn St
Maryland
Ohio St
Cincinnati

It’s a fair mix of reach and target schools. Is this too top heavy at some points for my application and should I consider adding a few more target schools? Thank you for any advice

 

[Faha]

You should receive several interviews.

 

[fightingillini122]

You should receive several interviews.

Awesome! Thank you!

 

[fightingillini122]

Hello again,

Looking for some advice on how I can improve my application as a whole. I am continuing my work as a medical assistant but want to add in more experiences. I am hopeful to get in for this cycle but want to start improving my app if I am unsuccessful. Any advice on where it appears my application could use improvement would be very helpful. Thanks!

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Hello again,

Looking for some advice on how I can improve my application as a whole. I am continuing my work as a medical assistant but want to add in more experiences. I am hopeful to get in for this cycle but want to start improving my app if I am unsuccessful. Any advice on where it appears my application could use improvement would be very helpful. Thanks!

First the cycle is not over, so I think you are premature to push the panic button.

But since you asked for suggestions for improvement, I recall you sidestepped my concerns about your community service/lack of service orientation or mission fit. If you have no II's by Thanksgiving, I would suggest you address the suggestion... though you would have lost 2 months to try to remedy it.

 

[fightingillini122]

First the cycle is not over, so I think you are premature to push the panic button.

But since you asked for suggestions for improvement, I recall you sidestepped my concerns about your community service/lack of service orientation or mission fit. If you have no II's by Thanksgiving, I would suggest you address the suggestion... though you would have lost 2 months to try to remedy it.

Yeah I don’t want to press the panic button at all, but I do want to start making improvements early just in case. Additionally, I apologize as I did not mean to sidestep the comment about the community service. In my earlier response I tried to provide more information about the free basketball team I founded on the west side of Chicago. I was hoping that that would cover the non-medical community service portion of my application. Would your suggesting be to spend more time in more traditional volunteer roles (food bank, homeless shelter, etc.)?

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Yeah I don’t want to press the panic button at all, but I do want to start making improvements early just in case. Additionally, I apologize as I did not mean to sidestep the comment about the community service. In my earlier response I tried to provide more information about the free basketball team I founded on the west side of Chicago. I was hoping that that would cover the non-medical community service portion of my application. Would your suggesting be to spend more time in more traditional volunteer roles (food bank, homeless shelter, etc.)?

Yes, you needed 150 hours of service orientation activities (at the point of application) like food distribution, shelter volunteering, transportation services (non-clinical), job/tax preparation, social services (not clinical), and housing rehabilitation to avoid getting screened out. You need hundreds more for places like Rush and Loyola which strongly value significant service to the marginalized community. There are plenty of these organizations in Chicagoland.

You also need clarity on mission fit. Networking with students at the schools before applying would help. If you get interviews, take notes.

 

[fightingillini122]

Yes, you needed 150 hours of service orientation activities (at the point of application) like food distribution, shelter volunteering, transportation services (non-clinical), job/tax preparation, social services (not clinical), and housing rehabilitation to avoid getting screened out. You need hundreds more for places like Rush and Loyola which strongly value significant service to the marginalized community. There are plenty of these organizations in Chicagoland.

You also need clarity on mission fit. Networking with students at the schools before applying would help. If you get interviews, take notes.

Ok I understand. Thank you for the advice. I appreciate it