WAMC for MD - low MCAT (513/ 3.97 GPA)

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Corngirl9613

Corngirl9613

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PLEASE DO NOT QUOTE THIS MESSAGE

So I am having an insane amount of anxiety about applications this cycle. Was I stupid for thinking I could get into a school with these stats?

  1. 3.97 total GPA, 3.94 science GPA
  2. 513 MCAT: (127/130/126/130)
  3. IL resident
  4. White
  5. State school for undergrad
  6. Clinical experience
    1. Volunteer:
      1. 30+ hours as a hospice volunteer
      2. 20 hours as a hospital volunteer greeter
    2. Non-volunteer
      1. Physical Therapy head rehabilitation aide- over 1200 hours of direct patient contact
      2. Medical/Orthopedic Scribe – over 500 hours already completed, over 1200 projected
  7. Research experience- Conducted my own Honors Capstone my Junior/Senior years
  8. Shadowing- 54 hours
    1. OBGYN
    2. Family Practice
    3. Neuro Research
    4. Women’s and Environmental Health Research
  9. Non-clinical volunteering
    1. Tutor for 4 years – over 100 hours
    2. Dance marathon participant – 3 years, over 50 hours danced, met with families affiliated with Miracle Network
    3. Volunteered at community races, soup kitchens, nursing homes with one of the organizations I was involved in
    4. Current hospital volunteer in main entrance and ED at my hometown hospital for gap year
  10. Other
    1. President of two clubs – one within the Center for Student Involvement doing event planning for groups of 600+ people and with community outreach.
    2. Worked throughout all of undergrad
      1. Deli clerk
      2. Campus job - promoted to supervisor
  11. Honors- Leader of the Year Award from the Center for Student Involvement
  12. I had three pretty high up professors (Department Chairs and such) write my LORs. I’m trying to decide if I should have two of the surgeons I scribe for write ones now that I have established myself at the office for during my gap year.
  13. I am from a rural area
  14. I am currently on court supervision for speeding. I disclosed this in my applications and am worried that schools won’t even look at me because of it.
Honestly, what are my chances? Am I screwed? Any changes I should make school-wise?

Here are the schools I applied to:

Loyola
UIC
Rush
UChicago
Northwestern
Rosalind Franklin
SIU
SLU
WashU
MCW
Wisconsin
Iowa
Michigan
Michigan State
UCSF
UC Davis
UC Irvine
Boston
Tufts
Yale
Harvard
Vanderbilt
Albert Einstein
UNC
UVA
Stanford
Mayo
University of Arizona- Phoenix
Georgetown
George Washington
UMass
UPenn
Penn State
Case Western
Colorado
Minnesota
Wayne State
Johns Hopkins
 
you have quite a fewhail mary schools for your MCAT. I think Umass only excepts MA residents, and the lower tier UCs (Davis and irvine) tend to want instate people. Do you have connections to CA? In your list you have maybe 13 schools that are a match for your stats. I'm not sure if its too late to add some more schools with an MCAT around yours. Maybe you could add some DO schools.

Your stats and ECs seem fine and I would expect that you would get some interviews at some point. Hopefully your top heavy list doesnt screw you later.
 
Faha said:
When were your secondaries complete ? Have you received any interviews ?
Click to expand...

I completed all of my secondaries between 7/25 and 8/5. (I had a delay with one of my LORs that pushed it back later than I wanted). I have not heard back from any schools yet.

I did forget to put that I am a certified phlebotomist with over 100 hours of blood draws and specimen processing. I also help with blood draws for PRP injections at the ortho office I scribe for.
 
paimei42 said:
you have quite a fewhail mary schools for your MCAT. I think Umass only excepts MA residents, and the lower tier UCs (Davis and irvine) tend to want instate people. Do you have connections to CA? In your list you have maybe 13 schools that are a match for your stats. I'm not sure if its too late to add some more schools with an MCAT around yours. Maybe you could add some DO schools.

Your stats and ECs seem fine and I would expect that you would get some interviews at some point. Hopefully your top heavy list doesnt screw you later.
Click to expand...

I've been worried about my MCAT for awhile. But a bunch of people told me that I should be good. What schools would you suggest I add? Or am I that screwed by my MCAT?

As for connections to CA, my mom grew up in CA for some of her childhood because my grandfather was a professor at Berkley and was a visiting professor at Irvine. My uncle was an established lawyer in LA for some time as well.
 
Corngirl9613 said:
I've been worried about my MCAT for awhile. But a bunch of people told me that I should be good. What schools would you suggest I add? Or am I that screwed by my MCAT?
Click to expand...

Its not that your MCAT is bad its that its bad for schools like harvard, Uchicago, Mayo, Stanford etc.

Do you have the MSAR? I would look at schools at your MCAT and apply there. Some of the SUNYs I think take a decent amount of OOS people. Upper tier DO schools?
 
Mr. Dr. Prof. Patrick said:
This is like...2 and a half weeks of full time employment...? Even at part time you would only have had a couple months of it...I don’t think this will have influenced your app either way.
Click to expand...

I meant that I forgot to include it in my original post. But thank you for you blunt opinion.
 
paimei42 said:
Its not that your MCAT is bad its that its bad for schools like harvard, Uchicago, Mayo, Stanford etc.

Do you have the MSAR? I would look at schools at your MCAT and apply there. Some of the SUNYs I think take a decent amount of OOS people. Upper tier DO schools?
Click to expand...

Oh I know that. Those were just me attempting to be optimistic.
 
candbgirl said:
How did you develop your list? Did you use the MSAR? Besides having many top heavy reaches stats wise, you have lots of OOS schools on that list.
Click to expand...

I was told by an advisor at MedSchoolPrep that I with my stats I was competitive at any of the mid 30 below the top 10-20. The advisor told me to go ahead and I apply at some top schools because he thought I still had a chance. But since I've had radio silence since completing secondaries, that's why I am getting nervous. I definitely feel like I was ill-advised and feel like a total goof-up.
 
Well you are not the only one who has gotten bad advice but now you move on. Do you have the MSAR? I suppose it’s late but you have several OOS public schools on your list. Generally OOS public schools Favor their own residents. That’s not always the case and that’s why you have to research schools. The MSAR has all of that info and more to help you along. (Like stats, EC expectation etc..)Hopefully you won’t need to reapply but keep that in mind if you do.

I think you’ll hear from several of the IL schools. Probably not UChicago or Northwestern but who knows. And I’m not sure about Rush. They expect an insane amount of service hours and I can’t tell if you have what they expect.
In the meantime keep at your ECs. Build on your clinical experience and nonclinical volunteering. As ADCOMS on here say always plan to reapply until you have that acceptance. In the event you need to reapply ADCOMS will expect significant improvement in your application.

So take a deep breath and try to keep busy. It’s a long application season and you are at the early part. You do have lots of time. Good luck.,
 
I wish you well. But this seems like the classic case of "*** told me so I figured it must be true".
If a school says "research isn't required", but 97% of matriculants have research, it probably is "required". Look at actions, not words.
Similarly, if a school says they're "holistic", it doesn't mean they don't care a lot about scores, at least to begin with. If you're below the 25th percentile MCAT at a lot of your "optimistic" schools, you need something to stand out amongst the 7000-10000 applicants who are vying for a spot. At the top schools, I'd imagine something substantial and impressive/flashy would help here. If you don't have that, and it's hard to gauge someone's app from such a cursory look, I wouldn't expect to hear from a lot of your "top 10-20" schools.

You have a solid app for MD, but tbh this school list looks more wishful than anything. It's still early though. I wouldn't panic, but I would consider the possibility of reapplication.
 
candbgirl said:
What does this mean? Anything below the mid 30’s? Out of your list you have 18-19 of the top 30 schools. Did you do any research?
Click to expand...
I was told schools around #21-#50 were one’s I am competitive for, anything ranked #51+ was easily attainable for and II, and #1-#21 was a reach but worth trying for if I wanted to spend the money.

I understand I have a top heavy list and that I ultimately am responsible for the schools I chose to apply to. Yes I did research.
 
blurb_123 said:
I wish you well. But this seems like the classic case of "*** told me so I figured it must be true".
If a school says "research isn't required", but 97% of matriculants have research, it probably is "required". Look at actions, not words.
Similarly, if a school says they're "holistic", it doesn't mean they don't care a lot about scores, at least to begin with. If you're below the 25th percentile MCAT at a lot of your "optimistic" schools, you need something to stand out amongst the 7000-10000 applicants who are vying for a spot. At the top schools, I'd imagine something substantial and impressive/flashy would help here. If you don't have that, and it's hard to gauge someone's app from such a cursory look, I wouldn't expect to hear from a lot of your "top 10-20" schools.

You have a solid app for MD, but tbh this school list looks more wishful than anything. It's still early though. I wouldn't panic, but I would consider the possibility of reapplication.
Click to expand...
Thank you for the thoughtful input. I agree that I was too optimistic with my school list. I also place no blame on the person who gave me advice. I was just trying to explain my thought process of why I thought I could apply to top schools. I understand that I am ultimately responsible for where I chose to apply to and not apply to. I get that I chose wrong.
 
candbgirl said:
Well you are not the only one who has gotten bad advice but now you move on. Do you have the MSAR? I suppose it’s late but you have several OOS public schools on your list. Generally OOS public schools Favor their own residents. That’s not always the case and that’s why you have to research schools. The MSAR has all of that info and more to help you along. (Like stats, EC expectation etc..)Hopefully you won’t need to reapply but keep that in mind if you do.

I think you’ll hear from several of the IL schools. Probably not UChicago or Northwestern but who knows. And I’m not sure about Rush. They expect an insane amount of service hours and I can’t tell if you have what they expect.
In the meantime keep at your ECs. Build on your clinical experience and nonclinical volunteering. As ADCOMS on here say always plan to reapply until you have that acceptance. In the event you need to reapply ADCOMS will expect significant improvement in your application.

So take a deep breath and try to keep busy. It’s a long application season and you are at the early part. You do have lots of time. Good luck.,
Click to expand...
Thank you for the thoughtful input. I agree that I was too optimistic with my school list. I also place no blame on the person who gave me advice. I was just trying to explain my thought process of why I thought I could apply to top schools. I understand that I am ultimately responsible for where I chose to apply to and not apply to. I get that I chose wrong.
 
Corngirl9613 said:
Thank you for the thoughtful input. I agree that I was too optimistic with my school list. I also place no blame on the person who gave me advice. I was just trying to explain my thought process of why I thought I could apply to top schools. I understand that I am ultimately responsible for where I chose to apply to and not apply to. I get that I chose wrong.
Click to expand...

Ultimately, you'll be fine. You have some good things going for you.
 
To answer your original question. You certainly were not stupid to think you could get into a med school with your stats. You have very good stats and good ECs. There are several schools on your list where you are very competitive. Have you checked any of the school specific threads to see if and when they started to send interviews?
 
Corngirl9613 said:
I was told schools around #21-#50 were one’s I am competitive for, anything ranked #51+ was easily attainable for and II, and #1-#21 was a reach but worth trying for if I wanted to spend the money.

I understand I have a top heavy list and that I ultimately am responsible for the schools I chose to apply to. Yes I did research.
Click to expand...


I think the first advice was good advice based on your OP. Add schools in that 30-70 range maybe.
 
You need DO schools on your list: many MD schools can get applicants that have legit SAVAGE stuff like 520+ MCATs or military service.
 
Mt. Marcy said:
many MD schools can get applicants that have legit SAVAGE stuff like 520+ MCATs or military service.
Click to expand...
This is a gross over exaggeration. There are only 1600 520 plus applicants, less than one percent have military, less than one percent have peacecorps, less than 5% have any publications, less than 20% have any research presentation of any kind, less than 30% have any clinical employment, less than 4% have any kids, far far far fewer have any combination of the above. OP has a good application, just a terrible school list.

Edit: I know this means a lot less coming from an applicant with all but one of those things, but these sorts of applicants are oddities, not common (AT ALL!) whatsoever that you absolutely should not worry about having to ‘compete’ with.
 
Corngirl9613 said:
I completed all of my secondaries between 7/25 and 8/5. (I had a delay with one of my LORs that pushed it back later than I wanted). I have not heard back from any schools yet.

I did forget to put that I am a certified phlebotomist with over 100 hours of blood draws and specimen processing. I also help with blood draws for PRP injections at the ortho office I scribe for.
Click to expand...
You applied to many state schools that accept few non residents with no connection to the state. For example, UC Davis accepts only 1 to 3 non residents yearly (and those are likely applicants who attended UC Davis for undergraduate school or former CA residents). Also you applied to man very competitive schools and your MCAT is at or below the 10th percentile for some of them. You could add more schools this week and I suggest these:
Western Michigan
Oakland Beaumont
Drexel
Temple
Jefferson
Seton Hall
NOVA MD
Hofstra
New York Medical College
 
Mr. Dr. Prof. Patrick said:
This is a gross over exaggeration. There are only 1600 520 plus applicants, less than one percent have military, less than one percent have peacecorps, less than 5% have any publications, less than 20% have any research presentation of any kind, less than 30% have any clinical employment, less than 4% have any kids, far far far fewer have any combination of the above. OP has a good application, just a terrible school list.

Edit: I know this means a lot less coming from an applicant with all but one of those things, but these sorts of applicants are oddities, not common (AT ALL!) whatsoever that you absolutely should not worry about having to ‘compete’ with.
Click to expand...
Thank you. I wish I had more to my application. I truly do. I’ve worked my butt off and I just feel like there’s so much to have done.

My tops schools are UIC (any campus), Loyola, Rush, Iowa, MCW, and SLU. Do you think these are realistic?
 
Corngirl9613 said:
Thank you. I wish I had more to my application. I truly do. I’ve worked my butt off and I just feel like there’s so much to have done.

My tops schools are UIC (any campus), Loyola, Rush, Iowa, MCW, and SLU. Do you think these are realistic?
Click to expand...
All of those are realistic with your stats.
 
Well thank you all for the constructive and supportive criticism. I truly appreciate any and all of the input. I was very nervous and hesitant to post. But this is just about the most advice I have gotten this whole process. I live in a town of 250 people, and have to commute 40 minutes to the ortho office I work to. I have no family in healthcare and have been doing this all on my own. I am not asking for pity, just trying to express my extreme gratitude for insight from people who know the process. Thank you all.
 
If you're rural, that adds a bit of diversity; you might consider writing about that experience and how it shaped you in secondaries. As important as stats are in this process, they're not the only thing that's being considered. Also, some schools have rural-medicine tracks and programs; you might consider that. I've also heard that Dartmouth likes rural applicants.
 
Only on SDN do people think a 513 is low... And having a 520+ will only make you a sure thing for MD (in short, nothing is a guarantee unless you get a 4.0 and a 510+ on the MCAT while taking Temple's SMP program.)

Agree with above. Add more schools that have lower stats and have no OOS bias. I wouldn't completely count yourself out from some reach schools (Dartmouth could work in your favor, btw!) But since you've sent in a donation to those schools in the form of primary and secondary fees, expect to receive a rejection email/letter as a complementary "thank you."

What you'll need to work on for reapplication (if required) is clinical exposure and non-clinical volunteering. Your GPA and MCAT are killer. Keep the phlebotomy job if you can sustain yourself with it; or, move around into other areas that may pay more (such as clinical research.) Maybe more shadowing in primary care?
 
Only retake a good MCAT like a 513 if you can get a legit SAVAGE score increase of five points or better. If not, then it won't help you.
 
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