MD & DO WAMC + help with school list MD/DO 3.71cGPA/510 MCAT, CA applicant

[camedapplicant]

Hi! this will be my first time applying and I'm planning to focus on MD schools with some DO in there. Also planning on applying to around 25-30 schools and would love any advice on that list. I just got my second MCAT score and while I'm open to DO and always have been, I'm hoping this puts me in a bit of a better place for MD schools as well

1. cGPA and sGPA as calculated by AMCAS or AACOMAS: cGPA is 3.71 and sGPA is 3.65 (I also had an upward trend, have received a 4.0 the past 2.5 semesters)
2. MCAT score(s) and breakdown: I took it twice and got a 505 (127/126/126/126) and most recently a 510 (127/128/127/128)
3. State of residence or country of citizenship (if non-US): California
4. Ethnicity and/or race: White
5. Undergraduate institution or category: Top 40 school, Neuroscience Major
6. Clinical experience
   
   • ~2000 hours working as a patient care technician on an inpatient neurology floor. I'm still working there per diem so I will have more hours when I apply
7. Research experience and productivity
   
   • 3 years in a pharmaceutical sciences lab on campus (unsure how many hours, some semesters I had more time than others, also did a directed study in this lab for a semester)
   • 6 months (~1000 hours) as a research assistant at a major biotech company, presented a poster at the end of the 6 months
8. Shadowing experience and specialties represented
   
   • ~50 hours shadowing a psychiatrist, was in person with the physician but did telepsych due to COVID
   • ~100 hours shadowing a neurologist in person, including outpatient and inpatient, received a letter of recommendation from them
9. Non-clinical volunteering
   
   • ~150 hours at an independent living community, helping an elderly couple with daily tasks and organizing/unpacking their apartment
     
     • planning on continuing this through my gap year and do this weekly so I will accumulate more hours
10. Other extracurricular activities (including athletics, military service, gap year activities, leadership, teaching, etc)
    
    • On leadership board at university Hillel and was active as a member all 4.5 years
    • Staff member on the university ski club - organized social media and staffed ski trips
    • tour guide at university for two years
    • On eboard for my sorority and was an active member all 4.5 years
    • working as a special needs aide every Sunday at a synagogue
    • Currently applying to clinical research positions for my gap year
11. Relevant honors or awards
    
    • magna cum laude
    • Dean's list, Dean's Scholarship
    • Part of Nu Rho Psi, neuroscience honor society

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[chilly_md]

Thread moved to WAMC.

Being a special needs aide every Sunday at a synagogue is a notable activity that sounds like non-clinical volunteering to me.

For MD, try the following:
UC Irvine
UC Davis (if from Central or Northern CA or attended for undergrad )
UC Riverside (only if from IE or attended in undergrad)
CUSM
Loma Linda (if you are ok with them as 7th Day Adventist school and the various rules they have)
Drexel
Temple
Creighton
Georgetown
George Washington
Einstein
NYMC
Albany
Hackensack
Nova MD
Rosalind Franklin
Medical College of Wisconsin
Oakland Beaumont
Wayne State
Vermont
Quinnipiac
Wake

For DO, you are competitive for all of them. Consider:

Western
Touro CA
Touro NY
Touro NV (the Touros observe Jewish holidays and that is part of their history)
AZCOM (high tuition FYI)
DMU-COM
ATSU-KCOM
MU-COM
PCOM
LECOM
Campbell
NYITCOM

 

[ujsc]

I think if you write well in your applications conveying your desire to be a physician taking in account your academic background, EC, and clinical/service, you should do Ok with the following caveats: 1) screen and apply to schools where your stats jive with their MSAR values, 2) check to see if schools take latest MCAT or average score, 3) if applying OOS only apply to schools that matriculate a decent amount students OOS, 4) apply to a balanced and reasonable number of DO as well as MD schools.

For MD schools, it seems that 515 MCAT barely gets some people in the door but that is dependent also on the other attributes you bring. You seem to have good attributes overall...

PS: There are a few schools in CA that don't take federal just personal loans. If that is an issue don't apply there. Best wishes