WAMC MD - CA ORM - 3.94, 509 (MCAT retake?)

[UnanimousUnity]

Hi SDN!
I'm graduating in the summer, and I'm planning on applying this cycle. I am a transfer student, so some of my activities are mixed between schools.
Here goes nothing:

cGPA: 3.94 ( School 1: 3.91, School 2: 3.98)
sGPA: 3.94 (School 1: 3.90, School 2: 3.90)
MCAT: 509 (128/125/128/128) I'm planning a retake on the 27th of May.

State of residence or country of citizenship (if non-US): CA

Ethnicity and/or race: Middle eastern not sure if that's ORM

Undergraduate institution or category: Community College for 2 years, and then Flagship State School for 2 years. Graduating this spring!

Clinical experience (volunteer and non-volunteer):
Clinical Paid:
EMT (Ambulance): 1450hrs
- This involved all kinds of calls with very limited 911 experience.
ER-Tech & Phlebotomist: 320 as of now, should be close to 400-500 by application time with about 800 projected

Clinical Volunteer:
COVID-19 Vaccination Staff at vaccination superpod: about 100 hrs
- This involved monitoring people after vaccination, responding to potential anaphylaxis, helping out with vaccine cards, and talking to patients after vaccinations regarding any concerns.
Hospital Recovery room volunteer: 120hrs
- This involved patient transport within the hospital, assisting with surgery schedules and availability, assisting and coordinating visitations, etc.

Research experience and productivity:
Independent Research project: About 60 hrs, 1 selected abstract award.

About 448 as of now, but will be about 630 by the time I apply
1 Publication in Nature Microbiology (Middle Author), 1 other publication, 2 presentations (one local and one international)

Shadowing experience and specialties represented:
Virtual: 30 hours
EM: 24 hours
FM: 32 hours

Non-clinical volunteering:
Volunteer tutor: 500hrs

Other extracurricular activities: Leadership as school representative in college fairs; Part of student government.

I am also the Coordinator of a High School research program that I am organizing.

Relevant honors or awards: Research scholarship, various other scholarships, Research selected abstract award

Some questions I have:

• Are there any red flags within my application?
• My shadowing hours are quite low, but it's been almost impossible to find shadowing opportunities.
• Should I apply to DO schools as well?

Current school list:

MD:
UCSF
UCLA
UCI
UCSD
UCD
UCR
USC Keck
California Northstate University
Hofstra
Einstein
Stony Brook
Saint Louis University
USF Health Morsani
Wayne State
Western Michigan University Homer Stryker
University of Michigan
Drexel

DO:
None so far


Thanks for all of your help!

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[chilly_md]

Tutoring is not really getting out of your comfort zone and is under the teaching category as opposed to non clinical volunteering to help those less fortunate. With your current MCAT, you have several unrealistic reach schools on your list. You can come back with your new score, but this is where you apply to right now:

UCI
UCD (prefers Northern or Central CA)
UCR (only if from IE)
CUSM
Vermont
Rosalind Franklin
EVMS
VCU
MCW
Wake Forest
Creighton
Drexel
Temple
Jefferson
Albany Medical College
NYMC
Tufts
Hackensack
George Washington
Georgetown
Wayne State
Tulane
Nova MD
Wayne State

Having a few DO schools might help too if you want to avoid reapplying. You would need a physician letter of rec from an MD or DO though most likely:

Western
Touro CA
Touro NV
PCOM
AZCOM (high tuition FYI)
DMU

Shadowing hours are fine. You’ve gotten 50+ in-person hours with a good deal of primary care.

 

[UnanimousUnity]

Tutoring is not really getting out of your comfort zone and is under the teaching category as opposed to non clinical volunteering to help those less fortunate. With your current MCAT, you have several unrealistic reach schools on your list. You can come back with your new score, but this is where you apply to right now:

UCI
UCD (prefers Northern or Central CA)
UCR (only if from IE)
CUSM
Vermont
Rosalind Franklin
EVMS
VCU
MCW
Wake Forest
Creighton
Drexel
Temple
Jefferson
Albany Medical College
NYMC
Tufts
Hackensack
George Washington
Georgetown
Wayne State
Tulane
Nova MD
Wayne State

Having a few DO schools might help too if you want to avoid reapplying. You would need a physician letter of rec from an MD or DO though most likely:

Western
Touro CA
Touro NV
PCOM
AZCOM (high tuition FYI)
DMU

Shadowing hours are fine. You’ve gotten 50+ in-person hours with a good deal of primary care.

Do you think my MCAT is really going to hold me back at some of these schools which are supposed to be holistic reviewers?

What MCAT score do you think wouldn't be too low if I want to keep schools like UCLA and Keck on the list?

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Do you think my MCAT is really going to hold me back at some of these schools which are supposed to be holistic reviewers?

What MCAT score do you think wouldn't be too low if I want to keep schools like UCLA and Keck on the list?

Take off Cal Northstate (accreditation problems).

Everyone does holistic review but that does not mean they don't have academic standards to adhere to.

Your only community service is just tutoring? As mentioned, that's not an activity that stretches you outside your comfort zone to fit the community service category. It is also very common among pretends so it won't make hit stand out.

Do you hardest with your retake.

I think clinical experience is satisfactory.

You should have an MSAR, and we suggest comparing your score to the 75th to 80th percentiles for MCAT and GPA as starters. If your scores are below the 10th percentile of a school, your chances are extremely low unless you are socioeconomically disadvantaged and fit the mission of the school.

The work you are doing with your high school is an extension of leadership and your tutoring work.

 

[chilly_md]

Do you think my MCAT is really going to hold me back at some of these schools which are supposed to be holistic reviewers?

What MCAT score do you think wouldn't be too low if I want to keep schools like UCLA and Keck on the list?

Try to do the best you can and when you have your new score, let us know.

 

[UnanimousUnity]

Try to do the best you can and when you have your new score, let us know.

I am still debating whether I should, but I have gotten a 517 on my FL1 retake. Although it's inflated since I took it 2 months ago, I think it's a good sign I should go ahead with the retake.

 

[UnanimousUnity]

Take off Cal Northstate (accreditation problems).

Everyone does holistic review but that does not mean they don't have academic standards to adhere to.

Your only community service is just tutoring? As mentioned, that's not an activity that stretches you outside your comfort zone to fit the community service category. It is also very common among pretends so it won't make hit stand out.

Do you hardest with your retake.

I think clinical experience is satisfactory.

You should have an MSAR, and we suggest comparing your score to the 75th to 80th percentiles for MCAT and GPA as starters. If your scores are below the 10th percentile of a school, your chances are extremely low unless you are socioeconomically disadvantaged and fit the mission of the school.

The work you are doing with your high school is an extension of leadership and your tutoring work.

Thank you for the detailed reply!
While I am disadvantaged, I hope to still score higher on the MCAT, so I'm going to retake it.

As for volunteering, I have a lot of clinical volunteering. For example, the vaccination volunteering also included days when I was helping set up and organize the logistics of the area.

I have done some work with Families forward back in high school, but I was told not to talk about that. I could always volunteer to work at a homeless shelter, but I'm not sure if it will have an impact so close to the application cycle.

 

[UnanimousUnity]

Can you detail nonclinical volunteering a bit more? Go ahead with retake MCAT

Of course!
I have done a few things.
1. Volunteer Tutor
2. Community Soccer Coach/organizer
3. COVID-19 Vaccination POD Medical and Logistics volunteer

1. This one as the name suggests included tutoring people in my community college and helping them out while they explore what they want to pursue. I also helped out people who weren't fluent in English.

2. This position kind of came up out of nowhere for me. I saw my community children interested when I was practicing or playing soccer, so I started talking to the parents, and eventually, it evolved into me organizing small games and drills for them every weekend. I think It helped a lot of them out in exploring sports and soccer and taught me how to deal with younger people.

3. This is perhaps the most meaningful volunteer experience for me. This is in the beginning when vaccines were coming out so think February. I started volunteering through the county health department in the vaccination supersites where I helped out with the logistics and the general organization of the area. It was set up on a parking lot so we brought the equipment into each tent and helped people into the tents and out. I also helped on the clinical side in the monitoring and handling of vaccines.