WAMC NY 21M ORM 3.55 GPA 509 MCAT

[umiz00mi]

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1. ~3.55 gpa end of year, grades have not been finalized yet. ~3.5 sGPA.
2. 509 MCAT score - 126/128/127/128
3. NY resident
4. Pakistani Asian ORM
5. Top 30 Public university, SUNY.
6. 500+ hours as an unpaid medical receptionist at my family members cardiology office. 100 hours as an unpaid MA at a gastroenterology office. I am also involved in a volunteering/internship opportunity at a heart failure research program with an Ivy league university.
7. 150 hours at a nephrology lab, ended on bad terms not much to speak for it
   Currently involved in cardiology research, mostly WFH data gathering/analysis
8. Gastroenterology, Cardiology, Neurology shadowing experiences
9. Not much consistent/recent volunteering to speak of, I have done minor work in Crisis counselor volunteering and have also had a substantial role in organizing a blood drive at a local Mission.
10. Not sure if this counts, but I am an avid fishkeeper and breeder. I care for a variety of rare fish and am currently attempting to breed a critically endangered species in captivity.
    
    I'm trying to figure out what my best course of action is at the moment. My MCAT attempt is from January of this year and was certainly not taken in ideal conditions. Prep was half-baked at best, definitely would have benefitted from more CP practice and more time to do anki for PS. I was going to retake this May, but ended up coming down with a cold the night before my exam. I want to do MD, and know that given my GPA my resume and MCAT score have to really pull their weight. I'm deciding between applying with my current stats for this cycle and then retaking in June and updating schools once I've received my score, or giving up on this cycle and taking another gap year (I will already be taking one even if I am to apply this cycle) to solidify ECs and get a substantially improved score (515+).
    
    There's a lot of family pressure to just commit to DO at this point, and while I think I would get accepted to at least a school or two with my stats there is nothing that really stands out to get me into a school that I would be happy with, location wise and whatnot. This post is kind of dual purpose in that aspect, I'd like some ideas on MD reach/DO schools I should apply to if I do choose to apply this cycle but also whether it would be a smarter idea to take another gap year, solidify research, get an MA/scribe position, and boost that MCAT score to really make myself a competitive MD applicant.

 

[Faha]

You would be better off to apply in June 2026. Your almost complete lack of non clinical volunteering will limit your chances for interviews since many schools screen at 150 hours. You should accumulate 200+ hours of non clinical volunteering in an activity such as food bank, homeless shelter, etc. in the coming year. You also need more clinical volunteering/employment in a setting unrelated to your family so a MA or scribe position in the coming year would be a good idea. If you have those hours I suggest these schools in June 2026:
All 4 SUNYs
Albany
New York Medical College
Vermont
Quinnipiac
Drexel
Temple
Jefferson
Penn State
George Washington
Virginia Commonwealth
Eastern Virginia
Wake Forest
Methodist
NOVA MD
Belmont
Alice Walton
Roseman
TCU
Rosalind Franklin
Medical College Wisconsin
Oakland Beaumont
Wayne State
Also apply to DO schools and I suggest these:
Touro-NY
NYITCOM
UNECOM
LECOM (all schools)
PCOM (all schools)
WVSOM
MU-COM
DMU-COM
ATSU-KCOM
KCU-COM
AZCOM
TUNCOM
CUSOM

 

[Mr.Smile12]

While I know your family wants you to do well, you need to do more to separate your interest in medicine from them. You must show your comfort level being with uncomfortable, sick patients and stretch outside your comfort zone. Your lack of service orientation activities will set you back in the MD pool for sure, and mission fit will be important.

 

[umiz00mi]

I want to clarify - I do have experience with non-clinical volunteering and do have 150+ hours as a crisis volunteer counselor (basically we speak to people in need and guide them through difficult scenarios, whether it be certain ideations, need for life advice, etc.). I have also volunteered at homeless shelters in the past but personally think it isn't recent enough to be worth mentioning.

 

[Faha]

I want to clarify - I do have experience with non-clinical volunteering and do have 150+ hours as a crisis volunteer counselor (basically we speak to people in need and guide them through difficult scenarios, whether it be certain ideations, need for life advice, etc.). I have also volunteered at homeless shelters in the past but personally think it isn't recent enough to be worth mentioning.

How man hours do have at the homeless shelters?

 

[Mr.Smile12]

I want to clarify - I do have experience with non-clinical volunteering and do have 150+ hours as a crisis volunteer counselor (basically we speak to people in need and guide them through difficult scenarios, whether it be certain ideations, need for life advice, etc.). I have also volunteered at homeless shelters in the past but personally think it isn't recent enough to be worth mentioning.

Describe your training and location where you served as a crisis counselor. Did this occur at the homeless shelter?

 

[umiz00mi]

How man hours do have at the homeless shelters?

all in all probably 40-50 hours.

Describe your training and location where you served as a crisis counselor. Did this occur at the homeless shelter?

crisistextline.org is an online crisis text line - completely virtual in order to maintain the anonymity of those who use it. Training involves pretty extensive modules that, all in all, takes about 15-20 hours to complete. I'd give examples of how it works but can't in order to maintain confidentiality, but essentially you log in whenever you have an availability, hours are flexible, and when someone is in need they join the queue. You can then enter a chat room with them and speak to them - if you need any serious assistance with a particularly difficult case there will always be a supervisor available to take over/help. Does that answer your question?

 

[Faha]

With your 50 hours at the hours at the homeless shelter and 150 hours of crisis volunteer you appear to be above the minimum for screening.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

On the other hand, since most of your crisis volunteering involves online interactions instead of in-person ones, you may not satisfy many schools' threshold for service orientation. We're teaching you to meet patients where they are face-to-face, not online. I would suggest boosting your homeless shelter hours.

Premeds don't like being told they barely satisfy expectations. This coupled with your metrics means your chances heavily rely on mission fit, which I would argue is a bit tenuous and not something that you have to make me want to interview you (at least based on the WAMC profile here which is not the same as your complete application). DO schools may be more accommodating of the service orientation 150 hours expectation depending on how new they are. I would still include DO schools given your metrics, but you have to still show mission fit and service orientation.