WAMC/School List - 517 MCAT, 3.96 GPA, ORM

[norefridgerator8930]

Hi! Looking for some help with school list...I'm having a really hard time trying to figure out what schools to apply to. (edit: added rec letters)

Background:

• VA res, ORM
• T30 Undergraduate
• Cell Biology Major
• 1 gap year

Stats:

• cGPA: 3.96, sGPA: 3.98
• MCAT: 517 (130/124 i know.../132/131) -- third time score.

Experiences (briefly):

• Research: Basic Science lab for 2.5 years, 650 hours. No pubs (unfortunate). Cancer Wet Lab for 5 months, will have ~150 hours by applications, solid small project done.
• Clinical Work: 670 hours as Patient Care Tech
• Medical Volunteering: ~350 hours at 2 medical volunteer trips, 100 hours as a NICU volunteer
• Shadowing: 100 hours in 4 specialties
• Leadership: >1000 hours combined for ROTC over 4 years
• TA: 600 hours as a biology lab TA for four semesters.
• Gap year: Clinical research in Cancer Lab, projected ~1400 hours (working full time).

Rec Letters:

• 2 Science Professors - def 1 strong
• 1 Humanities Professor
• 1st Research PI
• Professor I TAed for - a strong letter
• Clinical Supervisor for work - a strong letter

I'm honestly torn on where to apply because of my CARS score. Would appreciate advice! These are the schools that I was hoping to apply to, I do have a lot of higher-tier schools. Also added UCSF after seeing the MSAR that was just released.

Hopkins
Penn
Columbia
Yale
Duke
Michigan
Northwestern
Cornell
Emory
Mount Sinai
Vanderbilt
UPitt
Stanford
CWRU
CWRU/CCLCM
UVA
OSU
Rochester
Albert Einstein
Brown
VCU
Maryland
Penn State
EVMS
Virginia Tech
Georgetown
GW
WashU
UCSF

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[diltiazemm]

I'm honestly torn on where to apply because of my CARS score.

This link should help allay your concerns! 😊

J

Thread 'Low CARS - will it shoot my chances at the top schools?'

Jun 26, 2024

Hello

I have an unbalanced MCAT score. 518 (132/125/130/131). CARS was always my weakest link, but I was hitting 127
-130 in FLs. A couple of hard passages derailed me in the actual test. How will it impact my chances at the top schools? Do they have a min CARS cutoff? I will post a WAMC for the 25-26 cycle, but have been very concerned about this, so decided to post the question. Thank you very much.

• Justapremed1
• Replies: 13
• Forum: Pre-Medical (MD)

The only thing I see missing from your application is non-clinical volunteering, which may get you screened out at some schools. Otherwise, everything looks good. Definitely rack up those non-clinical hours though!

Your school list does look top-heavy, but I am just another applicant, so I'll leave the advising to the pros 😉

 

[Mr.Smile12]

What were your other two MCAT scores? You know, many schools average MCAT scores for screening?

 

[Faha]

Do you have any non clinical volunteering hours?

 

[norefridgerator8930]

What were your other two MCAT scores? You know, many schools average MCAT scores for screening?

They were 508 and 512...I didn't know that averaging score was a method for screening...

 

[norefridgerator8930]

Do you have any non clinical volunteering hours?

I do, but I didn't think that there were enough hours for me to mention it as an opportunity. It's about 50 hours at a local soup kitchen.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Are you a first-gen student? Where did you grow up? (addressing your low CARS score)

Why did you get involved with ROTC? Do you want to continue in military medicine?

 

[Faha]

I do, but I didn't think that there were enough hours for me to mention it as an opportunity. It's about 50 hours at a local soup kitchen.

Accumulate another 100+ hours before you submit your application. Some schools screen at 150 hours of non clinical volunteering. You should also be aware that at top tier schools you will be competing with applicants with many hundreds of thousands of hours of non clinical volunteering.
I suggest these schools if you have 150 hours at the soup kitchen:
Virginia Commonwealth
Eastern Virginia
U Virginia
Virginia Tech
West Virginia
George Washington
Wake Forest
Emory
NOVA MD
USF Morsani
Miami
TCU
Rosalind Franklin
Medical College Wisconsin
Western Michigan
Oakland Beaumont
Drexel
Temple
Jefferson
Penn State
Pittsburgh
Hackensack
Hofstra
New York Medical College
Albany
Vermont
Quinnipiac
UMass
Tufts