WAMC/school list cGPA 3.59/523 ORM

[cnmarsbars]

Hi everyone. I am a senior and going to take a gap (application) year. My main concern is my lower GPA not matching with my MCAT score. I had a rough start to college (some medical problems + an ADHD diagnosis, which I don't plan on sharing in my application) and show a strong upward trend with my GPA (3.83 in my last semester, taking two biology and three chem courses), but I'm finding it difficult to decide which schools are appropriate for me to apply to. Any advice is very appreciated!

1. cGPA and sGPA as calculated by AMCAS or AACOMAS
   1. cGPA= 3.59, sGPA= 3.457 (strong upward trend, had difficulty after COVID during freshman/sophomore year)
2. MCAT score(s) and breakdown
   1. 523, 132/130/129/132 (first and only attempt)
3. State of residence or country of citizenship (if non-US)
   1. NC
4. Ethnicity and/or race
   1. White
5. Undergraduate institution or category
   1. T25 non-ivy
6. Clinical experience (volunteer and non-volunteer)
   1. Hospital CNA in float pool (216 hours, 300+ by application)
   2. Pediatric Inpatient Volunteer (140 hours, had to stop this semester due to conflicts)
   3. Volunteer Nursing Assistant at Assisted Living Facility (40 hours)
7. Research experience and productivity
   1. Biotech research assistant (700 hours, likely 800+ by application- no pubs yet, but likely 1 pub by application. Experience on various projects)
8. Shadowing experience and specialties represented
   1. Pediatric endocrinology (15 hours- haven't shadowed much due to difficulty receiving replies from doctors. Working on this very hard this semester)
   2. Geriatric medicine (25 hours scheduled*)
   3. Cardiology (16 hours scheduled*)
9. Non-clinical volunteering
   1. Free swim instructor for underserved children near the university (15 hours, had to stop due to scheduling conflicts)
   2. Habitat for Humanity (40 hours scheduled*)
   3. Local Food Pantry volunteer (25 hours scheduled*)
10. Other extracurricular activities (including athletics, military service, gap year activities, leadership, teaching, etc)
    1. Head Swim Coach of team of 130+ swimmers (2 years, 1500+ hours)
    2. Library Assistant (500 hours)
    3. University Scientific Magazine Designer & Illustrator (50 hours)
11. Anything else not listed you think might be important
    
    1. This semester my main priorities are getting more shadowing and non-clinical volunteering done. I don't plan to do a post-bacc to raise my GPA because I honestly don't feel like it's worth it to spend so much money to raise it. I'd like to narrow my school list down to about 30 schools, but am willing to apply to about 35. All of the schools I have so far are MD, but I'm not opposed to applying DO- I just don't know how reasonable that is due to my MCAT.

Here is my school list:

ECU
UNC Chapel Hill
Wake Forest
Georgetown
UCLA
Tufts
George Washington
Emory
VCU
University of Colorado
University of Cincinnati
University of Central Florida
Chicago- Rosalind Franklin
Creighton University
Netter at Quinnipac
UVA
Duke
Boston University
University of Pittsburgh
University of Michigan
Jacobs
Virginia Tech
Eastern Virginia
Medical College of Wisconsin
USC Greenville
Penn State
University of Louisville

*Edited 23 February 2024 to include scheduled shadowing, non-clinical volunteering, and removed Rush Medical College from school list

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Did you grow up in the coastal or rural regions of North Carolina? If so, ECU and Campbell DO should be on your list. If not, it might be a bit harder to show your fit. Obviously in-state applicants will all apply to UNC, Wake, or Duke, so those should be on your list, but I'd like to see your GPAs for your sophomore, junior, and senior years (oGPA, sGPA, BCPM) to show that upward trend, assuming your major is in a biomedical science field.

You definitely need more shadowing, and with your work as a CNA or inpatient volunteer, you should be able to find someone to shadow. If you attend one of the Triangle schools, their prehealth offices should facilitate shadowing.

I disregard any activities with fewer than 50 hours (except shadowing), so you come in with essentially zero non-clinical service orientation/community service. Your swimming hobby/activities naturally extend to you teaching children (esp disadvantaged) how to swim, but this is not an activity that relieves others' distress, which is generally expected for a service orientation activity. Seek 150 hours before applying... in activities such as food distribution, shelter volunteering (similar to your assisted living work?), job/tax preparation, transportation services, or housing rehabilitation.

Take the gap year to get your hours before submitting an application. You want to do this once and only once, and applying with an incomplete application will make it tougher for you to repeat all the work on a reapplication. Do it right the first time.

 

[cnmarsbars]

Did you grow up in the coastal or rural regions of North Carolina? If so, ECU and Campbell DO should be on your list. If not, it might be a bit harder to show your fit. Obviously in-state applicants will all apply to UNC, Wake, or Duke, so those should be on your list, but I'd like to see your GPAs for your sophomore, junior, and senior years (oGPA, sGPA, BCPM) to show that upward trend, assuming your major is in a biomedical science field.

You definitely need more shadowing, and with your work as a CNA or inpatient volunteer, you should be able to find someone to shadow. If you attend one of the Triangle schools, their prehealth offices should facilitate shadowing.

I disregard any activities with fewer than 50 hours (except shadowing), so you come in with essentially zero non-clinical service orientation/community service. Your swimming hobby/activities naturally extend to you teaching children (esp disadvantaged) how to swim, but this is not an activity that relieves others' distress, which is generally expected for a service orientation activity. Seek 150 hours before applying... in activities such as food distribution, shelter volunteering (similar to your assisted living work?), job/tax preparation, transportation services, or housing rehabilitation.

Take the gap year to get your hours before submitting an application. You want to do this once and only once, and applying with an incomplete application will make it tougher for you to repeat all the work on a reapplication. Do it right the first time.

Thanks for the advice! I grew up in central North Carolina. I've been thinking about Campbell but wasn't sure if they would "yield protect" against my mcat.

I am a biology major with a chemistry minor. Here are my GPA stats separated by year:

Freshman GPA- 3.475
Sophomore GPA- 3.407
Junior GPA-3.596
Senior GPA- 3.844

I will definitely look into your non-clinical volunteering suggestions. In your opinion, how much would it hurt me to apply with about 50 ish hours non-clinical volunteering as well as my clinical volunteering? I work two jobs at the moment (which I know isn't rare for premeds) but it makes it hard to make it to volunteering opportunities consistently. I am not opposed to taking another gap year, but I don't want to postpone if it's not necessary.

Again, thanks so much for the advice!

 

[Mr.Smile12]

I will definitely look into your non-clinical volunteering suggestions. In your opinion, how much would it hurt me to apply with about 50 ish hours non-clinical volunteering as well as my clinical volunteering? I work two jobs at the moment (which I know isn't rare for premeds) but it makes it hard to make it to volunteering opportunities consistently. I am not opposed to taking another gap year, but I don't want to postpone if it's not necessary.

Again, thanks so much for the advice!

For Campbell, read up on their mission. Sure they might be skeptical that you might choose them over an in-state school with some of your stats, but if you are truly aligned with their mission in producing physicians, reach out and get networking to be sure. ECU will be the same.

Most schools screen out applicants with fewer than 150 hours of non-clinical volunteering and 200 hours of clinical experience (which would include 50 hours of shadowing). Projected hours don't count. So to answer your question, it can hurt you if you only have 50 hours when you submit your application. Medical schools aren't going anywhere... you can adjust your schedule to get 3 hours in every week/end for a year.

Rush likes applicants with hundreds of non-clinical volunteering hours... even thousands.

 

[Faha]

You should accumulate 150+ hours of non clinical volunteering (food bank, homeless shelter, etc.) before you submit your application.
Also another 30+ hours of physician shadowing. I suggest these schools if you accumulate those hours:
UNC
East Carolina
Wake Forest
Duke
Emory
USF Morsani
Miami
NOVA MD
UVA
VCU
Eastern Virginia
George Washington
Jefferson
Temple
Drexel
Pittsburgh
Hackensack
Hofstra
Einstein
New York Medical College
Albany
Mount Sinai
Rochester
Vermont
Quinnipiac
Boston University
Tufts
Cincinnati
Western Michigan
Medical College Wisconsin
Rosalind Franklin
TCU
Belmont