WAMC: School List Help, low GPA high MCAT

[ripponlutz]

Hi all,

I'm looking for some advice on my current school list. As a TX resident, I initially wasn't going to apply out of state at all but I decided to add a few reaches and matches to my list. I'm just wondering if I need to cover my bases even more given my low GPA.

3.44 cGPA, 3.26 sGPA (upward trend)

MCAT: 518 (130/128/130/130)

State: TX

Ethnicity: Hispanic (Mexico, so URM)

Undergrad: T20

Clinical Experience:

• 200 hours at a free clinic (this includes pledged gap year hours so it could realistically be higher than this)
• 40 at a children’s hospital
• applied to scribe but still waiting to hear back- so I could have like 1000+ hours from scribing during my gap year but if not then I’ll have significantly more volunteer hours

Research: ~300 hours in a lab plus a few semester-long in-class research projects amounting to around ~130 hours, no pubs

Shadowing:

• 30 pediatrics
• 30 emergency room
• 15 ENT

Non-clinical volunteering:

• 30 hours working with ESL students
• 40 hours volunteering with my university’s office of admissions

Other extracurricular activities:

• 500 hours playing with and leading a musical ensemble- this is a major commitment which I wrote about a lot
• 200 hours working as an orientation week advisor

School list:

• All TMDSAS schools
• Baylor
• TCU-UNT
• Hofstra
• Einstein
• Rosalind Franklin
• Temple
• UMiami Miller

My pre-med advisor expressed concern about my volunteering/clinical hours, so I'm planning to focus on that during my gap year. So, WAMC?

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[Saturday’s Child]

Hi all,

I'm looking for some advice on my current school list. As a TX resident, I initially wasn't going to apply out of state at all but I decided to add a few reaches and matches to my list. I'm just wondering if I need to cover my bases even more given my low GPA.

3.44 cGPA, 3.26 sGPA (upward trend)

MCAT: 518 (130/128/130/130)

State: TX

Ethnicity: Hispanic (Mexico, so URM)

Undergrad: T20

Clinical Experience:

• 200 hours at a free clinic (this includes pledged gap year hours so it could realistically be higher than this)
• 40 at a children’s hospital
• applied to scribe but still waiting to hear back- so I could have like 1000+ hours from scribing during my gap year but if not then I’ll have significantly more volunteer hours

Research: ~300 hours in a lab plus a few semester-long in-class research projects amounting to around ~130 hours, no pubs

Shadowing:

• 30 pediatrics
• 30 emergency room
• 15 ENT

Non-clinical volunteering:

• 30 hours working with ESL students
• 40 hours volunteering with my university’s office of admissions

Other extracurricular activities:

• 500 hours playing with and leading a musical ensemble- this is a major commitment which I wrote about a lot
• 200 hours working as an orientation week advisor

School list:

• All TMDSAS schools
• Baylor
• TCU-UNT
• Hofstra
• Einstein
• Rosalind Franklin
• Temple
• UMiami Miller

My pre-med advisor expressed concern about my volunteering/clinical hours, so I'm planning to focus on that during my gap year. So, WAMC?

High MCAT and URM status will definitely help. I could be wrong, but I think I’ve read on here that “planned/estimated hours” don’t mean much since adcoms surmise that anything can happen and those projected hour numbers aren’t always hit. Those types of experiences are also supposed to serve as proof that you know and like what you’re getting into with medicine—as opposed to boxes to be checked off—so they’re much more beneficial to have completed by the time you apply. Stating the obvious here, I know.

I’m far from an expert, but you’re probably competitive for the schools you have listed. Applying after your first gap year once you’ve completed all that volunteering could boost you into the conversation for top-tier schools, if that’s something you’re interested in.

 

[Faha]

In addition to all your TMDSAS schools and TCU-UNT and Baylor I suggest these OOS schools:
Quinnipiac
Tufts
Einstein
New York Medical College
George Washington
Georgetown
Seton Hall
NOVA MD
Miami
Rosalind Franklin
Loyola
Creighton