WAMC + School List Help + PREView/CASPER? / CA 525 MCAT + 3.86cGPA

[sagwa31]

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Hi all,

I’m new around here so apologies in advance for the wall of text.

CA resident, privileged Asian male with physician family members.
T15 national public school undergrad, located in CA. Major: Cell Biology. Graduated 2024.
cGPA: 3.86, sGPA: 3.79, upwards trend.
MCAT: 525 (132/130/132/131, tested 2026)
Clinical Experience: ~500 hrs at a family owned primary care clinic in Southern CA. Spread out over several years. Direct pt contact, unpaid.
Research Experience: 700 hrs undergraduate research position. 1 publication under review.
Shadowing Experience: 50 hrs at a VA hospital in the SF Bay Area. Primary care.
Volunteering: 130 hours at the emergency department of a major hospital in the SF Bay Area. Some pt contact but likely not considered clinical.
LOR: 1 from sci prof who I TA’d for. 1 from lab PI. 1 from MD who supervised my clinical hours. I believe they will all be strong letters.

I hate to admit it, but I only recently found out about PREview. There are a few schools I am interested in (UCLA, UCD, Kaiser, UUtah) that require it. If I sign up today, I could take the test in early June – would this be too late? If I score poorly, will it affect my application to schools that recommend but don’t require it? I could probably live without applying to those schools.

Below are some schools I find appealing. This list is not refined; I am concerned about applying too top heavy. I would love to stay in CA, but am very open to OOS. I am unfamiliar with which schools are OOS friendly. Also, I only took 1 course of Ochem lab in undergrad (I believe it adds up to 7 credit hours). This may disqualify me from some schools.

All UCs
USC
Stanford
Loma Linda
U of Washington
UNM
UUtah
Kaiser
Tulane
NYU
Sinai
Cornell
Columbia
Tufts

Thank you for all your help!

 

[Faha]

Some schools screen at 150 hours for non clinical volunteering so you should accumulate another 20+ hours before you submit your application. U Washington, Utah and New Mexico admit very few non residents with no connection to the state. I suggest these schools with your stats:
The UCs (except Riverside unless you are from that region)
USC Keck
Stanford
Kaiser
Loma Linda (if you fit their mission)
Washington University (in St. Louis-almost a guaranteed interview with your stats)
Vanderbilt
USF Morsani
Emory
Duke
U Virginia
Johns Hopkins
U Penn
Pittsburgh
Jefferson
Hofstra
Einstein
Mount Sinai
NYU
Columbia
Cornell
New York Medical College
Rochester
Vermont
Tufts
Dartmouth
Brown
Harvard
Yale
Case Western
Cincinnati
U Michigan
Northwestern

 

[Mr.Smile12]

If you are trying to apply to brand name schools, you should have 250 hours of service orientation activities when you apply. Food distribution, shelter volunteer, job and tax preparation, legal support, transportation services, or housing rehabilitation.

Our surveys suggest there is very little impact that Casper or PREview has when it comes to a final decision, but we cannot comment on individual cases where a poor SJT result could be used against you at any time. Suffice to say, just like in all standardized exams, do your best. PREview isn't that difficult if you know what behavioral expectations in an academic setting you should have as a medical student. We have written a lot about it, and while many are tempted to buy practice tests or other resources, many people do well without spending money on it like you would for the MCAT.