MD WAMC/What MCAT score do I need if shooting for T15?

[adeterminedmonkey]

cGPA: High 3.9s
sGPA: High 3.9s
MCAT: taking shortly
Clinical experience (since start of undergrad, since I assume high school stuff doesn't matter): >50 hrs clinical research, ~50 hrs clinical volunteering, ~100 hrs shadowing.
Other volunteer experience: President of major student organization in undergrad, youth theater instructor in undergrad, member of student government in grad school focused on diversity and disability issues, founder and leader of student organization focused on increasing and showcasing diversity at my university (also grad school).
Non-clinical research experience: three summers full time and two school-years part time in undergrad, plus a STEM PhD at a school that's top 5 for practically everything
Others stuff: Mentored two undergrads in research, along with probably a third this coming summer, served as a recruiter for my grad school at conferences for minority undergrads, tutor and TA for introductory physics for 1 school-year, triple major in STEM in undergrad, URM, published author (not self-published), black belt, strong LORs.

Basically, I'm hoping to pursue academic medicine, and I'm under the (perhaps mistaken) impression that your best bet for that is to attend a top school. I take the MCAT soon, and I'm trying to figure out how much pressure I'm under in terms of performance come test day. I didn't have much time to prepare, since I'm still working on the PhD, but I was getting 520+ on my AAMC practice tests. Do I need to replicate that on exam day to have any chance, or is it alright if test anxiety causes a bit of a drop? I'm sorry if this comes across as at all arrogant, and I sincerely assure you that isn't my intent. I'm just genuinely going into this pretty blind, as no one in my family has any knowledge of medicine and most of my mentors are primarily scientists, and don't know how much the rest of what I've done will matter compared to this blasted test.

Edit: Apparently I was unclear. Apologies for that. I'm not looking for a critique of what I need to do, as I'm not remotely concerned about any non-MCAT aspect of my background. I'm applying as a researcher moving into medicine, not as a traditional pre-med. I was asking specifically about the MCAT. 🙂

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[Detective SnowBucket]

Your GPA's are fine for this range but you'll also want at least 517-519 MCAT. Only thing that may hold you back is you are pretty short on volunteering, clinical especially. SDN rule of thumb is 150 hrs clinical and 150 non-clinical for run-o'-the-mill state school. What T15 eligibility would entail, I can only guess. For more accurate numbers on GPA/MCAT, compile a spreadsheet off MSAR's data.

 

[candbgirl]

Nice GPAs. If you aren’t ready to take the MCAT don’t take it. You only want to take it once. Your volunteering is sorely lacking. You have enough shadowing but your clinical experience is very low and I’m not even sure you have nonclinical volunteering. It sounds like most of your stuff is campus based. You need to get off campus, get out of your comfort zone and focus on the unserved/underserved in your community.
You shared that you are URM. What group do you represent? Do you have a history of service to this group?
Always remember applyI guess to med school is unpredictable and somewhat of a crapshoot. It’s not smart to focus on one school or a particular group of schools. Develop a thoughtful list focusing on your goals, stats and interests. And it isn’t necessary to attend a T15/school to head to academic medicine. I know tons of docs at top schools who attended a wide range (tiers) of med schools.

 

[adeterminedmonkey]

Nice GPAs. If you aren’t ready to take the MCAT don’t take it. You only want to take it once. Your volunteering is sorely lacking. You have enough shadowing but your clinical experience is very low and I’m not even sure you have nonclinical volunteering. It sounds like most of your stuff is campus based. You need to get off campus, get out of your comfort zone and focus on the unserved/underserved in your community.
You shared that you are URM. What group do you represent? Do you have a history of service to this group?
Always remember applyI guess to med school is unpredictable and somewhat of a crapshoot. It’s not smart to focus on one school or a particular group of schools. Develop a thoughtful list focusing on your goals, stats and interests. And it isn’t necessary to attend a T15/school to head to academic medicine. I know tons of docs at top schools who attended a wide range (tiers) of med schools.

I'm as ready as I'm likely ever going to be for the MCAT, as I don't have the luxury of taking any significant additional time off (after those three weeks of vacation) to study, and likely never will. While I respect your perspective, I disagree with the assessment of my volunteering. I've spent hundreds of hours focused on improving conditions for the underserved in my community This community just happens to be on campus. I plan to work in academia, so my focus is on improving opportunities in the sphere to which I have the most access. My aim is not to tick off the boxes for what a pre-med is traditionally "supposed" to look like, but to pursue the issues about which I am passionate. Primary among those issues is increasing opportunity and a sense of belonging for underrepresented students in academia, which is why most of my volunteer experience centers on that. My father experienced massive roadblocks in his pursuit of an education on account of his race, and I am dedicated to preventing that from happening to anyone else, to whatever extent I can help.

 

[Goro]

cGPA: High 3.9s
sGPA: High 3.9s
MCAT: taking shortly
Clinical experience (since start of undergrad, since I assume high school stuff doesn't matter): >50 hrs clinical research, ~50 hrs clinical volunteering, ~100 hrs shadowing.
Other volunteer experience: President of major student organization in undergrad, youth theater instructor in undergrad, member of student government in grad school focused on diversity and disability issues, founder and leader of student organization focused on increasing and showcasing diversity at my university (also grad school).
Non-clinical research experience: three summers full time and two school-years part time in undergrad, plus a STEM PhD at a school that's top 5 for practically everything
Others stuff: Mentored two undergrads in research, along with probably a third this coming summer, served as a recruiter for my grad school at conferences for minority undergrads, tutor and TA for introductory physics for 1 school-year, triple major in STEM in undergrad, URM, published author (not self-published), black belt, strong LORs.

Basically, I'm hoping to pursue academic medicine, and I'm under the (perhaps mistaken) impression that your best bet for that is to attend a top school. I take the MCAT soon, and I'm trying to figure out how much pressure I'm under in terms of performance come test day. I didn't have much time to prepare, since I'm still working on the PhD, but I was getting 520+ on my AAMC practice tests. Do I need to replicate that on exam day to have any chance, or is it alright if test anxiety causes a bit of a drop? I'm sorry if this comes across as at all arrogant, and I sincerely assure you that isn't my intent. I'm just genuinely going into this pretty blind, as no one in my family has any knowledge of medicine and most of my mentors are primarily scientists, and don't know how much the rest of what I've done will matter compared to this blasted test.

Edit: Apparently I was unclear. Apologies for that. I'm not looking for a critique of what I need to do, as I'm not remotely concerned about any non-MCAT aspect of my background. I'm applying as a researcher moving into medicine, not as a traditional pre-med. I was asking specifically about the MCAT. 🙂

Well, consider there are some 20+ schools in that criterion, let's say 514+.

What ethnicity?

 

[LeaveNoTrace]

OP's clinical experience appears paltry; best to double or better yet triple it, especially if aiming for a top-15 school.

 

[EdgeTrimmer]

since you are getting 520+ consistently relax and don't worry too much about it. GL!