What are my chances/school list

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Lilbird123

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MCAT score: 513 (129/130/126/128)
CGPA: 3.95
SGPA: 3.94
Volunteer/activities:
Hospice volunteer~30 hours (I'm still doing this so will accumulate more hours during this cycle)
Women's shelter~26 hours (I plan to go back in the fall and will accumulate more hours this cycle)
Carnival for special needs children~25 hours (planning/working at)
Research internship~320 hours with a poster presentation
Rotaract club for one year (active member and also represented the club at the college homecoming)
Premed club for one semester
Most outstanding organic chemistry student award at my university given by ACS div. Of organic chemistry
Scholars program for two years (scholarship )
Physician shadowing 34 hours
(I know my extracurriculars are a bit weak overall)
The hours I have are how it appears on my application but by the time I interview I will have more.
Okay so there are my stats and here are the schools I have applied to:
University of Oklahoma
University of Arkansas
St. Louis University
Northwestern ( I know this is quite the reach for me but they offered me a secondary app fee waiver since I am native American and I decided to go for it)

I would love some input on my chances at these schools as well as suggestions on other places to apply as well. And I was also wondering if I should send update letters to these schools since I am continuing my activities and will have more hours.
 
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Your EC's are very weak. What state are you from? And you mentioned you are native American...do you have a tribal card? Do you have any service to the community?
 
Toutie said:
Your EC's are very weak. What state are you from? And you mentioned you are native American...do you have a tribal card? Do you have any service to the community?
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I'm from Oklahoma and yes I have identification. I have not had any opportunities to volunteer for my tribe. I'm not trying to make an excuse, but I live in a very rural area and am unable to volunteer during the summer. I know I should have kept up the activities more, but I'm really hoping that I don't have to apply again next cycle. Does it help at all that I'm still doing two of these activities and will have more hours? I'm so mad at myself for not volunteering more during my early years of college.
 
Toutie said:
Your EC's are very weak. What state are you from? And you mentioned you are native American...do you have a tribal card? Do you have any service to the community?
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The scholars program I was in can also be considered an activity. We had meetings and banquets we attended regularly.
 
I also put down horseback riding as an activity (but I don't think that really helps or hurts my application)
 
Post should be moved to wamc.

Out of those schools, your best chance is at U of Oklahoma. If you really want to get in this year, you need to apply to more than five schools. I'd suggest all schools within your region and also schools that are looking for pple who are interested in practicing in a rural setting.

Also, I hope you're racking up a ton of volunteer hours this summer. Those will be crucial for ur success.
 
Dox4lyfe said:
Post should be moved to wamc.

Out of those schools, your best chance is at U of Oklahoma. If you really want to get in this year, you need to apply to more than five schools. I'd suggest all schools within your region and also schools that are looking for pple who are interested in practicing in a rural setting.

Also, I hope you're racking up a ton of volunteer hours this summer. Those will be crucial for ur success.
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OU is my top choice. I have also applied to OSUCOM and ARCOM. By the time I (hopefully) interview my hospice volunteering and women's shelter volunteering should be double the hours. I have been doing full time research this summer and haven't had much time to volunteer. I am also about to go home until class starts again and I don't know of anywhere to volunteer at there. I know that being a URM causes adcoms to be more forgiving with MCAT score and GPA, is it possible that they are more forgiving if you have weak ecs as well?
 
And I am not sure how much personal statements help, but I had a professor tell me that my personal statement was one of the best that he had ever read. I wrote it about an awesome shadowing experience I had and related it to the type of doctor I wanted to be in the future
 
Dox4lyfe said:
Thoughts? Are adcoms forgiving of ECs for URMs? @gyngyn
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The main reason for the UiM "boost" is the increased potential for service to that community.
If there is ample evidence of that commitment to service, the applicant becomes more valuable to society.
 
gyngyn said:
The main reason for the UiM "boost" is the increased potential for service to that community.
If there is ample evidence of that commitment to service, the applicant becomes more valuable to society.
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I do have plans to work at the native American hospital in my hometown. I have just had trouble finding volunteer positions which truly interest me, there aren't many opportunities where I am at. But the two activities that I am mainly doing at the moment (hospice and women's shelter) truly interest me and I really enjoy doing them. I know I can talk about these activities extensively in my interview. I hope that is enough, but I'm not so sure. I really don't want to have to apply next cycle.
 
Lilbird123 said:
I do have plans to work at the native American hospital in my hometown. I have just had trouble finding volunteer positions which truly interest me, there aren't many opportunities where I am at. But the two activities that I am mainly doing at the moment (hospice and women's shelter) truly interest me and I really enjoy doing them. I know I can talk about these activities extensively in my interview. I hope that is enough, but I'm not so sure. I really don't want to have to apply next cycle.
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Actions speak volumes.
 
gyngyn said:
Actions speak volumes.
Click to expand...
So it does not help at all that I am doing two volunteer activities that I am passionate about? The fact that I started them last winter and that isn't long enough is all that matters? I know my ecs are weak hours wise, but I really enjoy what I am doing and can talk about it in an interview (if I even get one). And I'm also continuing these activities throughout the cycle, that doesn't help me either?
 
Lilbird123 said:
So it does not help at all that I am doing two volunteer activities that I am passionate about? The fact that I started them last winter and that isn't long enough is all that matters? I know my ecs are weak hours wise, but I really enjoy what I am doing and can talk about it in an interview (if I even get one). And I'm also continuing these activities throughout the cycle, that doesn't help me either?
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Passion is for you. Service to a community in great need is what we are looking for.
There are so few applicants from your community that you are likely to get in, though.
 
gyngyn said:
Passion is for you. Service to a community in great need is what we are looking for.
There are so few applicants from your community that you are likely to get in, though.
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I would have done more hours in the summer if I could have, but my hometown is literally in the middle of no where and the hospital doesn't even have a volunteer program. I know I should have just got out there in my college town and volunteered instead of being so picky about it. I know my weak ecs don't exactly help my case, but I truly do want to help others and I am a very kind person. I plan on volunteering at the hospice and women's shelter until I leave my college town, even after I'm accepted (or not). Does my research and a great personal statement help my case?
 
Lilbird123 said:
I would have done more hours in the summer if I could have, but my hometown is literally in the middle of no where and the hospital doesn't even have a volunteer program. I know I should have just got out there in my college town and volunteered instead of being so picky about it. I know my weak ecs don't exactly help my case, but I truly do want to help others and I am a very kind person. I plan on volunteering at the hospice and women's shelter until I leave my college town, even after I'm accepted (or not). Does my research and a great personal statement help my case?
Click to expand...
As I said, you are likely to get in because of the extreme situation faced by the community you represent.
 
gyngyn said:
As I said, you are likely to get in because of the extreme situation faced by the community you represent.
Click to expand...
Thank you for your input. I really do plan on serving my community, but I know that talk is cheap.
 
Faha said:
Kansas accepted only 21 non residents 2 years ago but you could try it. For comparison U Arkansas only accepted 11 non residents.
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I just checked out Kansas website and they say one criteria for OOS acceptance is extensive community service. I might as well save my money and not waste my time there, seeing that my ecs are so weak.
 
I did find a medical school in Shreveport, LA that is fairly close to my town. It doesn't look like the best school; the average matriculant MCAT score is 29 and GPA of 3.7, but it's better than nothing if I were to be accepted there. Has anyone heard anything about this school?
 
Lilbird123 said:
I did find a medical school in Shreveport, LA that is fairly close to my town. It doesn't look like the best school; the average matriculant MCAT score is 29 and GPA of 3.7, but it's better than nothing if I were to be accepted there. Has anyone heard anything about this school?
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LSU does NOT like OOSers, I fear. They accepted only 1 from OOS last year!! And interviewed none! Someone must have deferred.
 
Goro said:
LSU does NOT like OOSers, I fear. They accepted only 1 from OOS last year!! And interviewed none! Someone must have deferred.
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Oh my, I wish I would have waited to add them until after I received this input. That's a very low acceptance rate.
 
gyngyn said:
It is low, but the first year class has 16 OOS (out of 2387)...
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I have already wasted $40 on my amcas. Would you all say it would be worth it or not for me to do the $50 secondary app?
 
gyngyn said:
I think you will get into your state school, but it's your call.
LSU is a fine school.
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Okay, I hope so. I guess I will decide later whether to do the secondary app or not for LSU. It depends on how much money I have after all these other secondaries I have to pay for.
 
Lilbird123 said:
I have just had trouble finding volunteer positions which truly interest me.
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Once one finds that truly helping others is a gift, finding a volunteering opportunity becomes self-fulfilling; it becomes part of you rather than a check box on a med school application.

(notice the blue color change @gyngyn ? 😀 )
 
Ad2b said:
Once one finds that truly helping others is a gift, finding a volunteering opportunity becomes self-fulfilling; it becomes part of you rather than a check box on a med school application.

(notice the blue color change @gyngyn ? 😀 )
Click to expand...
That's exactly what I mean. Most of the opportunities in my college town have been box checkers. Picking up trash raking leaves, working in a gift shop at a hospital, etc. I wanted to do something where I actually felt like I was helping people. That's when I found the hospice and women's shelter. I didn't even know that these opportunities were available; I happened to find them by chance. I wish I had found them much sooner. The problem has not been that I am unwilling to help others, it's that I wanted to help in a way that I saw as meaningful.
 
This is just my opinion....I'm sure that there are likely a lot of premeds who have the hundreds of hours of clinical volunteer experience that adcoms are looking for, and they spent these hours filing papers or something along those lines....You don't have to be a caring person to do a task like that. It's just box checking. I didn't want to do something like that, so I waited and looked for a better opportunity. I just don't understand why one of those people will be seen as more caring than me because I happen to have less hours at the moment. I have had to be screened by the hospice I volunteer for to make sure I was caring enough to volunteer for them. I also had to go through training. And I interact with dying patients regularly. What I am doing is something that a premed person with a jerk personality cannot do to check a box. They would never make it past the screening and interview. The things I'm doing are sincere and I am passionate about them. I've read that it doesn't matter how many hours you had if it's something that has been meaningful, but apparently this isn't true? Hundreds of hours are needed?
 
And I am not trying to get into an argument or anything like that. I truly want to understand.
 
To me, and it's just to me, having over 10,000 hours of volunteering (I've been doing it since I was about 10 and am now old enough to be your mother)...

volunteering is giving of yourself to another whether person, animal, "cause" (think climate change, water purification, beach cleaning). The act of taking your time to do something that has nothing to do with you, to me, indicates a sense of others >>>>> me.

My 10,000+ hours break down into:

1. meals on wheels - at 10 I delivered my first meal and essentially never stopped doing it; 2 hours, once a month
2. ARC (blood donor table, disaster specialist, check-in gal, coffee lady, bed pan cleaner in shelters, babysitter in shelters, food prep, house cleaner, debris picker upper, poop cleaner, trash hauler, furniture mover, deceased people tagging)
3. Animal transport overnighter (animals being rescued out of high-kill shelters in WV and OH were put on transport, and supposedly staying overNIGHT at my home in the guest house... but that more often than not, included weekends, weeks, months and in one case 6 months before the next leg of transport could occur; throughout this, I also got FedEx to lend a 737 to fly to WV to pick up the dogs from another country and land in the midwest...)
4. water well drilling in Peru as part of Rotary Club

5. Board of Directors for cleft palate surgery group (EDITED TO ADD: This came about because I was at an art party hosted by a photographer for Target ads; this woman came in, talking about how the kids in Peru didn't have shoes on their feet while walking for hours to catch a bus, then ride the bus for another 4 - 6 hours, just to be evaluated for surgery, only to repeat the process back to get home... all without shoes in the mountain passes of that country; I asked what I could do to help; she suggested a box in the local elementary school where people could donate gently used shoes... I turned that into a geo-political lesson for the older kids who would go teach the younger kids while asking for shoes and Beanie Babies... so... turns out... my guest house garage was full of 3' x 3' x 3' cases of shoes, BB's, and tooth brushes; they needed a large U-Haul to pick the stuff up; subsequently, I got asked to serve on the board to replicate that throughout the major metro area elementary schools)

6. horse rescue/rehab (cleaning stalls, horses, cleaning snot/poop/eye goobers, teeth / sheaths, putting cream in trac openings, cleaning gaping flesh wounds, mowing lawns, cleaning up trash, hauling bales of hay to far corners of facility, paperwork for intake, house checks, etc)
7. organizing an inner city, all day takeover of an elementary school and turning a full day focused on a topic (healthy nutrition)
8. ...
9. ...
10 ...
11 ...
12 ...

and none of that includes anything that I did as a sorority girl in a national service sorority or the other activities I did just "because someone needed help" ... like PS reading last cycle (over 100 personal statements read, edited, sorted, etc; probably spent at least, 70 hours just doing that over the span of 2 months)...

you get the picture... volunteering isn't something I cherry picked to maybe one day have enough info on a med school app to wow someone (I doubt I will anyway), it's just who I am... but in all those volunteering activities, I learned something about myself and others...

I learned that no matter how @#$ty my life might seem or how bad it can be (last year there were 3 days where I did not eat... there was no food in the house, no job on the horizon, consulting contracts had blown up - not my fault - just did)... I learned that no matter how hard my life can be or how badly I think I'm doing...

there are 1,000s of others who have it worse and do not have the ability to pull themselves out of the gaping @#$fest they are in.

I see people now who smell bad, with rotten teeth, probably have not bathed in days and possibly haven't eaten either, and instead of wondering WHY they don't do something to help themselves, I ask how I can serve them.

It happened today...

Maybe I'd have just been this way my whole life anyway but I think people who volunteer without being specific about what they will or won't do, what they deem worthy or unworthy, focus more on out, rather than in.

What you are doing with the women's shelter is noble - that's a hard situation whether man or woman - to be abused, abandoned, alone, afraid, unhealthy possibly with kids? Oy.

As an aside, there are schools who will not focus on the volunteering and be stat focused only. I don't know of any but there are plenty of fine folks on here to help guide you.
 
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Ad2b said:
To me, and it's just to me, having over 10,000 hours of volunteering (I've been doing it since I was about 10 and am now old enough to be your mother)...

volunteering is giving of yourself to another whether person, animal, "cause" (think climate change, water purification, beach cleaning). The act of taking your time to do something that has nothing to do with you, to me, indicates a sense of others >>>>> me.

My 10,000+ hours break down into:

1. meals on wheels - at 10 I delivered my first meal and essentially never stopped doing it; 2 hours, once a month
2. ARC (blood donor table, disaster specialist, check-in gal, coffee lady, bed pan cleaner in shelters, babysitter in shelters, food prep, house cleaner, debris picker upper, poop cleaner, trash hauler, furniture mover, deceased people tagging)
3. Animal transport overnighter (animals being rescued out of high-kill shelters in WV and OH were put on transport, and supposedly staying overNIGHT at my home in the guest house... but that more often than not, included weekends, weeks, months and in one case 6 months before the next leg of transport could occur; throughout this, I also got FedEx to lend a 737 to fly to WV to pick up the dogs from another country and land in the midwest...)
4. water well drilling in Peru as part of Rotary Club
5. Board of Directors for cleft palate surgery group
6. horse rescue/rehab (cleaning stalls, horses, cleaning snot/poop/eye goobers, teeth / sheaths, putting cream in trac openings, cleaning gaping flesh wounds, mowing lawns, cleaning up trash, hauling bales of hay to far corners of facility, paperwork for intake, house checks, etc)
7. organizing an inner city, all day takeover of an elementary school and turning a full day focused on a topic (healthy nutrition)
8. ...
9. ...
10 ...
11 ...
12 ...

and none of that includes anything that I did as a sorority girl in a national service sorority or the other activities I did just "because someone needed help" ... like PS reading last cycle (over 100 personal statements read, edited, sorted, etc; probably spent at least, 70 hours just doing that over the span of 2 months)...

you get the picture... volunteering isn't something I cherry picked to maybe one day have enough info on a med school app to wow someone (I doubt I will anyway), it's just who I am... but in all those volunteering activities, I learned something about myself and others...

I learned that no matter how @#$ty my life might seem or how bad it can be (last year there were 3 days where I did not eat... there was no food in the house, no job on the horizon, consulting contracts had blown up - not my fault - just did)... I learned that no matter how hard my life can be or how badly I think I'm doing...

there are 1,000s of others who have it worse and do not have the ability to pull themselves out of the gaping @#$fest they are in.

I see people now who smell bad, with rotten teeth, probably have not bathed in days and possibly haven't eaten either, and instead of wondering WHY they don't do something to help themselves, I ask how I can serve them.

It happened today...

Maybe I'd have just been this way my whole life anyway but I think people who volunteer without being specific about what they will or won't do, what they deem worthy or unworthy, focus more on out, rather than in.

What you are doing with the women's shelter is noble - that's a hard situation whether man or woman - to be abused, abandoned, alone, afraid, unhealthy possibly with kids? Oy.

As an aside, there are schools who will not focus on the volunteering and be stat focused only. I don't know of any but there are plenty of fine folks on here to help guide you.
Click to expand...
That is amazing! And I completely understand what you are saying. Now that I have had a taste of volunteering I do plan to make it something that I do regularly. It is really an enjoyable experience. It's not that I see myself as "too good" to do certain things. I have just tried to shy away from the typical premed things. Honestly most of the opportunities here are sorority philanthropies, which to me seem very insincere (a majority anyway). My college town is a small place and I have really had to look for opportunities. I did consider volunteering at the humane society but decided against it because I was afraid I would be bringing too many animals home ( I am a huge animal lover, my dog is like my child). I really respect the work you have done you must be an extraordinary person. I guess I have been too focused on my GPA and MCAT and should have been more focused on helping others. I know I should have tried harder to find opportunities in the past, but I'm trying now and I truly am happy with what im doing. I feel good about it like I am making a difference in my community. I now know that it is something I would enjoy whether I was trying to get into medical school or not.
 
Also I come from as rural of a community as one can get. I didn't grow up around volunteer work, and I didn't realize that there were so many ways that you could help until recently.
 
I actually chose the women's shelter because I have a personal connection to it. I have a psychology degree and we worked a lot with the women's shelter in the town where I went to CC. I am also a domestic violence survivor myself ( in high school), but I don't plan to tell the adcoms that because it is much too personal.
 
Lilbird123 said:
I have just tried to shy away from the typical premed things.
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I'm not extraordinary... trust me, but thank you

Be proud of your GPA and MCAT - you worked for it, you earned it. Continue to do what you're doing and you'll be fine. My hope is that you'll be able to volunteer back into your tribe. From personal experience in the midwest, I've seen how hard tribal life can be and how desperate they are for health care especially from someone who really understands the tribal customs and mores.
 
Ad2b said:
I'm not extraordinary... trust me, but thank you

Be proud of your GPA and MCAT - you worked for it, you earned it. Continue to do what you're doing and you'll be fine. My hope is that you'll be able to volunteer back into your tribe. From personal experience in the midwest, I've seen how hard tribal life can be and how desperate they are for health care especially from someone who really understands the tribal customs and mores.
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Yes, the hospital has a difficult time keeping physicians there long-term. No one wants to live in the middle of no where. I want to help fulfill that need that they have.
 
Lilbird123 said:
I am also a domestic violence survivor myself ( in high school), but I don't plan to tell the adcoms that because it is much too personal.
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I'm so sorry to hear that. Know that a personal statement is personal... it lets people know you're real...
 
Ad2b said:
I'm so sorry to hear that. Know that a personal statement is personal... it lets people know you're real...
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I just don't want to seem like I'm playing the sympathy card to gain acceptance. It now seems like such a long time ago. But that experience has made me very passionate about helping the survivors. Those women come in, I see the look on their faces, the fear and the shame, and I know exactly how they feel. Right now I do random things while I volunteer, but next fall I plan to get certifications which will allow me to help in more areas of the shelter.
 
Lilbird123 said:
I just don't want to seem like I'm playing the sympathy card to gain acceptance. It now seems like such a long time ago. But that experience has made me very passionate about helping the survivors. Those women come in, I see the look on their faces, the fear and the shame, and I know exactly how they feel. Right now I do random things while I volunteer, but next fall I plan to get certifications which will allow me to help in more areas of the shelter.
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My deceased son is included in my personal statement, albeit VERY briefly and only when I alluded to him, nothing more than that.

Using your experience can be woven into your PS to show why you have the passion to help these women (and quite possibly men) who have been abused. THAT shows empathy... you've walked in their shoes, lived their lives, understand at a level not many others can.

What I found with a few PS's is that the entire PS dwelled on a bad incident instead of talking about how that incident molded them into who they are today. THAT is trying to play the sympathy card, imo.

And think about it: the people who decide on interviews, decide on admissions are very smart... they see through all that and I'm 100% sure if they get the sense that someone's trying to role an incident into med school invitation, that app gets file 13'd.
 
Ad2b said:
My deceased son is included in my personal statement, albeit VERY briefly and only when I alluded to him, nothing more than that.

Using your experience can be woven into your PS to show why you have the passion to help these women (and quite possibly men) who have been abused. THAT shows empathy... you've walked in their shoes, lived their lives, understand at a level not many others can.

What I found with a few PS's is that the entire PS dwelled on a bad incident instead of talking about how that incident molded them into who they are today. THAT is trying to play the sympathy card, imo.

And think about it: the people who decide on interviews, decide on admissions are very smart... they see through all that and I'm 100% sure if they get the sense that someone's trying to role an incident into med school invitation, that app gets file 13'd.
Click to expand...
I am so sorry to hear about your son. I can't even imagine going through something like that. I will take your advice. My PS has already been submitted, but I may briefly mention it when discussing volunteering at the shelter. Just to give them a sense of why it is personal for me.
Best of luck to you! If anyone deserves an acceptance, its you!
 
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