What are my chances

[stark144]

3.93 GPA, 513 MCAT. Rejected from all 9 schools I applied to in 2016/17 cycle ( 2 interviews) because of weak ECs and PS. Ever since I graduated, I am working at a toxicology lab as a lab tech. I know that academically I am a very competitive candidate, but still worried because my only clinical experience is 150 hours of working at a clinic serving underrepresented population during my junior year, and 200-300 hours of hospital volunteering that I started in August 2017. I keep reading about people having clinical experiences as EMTs, scribes, PCAs and Nursing Assistants, and although I think my application improved a lot since I applied in 2016, I am now worried that Adcoms will dismiss my clinical experiences as minimal and insufficient.

Of course this time I am planning to apply broadly, but do you think I have chances to get an acceptance this time?

Thanks for your input

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[candbgirl]

Do you have shadowing( very different from direct patient contact)? What do you do at the hospital when you volunteer? Is it directly interacting with patients? What do you have in the way of nonclinical volunteering? By this I mean what have you done to be of service to the unserved or underserved in your community?
Where did you apply last time? Where do you live?
Have you spent time redoing your PS since you think that was part of your issue last time. Will you use your old letters? If you had two interviews last time and were rejected from both post interview I’d look at your interviewing skills too.

 

[stark144]

Do you have shadowing( very different from direct patient contact)? What do you do at the hospital when you volunteer? Is it directly interacting with patients? What do you have in the way of nonclinical volunteering? By this I mean what have you done to be of service to the unserved or underserved in your community?
Where did you apply last time? Where do you live?
Have you spent time redoing your PS since you think that was part of your issue last time. Will you use your old letters? If you had two interviews last time and were rejected from both post interview I’d look at your interviewing skills too.

I do have shadowing hours (~40 hours done at various stages of my UG education but planning to bring them up to 50+). I volunteer at the ED, so mainly just greeting patients, going around making sure if they need anything and restocking their rooms. I have around 150-200 nonclincal volunteering doing random volunteering ever since I started college and up until now. I live in Ohio, but I am drastically changing my PS and i don’t feel comfortable applying to the same schools I applied to, so I am looking for low teir schools outside Ohio. I am currently writing a new PS and will soon seek help from an old professor and former premed advisor. I am planning to get a new letter from the same science professor who will help me in writing my PS and also from my work supervisor (although I am still not sure about the later).



My bigesst weakness during both of the interviews I did last cycle was not my interviewing skills, but rather lack of meaningful ECs and general life experience to answer certain questions like leadership, diversity and strenght/weakness questions, so I think I can do far better since I got involved in more volunteering and I started my first full time job. I feel my application is much better than last time, but I am still worried about clinical experience because I know compared to someone who is an EMT or PCA, my clinical experience is worthless!

 

[Faha]

Where is your state of residence? Which schools did you apply to and where were you interviewed?

 

[stark144]

Where is your state of residence? Which schools did you apply to and where were you interviewed?

Ohio. I applied to all ohio schools except OU and few schools in the midwest (UofL, OUWB, IU and Drexel). I am planning to apply broadly next time, but mainly to low-tier schools that accept OOS students. In addition to what I mentioned, I also have 150-200 non-clinical volunteering, 1 year of tutoring, 8 months of research, I had an independet research project but no publication/presentation (600-700 hours) and 6 months of being a clincal research assistant (~150 hours) and around 40 hours shadowing.

EDIT: I interviewed at Cincinnati and OUWB. Rejected at UC but waitlisted at OUWB

 

[Faha]

I suggest these schools with your stats:
Toledo
NEOMED
Wright State
Cincinnati
Ohio State
Oakland Beaumont
Western Michigan
Vermont
Quinnipiac
New York Medical College
Hofstra
Drexel
Temple
Jefferson
Penn State
GW
Eastern Virginia
West Virginia
Rosalind Franklin
Medical College Wisconsin
Creighton
St. Louis
Tulane
NOVA MD
any new schools that open for 2019 (Seton Hall, Kaiser, Roseman)

 

[stark144]

I suggest these schools with your stats:
Toledo
NEOMED
Wright State
Cincinnati
Ohio State
Oakland Beaumont
Western Michigan
Vermont
Quinnipiac
New York Medical College
Hofstra
Drexel
Temple
Jefferson
Penn State
GW
Eastern Virginia
West Virginia
Rosalind Franklin
Medical College Wisconsin
Creighton
St. Louis
Tulane
NOVA MD
any new schools that open for 2019 (Seton Hall, Kaiser, Roseman)

thanks for your help!

 

[stark144]

@Goro what do you think my chances are? Again my stats are 3.93, 513. I am an Ohio resident, re-applicant but trying to avoid Ohio schools because my PS drastically changed.

1 year full time employment as a lab tech at a toxicology lab
Started a dodgeball team at my work and became the co-captain for it. ( 50 hours)
200-300 hours of hospital volunteering at ED
150 volunteering at clinic serving low-income population
150-200 non-clinical volunteering,
1 year of tutoring
8 months of research, I had an independet research project but no publication/presentation (600-700 hours)
6 months of being a clincal research assistant (~150 hours)
Around 40 hours shadowing including primary care shadowing.

What schools do you recommend applying to?

Thank you so much for your help.

 

[Goro]

@Goro what do you think my chances are? Again my stats are 3.93, 513. I am an Ohio resident, re-applicant but trying to avoid Ohio schools because my PS drastically changed.

1 year full time employment as a lab tech at a toxicology lab
Started a dodgeball team at my work and became the co-captain for it. ( 50 hours)
200-300 hours of hospital volunteering at ED
150 volunteering at clinic serving low-income population
150-200 non-clinical volunteering,
1 year of tutoring
8 months of research, I had an independet research project but no publication/presentation (600-700 hours)
6 months of being a clincal research assistant (~150 hours)
Around 40 hours shadowing including primary care shadowing.

What schools do you recommend applying to?

Thank you so much for your help.

I suggest:
UCF (maybe)
Duke (maybe)
U Cincy (maybe)
U VM
Pitt
Mayo
Miami
St. Louis
Albany
Albert Einstein
Rochester
Rush
Rosy Franklin
BU
MCW
Hofstra
NYMC
VCU
EVMS
Wake Forest
Jefferson
Temple
Drexel
Creighon
George Washington
Georgetown
Emory
USC/Keck
Tulane
Dartmouth
Loyola
Netter
Oakland-B
Your state school(s).
Uniformed Services University/Hebert (just be aware of the military service commitment)

Get in another 50-100 hours of non-clinical volunteering and you're platinum.

 

[stark144]

I suggest:
UCF (maybe)
Duke (maybe)
U Cincy (maybe)
U VM
Pitt
Mayo
Miami
St. Louis
Albany
Albert Einstein
Rochester
Rush
Rosy Franklin
BU
MCW
Hofstra
NYMC
VCU
EVMS
Wake Forest
Jefferson
Temple
Drexel
Creighon
George Washington
Georgetown
Emory
USC/Keck
Tulane
Dartmouth
Loyola
Netter
Oakland-B
Your state school(s).
Uniformed Services University/Hebert (just be aware of the military service commitment)

Get in another 50-100 hours of non-clinical volunteering and you're platinum.

Awesome! Thank you so much