Medical Where should I improve for re-application?

[GoSpursGo]

I am a non-trad applicant from the WWAMI region would like to reapply this coming cycle. I applied only to 2 local MD schools which heavily favor applicants from my state, however would be expanding to other DO and MD schools next cycle.

I am making the switch after having worked in finance in NYC and tech in Idaho, my uncle is in medicine and after consulting with him decided to pursue medicine as a result of wanting more meaningful work.

cGPA: 3.4, sGPA: 3.2 (Upward trend w/ 20 credits of post-bacc courses @ 3.91/4.00 )
MCAT: 506
Shadowing: 600 hours across multiple specialties over 3 years
Volunteering: 1000 hours over 3 years, focused on a biotech start up company, and local community volunteering projects
Leadership: 6 positions over 3 years
Research: 1 1st Author clinical publication, 1st author poster presented at conference, 1 3rd author publication
Clinical: 40 hrs of hospice volunteering
LORs from 4 physicians,1 coach, 1 professor

I know my MCAT is low for MD programs, despite the post-bacc GPA my grades aren't helping me either. My focus right now is getting my clinical hours up, what other areas could be improved to make me more competitive for next cycle?

I mean, you hit the nail on the head. In addition to the fact that you should expand your application to include DO programs, your clinical hours are very low. That's where you need to focus over the upcoming 6 months.

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[TheBoneDoctah]

You know exactly what you need. You need to work on your clinical hours. Get those up to at least 200ish hours. Your stats make you competitive for DO schools. On reapplication, I would advise applying to DO schools mainly and throw in the state schools you were talking about.

 

[AlteredScale]

Agree with @TheBoneDoctah you should get your clinical numbers up. Also try and shadow a DO that does OMM since that’s unique to the “DO experience” amongst other things.