Would Baylor bat an eye at me with these stats?

[Bishop Fortescue]

Hi!! So I’ve really been looking at Baylor for Med school because I have a vested interest in surgery and I really like the hospital system correlated with Baylor. I’m also a Texas resident. I’m totally fine with taking a gap year to retake my MCAT or a few of my math classes for a better score to bump my GPA. I just want to know if they’d even consider me

GPA: 3.7
MCAT: 511
Clinical Hours: 545 as of this summer. I work at a Surgeon’s clinic during the summer time
Shadowing: 40 hours of shadowing my boss with plans of getting some more from other surgeons (I want to shoot for 100-120 extra hours)
- CMA (used for work), EKG, Phlebotomy, and EMT-B certifications out of high school that I keep up with continually. I do have to take a refresher course for EMT because I accidentally let my cert expire. If possible, I’d like to get my AEMT this summer.
- 121 hours of non-medical volunteering at organisations in my local community
- No research (I’m not 100% certain if this is a knife to my app, but I found myself not enjoying it at all/didn’t feel enriched by the experience)
- No leadership positions (also unsure if this is a killer)

Relevant hobbies(?) I know texas schools really emphasise telling your story, and these can be pretty significant:

- Video game quantitative and qualitative analysis (I make statistical data sheets for damage calculations and analyse a lot of combat mechanics)

- Writing: I’ve been writing since high school and I’ve authored short stories spanning from 2000-30,000 words over my time in uni.

- Bouldering: 3xweek, 1 hour each over the years 3 i’ve been in uni at this time. I really enjoy solving problems and pushing my limits and that’s kind of the whole point of bouldering. Also let’s me help others navigate tough terrain when I travel

Sorry for the wall of text 😭I know I kind of just stuck my entire app on here. I have some other reach choices like Umich (top choice but that’s a GIANT reach), UTSW, UPSOM, UCSD. I also have some ballpark options like University of Tennessee, A&M, TTech lobbock, TCOM for DO. I do feel like my interest in surgery makes MD a much better fit for me, though. Is there anything I should do to further bolster my application?

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[Goro]

Can't sugar coat this, but no. You're below the 10th %iles for Baylor.

Texans who attend OOS med schools tend to be superstars. Those schools know from historic norms that Texans will stay in the Lone Star State for that nice cheap TX IS tuition.

You're fine for any DO school nationwide, and DO grads can get into surgery.

 

[wysdoc]

I don’t think you need to retake your MCAT or add anything to apply to your Texas schools.
Work on your writing to sound more sure of yourself, have someone proofread your stuff for grammar, and oh yeah, learn to spell Lubbock

 

[Bishop Fortescue]

I don’t think you need to retake your MCAT or add anything to apply to your Texas schools.
Work on your writing to sound more sure of yourself, have someone proofread your stuff for grammar, and oh yeah, learn to spell Lubbock

Thank you for the advice!! Sorry for the messiness, I’m just very nervous about all this. The writing is definitely more of a personal commitment, but I do have a small online community of writers where we proofread one another’s work!

 

[Bishop Fortescue]

Can't sugar coat this, but no. You're below the 10th %iles for Baylor.

Texans who attend OOS med schools tend to be superstars. Those schools know from historic norms that Texans will stay in the Lone Star State for that nice cheap TX IS tuition.

You're fine for any DO school nationwide, and DO grads can get into surgery.

I figured.. thank you for your advice and for being blunt! I want to be stubborn so I think I may consider taking a gap year solely to improve my MCAT and working experience (namely getting some more EMT hours in).

^ Obviously, this comes with more planning, so I’ll be sure to properly sort out my future activities before I get that ball rolling.

 

[Goro]

I figured.. thank you for your advice and for being blunt! I want to be stubborn so I think I may consider taking a gap year solely to improve my MCAT and working experience (namely getting some more EMT hours in).

^ Obviously, this comes with more planning, so I’ll be sure to properly sort out my future activities before I get that ball rolling.

Engaging in service to Hispanic populations will make you a catch for UTx-RGV

 

[Bishop Fortescue]

A lot of my patients are latino/hispanic, I speak spanish at an advanced level (my family is latino as well but I lost touch with it growing up). Although my mother is an immigrant, she does have a relationship with UTRGV because she went to PA school there, but I wanted to branch out. I forgot to put it on my original post but it was definitely one I was looking at!

 

[gyngyn]

513 is the 10th percentile at Baylor.
3.94 is the median gpa.

Statistically, it's seems quite unlikely, but you know you are going to apply there anyway.
Come back and tell us how it goes!

 

[Bishop Fortescue]

513 is the 10th percentile at Baylor.
3.94 is the median gpa.

Statistically, it's seems quite unlikely, but you know you are going to apply there anyway.
Come back and tell us how it goes!

Yup! I actually found out that my GPA is a 3.89, not a 3.7 (I just spoke with my advisor about my progress) I was kind of underselling myself there 🥲. I’m going to try and bolster more aspects of my application, and I still have another semester to bump my GPA. If I need to take a gap year to do research, work more, and/or retake the mcat, I’ll do it!

 

[Mr.Smile12]

That was not a wall of text.

Get connected with the TMDSAS/TxHES team. They do a fantastic job informing people about the application process. Set yourself up well for the process when you begin next cycle. Baylor isn't the only good medical school in Texas.

 

[Bishop Fortescue]

Thank you very much for that advice, I’ll look into it as soon as I can!! It’s definitely my most ambitious choice, and I (perhaps foolishly) want to better myself so that I can be worthy of the program. That being said, it isn’t my only choice! I’ve got a sizable list!

I spoke with my health professions advisor today (who has been very helpful throughout!) and I’m actually on track to graduate a semester earlier than I anticipated, so it gives me a bit more breathing room to strengthen my app. I might take that time to work in emergency medicine because the load of school prevented me from fully committing to that!