[Updated] Need Help Making A School List and Improving My App

[ShidaM]

Update: I replied below with updated hours and a new roadblock concerning my letters of rec. Any guidance is greatly appreciated!

Hi all, I was looking for help making a school list for when I apply in May. I am also wondering what parts of my app are weak and need some more work in the months until then. I am going to project my work and volunteer hours to what I believe I will have by next May.

Florida Resident. URM.

Undergrad: University of South Florida. I studied Biomedical Sciences (fancy for premed) and graduated from the honors college there.
GPA: 3.88 sGPA: 3.77

MCAT:
512
131/128/126/127

Scribe Hours:
Projected 870
I am not sure if I'd like to keep scribing until May. I may look for another clinical job, I'd appreciate suggestions

Volunteering:
In hospital volunteering: about 40 hours in a radiation therapy setting. It's not a lot but COVID and finishing school early meant I had to move back home where student volunteering in hospitals is rarer.
Food Shelter: Projected 100 hours. If this is too low I can find time to get more.

I have done a virtual internship with a physician who serves Haitian immigrant communities in the DR. Would've flown out there but... covid.

I don't have any lab research hours, but as part of the honors curriculum I did investigative research on refugee healthcare in different countries and presented a poster on that.

Other Extracurriculars:
Chess Club
Japanese Language Club
Frisbee, Soccer, Table Tennis


I'm really feeling like I'm behind in this process. I feel like I want to retake my MCAT since I was feeling unwell the first time, and go find other volunteer gigs like interpreting but I also need to be cautious of wearing myself out. I really just complied this list based off the stats on MSAR, so I'm not sure if these are realistic for me. In your opinion, what schools makes sense for me to apply to and what are some things I should do to increase the number of schools I have a shot at?

What I'm currently considering:
All Florida MD
University of Vermont
Rutgers
SUNYs
UC Davis
Albany
Drexel
Albert Einstein
Temple
Thomas Jefferson
Penn State


Any and all help is appreciated, thanks in advance!

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[Mr.Smile12]

Thanks. You may be a touch low for community service with your food pantry work, so keep going. What else do you do with noon clinical volunteering or community service?

Any recruitment events? Have you attended any LMSA or similar meetings? Talked with student officers of these organizations at the schools on your list?

 

[ShidaM]

Thanks. You may be a touch low for community service with your food pantry work, so keep going. What else do you do with noon clinical volunteering or community service?

Any recruitment events? Have you attended any LMSA or similar meetings? Talked with student officers of these organizations at the schools on your list?

Thanks for your response. I'm not currently doing anything else for volunteer work, I've not been feeling well. But I am looking for a gig interpreting or something similar. What do you think a good number of hours is to set as a goal?

I've never heard of LMSA nor been to any recruitment events. I start work soon so I will wait until after to look into them but, what benefit do these organizations offer? I don't live at my undergrad anymore so my options to attend academic things may be limited.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Minimum expectations 100-150 hours depending on the school. Some schools want hundreds as a minimum of they are more service oriented in their mission.

Community and networking are going to be part of your future professional career. It's always useful to talk to people who are where you want to be. Find LMSA and NHMA online. Recruitment events are also held virtually (virtual fairs,open houses).

When will your letters be ready?

 

[Faha]

You do not need to retake the MCAT but you do need more non clinical volunteering hours. The SUNYs, Rutgers and UC Davis admit few non residents with no connection to the state (UC Davis admitted only 1 non resident in a recent year).I suggest these schools with your stats:
All Florida MD schools
Wake Forest
Virginia Commonwealth
Eastern Virginia
George Washington
Penn State
Drexel
Temple
Jefferson
Hackensack
New York Medical College
Einstein
Albany
Vermont
Quinnipiac
Oakland Beaumont
Medical College Wisconsin
TCU-UNT
Tulane

 

[ShidaM]

You do not need to retake the MCAT but you do need more non clinical volunteering hours. The SUNYs, Rutgers and UC Davis admit few non residents with no connection to the state (UC Davis admitted only 1 non resident in a recent year).I suggest these schools with your stats:
All Florida MD schools
Wake Forest
Virginia Commonwealth
Eastern Virginia
George Washington
Penn State
Drexel
Temple
Jefferson
Hackensack
New York Medical College
Einstein
Albany
Vermont
Quinnipiac
Oakland Beaumont
Medical College Wisconsin
TCU-UNT
Tulane

Thank you for the reply. Would you mind giving me an estimate for how many non clinical hours I should shoot for? I have a decent amount of free time in my schedule and I’d like to put it to good use.

 

[Faha]

Thank you for the reply. Would you mind giving me an estimate for how many non clinical hours I should shoot for? I have a decent amount of free time in my schedule and I’d like to put it to good use.

Another 200 hours would be adequate.

 

[ShidaM]

Update:

I made a post regarding an issue that I have with my letters of recommendation and was advised to update my WAMC post with new hours to get advice for my situation.

I ended up leaving my scribing job a few months earlier than I'd anticipated. I ended up with 400 hours here, about half what I was aiming to have by May/June.

I am working in clinical research in a non-patient-facing role. The scribe experience was good, but my financial situation required that I find something that pays more than minimum wage.

I am only around 100 hours with my food shelter volunteering. Around the new year, I took a break from all ECs and stuff as I was trying to figure out if I even wanted to apply to medical school. I've decided that I am still interested in applying, but need to work on my mental health and on myself as a person before starting something as demanding as medical school. I think another year to improve my hours will make me more competitive, and also give me ample time to decide if this is the path I truly want to go down.

I'm also in a situation where I only have 2 letters of rec, one each from a science and non-science professor. Most of my other professors have not responded to my emails asking about a letter. In theory, I could drive 4 hours to my university and ask my professors in person, but I'd have to take time off work and even then I have no way of knowing when these professors are teaching, what day they have office hours, etc. It seems like a hassle just to get a letter from someone who doesn't know me all that well.

The only other idea I have is to take classes at my local CC or to do a post-bac somewhere and make good relationships/get good letters from these new professors. However, I'm not sure if it's worth the money and risk to my GPA to do this for some good letters.

Writing this all out, I realize what a mess my situation and I are. But I'm really at a loss as to what to do here. None of the options I have in mind seem appealing but I guess this is the wake-up call I needed. I've spent the better part of the last decade depressed and didn't really apply myself to anything besides getting good grades.

I know no one can decide my plan for me, but I'm really lost here. Any help is appreciated.

 

[chilly_md]

Take a science class or two (that you haven’t done before) at a CC during the summer and make a strong effort to get to know the professor at office hours. The smaller class size should help. There could be online reviews that at least suggest how approachable and outgoing the professor is.

I do not know your particular course offerings, but try for something like microbio, genetics, or anatomy as opposed to an intro class. That should counter any concerns that you were just re-doing material you had learned over the course of a bachelors.

 

[ShidaM]

Take a science class or two (that you haven’t done before) at a CC during the summer and make a strong effort to get to know the professor at office hours. The smaller class size should help. There could be online reviews that at least suggest how approachable and outgoing the professor is.

I do not know your particular course offerings, but try for something like microbio, genetics, or anatomy as opposed to an intro class. That should counter any concerns that you were just re-doing material you had learned over the course of a bachelors.

Yeah this seems like the most reasonable idea. Thanks for your input