WAMC 515 MCAT 3.59 GPA

[Icecube99]

State/Country of Residence: OR. Of note, my parents live in PA and I'm very interested in living near them.
Ethnicity: White
Year in School: Graduated in 2021 from University of Oregon
Undergraduate Major(s)/Minor(s): Human Physiology. 1st year I was majoring in business administration.
Cumulative GPA (including 21 DIY post bacc credits): 3.59
Cumulative AMCAS sGPA: 3.51
Cumulative AACOMAS sGPA: 3.52
Cumulative Undergraduate GPA: 3.56
Cumulative Undergraduate AMCAS sGPA: 3.48
Cumulative Undergraduate AACOMAS sGPA: 3.49
MCAT Score(s): 515 (127/127/129/132) 1/26/2024. One attempt.
Clinical Experience (Paid or Volunteer): 3000 hours as an orthopedic medical assistant. 1000 hours as a dermatology medical assistant. 1000 hours as a scribe within the dermatology clinic. All paid at OHSU.
Physician Shadowing: 8 hours in the OR with an orthopedic surgeon. Planning on shadowing a primary care/family med physician and a DO.
Non-Clinical Volunteering: 50 hours as a math tutor and 100 hours as a mentor for underserved populations. 100 hours working in a non profit clinic as a medical records keeper for underserved populations. Plan on getting experience in a food bank.
Research experience: Very minimal. The only experience I have is lab class assignments (Making our own research projects and presenting findings to class is the farthest that has gone) and assistance with data collection within my job as an MA. In total I'd say 100 hours max.
Publications/abstracts/posters: None.
Other Extracurricular Activities: Just hobbies like playing guitar and lifting weights. I've taken close to three gap years now which have been filled with getting my EMT certification, completing prerequisites, building volunteering experience, and working as an MA.
Other Employment History: Over 2,000 Doordash deliveries, Safeway Deli Clerk, Warehouse Clerk.
Relevant Awards: None
Immediate family members in medicine? Yes, brother is a first year in a DO school.
Interest in Rural Health? Indifferent.
Specialty of interest: PM&R, Psych, Neurology, Primary Care.
MD schools that I'm applying to:
Tulane
Eastern Virginia
OHSU
Drexel
Geisinger
Penn State
Albany
NYMC
University of Maryland
University of Cincinnati
Toledo
Northeast Ohio
Central Michigan
University of Michigan
Oakland University
Wayne State
Stryker
Carle Illinois
Chicago Med
Quinnipiac
George Washington
Georgetown
Temple
Loyola
Medical College of Wisconsin
Nova SE University
University of Vermont
Rush
Rutgers
University of Illinois
Virginia Tech
Virginia Commonwealth
DO schools that I'm applying to:
VCOM Virginia
LUCOM
PCOM
WesternUCOMP
Touro Cali

Hello! I'm trying to put together a school list including both MD and DO schools. I'm okay with going anywhere for medical school (preferably near my friends in Oregon or parents in Pennsylvania) so please let me know if there are any MD schools that are not on my list that I may have a good chance of matriculating to. As far as DO schools go, I'm game for any in OR, PA, VA, OH and NY. I understand that my application is lacking in some areas (research!) so if there are any schools on my current list that I have a low chance at, please let me know. With my stats and overall application, should I go more DO heavy?
I plan on applying during this 24/25 cycle and I'd like to build my application as best as I possibly can. I'm also looking for tips on how to spend my time during/leading up to applications and I've been considering the following:
-- Building research experience (Likely through volunteering at the hospital I work at)
-- More shadowing (PCP and DO)
-- More volunteer work
-- Saying screw it and joining a band as a guitarist (now that I'll finally have the time!) and just focus on secondaries as they come in. I'm not sure if my application is good enough to do this yet though.
Any help would be much appreciated, thank you!

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[Faha]

You can assign 50 hours of your dermatology scribing to shadowing. Accumulate more non clinical volunteering hours before you apply. Remove Rush, Loyola and Georgetown since they expect far more non clinical volunteering hours than you have. Remove Geisinger, Toledo, Northeast Ohio, Central Michigan, Rutgers, Virginia Tech since they admit few applicants with your GPA and no connection to the state or region. Carle Illinois is looking for applicants with an engineering background. You could add these schools:
Belmont
TCU
Creighton
Jefferson
Hackensack
Wake forest
Alice Walton (when it opens)
Roseman (when it opens)

 

[Mr.Smile12]

You have lots of planned hours which won't help you in the process. It's really hard to build and fly a plane at the same time.

Are you planning to move back to Pennsylvania so you can gain credibility as a PA resident? If not, what part of Pennsylvania did you grow up, and did you graduate from high school there?

 

[AJS59]

You should really focus on the food bank volunteering; the non-clinical volunteering is your weakest link rn.

What exactly did you do as a "mentor?"

 

[Icecube99]

You have lots of planned hours which won't help you in the process. It's really hard to build and fly a plane at the same time.

Are you planning to move back to Pennsylvania so you can gain credibility as a PA resident? If not, what part of Pennsylvania did you grow up, and did you graduate from high school there?

I actually grew up in Oregon. My parents and the rest of my family moved to PA about three years ago and will stay there for the foreseeable future. I don't plan on moving out of Oregon unless I'm accepted to an out of state school. However, being near family is important to me so I plan on living there later in life.

Given the amount of effort that goes into applications, do you think it would be a bad idea to add in ~4 hours of volunteer work a week? My current work load is full time work, 11 credits of classes (ochem and bchem) and just 2 hours of volunteering. This is my first cycle so I'm not too sure of how much time I'll need to put into applications if I apply to ~30 schools.

 

[AJS59]

I actually grew up in Oregon. My parents and the rest of my family moved to PA about three years ago and will stay there for the foreseeable future. I don't plan on moving out of Oregon unless I'm accepted to an out of state school. However, being near family is important to me so I plan on living there later in life.

Given the amount of effort that goes into applications, do you think it would be a bad idea to add in ~4 hours of volunteer work a week? My current work load is full time work, 11 credits of classes (ochem and bchem) and just 2 hours of volunteering. This is my first cycle so I'm not too sure of how much time I'll need to put into applications if I apply to ~30 schools.

Clinical or non-clinical? Your clinical hours are great so I'd focus on non-clinical.

 

[Icecube99]

You should really focus on the food bank volunteering; the non-clinical volunteering is your weakest link rn.

What exactly did you do as a "mentor?"

I worked with two high-school students and helped them apply to summer college programs, build hard/soft skills for college and provided support in school (whether that was helping with homework or building better lifestyle habits to manage a busy schedule)

 

[Icecube99]

Clinical or non-clinical? Your clinical hours are great so I'd focus on non-clinical.

Oh sorry about that, more non-clinical hours. The homeless problem in Portland is pretty bad so I'd like to help there

 

[MD_Maker]

Hm, yes I think a healthy mix of MD and DO for you makes sense. I would do 20-25 MD and 5-10 DO. Overall you actually have a pretty good list, though it's ok to have a couple reaches. I liked the Michigan schools you listed, not sure you'll get much luck at Rush, Albany, NYMC. You could swap out Rush for RFU, I feel your paid work could paint a picture that RFU might like. I feel iffy about Gtown since you have to REALLY demonstrate a love for Gtown.