WAMC / Current applicant, cGPA 3.6/sGPA 3.57/507 MCAT, DACA

[FPVRay]

1. cGPA and sGPA as calculated by AMCAS or AACOMAS: cGPA:3.63. sGPA: 3.57
2. MCAT score(s) and breakdown 126/125/128/128=507. Should I retake?
3. State of residence or country of citizenship (if non-US): PA. DACA. URM growing up.
4. Ethnicity and/or race: Asian- Indonesian.
5. Undergraduate institution or category: Private nothing special.
6. Clinical experience (volunteer and non-volunteer): Six years CRC in cancer research. One on one interaction with patients. Coordinating directly with clinicians and patients with visits, hospitalization, procedures, adverse events etc..
7. Research experience and productivity: Work in two wet labs (in vivo and in vitro) during undergrad. Combined 2,000 hrs for 2+ years. Four publication middle author.
8. Shadowing experience and specialties represented: 30 hours. Hem/Onc, medical oncology
9. Non-clinical volunteering: Homeless shelter- resources to the low SES population in their neighborhood. 200+hrs.
10. Other extracurricular activities (including athletics, military service, gap year activities, leadership, teaching, etc): Leadership- Lead research team in their studies.
11. Relevant honors or awards: Cum laude
12. Anything else not listed you think might be important:
    School list applied to this cycle. Have not hear back. Applied all schools near deadline. School list are DACA friendly with financial support and within range with MSAR.
    UC-Davis
    UC-Riverside
    Loyola
    MCW
    Tulane
    Rush
    Rugters
    Emory
    Howard
    Brown
    Tufts

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[chilly_md]

What has changed since you applied?Unfortunately, many of the limited schools available to you were not realistic. UCD and UCR take essentially no out-of-state students, Howard is an HBCU, Rutgers takes few OOS students, Emory and Brown have much higher median stats, and Rush expects several hundred hours in non-clinical volunteering.

Applicants with an Indonesian background are not generally seen as URM.

While you have experience helping at a homeless shelter, it is very little compared to your research. Loyola, MWC and other schools are service-oriented. Applying near the deadline limited your chances of getting an interview at the schools you were more competitive at. I suggest these:

Loyola
MCW
Tulane
Tufts

These are additional MD options to look into:

Quinnipiac
George Washington
Rosalind Franklin
Penn State
TCU
Vermont
West Virginia

Apply to all the DO schools that take DACA students. Some have high tuition FYI like AZCOM. These ones would be good to look into:

UNE
KCU
LECOM
WCU

 

[FPVRay]

Thanks for the Input chilly_MD. Do you think the MCAT and/or GPA is too low?

 

[chilly_md]

Thanks for the Input chilly_MD. Do you think the MCAT and/or GPA is too low?

The MCAT is on the lower end. It will not hold you back at the DO schools though. However, you should obtain 20 hours of primary care shadowing and get a letter of rec from a physician for the DO schools.

Hopefully your grades have a steady or upward trend.