<p>I'm a CA resident and I applied to 57 MD schools and 10 DOs (don't want to go DO).
I graduated from a UC after having to commute between 5 community colleges and having to pursue a major in math just to transfer (I have As from in each math class from calc 1 to differential equations). At a UC I took 4 years of sci. classes in a over little 2 years.</p>
<p>3.64 cGPA, 3.73 scigpa
mcats:
January 2014: 9/11/9 (29)
retake:
March 2014: 10/7/11 (28)
I thought by strengthening my sciences I could get around a 33, but I messed up in the verbal because I got overwhelmed by one really confusing passage and thus had to answer a total of 15 questions in the last 10 minutes :(.</p>
<p>Ethnicity: caucasian</p>
<p>I’m SES E01 disadvantaged (1st in my family to graduate from college) because neither of my parents could afford to go to college and I grew up in a medically underserved area. I went to a failing unsafe high school which I didn’t graduate from and took the equivalent of a GED and ended up in the community college system commuting between five different community colleges because of how impacted courses were.</p>
<p>These are my ECs since 2008:
Medical volunteering:
Medical scribe, volunteering, and computer tech for a Gastroenterologist. Also observed EGDs/Colonoscopies (5 months) - 300+ hours
3 years of volunteering and scribing for a Pediatrician: comforting and supporting children. I also have a really strong recommendation letter from him. - over 1200 hours.
Volunteer and shadowing a cardiologist : Observed open-heart surgeries, ekgs, helped with charts, took patients pulses– 67 hrs
Shadowed/Volunteered under a Radiologist and radiologist tech at a nearby hospital. I bring patients from ER to radiology and back, give directions, calm down patients who have anxiety including one who had panic attacks and observe ultrasounds and some other radiology. – 18 hours
Volunteering and shadowing one of the top 100 cosmetic dentists in America – I helped patients, took notes for her, did front desk work, observed oral surgery, and conscious sedation. I wasn’t interested in dental school at all but observed this because it was something fun I wanted to explore and she also wrote me a strong recommendation letter. – over 300 hours</p>
<p>Comm. service/leadership:
Beach cleanup: I led 8-12 students to clean up beaches and creeks across California for 12 hours a day on weekends over a period of several years. 230 hours
Mentored, raised money for and help create a program for 12 expelled students who had terrible home lives and were given a last chance at their education: These children were exposed to murder, gang violence, domestic abuse. I raised money to fix up their school, mentored and tutored them daily, helped structure their curriculum, brought in teachers and lectures, and also arranged a field trip to a nearby University for them where they could see the power higher education holds and in a year each of them was able to go back to a regular high school with knowledge of the power of education and friend to change their circumstances - 500+ hours
Marched with leukemia survivors and gave talks at schools: My grandfather had leukemia and to see the fear he and my family went through with blood and platlet transfusion availability for 4 years until he died touched my soul. I gave talks at schools about platelet and blood transfusions and with leukemia +cancer survivors I marched to raise awareness. – 82 hours
Helped military in ceremonies and gave speeches to commemorate fallen heroes at their graves who had no family with them. – 23 hours
Toys for children: Helped in a toy drive around Christmas to raise toys for those children never experienced Christmas. I contacted over a thousand people and raised over 2300 toys to help out. – 58 hrs
Tutor: Tutored in premed course advanced math, Arabic and Farsi. I provided other students emotional support because I struggled academically before college and I knew what it was like to both fail and succeed. – 100+ hrs</p>
<p>Jobs:
Cashier in retail store: I worked a part-time job during my time in school to help support my family when my aunt whose husband and children lived them with me died from a combination of kidney failure and liver cancer. During this time I took a reduced unit load. – 70 hours (conservatively)
Bartender, caterer, and cashier at a winery – I catered and was a bartender for Saturday and Sunday events at a winery. I helped organize special parties, wine tasting, and what bands played – over 200 hrs</p>
<p>Research:
Global health: Programmed the organization’s website, and updated social media to involve the community. Edited grant proposals (no names on anything). Helped research and provide information for such causes such as bringing solar panels to India, improving food quality in Africa, and helping facilitate programs to encourage women to pursue careers in science which they are underrepresented in. over 1000 hours
NY watersupply: Researched one of the watersheds in new york to see if NY’s government really adopted renewable techniques, monitoring wildlife diversity, land acquisition, and other sustainable techniques to keep watersupply above EPA guidelines instead of building a filtration. Wrote multiple reports and was going to be published but that fell through due to department drama and because I had a lot of other stuff on my plate. 147 hours
Plant bio.: Helped test relationship between parasitic fungi and plant host. Analyzed data, made slides. 50 hrs</p>
<p>Awards:
Chancellor’s recognition award: At my graduation I was awarded with the chancellor recognition where the chancellor spoke about the circumstances I overcame to graduate college and used them to motivate current future students.</p>
<p>Hobbies:
I play jazz piano, tennis, hike, paint in watercolor and acrylic (painting’s shown in a gallery). Study languages and cultures including Arabic, Farsi, Turkish, and German to a basic level, but I know more about each culture and worldwide religions.</p>
<p>I have a very strong personal statement (edited around 60 times) and prewritten secondaries that I had edited.</p>
<p>LOR: (haven’t read them of course:
organic chemistry professor: In organic chemistry I worked with a group of 10 students, helped everyone succeed and the professor got to know all of us really well over the span of 3 quarters
leader of my global health organization/genetics professor: he mainly focused on my scholarly aspects.
Pediatrician I volunteered: I know its very strong.
Math professor who I took calc 1-3 with: She really admires me and knows all about my ECs and who I am. I played piano with her.
Old school intellectual professor in my major: I had this professor for one quarter in a very difficult class and I was one of the 4 out of 48 people to get an A+ (two of them were master’s students who specialized in the subject matter) and he told me he said my paper from his class could have easily been turned into a master’s thesis.
Humanities professor: I failed his class but talked to him and arranged meetings with him every day and through writing papers and discussing philosophy with him I showed him I was a great student and he thinks I’m in the top 1% of students.
Cosmetic dentist: Who talks about the kind of student I am, my work ethic, and how the work I did with her is relevant to medicine.</p>
<p>Do I have any chance for an MD school? My dream is to stay in CA but I’m fine if I get into a MD school OOS. I’m really worried my MCAT score will sink my dream. If not should I retake the mcat? I'm worried a third mcat can hurt me even more and I've already went through all the resources multiple times. If you have any advice feedback or anything I'd really appreciate it. I've worked myself the hardest I've done for anything in life to achieve this goal and did much of the ECs not only to show who I am as an individual but because I have genuine passion for what I do.</p>
Yea, that’s me on SDN. Im applying to a huge number of MD schools, lower tiers, mids, wild cards (all OOS friendly though), mainly because I want the best possible shot I can have at a MD medical school, it’s less inconsistent and more what’s reasonable for everyone and what i’d advice, compared to what I’m willing to put myself through to get accepted to a MD medical school. It’s not reasonable for really anyone, but i’m willing to endure it to achieve my goals. I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone though I’m hoping someone will at least read my application and be interested enough to interview me. I really dont want to go DO, but you have a great point about acceptances. I’ve finished all of my secondaries (prewritten) and had them edited and had my primary statement edited around 60 times (those were my last 2 months). I’ll definitely take your advice about the mcat. Last thing I need is to be blindsided with the horrendous 2015 mcat hanging over my head.</p>