Medical School Chances

Pre-Med & Medical School Pre-Med Topics
1

I hope “premed topics” is the appropriate forum for this.
I’d appreciate some /serious/ insight into my competitiveness for medical school (in the United States) and, if possible, advice to improve my application.

I am a double Biology and Anthropology major at a flagship state school. I am currently on track to graduate with departmental and university Honors.
My GPA is currently around 3.6, due to some unfortunate high school transfer credits and several B’s in chemistry courses. This is my primary concern. Do I even have a chance of getting into a good school with this GPA? I am working on improving it, but it will still likely be in the 3.6-3.7 range when I apply.
I have not yet taken the MCAT, as I am a sophomore. (My ACT was 32 and I’m planning on studying Kaplan prep books this summer.)
By the time I apply next year, I will have 2 years of continuous research under the Chairman of Anthropology in epidemiology. I’ve also just received a $10,000 fellowship to continue my epidemiology research this summer. The professor and I are currently working towards publication, with my name first.
I work part-time as a pharmacy technician and as a TA for Medical Microbiology and Immunology.
I volunteered 50 hours in the University Pharmacy, 30 hours in the ICU, and 40 hours in the Emergency Department. I’m at 120 hours right now. How many is considered competitive?
I only have 40 hours of shadowing (primary care and OBGYN). What is a good number to stop at?
I’ve been involved in my school’s Premedical Society since I started college, and I am currently running for Vice President.
Some other potentially useful information: I am a female first-generation American and a first-generation college student of EO-1 socioeconomic designation.

What are my chances of getting into 1. just any allopathic medical school in the US, and 2. a more prestigious medical school, like WashU or an Ivy League?
What else can I possibly do to improve my application?

2

Random thoughts:
Understand it’s impossible to chance you because you have no MCAT score. (You need to score well not only total, but by section). Also acceptance to med school is just not about numbers, med schools will look carefully at your ECs, LoRs, PS (why medicine) to see if you have the qualities they believe a MD should have (eg compassion, altruism, leadership, communication skills, etc). How any one school weights various EC, LoRs, PS is unknown. Med schools will look to see if you fit in with their mission statement. And finally, if you’re offered an interview, be rude, arrogant, etc and your chance of an acceptance, even with high GPAs/MCAT, will be zero. Table 1 from below may offer you some insight as to areas you can improve
https://www.aamc.org/download/462316/data/2017mcatguide.pdf

Understand how your GPA will be viewed. One, all colleges courses even if taken in high school are included in GPA calculations. Two, you don’t just have “around a 3.6 GPA.” Med schools will slice and dice your transcript. They will calculate a separate science GPA (or sGPA). Your sGPA will include all bio, chem, physics, and math courses taken. Your sGPA will be calculated for each year and cumulatively. Med schools will also look at your cumulative GPA (or cGPA). Your cGPA will be calculated each year and total. Below is a table of some recent data for applicants/matriculants. Right now your “around a 3.6 GPA” is low for matriculants. You may want to wait until you graduate before you apply as you would have more time to raise your GPAs.
https://www.aamc.org/download/321494/data/factstablea16.pdf

Understand that all US med schools are good schools, don’t get caught up in prestige. After med school, graduates go into residency training (on the job training post med school). Look at 2016 Program Director (PD) Survey (figures 1, 2). To translate, what’s most important to PDs (aka decision makers) is how one does in med school. Less important is school attended.
www.nrmp.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/NRMP-2016-Program-Director-Survey.pdf

You said you attend a flagship state school. If that means a UC, understand that means if you gain an acceptance, it will almost certainly be OOS. In fact as over 60% of those that applied in last cycle failed to gain an acceptance anywhere, you’ll probably be smart to apply broadly. A copy of the MSAR will give you a lot of important info and should be considered must reading.
I know you said allopathic, but consider osteopathic (DO) as well. It’s best to apply one time with the strongest application possible. Getting into med school is a marathon, not a sprint. Good luck.

As a note I saw your post earlier in what are my chances forum and was just about to respond when I saw you post here.

3

Too soon to say and not enough info.

Come back when you have a MCAT score (Your ACT is not predictive of your MCAT score. The 2 exams test different skills and have a different pool of test-takers. The MCAT is more competitive than the ACT.) and final GPA/sGPA. Your state of residence will also make a difference, as will your ethnicity.

There is no “ideal” number of hours to shadow or do clinical volunteering. Keep doing each so long as you feel you are learning from the experience.

Have you done any non-clinical volunteering/community service? Volunteering with vulnerable/at risk/less fortunate populations is also something adcomms are looking for.

RE: EO-1 designation really is only used for statistical purposes and won’t make a difference in your desirability for med schools. You will be able to claim disadvantaged status on AMCAS if you can document that you/your family received federally-funded means tested benefits (food stamps, free lunch at school, subsidized public housing, etc) before you were 16.

PSA–all US med schools are good schools.

4

<<<
What are my chances of getting into 1. just any allopathic medical school in the US, and 2. a more prestigious medical school, like WashU or an Ivy League?
<<<

You’re only a soph, and you don’t have a MCAT score. Your GPA is borderline for med schools.

If you apply AFTER senior year, you have a chance to improve your GPA.

What is your science GPA?

Don’t focus on any particular med schools. You’ll be lucky to get into any med school in the US.

Also, while a few ivies have highly ranked med schools, some of the ivy meds are well-ranked but not ranked as highly as you may think.