How do I look?

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premedude said:
I applied 3 years ago and didn't much of a response that cycle. I kinda gave up and worked but then I figured out that I really want to pursue medicine. I have beef up my application by doing a DIY post bacc at my local 4 year institution. I essentially took all the biochemistry classes and science/medicine related classes that interested me.

State: VA
GPA: cGPA and sGPA: 3.60. My post-bacc gpa is a 4.0.
MCAT: 22 (3.5 years old), 27, 508, April 1 2016 (I will get my score in early May)
Shadowing Experience: 150 hours
Non shadowing clinical experience: 200+ hours. I currently volunteer at a mental health institute and I previously volunteering extensively at a center for disabled adults.
Research:
- 2.5 years of genetics research at my original institution (1 poster but no publications)
- NIH summer internship program (1 poster)
Work: I work part time in construction management. I also work during the weekends as a SAT tutor.
Leadership: was fundraising chair at my fraternity during college and I have leadership responsibilities at my job.
Additional Comments: Graduated from top 25 university (this probably doesn't matter much).


The GPA is the problem but to get it to a 3.7, I would need to take 25 more science credits and pray I get A's in all of them. I don't see a point in doing that much work for just +0.1. So I am stuck with that GPA. I am waiting on MCAT and hoping for the best but who knows.

I will be applying to both MD and DO schools. How do I fare?
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Your should be good especially with your upward trend. You're very competitive for DO and competitive for MD (unless they somehow take that old 22 into consideration). Your old mcat is what held you back last time. You have a good chance at getting in somewhere if you apply broadly and early.
 
You're competitive for almost all the DO schools and low-tier MD schools. Stay away from schools that average the MCAT.
 
Your GPA is not the problem. Your biggest problem is you will have 4 MCAT attempts on your record which automatically sticks out and raises concerns/questions you dont want. Two you scored over an SD below the MD matriculant average. On attempt 3 you were still below the MD average. Many evaluators regardless of what lip service they might give will average multiple scores. It might be better to look at your MCAT score as more of something around a 27ish than a 508/30.

Having said all this, you are well within the range of what is a rather competitive DO candidate. Depending on how lower tier and your state MD programs interpret this many MCAT attempts(which you simply cant predict no matter what a school might say about "We use the most recent score") there are MD schools that you could potentially be competitive for as well.
 
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