Applying next year and looking for advice

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mdx5152

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Cumulative GPA: 3.6 (As calculated by TMDSAS)
Science GPA: 3.58 (As calculated by TMDSAS)
MCAT: Taking it in August
State of Residence: Texas

Undergrad Attended: Public Texas University (Transferred from CC)
Major: Biochemistry
Race: Asian (Indian)
Reapplicant? No
Nontrad? No

Shadowing Experience:
30 Hours Cardiology
I have IM primary care and PCCM ICU shadowing lined up for the summer. Cumulatively will be around 75-100 hrs before September.

Volunteering Experience:
The majority of my volunteering experience is through my mosque. I have not done the math but it is easily over 500 hours looking at the past 3 years. Activities done that tally up to that amount are the following.
- Delivering food provisions and groceries to community members during 2020.
- Serving food and drinks to community members at gatherings. My job is to make rounds around the dining hall to see if anyone wants more food and to bring it to them from the kitchen. This is something I do fairly regularly on the order of 5-10 times a month, with some months being much more at >20 days.
- I volunteer once a week to teach children about the Islamic faith. This role has me running my own classroom, taking care of children, and organizing events with the other teachers for the kids.


I will begin volunteering in the trauma unit of a hospital within the next few weeks.

Employment:
MA: 200 Hrs

I have a job scribing at an urgent care lined up starting in fall.

Research:
~ 100 hrs of inorganic chemistry research so far. I likely will have ~300 hrs completed when I apply next year.
I have presented my research at an ACS conference.

Hobbies:
- I play a lot of basketball.
- I write up comedy jokes. They are really only heard by my friends though.

Other Important Stuff:
I began memorizing the Quran when I was 12 years old and accomplished it when I was 16. During that time period, I lived distant from my family. My journey started at a dedicated memorization program in America but took me to an Islamic university in East Africa where I spent the better parts of my high school years. During this time I earned a diploma in Islamic Studies. After completing this program, I came back home, earned my GED, and then started CC. I am not sure if this will even be relevant to my application, but it was and still is a huge part of my life and is the reason I am so active in my own community.


I want to make my application as attractive as possible for TMDSAS schools. I am mostly worried about my non-clinical volunteering considering that my mosque community is not an underserved population. I know my GPA is a little low. It should be around a 3.7 sgpa when I apply (fingers crossed).

I only decided to become "premed" one year ago when I had the opportunity to work at a clinic and by virtue of that, interact with patients. I realized how much I enjoyed seeing people smiling when leaving the clinic because of how large of a difference the physician's actions were making in their lives.

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Let us know when you receive your MCAT score in August. That will be an important piece.

You could supplement your non-clinical volunteering with something at your local food bank, soup kitchen or homeless shelter. You would be applying next cycle, so Big Brothers Big Sisters is a program you could look into as you would be able to make a long-term commitment.

I wouldn't include comedy jokes as a hobby on the actual app if it is more something you just do with friends. Basketball is fine to show that you have something to unwind.
 
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Let us know when you receive your MCAT score in August. That will be an important piece.

You could supplement your non-clinical volunteering with something at your local food bank, soup kitchen or homeless shelter. You would be applying next cycle, so Big Brothers Big Sisters is a program you could look into as you would be able to make a long-term commitment.

I wouldn't include comedy jokes as a hobby on the actual app if it is more something you just do with friends. Basketball is fine to show that you have something to unwind.
I am going to look into Big brothers big sisters. Thank you for the advice. I will update this thread when I receive my MCAT score.
 
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Hi I am bumping this thread to update my MCAT score. I got a 510. I was hoping a school list could be suggested for outside Texas.
 
Most schools outside Texas won’t bother since they know they can’t compete against the in-state tuition. You could try TCU and Tulane on AMCAS.
 
Most schools outside Texas won’t bother since they know they can’t compete against the in-state tuition. You could try TCU and Tulane on AMCAS.
Ok thank you. Any suggestions for DO?
 
I have posted elsewhere, VCOM considers Texas applicants as preferred, similar to in-state.
 
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