What U.S. Schools should I apply to?

[JJ.]

My GPA breakdown is like this:

 

1st year: 3.71

Full year summer course: 2.2 x 2 (organic chemistry)

2nd year: 3.94

3rd year: 3.94

4th year: 3.95+ likely

 

AMCAS: around 3.86?

 

My MCAT is 32Q (11P 11V 10B WS:Q)

 

My ECs: 10+ years in martial arts + provincially competed, President of a club I started that volunteers at food accessibility programs downtown, 140 hours of hospital volunteering, NSERC (1 summer of research plus thesis that I may get a publication from), some work experience in teaching martial arts, management experience, intramurals, creative writing etc.

 

My question is, which allopathic US schools do I have a shot - very good chance at? Should I retake my MCAT this summer before they add in the additional section to make myself more competitive at US schools? I have access to some of the online tests/resources from a prep course this year that I won't have next year so it seems like the best time to rewrite it this summer if I do rewrite it. Also I don't have English or Physics so I intend on taking a full year of those courses either in the summer (if I don't write my MCAT) or next year during the fall online at Athabasca U. What do you think my plan of action should be? Any help would be appreciated

[advair250]

Apply broadly to all the USMD schools that take Canadians, and you have a shot at all of them. Nothing is gauranteed though, write solid secondaries. You may as well retake the 32 MCAT for Ontario, but aren't you competitive for all the ontario schools, except Western(due to the 12BS minimum)?

[JJ.]

Queens: feels like a longshot https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0ArlB46Pi6-RmdDVibG51YTE0YmJIWGJqS1ZQVUh2c1E&usp=sharing#gid=2 I only see one 32 in those stats

UofT: Yes.

UOttawa: Doesn't consider MCAT, GPA wise I should be competitive for Ottawa next year

Mac: 11 VR, cGPA around 3.82 likely.. competitive but still need lots of luck

Western: No.

UCalgary (Where I also applied) yes.

 

I'm not sure if I'll score an 11 in verbal again, which would hurt me for mac and Queens, and my overall score could go down which would hurt me everywhere. If I retake though it'd be mostly for US schools, western and maybe Queens. I suppose since I'm banking on USMD schools as my backup it wouldn't be a bad idea to devote my summer to rewriting though..

[abelign]

Regarding your MCAT, I would highly recommend NOT retaking it unless you think you'll get the same VR score or higher. I can't emphasize enough how valuable that 11VR score is. I would say your BS could be 1 or 2 points higher, but if retaking it comes at the risk of trading off a point from VR to BS, I would again recommend that you do NOT retake your MCAT. You're the best judge of your abilities, so if you feel like you can do a better job on the second MCAT then go for it. Just keep in mind that VR score. I suppose it wouldn't be so bad if it dropped to 10, but an 11 opens more doors than you think.