Personal: I want to work in academic setting. I’m not especially interested in research, but am very interested in teaching. Strong commitment to immigrant populations and global health.
What I’m looking for in a medical school: P/F (at least preclinical), collaborative environment, preferably smaller class size, either big city or very rural with lots of nature, lots of global health opportunities, strong reputation for patient-centered care, on same campus as traditional university (not essential). Mayo is my dream school, but clearly it's unwise to focus on just one school.
***
South asian, not disadvantaged
Graduating after just 3 years from unprestigious, midwest state school with science major.
cGPA>3.95; sGPA>3.95 (A's in all prereqs)
MCAT: 41 (14/13/14)
public health (non-bench) research (very independent); honors thesis (1 year, 10 hrs/wk)
Bench “research” (freshman slave) (1 year, 15 hrs/wk)
Clinical research (1 summer after junior year of high school, 40 hrs/wk)
middle author publication, middle author presentation from clinical research in high school
Health-related, but non-clinical Americorps miniproject (10 months, 10 hrs/wk)
Private tutoring (3 years, 2-5 hrs/wk)
columnist for school paper (3 years, 5 hrs/wk)
some human rights focused clubs (president for 1 year of 1 club, in total 3-5 hrs/wk since freshman year)
*most significant* migrant farm worker (tomato picking) for 2 months to try to understand life as undocumented worker
volunteering *clinical* (2 years, 5 hrs/wk)
summer camp counselor *clinical* (7 days/summer)
*most significant* health-related, but non-clinical summer camp counselor and coordinator *strong leadership* (year round involvement, 3 years, 7 hrs/wk, 8 days in summer)
awards/scholarships/deans list (nothing special, but certified master naturalist, which is kind of unique)
hobbies (lots of outdoorsy stuff, language learning (conversational Spanish and knowledge of a few others), cooking, rock climbing)
Shadowing (120 hours total, 50 in one specialty, 20 in rural primary care, 10 in urban primary care )
2 gap years: Unless there are any problems with my application, I’ve been thinking about taking at least the first year for backpacking in India and central Asia to learn about my roots. The second year, I really don’t know what I will do, but it should probably be something in the States, for the sake of making it to interviews. Americorps seems the most likely.
Any suggestions on how to improve my app?
LORs: Science (generic), Science (good), Nonscience (good), Volunteer supervisor (excellent), most recent research advisor (excellent)
Tentative school list:
Mayo
Emory
NYU
Mt Sinai
Northwestern
Vanderbilt
U Chicago
Duke
Johns Hopkins
UCSF
McGill
Stanford
USC
Einstein
Yale
Columbia
Baylor
Minnesota
Dartmouth
State school
University of Miami
Creighton
Tulane
Definitely a bit top heavy at this point.
What I’m looking for in a medical school: P/F (at least preclinical), collaborative environment, preferably smaller class size, either big city or very rural with lots of nature, lots of global health opportunities, strong reputation for patient-centered care, on same campus as traditional university (not essential). Mayo is my dream school, but clearly it's unwise to focus on just one school.
***
South asian, not disadvantaged
Graduating after just 3 years from unprestigious, midwest state school with science major.
cGPA>3.95; sGPA>3.95 (A's in all prereqs)
MCAT: 41 (14/13/14)
public health (non-bench) research (very independent); honors thesis (1 year, 10 hrs/wk)
Bench “research” (freshman slave) (1 year, 15 hrs/wk)
Clinical research (1 summer after junior year of high school, 40 hrs/wk)
middle author publication, middle author presentation from clinical research in high school
Health-related, but non-clinical Americorps miniproject (10 months, 10 hrs/wk)
Private tutoring (3 years, 2-5 hrs/wk)
columnist for school paper (3 years, 5 hrs/wk)
some human rights focused clubs (president for 1 year of 1 club, in total 3-5 hrs/wk since freshman year)
*most significant* migrant farm worker (tomato picking) for 2 months to try to understand life as undocumented worker
volunteering *clinical* (2 years, 5 hrs/wk)
summer camp counselor *clinical* (7 days/summer)
*most significant* health-related, but non-clinical summer camp counselor and coordinator *strong leadership* (year round involvement, 3 years, 7 hrs/wk, 8 days in summer)
awards/scholarships/deans list (nothing special, but certified master naturalist, which is kind of unique)
hobbies (lots of outdoorsy stuff, language learning (conversational Spanish and knowledge of a few others), cooking, rock climbing)
Shadowing (120 hours total, 50 in one specialty, 20 in rural primary care, 10 in urban primary care )
2 gap years: Unless there are any problems with my application, I’ve been thinking about taking at least the first year for backpacking in India and central Asia to learn about my roots. The second year, I really don’t know what I will do, but it should probably be something in the States, for the sake of making it to interviews. Americorps seems the most likely.
Any suggestions on how to improve my app?
LORs: Science (generic), Science (good), Nonscience (good), Volunteer supervisor (excellent), most recent research advisor (excellent)
Tentative school list:
Mayo
Emory
NYU
Mt Sinai
Northwestern
Vanderbilt
U Chicago
Duke
Johns Hopkins
UCSF
McGill
Stanford
USC
Einstein
Yale
Columbia
Baylor
Minnesota
Dartmouth
State school
University of Miami
Creighton
Tulane
Definitely a bit top heavy at this point.