Hi everyone. I'm a bit lost when it comes to the application and how to judge my application. I keep seconding guessing myself and thinking I don't have what it takes to be a competitive applicant, but I think that's mostly my anxiety talking. I was planning on applying to about ~25-35 schools in total this cycle (mostly the T25 with some other schools as well).
Stats:
Graduated from UCLA in Dec. 2020
GPA: 3.88
MCAT: 522
Research Exp:
~1 quarter (100 hours) from a directed honors research class where we worked with Drosophila lines under specific gene KO conditions in order to visualize effect on hematopoietic cell populations
~ 3 years, including one summer, in a biochemistry lab at UCLA (~1600 hours) with one fifth-author publication. After my first year, I worked on independent projects with minimal supervision from my mentor. Also have one presentation from this lab at a summer research fair.
~2000 hours that I will be doing from this summer to next summer at the NCI through the post-baccalaureate program working in a biomaterials cancer lab
Clinical Exp:
~250 hours working for a nonprofit to set up a mobile clinic in the LA area; during the time I was there we were doing mostly health fairs as we were still acquiring funding for the mobile clinic
~150 hours as a scribe working for a clinic in LA
Nonclinical Exp:
~50 hours at a food pantry
~200 hours tutoring under-served middle school students in LA
~150 hours as an intern for the Sports Medicine program at UCLA (worked with injured D1 athletes and helped ATCs/PTs with any duties
Shadowing
None right now but I have some virtual hours and am looking for more opportunities for in-person if possible later this year.
Other:
-Was a mentor for my school's Biomedical Research minor (~20 hours) and helped students as they transitioned into their first lab (mentored about 2-3 students)
-Was an avid rock climber during college and went ~5 hours a week for about two years
Honors
Dean's List ~6 times and graduated with Latin honors
LOR:
Think I can only get two good letters from faculty (PI + one science teacher) rest will be average. Is getting a LOR from my mentor (grad student) a good idea?
Any help judging my application is appreciated. Thank you!
Stats:
Graduated from UCLA in Dec. 2020
GPA: 3.88
MCAT: 522
Research Exp:
~1 quarter (100 hours) from a directed honors research class where we worked with Drosophila lines under specific gene KO conditions in order to visualize effect on hematopoietic cell populations
~ 3 years, including one summer, in a biochemistry lab at UCLA (~1600 hours) with one fifth-author publication. After my first year, I worked on independent projects with minimal supervision from my mentor. Also have one presentation from this lab at a summer research fair.
~2000 hours that I will be doing from this summer to next summer at the NCI through the post-baccalaureate program working in a biomaterials cancer lab
Clinical Exp:
~250 hours working for a nonprofit to set up a mobile clinic in the LA area; during the time I was there we were doing mostly health fairs as we were still acquiring funding for the mobile clinic
~150 hours as a scribe working for a clinic in LA
Nonclinical Exp:
~50 hours at a food pantry
~200 hours tutoring under-served middle school students in LA
~150 hours as an intern for the Sports Medicine program at UCLA (worked with injured D1 athletes and helped ATCs/PTs with any duties
Shadowing
None right now but I have some virtual hours and am looking for more opportunities for in-person if possible later this year.
Other:
-Was a mentor for my school's Biomedical Research minor (~20 hours) and helped students as they transitioned into their first lab (mentored about 2-3 students)
-Was an avid rock climber during college and went ~5 hours a week for about two years
Honors
Dean's List ~6 times and graduated with Latin honors
LOR:
Think I can only get two good letters from faculty (PI + one science teacher) rest will be average. Is getting a LOR from my mentor (grad student) a good idea?
Any help judging my application is appreciated. Thank you!
