Potential Schools and Improving My App 4.0/519

[bobeanie95]

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[WedgeDawg]

Take out Brown, Jefferson, and Drexel. Brown is low yield for most applicants, and Jefferson and Drexel are going to be low yield for you in particular. You could even take out Stony Brook if you wanted to.

If you want to stay in the northeast, I would add Sinai, Duke, Rochester, and Hofstra.

In terms of strengthening your app, I might shadow in one other specialty, and then possibly try to double your number of clinical hours (not totally necessary, but might help). Your app overall looks very solid.

 

[bobeanie95]

@WedgeDawg Thank you for your response! I am planning to increase my clinical exposure a lot during my gap year. Is there any preference to which type of volunteering I should do? Would volunteering at a clinic be looked upon similar to volunteering in a hospital again?

Also, what are some possible clinical employment opportunities aside from scribing?

 

[WedgeDawg]

As long as you're working with sick people in some capacity, it's fine.

 

[LizzyM]

Take out Brown, Jefferson, and Drexel. Brown is low yield for most applicants, and Jefferson and Drexel are going to be low yield for you in particular. You could even take out Stony Brook if you wanted to.

If you want to stay in the northeast, I would add Sinai, Duke, Rochester, and Hofstra.

In terms of strengthening your app, I might shadow in one other specialty, and then possibly try to double your number of clinical hours (not totally necessary, but might help). Your app overall looks very solid.

OP, Your list is fine. Even the schools that are low yield are looking for applicants with your characteristics, which are rather unusual, and might be inclined to interview you.

In my opinion, Duke is not "Northeast", Sinai is reasonable, Hofstra might be okay (don't know enough about it), Rochester is closer to Canada than what we usually think of as NE but nothing wrong with putting it on the list.

Get a job of any kind. A job where you use your Spanish language skills would be a plus. A job where you deal with patients, physicians and/or the public would be a plus. Be prepared for a crazy Sept/Oct next year as you will have more interviews than you know what to do with. Be prepared to miss a lot of work and pay for a lot of trips.

 

[GrapesofRath]

As long as you apply to your state schools you can afford to be pickier where you choose to apply OOS and aim for high stat schools

If you know you aren't going to turn down your state school tuition in favor of schools like Drexel and Jefferson there's no point applying to such schools. The schools where theres more money(i.e. Top 20s) are a better use of time than Drexel types for a variety of reasons.

There are many northeast schools worth a look for you (i.e. Boston U Hofstra Einstein Sinai Columbia NYU Penn JHU Pitt etc)

 

[bobeanie95]

@LizzyM Thank you for the feedback. Out of curiosity why are my characteristics unusual? Also, when you say job, could that also be fine as volunteering?

@GrapesofRath I totally agree with you. I originally figured it would increase my chances at interviews but yea if its between Drexel, Jefferson and state school then I'd go with state, so I'll save my money.

 

[Goro]

A little more volunteering and you'll platinum, not merely golden.

I suggest:

Harvard
Case
U Penn
U VA
Yale
Jefferson
Pitt
Hofstra
BU
NYU
U VM
Columbia
Sinai
Cornell
JHU
Albert Einstein
ALL NJ schools
Wash U
Stanford
U Chicago
U MI
U WI
Ohio State
U IA
UCSF
UCLA,
U Cincy
Miami
Vanderbilt
Tulane
Loyola
Emory
Mayo (both)
Northwestern
Duke
USC/Keck

Hey all,

I am taking a gap year to strengthen my application and relax a bit (applying next cycle). I was hoping if anyone would be kind enough to look over my information and tell me ways in which I can strengthen my app. Also, I have a potential list of schools in the Northeast I'm interested in. I would love some feedback!

A little bit of the generic info: 4.0 GPA, 519 MCAT (132/125/130/132), Hispanic/ESL/1st generation immigrant, NJ resident, Rutgers undergrad

Volunteer:
-Animal Shelter (around 50 hours)
-Soup Kitchen (current- estimated 80 hrs)
-Middle School Mentor in under-served population (30 hours)

Clinical:
-Volunteer in ER (100 hours)
-Shadowing in pediatrics (current-25 hours)

Teaching:
-Organic Chemistry Teaching Assistant/Intern (150 hours)
-Organic Chemistry Instructor for minorities (30 hours- paid)

Research:
-Summer Research Program (400 hours, 2 presentations, no poster)
-1.5 year Nutrition lab w/ senior thesis (around 400-500 hours, potential to publish paper)

Other:
-Colleges Against Cancer Member (1-3 hr/week, for 3 years), Relay for Life, etc.
-The Little Gym Coach (50 hours-paid)

Schools I'm thinking of applying to:

Upenn
Columbia Med
Yale
Harvard
John's Hopkins
NYU
RWJ- RU
NJMS-RU
Boston Univesity
Brown University
Stony Brook
Rowan
Albert Einstein
Thomas Jefferson
Cornell
Drexel

Thank you again for any honest feedback! It is greatly appreciated

 

[LizzyM]

@LizzyM Thank you for the feedback. Out of curiosity why are my characteristics unusual? Also, when you say job, could that also be fine as volunteering?

@GrapesofRath I totally agree with you. I originally figured it would increase my chances at interviews but yea if its between Drexel, Jefferson and state school then I'd go with state, so I'll save my money.

I don't know WHY they are unusual but of 13,000 Hispanic applicants over 3 cycles, your stats put you in the top 38 and of those , 35 were admitted to medical school.

Not being employed at all during a gap year is not as good as being employed. Volunteering is fine but being employed is better.

I don't believe you need more than 15 applications and I'd start with your state schools and then add the schools that you'd choose if you had a choice between a state school and a private. Also, keep in mind that some privates have enough scholarship money to offer that they will end up being cheaper than your state school.

 

[bobeanie95]

I don't know WHY they are unusual but of 13,000 Hispanic applicants over 3 cycles, your stats put you in the top 38 and of those , 35 were admitted to medical school.

Not being employed at all during a gap year is not as good as being employed. Volunteering is fine but being employed is better.

Interesting you say that because when I plugged in my data into the LizzyM calculator it said 123 Hispanics had the same data as me. Out of curiosity where are you getting the "top 38"

Also, I was planning on doing a part time non-clinical paid job and on the side doing clinical volunteering. Would it be better to be employed in a clinical field? Or were you referring to not being employed at all ?

 

[LizzyM]

Interesting you say that because when I plugged in my data into the LizzyM calculator it said 123 Hispanics had the same data as me. Out of curiosity where are you getting the "top 38"

Also, I was planning on doing a part time non-clinical paid job and on the side doing clinical volunteering. Would it be better to be employed in a clinical field? Or were you referring to not being employed at all ?

Maybe I mis-converted your MCAT. I was looking at https://www.aamc.org/download/321512/data/factstablea24-1.pdf and figured your MCAT to be at least a 39.

A part-time not clinical job is fine with clinical volunteering on the side. I thought you were considering not working and just volunteering.

 

[bobeanie95]

Maybe I mis-converted your MCAT. I was looking at https://www.aamc.org/download/321512/data/factstablea24-1.pdf and figured your MCAT to be at least a 39.

A part-time not clinical job is fine with clinical volunteering on the side. I thought you were considering not working and just volunteering.

That makes sense. Mine converts to a 37, unfortunately CARS was not forgiving on test day. Do you think it's fine to still apply to around 15 schools? Or is there a big difference between 38 vs 123 applicants that I should increase the number of schools?

Again, thanks again for your insight. It is highly appreciated!

 

[LizzyM]

Even 123 puts you in the top 1% of 13,000 applicants. If you can't get an offer of admission from at least one of 15 well chosen schools there is something wrong that doesn't show up on paper. If you choose wisely, there is no reason you won't have 10 interviews by this time next year (apply in June, have secondaries finished by August).

 

[bobeanie95]

@LizzyM Thanks so much! I really appreciate your feedback.