omln5sn16szndmp
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- Dec 2, 2018
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Hi all!
I'm a re-applicant looking for advice on what schools to apply to. I know its late in the application cycle, but after my experience with my first cycle I needed some time to rethink things. I still want to apply to medical school and am looking for advice on crafting a school list. I've put a description about me at the bottom of the post, but here is the gist: I am an old, high-stat, ORM, california applicant without much of a background in medicine. Previous cycle, my medical experience was 200 hours volunteering in the ER. This cycle, I've added a lot more clinical experience (clinical research, shadowing, working as an EMT)
Here is my current school list. I couldn't find any pattern to what schools offered me interviews last year, so I am applying widely
- Every California school
- Saint Louis University
- Rush
- Drexel
- Upenn
- Loyola
- Tufts
- U Miami Miller
- USF Morsani
- Wayne State
- Hofstra
- Pitt
Anyways, thanks for your help! It's a stressful time but I am glad to see how helpful everybody on SDN is.
~~~~~~~~~~~~ About me ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
(1) Demographics: ORM, California resident, >30 years old
(2) Education: Undergrad was at a ~T5 school in physics. Did a PhD at a ~T50 school in biology. PhD work had nothing to do with medicine
(3) Standardized tests and grades: MCAT = 520, undergrad BCPM GPA = 3.72, undergrad cumulative GPA = 3.53, PhD BCPM GPA = 3.66, PhD cumulative GPA = 3.69
(4) Publications: 8 total. 2 first author, 3 second author, rest middle author. Only one is medically related
(5) Activities: Last cycle, I taught computer programming at a non-profit for 2.5 years. I worked in a public policy lab (unrelated to medicine) for 2.5 years. I volunteered in the ER for 200 hours. This year, I have worked with an ophthalmologist and produced one second author publication, one manuscript in submission. I shadowed the ophthalmologist for ~50 hours. I kept volunteering at the non-profit. I am working as an EMT (3 months so far).
(6) LOR: I have three strong LOR. 1 from public policy lab, 1 from physician I shadowed, 1 from non-profit I taught computer programming at.
(7) Red flags: I did not get along with my PI from my PhD and I did not ask him for a reference letter. I do have a few C's in my grades, but these are mostly either engineering classes or from my PhD PI who I did not get along with. I did take all the premed prereq classes through a postbacc program and have a 4.0 in those.
Last year, I received five interviews. One from a T5 school, one from a T10 school to a program geared to PhDs, one from a T20 school to a program geared to PhDs, one to a relatively new school with a patient care focus (if I had to guess ranking ~T30), one to a brand new school with free tuition geared to primary care (if I had to guess ranking ~T100). Nothing panned out. I can't not find any pattern to the schools that offered me interviews last year.
My personal thoughts: The physician I am shadowing said my personal statement from last year was weak, and that my new personal statement which focuses on my experience as an EMT is much stronger. I've had two physicians go over my new personal statement, and both said it was compelling.
I'm a re-applicant looking for advice on what schools to apply to. I know its late in the application cycle, but after my experience with my first cycle I needed some time to rethink things. I still want to apply to medical school and am looking for advice on crafting a school list. I've put a description about me at the bottom of the post, but here is the gist: I am an old, high-stat, ORM, california applicant without much of a background in medicine. Previous cycle, my medical experience was 200 hours volunteering in the ER. This cycle, I've added a lot more clinical experience (clinical research, shadowing, working as an EMT)
Here is my current school list. I couldn't find any pattern to what schools offered me interviews last year, so I am applying widely
- Every California school
- Saint Louis University
- Rush
- Drexel
- Upenn
- Loyola
- Tufts
- U Miami Miller
- USF Morsani
- Wayne State
- Hofstra
- Pitt
Anyways, thanks for your help! It's a stressful time but I am glad to see how helpful everybody on SDN is.
~~~~~~~~~~~~ About me ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
(1) Demographics: ORM, California resident, >30 years old
(2) Education: Undergrad was at a ~T5 school in physics. Did a PhD at a ~T50 school in biology. PhD work had nothing to do with medicine
(3) Standardized tests and grades: MCAT = 520, undergrad BCPM GPA = 3.72, undergrad cumulative GPA = 3.53, PhD BCPM GPA = 3.66, PhD cumulative GPA = 3.69
(4) Publications: 8 total. 2 first author, 3 second author, rest middle author. Only one is medically related
(5) Activities: Last cycle, I taught computer programming at a non-profit for 2.5 years. I worked in a public policy lab (unrelated to medicine) for 2.5 years. I volunteered in the ER for 200 hours. This year, I have worked with an ophthalmologist and produced one second author publication, one manuscript in submission. I shadowed the ophthalmologist for ~50 hours. I kept volunteering at the non-profit. I am working as an EMT (3 months so far).
(6) LOR: I have three strong LOR. 1 from public policy lab, 1 from physician I shadowed, 1 from non-profit I taught computer programming at.
(7) Red flags: I did not get along with my PI from my PhD and I did not ask him for a reference letter. I do have a few C's in my grades, but these are mostly either engineering classes or from my PhD PI who I did not get along with. I did take all the premed prereq classes through a postbacc program and have a 4.0 in those.
Last year, I received five interviews. One from a T5 school, one from a T10 school to a program geared to PhDs, one from a T20 school to a program geared to PhDs, one to a relatively new school with a patient care focus (if I had to guess ranking ~T30), one to a brand new school with free tuition geared to primary care (if I had to guess ranking ~T100). Nothing panned out. I can't not find any pattern to the schools that offered me interviews last year.
My personal thoughts: The physician I am shadowing said my personal statement from last year was weak, and that my new personal statement which focuses on my experience as an EMT is much stronger. I've had two physicians go over my new personal statement, and both said it was compelling.
