School list CA ORM non-trad student - help!

[ikeamashedpotatoes]

Hello, kind people of SDN! I am a non-trad student (3 years out of college) with high stats and solid clinical experience, but no (meaningful) research. Since solid research seems to be a soft/hard requirement at most top schools and I don't have an X factor, I want to be very careful about my school list.

Demographics: CA resident, ORM (Asian)
School: top 10 public school
cGPA: 3.96
sGPA: 3.94
MCAT: 524
PREview: 7 (92%)

• Clinical Employment (2410 hours, 800 anticipated): very hands-on patient care as an MA/phlebotomist (2200 hours, most meaningful), scribe (210 hours, 800 anticipated)
• Clinical Volunteering (330 hours): generic hospital volunteering (80 hours), "volunteer MA" at a peds office, where I was originally supposed to shadow - not sure if this even counts as volunteering??? (250 hours)
• Non-clinical Employment (1700 hours, 200 anticipated): summer job as a server; working at my parents' small business during COVID (most meaningful)
• Non-clinical Volunteering (430 hours, 250 anticipated): peer mental health coach working with students with depression/anxiety (350 hours, most meaningful), member of a mental health club (30 hours), tutoring low-income students (50 hours, 250 anticipated)
• Shadowing (40 hours, 80 anticipated): geriatric medicine
• Research (350 hours): This is probably the weakest part of my application. I was an RA at a clinical psych research lab, where I ran behavioral trials, prepared participants for EEGs, and screened potential participants. I did not complete my own project, let alone publish anything.
• LORs: 1) strong letter from the doctor (DO, if it matters) I worked with at the primary care clinic, 2) strong letter from writing TA (cosigned by professor), 3) good letter from bio professor, 4) strong letter from MD I have been working with for the past 3 months, 5) probably cookie-cutter psych professor letter, 6) strong letter from my most meaningful EC supervisor
• PS: Based on feedback from the kind people who reviewed my personal statement, it demonstrates that I want to become an empathetic, communicative physician due to my experiences as an immigrant child who had to help her parents navigate the confusing maze that is the US healthcare system.

Primary application submitted on June 9

I'm pretty sure I'm applying to these schools, but I'm still welcoming feedback!

1. USF Morsani
2. Cal Northstate
3. CUSM
4. Eastern Virginia
5. NYMC
6. Hofstra
7. Albany
8. Tufts
9. Rochester
10. USC Keck
11. Boston University
12. U Vermont
13. U Wisconsin
14. Ohio State
15. U Colorado
16. UC Irvine
17. UC Davis
18. UC Riverside
19. UCLA
20. UCSD
21. Kaiser
22. UCSF
23. NYU
24. UPenn
25. Emory
26. Icahn
27. U Chicago (Pritzker)

I'd like to apply to a maximum of 35 schools, so I want to choose an additional 8-10 from this list:

1. U Cincinnati
2. UVA
3. U Illinois
4. Northwestern
5. Vanderbilt
6. Cornell
7. Mayo
8. WashU
9. U Michigan
10. Jefferson
11. Temple
12. Loyola Stritch
13. Creighton
14. Stony Brook
15. Downstate
16. Quinnipiac
17. Hackensack
18. Buffalo
19. VCU
20. Penn State

THANK YOU!

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[lola7]

I think you will be very successful this cycle! I don't think the research is anything to worry about; it seems you are a balanced and really talented applicant. I would suggest adding WashU due to your excellent MCAT. You can add other schools, but I'll let more knowledgeable people comment about those. @Faha

 

[Faha]

California Northstate has accreditation problems. Some of the schools on your list may "yield protect" with your stats. I suggest these schools:
UCSF
UCLA
UCSD
UC Irvine
UC Davis
UC Riverside (only if you are from that region)
Kaiser
Stanford
Washington University (in St. Louis-almost a guaranteed interview with your stats)
Northwestern
U Chicago
U Michigan
Case Western
Cincinnati
Ohio State
Vanderbilt
Emory
Duke
U Virginia
Georgetown
U Penn
Hofstra
Einstein
Mount Sinai
NYU
Columbia
Cornell
Tufts
Boston University
Harvard
Mayo

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Research isn't a big issue as a non traditional applicant.

You have a lot on the mental health arena, so I need to ask you why not clinical psychology? Why must going through medical training where direct mental health care is not a priority compared to getting a PsyD?

Is geriatrics the specialty you want to work in?