- Joined
- Sep 13, 2016
- Messages
- 89
- Reaction score
- 39
Year in school: Graduated in Spring 2015 with B.S. Biology; in Summer 2016 from combined M.P.H. program with concentration in Social & Behavioral Sciences
URM: Yes (mixed - black, latino, white)
School list: MD – UF, FIU, USF, UM, UCF, Georgetown, GW, Howard, Maryland, VCU, Wake Forest, Loyola, TCMC
DO – VCOM, LECOM (Bradenton and Erie), PCOM, Nova, Rowan
cGPA: 3.30
sGPA: 3.00
MCAT: 500 (126/125/125/124); 497 (124/123/125/125); waiting on scores from my test on September 9th
Grad GPA: 3.89
Research: Involved with a summer health disparities research group from 2012-2015, usually composed of around 10-15 students in undergrad, medical school, dental school, pharmacy school, and/or law school. Projects have varied from summer to summer, and are presented at the end of the semester to a group of local leaders involved with the medical field.
I’m currently continuing my Special Project from my M.P.H. program, which is evaluating the effectiveness of a mental health intervention tool on medically underserved patients with depression/anxiety seen at the clinic I’ve volunteered at (see below).
Volunteering: 1) Volunteered for 5 years (almost 1,000 hours) with a mobile clinic that provides free primary care services, health education, and patient referrals for residents in medically underserved communities in my area. Took vitals, conduct interventions and follow-up calls, scribe and present patients to providers, and follow-up on patient referrals.
2) Volunteered in the immunocompromised pediatric unit at my university’s hospital through their Childlife program for 3.5 years.
Physician Shadowing: Besides the mobile clinic, I just started shadowing with a family physician D.O. for 5 hours/week.
Non-clinical volunteering: 1) Volunteered as a delegate for two years in our university’s Dance Marathon philanthropy, encouraging both organizations I represented to raise money and organized various fundraising events.
2) TA for Genetics and a biological research class
EC's: 1) 4 years in my school’s student ambassador program (gave campus tours, worked with the University President’s office and Alumni Association, etc.)
2) On the executive board for a freshman leadership development program for 1 year (developed curriculum and invited faculty speakers for weekly meetings, oversaw directors in organizing campus events, etc.)
3) Involved in various intramurals for 3 years
4) Involved in my university’s salsa club for 1 year so far
5) Presented the mobile clinic's mental health intervention tool at a national conference for mobile clinics
6) Competed in a local CLARION case competition. Team of three students (including self) finished in third.
Employment history: Working as a Tobacco Cessation Facilitator for 30 hrs/week
Family in medicine: Yes
Specialty of interest: Family (community-based primary care)
Interest in rural health: Yes
I guess to add what I think are important additional details, I explained in my secondaries this cycle (not last cycle) that a major reasoning behind my undergraduate GPA was due to depression and anxiety, which got especially worse during my senior year to the point that I needed immediate therapy after graduation; I had a lot of family and personal issues, along with heavy involvement and the pressures of applications, going on in my life at the time that exacerbated my symptoms. It took me a few months to recover, but my therapist introduced me to mental health treatment techniques that I still practice today to manage my symptoms, particularly empowerment and mindfulness. My depression has gone down significantly (even when stressed, I experience symptoms rarely) and my anxiety is easily manageable now. Mental health is a topic I’ve grown really passionate about due to my experience and want to make sure becomes a focus in my future medical practice. It’s also why I made it the focus on my M.P.H. project and is a project I’m continuing to work on. I know it’s generally frowned upon to not discuss mental health, but when I shared my essay with my former pre-med advisors and a couple of faculty mentors of mine, they said it was something I really should share with the adcoms.
Not sure if this matters much either, but I'm a reapplicant. Last year I only received an II from VCOM - VA (secondary submitted in December; II in January) and got waitlisted. Would love to go to their program since I enjoyed speaking with the faculty and students, plus they're huge on practicing in MUAs.
URM: Yes (mixed - black, latino, white)
School list: MD – UF, FIU, USF, UM, UCF, Georgetown, GW, Howard, Maryland, VCU, Wake Forest, Loyola, TCMC
DO – VCOM, LECOM (Bradenton and Erie), PCOM, Nova, Rowan
cGPA: 3.30
sGPA: 3.00
MCAT: 500 (126/125/125/124); 497 (124/123/125/125); waiting on scores from my test on September 9th
Grad GPA: 3.89
Research: Involved with a summer health disparities research group from 2012-2015, usually composed of around 10-15 students in undergrad, medical school, dental school, pharmacy school, and/or law school. Projects have varied from summer to summer, and are presented at the end of the semester to a group of local leaders involved with the medical field.
I’m currently continuing my Special Project from my M.P.H. program, which is evaluating the effectiveness of a mental health intervention tool on medically underserved patients with depression/anxiety seen at the clinic I’ve volunteered at (see below).
Volunteering: 1) Volunteered for 5 years (almost 1,000 hours) with a mobile clinic that provides free primary care services, health education, and patient referrals for residents in medically underserved communities in my area. Took vitals, conduct interventions and follow-up calls, scribe and present patients to providers, and follow-up on patient referrals.
2) Volunteered in the immunocompromised pediatric unit at my university’s hospital through their Childlife program for 3.5 years.
Physician Shadowing: Besides the mobile clinic, I just started shadowing with a family physician D.O. for 5 hours/week.
Non-clinical volunteering: 1) Volunteered as a delegate for two years in our university’s Dance Marathon philanthropy, encouraging both organizations I represented to raise money and organized various fundraising events.
2) TA for Genetics and a biological research class
EC's: 1) 4 years in my school’s student ambassador program (gave campus tours, worked with the University President’s office and Alumni Association, etc.)
2) On the executive board for a freshman leadership development program for 1 year (developed curriculum and invited faculty speakers for weekly meetings, oversaw directors in organizing campus events, etc.)
3) Involved in various intramurals for 3 years
4) Involved in my university’s salsa club for 1 year so far
5) Presented the mobile clinic's mental health intervention tool at a national conference for mobile clinics
6) Competed in a local CLARION case competition. Team of three students (including self) finished in third.
Employment history: Working as a Tobacco Cessation Facilitator for 30 hrs/week
Family in medicine: Yes
Specialty of interest: Family (community-based primary care)
Interest in rural health: Yes
I guess to add what I think are important additional details, I explained in my secondaries this cycle (not last cycle) that a major reasoning behind my undergraduate GPA was due to depression and anxiety, which got especially worse during my senior year to the point that I needed immediate therapy after graduation; I had a lot of family and personal issues, along with heavy involvement and the pressures of applications, going on in my life at the time that exacerbated my symptoms. It took me a few months to recover, but my therapist introduced me to mental health treatment techniques that I still practice today to manage my symptoms, particularly empowerment and mindfulness. My depression has gone down significantly (even when stressed, I experience symptoms rarely) and my anxiety is easily manageable now. Mental health is a topic I’ve grown really passionate about due to my experience and want to make sure becomes a focus in my future medical practice. It’s also why I made it the focus on my M.P.H. project and is a project I’m continuing to work on. I know it’s generally frowned upon to not discuss mental health, but when I shared my essay with my former pre-med advisors and a couple of faculty mentors of mine, they said it was something I really should share with the adcoms.
Not sure if this matters much either, but I'm a reapplicant. Last year I only received an II from VCOM - VA (secondary submitted in December; II in January) and got waitlisted. Would love to go to their program since I enjoyed speaking with the faculty and students, plus they're huge on practicing in MUAs.
