bigbodybenz
New Member
- Joined
- Sep 19, 2022
- Messages
- 5
- Reaction score
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- sGPA: 3.83 cGPA 3.87 (upward trend)
- MCAT: 518 (129/127/130/132)
- Ethnicity and/or race: ORM
- Undergraduate institution or category: Small university
- Clinical experience (volunteer and non-volunteer): ~800 hours scribe at an inpatient hospital
- Research experience and productivity:
- Undergraduate: ~500 hours of psychology research (1 poster presentation)
- Current gap year: will have ~2000 hours in a genomics lab, no publication expected unless I continue to work here for at least another year (my project had an unfortunate delay/failure that wasted months of time and work)
- Shadowing experience and specialties represented: shadowed ~8 hours in-person during a surgical procedure, ~21 hours online various specialties (I know this probably doesn’t really count)
- Non-clinical volunteering: ~250 hours as a classroom aid in a school for children with disabilities
- Other extracurricular activities (including athletics, military service, gap year activities, leadership, teaching, etc)
- ~800 hours leadership in social/professional fraternity
- ~300 hours tutor/TA/various teaching positions
- Gap year: ~2000 hours research
- Relevant honors or awards
- Got a small scholarship when I was in undergrad
- The Distinguished Achievement Award in Psychology in undergrad for the project I worked on
Hey all, I’m preparing to reapply this upcoming cycle after a relatively unsuccessful cycle thus far. I applied to ~25 MD schools and ~4 DO schools. I currently have 2 MD II, one of which resulted in a WL and the other which I am doing next week, and 1 DO II, which I am also completing next week. I’d love to hear advice/input on where I could have gone wrong this cycle.
A problem with my application not really listed above is that my health committee letter, which contains all my letters of recommendation, was not sent until mid-September. This was the earliest possible date for me (completed all their assignments on time, submitted my application within 1 day of opening, paid the fee on time). While I think this could have definitely hurt the results of my cycle, I don’t want to worry about something I have no control over. I guess another question I have is, should I consider applying again without my committee? I can easily gather my own letter writers (I had to do this anyway), and all I would be missing would be the actual committee letter.
The main thing I’ve done to improve my application during this past cycle is work full-time in a research lab under a medical school institution. I plan to shadow a couple doctors here and there as well before I apply again in May and volunteer at a local hospice as well (probably won’t be able to get many hours before May though). I’ve been debating what I should do this upcoming year while I re-apply again as well. I could continue working in my current lab, but I have to pay a pretty expensive rent to live near the institution. I think it could be better for me to move back home and scribe/MA at an outpatient facility near me to gain a more comprehensive clinical experience, but would love to hear other thoughts as well.
Listed below are the schools I applied to this past cycle. Would love to hear how I can not only improve my strength as an applicant, but how I can modify my school list to give me a better chance next cycle. Thank you for reading this and anything anyone has to offer is greatly appreciated.
- BU
- VCU
- UMich
- Penn State
- Thomas Jefferson (Sidney Kimmel)
- Keck USC
- Drexel
- Case Western
- Medical College of Wisconsin
- Vermont
- Geisinger
- Pitt
- UMSOM
- Hofstra
- USF Morsani
- Emory
- Rochester
- Cincinnati
- Ohio State
- Temple
- EVMS
- Dartmouth
- Albany
- Toledo
- Iowa
- GW
- PCOM
- LECOM
- MSUCOM
- Rowan (DO)
