WAMC: 3.88/3.81 cGPA/sGPA, 523 MCAT

[premedbaddie567]

PLEASE DO NOT QUOTE THIS MESSAGE

1. 3.88 cGPA/3.81 sGPA (slight downward trend during senior year)
2. 523 MCAT (130, 130, 131, 132)
3. FL, strong ties to IL (born and raised)
4. Asian and African (I look mostly Asian)
5. Large T10 Public State School
6. Clinical Experience: 400 Total! 175 hours as a hospital volunteer working with pediatric cancer patients, 150 hours working in a free clinic (triage), 50 helping to administer flu and COVID vaccinations with nurses around Publix schools. 25 teaching dance therapy to children in clinical settings with physical therapists (not sure if this counts).
7. Research experience and productivity: 1200 hours total, $8000 in funding! 400 hours at a summer program at an HYP institution (1 poster, $5000 in funding). 400 hours as a research assistant studying implicit racial biases in public health settings (2 posters, $3000 in funding). 400 hours as a research assistant studying an NIH-funded study about improving asthma care interventions for children with difficult family dynamics.
8. Shadowing experience and specialties represented: 80 total! 40 shadowing an internal medicine doctor, 40 virtual shadowing hours during COVID-19.
9. Non-clinical volunteering: 500 hours total! 400 hours as President of organization that teaches dance to individuals with disabilities both around the country (virtual) and in-person. 100 hours as the Community Service Director for a dance organization that performs at various nursing homes and teaches dance to underprivileged children in elementary schools. Founded local program that makes arts accessible to children under the poverty line.
10. Other extracurricular activities: 250 hours as a Teaching Assistant for biochemistry and Chem 2, 150 hours as a director of undergraduate research to make research more accessible on campus, 150 hours as a dancer in a company.
11. Relevant honors or awards: two scholarships for research funding explained above.
12. First-generation college student, interested in how humanities and medicine intersect. Planning on applying during the upcoming 2024-2025 cycle in May. None of the hours listed are projected, but I plan on adding more clinical hours as a MA and volunteering with children with disabilities.

School list:
University of Florida
University of Miami
University of South Florida
Florida State University
University of Central Florida
Nova Southeastern University
Florida International University
Florida Atlantic University
Northwestern University
University of Chicago
Loyola University
University of Illinois Chicago
Rush University Medical College
Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science
Yale University
Cornell University
New York University
University of Pennsylvania
Washington University St. Louis
Columbia University
Mayo Clinic
University of Michigan
Emory University
Johns Hopkins University
Harvard University

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[Mr.Smile12]

Can I ask why not music or art therapy? Why not PT? I appreciate applying your efforts in dance to help children with disabilities, but I think your clinical and community service is too narrow and doesn't get you away from your comfort zone. How are you learning about social determinants of health? Just worried you aren't really exposed to the breadth of medicine and may be better suited for the therapy professions, which also need very qualified, diverse practitioners.

 

[premedbaddie567]

Can I ask why not music or art therapy? Why not PT? I appreciate applying your efforts in dance to help children with disabilities, but I think your clinical and community service is too narrow and doesn't get you away from your comfort zone. How are you learning about social determinants of health? Just worried you aren't really exposed to the breadth of medicine and may be better suited for the therapy professions, which also need very qualified, diverse practitioners.

Personally, I believe that the arts and humanities can provide a lot of insight about how to improve quality of life for so many people in different communities. Rather than just using the arts as a form of treatment for individuals (which I do believe has lots of merit), I find the arts to be very similar to medicine in a lot of ways. The arts and humanities allows us to understand the shared humanity that lies in everyone, and I think that this kind of vulnerability is very necessary in medicine in general. While I do agree that a lot of my community service is geared towards the arts, the majority of my clinical experiences and research experiences have allowed me to understand some of the disparities that exist in medicine. Forgot to mention that a good chunk of my research experiences are clinical as well, if that changes anything. Thank you for bringing this up! I appreciate your insight! I also am planning on taking a gap year; do you think I should stray away from this “arts in medicine” narrative and find more clinical exposure in typical settings?

 

[Angler]

Asian and African

You're African

Agree with @Mr.Smile12 that your non-clinical volunteering is "too comfortable." You have a golden, near platinum application. You can buff it up a bit. I think having the "artsy" narrative (please pardon my pejorative wording) is fine. But you also should show that you don't mind getting dirty.

 

[premedbaddie567]

You're African

Agree with @Mr.Smile12 that your non-clinical volunteering is "too comfortable." You have a golden, near platinum application. You can buff it up a bit. I think having the "artsy" narrative (please pardon my pejorative wording) is fine. But you also should show that you don't mind getting dirty.

Thank you so much for your response! I am taking a gap year so I can hopefully address some of these concerns during that time, though the bulk of those experiences would probably begin after my application is submitted. I do plan on being a CNA/MA during this gap year time. What kind of volunteer experiences can show that “I don’t mind getting dirty”. Would typical volunteering experiences like working at Ronald McDonald house or the Boys and Girls club count? Or do you suggest something else. Again, thank you so much for your insight!

 

[Angler]

Soup kitchens, homeless shelters, drug treatment centers.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

While I do agree that a lot of my community service is geared towards the arts, the majority of my clinical experiences and research experiences have allowed me to understand some of the disparities that exist in medicine.

Well, that's not the angle you decided to approach when writing your WAMC above, and I go with what you write as a reflection of how the experience matters to you. I don't need you to justify this to me or try to reframe your experience to my expectations. That's why this exercise is important for you. Seriously I don't get how you can understand those disparities from your description alone, so I am hoping you have some strong stories where you can clearly show your service orientation where you are not the leader or subject matter expert in the role.

But these questions are seriously addressed to you. Why do you need to be a doctor and the debt where your talents can also be well appreciated with a DPT or masters in art/music therapy (much smaller educational debt, shorter timeline towards beginning to earn money from practice)? You said you worked beside PT's, so why not go towards DPT?

Medical humanities is a niche academic medical topic, but you have to learn your EMR's and ICD codes too. I'm just saying you need that breadth of experiences too.

 

[LeaveNoTrace]

Agree with @Mr.Smile12 that your non-clinical volunteering is "too comfortable." You have a golden, near platinum application. You can buff it up a bit. I think having the "artsy" narrative (please pardon my pejorative wording) is fine. But you also should show that you don't mind getting dirty.

Hmm. Maybe 100 hours as the director of the organization that taught dance in nursing homes and to underprivileged kids wasn't quite enough; 300 might be different.

I know that @Goro likes people that have done hospice work. From my limited experience as a medical student on a pediatric heme/onc ward: that goes quadruple when it is children at the end of their lives. That can be quite an intense experience. The OP might well have seen some stuff: things like parents trying to take their children with treatable cancers out of the unit in order to get alternative "healthcare" with essential oils. Parents trying and failing to shield their children from the reality of their terminal illness. Children working hard to be brave and protect their parents from the anguish that their own impending death was causing.

OP's clinical work in the free clinic was also with fairly vulnerable individuals.

OP might benefit from something like volunteering in a soup kitchen or homeless shelter, though. If the children with disabilities are economically disadvantaged I think that counts.