WAMC: 509/3.66/3.63 MD school list help (research heavy application)

[NWN7]

Hello everyone! I'm a non-radiational, age 27, MD reapplicant hoping to get some feedback on both my application and my school list. While in undergrad I intended on applying to graduate school but in my final year made the decision that I instead wanted to pursue a career as a physician. After graduating from the University of Washington with BS degrees in both Microbiology and Medical Laboratory Science I began working in an academic research lab at the University of Washington with the intention of applying in the spring of 2020. COVID disrupted that and I instead applied the following year. After a relatively unsuccessful cycle only receiving one interview with the UW, I decided to make a professional shift and began a position in the clinical lab at my local pediatric hospital with the plan of taking a gap year and applying again which is where I'm at now.

I realize that my application is a bit top heavy when it comes to research and I have a feeling certain schools may look at that more favorably than others. I'm hoping to get some feedback on my application as a whole as well as my school list to see if there's any improvements that can be made.

cGPA and sGPA as calculated by AMCAS or AACOMAS
cGPA: 3.66
sGPA: 3.63

MCAT score(s) and breakdown
509 (128/138/128/125)

State of residence or country of citizenship (if non-US)
Washington State residency

Ethnicity and/or race
White male

Undergraduate institution or category
University of Washington

Clinical experience (volunteer and non-volunteer)
1.5 years (2560 hours) medical laboratory scientist at local pediatric hospital
2 months (320 hours) medical laboratory scientist at clinical virology lab at start of COVID-19 pandemic

7 months (100 hours) child life volunteer at local pediatric hospital

Research experience and productivity
2.5 years full time academic research scientist (4320 hours) w/ 4 published papers including 1 co-first authorship
1 year undergraduate research (360 hours) w/ one published paper
5 week clinical research rotation (200 hours) w/ one university research symposium poster presentation

Shadowing experience and specialties represented
15 hours pulmonology
4 hours hematology
16 hours infectious disease
10 hours neurodevelopment
15 hours nephrology

60 hours total

Non-clinical volunteering
3 months (70 hours) taking phone calls at a crisis line
1 year (120 hours) early literacy program coordinator at local pediatric hospital

Other extracurricular activities (including athletics, military service, gap year activities, leadership, teaching, etc)
6 months (240 hours) undergraduate microbiology journal lead editor
3 months (40 hours) National Summer Undergraduate Research Program mentor
3 months (160 hours) clinical microbiology teaching assistant

Relevant honors or awards
Annual Dean's List 2017-2018 + 2018-2019

Anything else not listed you think might be important
I am a reapplicant (first cycle was 2021-2022)

Schools I currently have on my developing school List (very open to suggestions on schools to add/remove as well as possible DO schools to include)
UW
Washington State
Emory
U Cincinnati
U Vermont
Ohio State
Hofstra
Einstein
Boston U
Western Michigan
Tufts
Jefferson
USF
Miami
WUSTL
Iowa
UVA
Kaiser

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[chilly_md]

The big issue is it seems you have very low exposure to patients. MLS does not count as clinical experience if you are working in the back with the samples. That, in conjuction with your very large research hours, suggests to admissions that you either have no real reason to leave MLS or should pursue a PhD instead.

 

[Faha]

Your low clinical volunteering and non clinical volunteering hours will limit your chances for interviews. The majority of schools on your list are unrealistic with your stats. Apply to both MD and DO schools and I suggest these:
U Washington
Washington State
Rosalind Franklin
Medical College Wisconsin
Oakland Beaumont
NOVA MD
Wake Forest
Virginia Commonwealth
George Washington
Drexel
Temple
Jefferson
Penn State
Hackensack
New York Medical College
Albany
Vermont
Quinnipiac
PNWU-COM
WESTERN
TUCOM-CA
TUNCOM
AZCOM
CCOM
DMU-COM
KCU-COM
ATSU-KCOM
MU-CO
NYITCOM
Touro-NY
PCOM

 

[Mr.Smile12]

1 year (120 hours) early literacy program coordinator at local pediatric hospital

Clarify: so you were not in a teaching or tutoring role?

I agree that CLS work is not patient-facing, but you do have a lot of patient-facing clinical-adjacent experience it appears (a lot of pediatrics experience). I will take your word for shadowing. Overall hours then is not bad to me.

That does leave non-clinical volunteering as possibly low. Crisis line is helpful but not always satisfactory in demonstrating "service orientation", unlike food distribution, shelter work, job placement services, transportation services, or housing rehabilitation.

WAMC does not give us a timeline. I'm trying to figure out how you racked up the hours as a CLS before the hours in research. Were the CLS hours accrued while you were earning your degree or afterwards? Being a CLS for 2 months only at spring 2020 when COVID began to ravage the US, especially in Seattle where you would likely be... I don't quite get why you couldn't stay on given the need at that time. I guess you went to your research position?

You are a reapplicant, so where did you get interviews, offers, or waitlists?

 

[NWN7]

Clarify: so you were not in a teaching or tutoring role?

Technically the only teaching/tutoring role I was in was as a university TA for a summer clinical microbiology course. For the coordinator role there have been some interaction with patients and providers primarily in clinic during specific patient visits (familiarizing parents with the program etc.) I'm still involved in this today.

WAMC does not give us a timeline. I'm trying to figure out how you racked up the hours as a CLS before the hours in research. Were the CLS hours accrued while you were earning your degree or afterwards? Being a CLS for 2 months only at spring 2020 when COVID began to ravage the US, especially in Seattle where you would likely be... I don't quite get why you couldn't stay on given the need at that time. I guess you went to your research position?

I initially began my research position in 9/19, and at the start of COVID in 3/20, the majority of research projects were put on hold. At the same time, the University of Washington Clinical Virology Lab put out a request for anyone with MLS(ASCP) licensure to come work for them while the testing program was brought onboard and they were able to hire additional permanent, full-time staff. This was technically an unpaid position and my primary position at the UW was still as a researcher. Even though I was unpaid, I was performing all of the duties of the other full-time, paid staff members there, unlike the community volunteers who were restricted to limited roles. At the end of the two months our research projects had transitioned to COVID and so we were allowed to resume our in person work. I requested that I still work in the virology lab in addition to doing my research work, but they said that there was no longer a need as things had stabilized considerably from a testing perspective over those two months.

You are a reapplicant, so where did you get interviews, offers, or waitlists?

The only interview I had was with the University of Washington. I submitted my primary to the following schools, and submitted secondaries to only the ones bolded. I was limited in the schools I could apply to during that cycle as I did not have 1 year of organic or physics lab. I've since taken those additional labs with the intent of expanding the list of schools I can apply to this cycle.

Albert Einstein College of Medicine
Boston University School of Medicine
Creighton University School of Medicine
Drexel University College of Medicine
George Washington University School of Medicine and Health
Sciences
Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California
Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University
Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine
Medical College of Wisconsin
Oakland University William Beaumont School of Medicine
Oregon Health & Science University School of Medicine
Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine
Rush Medical College of Rush University Medical Center
Sidney Kimmel Medical College at Thomas Jefferson University
TCU and UNTHSC SOM
Tulane University School of Medicine
University of Arizona College of Medicine - Phoenix
University of California, Los Angeles David Geffen School of
Medicine
University of California, San Diego School of Medicine
University of Cincinnati College of Medicine
University of Illinois College of Medicine
University of Minnesota Medical School
University of Washington School of Medicine
Wake Forest School of Medicine of Wake Forest Baptist Medical
Center
Washington State University Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine

Thanks for the feedback and questions, I appreciate it!

 

[Goro]

Tons of donations on that list OP. My list to follow

 

[RockClimberMed]

will your MCAT score still be valid? What was your test date?

 

[Goro]

OP, here is a more reasonable list. You are making a grave error in thinking that your research output will be a major hook. Unfortunately, you will be crowded out be people who are just as productive, but with better stats (and ECs).

Albany
Drexel
EVMS
Gtown
GWU
Loma Linda (only if you are SDA or a very devout Christian)
Loyola
MCW
Netter
Nova MD
Oakland-B
Rosy Franklin
Rush
SLU
TCU
Temple
Tulane
U VM
Uniformed Services University/Hebert (just be aware of the military service commitment)
Wake Forest
Wayne State
Your state school.

Any DO program. Include UNECOM. I can't recommend LMU, SOMA, ARCOM, RVU, BCOM, ICOM and LUCOM, for different reasons. Avoid those new schools that haven't graduated a class yet, if at all possible. You need to have DO schools on the list.

 

[gyngyn]

From your list above, delete the following (at a minimum):
Boston University School of Medicine
Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California
University of California, Los Angeles David Geffen School of
Medicine
University of California, San Diego School of Medicine

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Floyd WSU gives me the impression that they focus much more on community and clinical experience. Your research and connections to UW I'm guessing helped you get the interview. No guarantee you'll get it again, but it is helpful to get feedback from them. I would concur the clinical exposure probably got in the way at other schools.