WAMC + Application Review 3.5/524 ORM

[albuterolhfa]

PLEASE DO NOT QUOTE THIS MESSAGE

Hi all! I’m currently in my first gap year post-grad and gearing up to apply this cycle! I’d love an overall evaluation of my application (especially weaknesses I can shore up before June) and help putting together a school list. Thanks in advance for your help!

cGPA and sGPA as calculated by AMCAS or AACOMAS

• cGPA: 3.58 sGPA: 3.58. I don’t know what’s considered a strong upward trend, but my grades each year of undergrad were 3.1/3.4/3.7/3.9 (cGPA). I struggled with adjusting to college and just generally lacked both maturity and direction in my life during those first two years, which is reflected pretty clearly in my performance. Not trying to excuse anything, just giving some context!

MCAT score(s) and breakdown

• 524 (131/132/130/131)

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

• NJ Resident

Ethnicity and/or race

• ORM Asian

Undergraduate institution or category

• Non-HYP Ivy

Clinical experience (volunteer and non-volunteer)

• Medical Scribe: 100 hours in the ED and 200 hours at a private clinic; these are ongoing and I expect to have 350+ in each by the time I apply
• Volunteering: 40 hours at a physical therapy clinic, 70 hours in the ED, 60 hours in a pre/post-op care unit. This last one is ongoing and I anticipate ~150 hours by June

Research experience and productivity

• 700-ish hours in biomed/pharmaceuticals over 2 summer internships. No pubs, posters or anything like that.

Shadowing experience and specialties represented

• 120+ hours total across psych, IM, peds, anesthesia and urology. Might add on EM or some surgical specialties - do the specialties you shadow in matter for application purposes?

Non-clinical volunteering

• 210 hours working at a hospital-affiliated program helping patients access various social services (applying for SNAP, housing assistance, etc.)

Other extracurricular activities (including athletics, military service, gap year activities, leadership, teaching, etc)

• 240 hours on the executive board of a literary magazine in undergrad. Writing is a major passion of mine! I double majored in Biology and Literature in school, and I have a couple other miscellaneous clubs/extracurriculars related to this - not sure if I should include these on my app though. I was a biology TA for around 200 hours across 2 semesters, and have around 100 hours as a peer mentor/advisor.

Relevant honors or awards

• None

Anything else not listed you think might be important

• None

It’s been a bit of a struggle putting together a school list considering my fairly lopsided stats, plus the fact that I don’t think I have any particularly outstanding extracurriculars that I can focus my app around. I am interested in primary care and specifically in working with immigrant/underserved populations in urban areas, but I don’t know that I have the experience to back that up. That said, here is my preliminary school list:

Columbia
Duke
UMich
Pitt
Mount Sinai
UCLA
Emory
Case Western
USC
BU
URochester
Brown
U of Cincinnati
Einstein
UMiami
Dartmouth
Wake Forest
USF-Morsani
Tufts
GWU
Sidney Kimmel
VCU
Hofstra
Temple
Wayne State
Saint Louis University
Drexel
NYULI
Geisinger
NYMC
Tulane
Loyola
Penn State
Rosalind Franklin
Albany
Quinnipiac
plus my four in-state schools RWJ, NJMS, Cooper and Hackensack.

I’m willing to apply to up to 50 schools to cast as wide a net as possible, but realistically I think I can write about 40 quality applications without burning myself out. I’ve used tools like LizzyM, WARS, and admit.org in addition to MSAR, all of which recommend much more top-heavy school lists, which I feel like is overestimating my competitiveness. Should I be considering more T20 schools? Are there any schools here that I should remove? Any feedback at all would be super helpful and appreciated. Thanks!

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[Mr.Smile12]

If your transcript supports your upward trend with rigorous biomedical coursework, you have a strong argument with a good mission fit. Keep working on your experience hours so you can be on par with the applicant pools at high-stats programs you want to attend. You don't need more shadowing hours (presuming your 120 hours are all in-person).

You can be more picky, but you have listed schools that are going to yield protect you unless you show a strong geographic or mission fit (looking at Wayne State, Tulane, USF, SLU, Rosalind Franklin, VCU). You don't have enough community service hours for many of the service-focused schools like Loyola and Rush.

If writing is an important facet you want to keep in your education, search "medical humanities" and writing among the schools on your list. Find schools that sharpen students' ability to write (narrative medicine).

Narrative Medicine: Every Patient Has a Story

Patient experiences go beyond the symptoms they bring to a doctor’s office. Drawing out these narratives can provide a helpful context for physicians.

www.aamc.org

https://reflectivemeded.org/2023/04/04/1490/

The empathetic power of narrative medicine - The DO

Patient narratives require an empathic investigation. Tony Errichetti, PhD, shares how physicians can learn to "read" their patients.

thedo.osteopathic.org

Columbia is most well-known but other schools have their own departments too. Iowa also has a very well-established program, though I'm not sure you want to go to Iowa (The Examined Life Conference – Exploring the intersections between medicine and the arts).

 

[Faha]

I suggest these schools from your list:
Columbia
Duke
UMich
Pitt
Mount Sinai
Emory
Case Western
BU
URochester
Brown
U of Cincinnati
Einstein
UMiami
Dartmouth
USF-Morsani
Tufts
GWU
Sidney Kimmel
Hofstra
Temple
Saint Louis University
NYULI
NYMC
Tulane
plus my four in-state schools RWJ, NJMS, Cooper and Hackensack.
You could add any of these schools:
Western Michigan
Kaiser
Northwestern
Washington University (in St. Louis-they like high MCAT scores)

 

[albuterolhfa]

If your transcript supports your upward trend with rigorous biomedical coursework, you have a strong argument with a good mission fit. Keep working on your experience hours so you can be on par with the applicant pools at high-stats programs you want to attend. You don't need more shadowing hours (presuming your 120 hours are all in-person).

You can be more picky, but you have listed schools that are going to yield protect you unless you show a strong geographic or mission fit (looking at Wayne State, Tulane, USF, SLU, Rosalind Franklin, VCU). You don't have enough community service hours for many of the service-focused schools like Loyola and Rush.

If writing is an important facet you want to keep in your education, search "medical humanities" and writing among the schools on your list. Find schools that sharpen students' ability to write (narrative medicine).

Narrative Medicine: Every Patient Has a Story

Patient experiences go beyond the symptoms they bring to a doctor’s office. Drawing out these narratives can provide a helpful context for physicians.

www.aamc.org

https://reflectivemeded.org/2023/04/04/1490/

The empathetic power of narrative medicine - The DO

Patient narratives require an empathic investigation. Tony Errichetti, PhD, shares how physicians can learn to "read" their patients.

thedo.osteopathic.org

Columbia is most well-known but other schools have their own departments too. Iowa also has a very well-established program, though I'm not sure you want to go to Iowa (The Examined Life Conference – Exploring the intersections between medicine and the arts).

I'd say I had a decently rigorous courseload during my last 2 years - I was basically only taking upper division biology courses to finish up my major, plus physics and a few electives here and there. I struggled with chemistry throughout undergrad (pretty much all B's), but I retook Gen Chem last fall at a 4-year institution and got an A, so hopefully that shows that I can perform better than the rest of my transcript shows with my current study habits and mindset.

I knew Rush had a service focus but didn't know Loyola was the same, so I'll be taking that off for sure. Are there any schools you'd recommend I replace Wayne State, Tulane, VCU, etc with?

I honestly had no idea narrative medicine was a thing, so thank you for pointing that out to me! I'll definitely do more research into it myself, it sounds like something that I would actually really enjoy. I'm pretty sure Iowa also runs Iowa Writers' Workshop, so that's not surprising to hear. Don't know if I'd prefer to go there, but I'll look into the program more for sure and add it to my list! Thank you so much for your detailed response, it's definitely given me a lot to think about!

 

[Mr.Smile12]

I knew Rush had a service focus but didn't know Loyola was the same, so I'll be taking that off for sure. Are there any schools you'd recommend I replace Wayne State, Tulane, VCU, etc with?

I think my main point is find your niche and your fit. Better to have a smaller list of schools where you can see yourself excel than spread yourself too thin with a shotgun approach. You said you wanted to narrow your list to a max of 40.

 

[LeaveNoTrace]

my grades each year of undergrad were 3.1/3.4/3.7/3.9 (cGPA).

That's a solid upward trend - you didn't do great as a freshman but every year you were a better and better student. And the MCAT seals it. Congrats. Your GPA might keep you out of top 20 schools but then again it might not; you're a midtier level applicant who should apply to at least a half dozen top 20s. Someone's got to be in the bottom 10 percent.