WAMC/School List 516 MCAT, 3.95 GPA

[flamephoenix15]

1. I have a 3.93 BCPM GPA and 3.95 cGPA studying Neuroscience with a minor in Computer Science
2. 516 MCAT (130/125/131/130)
3. Florida Resident
4. ORM South Asian
5. Currently a junior at UPenn
6. 450 (projected) hours volunteering (clinical):

• 100 hours at the VA Hospital (I reached 100 hours, but I'm not sure that it's a meaningful experience so I'm probably not going to continue)
• Current 10 hours, Projected 100 hours (probably more) to work individually with patients and navigate them through the entire process of surgery (from the start with scheduling their first appointment to the end with me ending up in the surgery room with them)
• Current 10 hours, Projected 50 hours to volunteer in clinics in vital intake
• 50 hours over this summer to collect vital intake in Guatemala and 50 hours next summer.
• Current 10 hours, 100 projected hours to work assist cerebral palsy patients with OT

7. 1600 (projected) hours of research:

• 590 hours at Lab 1 with 1 middle author publication
• 250 hours at new Lab 2 currently writing a first coauthor paper. Project to have 750 more hours at this lab.

8. 84 hours of shadowing: 40 hours of shadowing an Allergist/Immunologist, 20 hours at Neurosurgeon, 20 hours at Neuroradiologist, and 4 hours at ENT.
9. 500 (projected) hours of Non-clinical volunteering

• 80 hours volunteering for a summer camp for kids whose parents have cancer + continued fundraising through the year (projecting 20 more hours)
• 30 hours of tutoring kids at risk of homelessness + guiding the college process to high school juniors from underserved populations. (Projecting 60 more hours)
• 5 hours currently of working with high school students to create a health education/awareness club for their high school (projecting 100 more hours)
• Currently 84 hours of founding a chapter of a nonprofit at our school for volunteering abroad (projecting 120 more hours) that has clinical training/teaching about health inequalities locally/internationally, eventually building up to the trip abroad.

10. Planning to take a gap year and work as a medical assistant full time and take a summer internship in industry.
11. No relevant honors/awards
12. Also worked part-time for 72 hours during sophomore year as a tutor for classes.

I have a lot of (super) reach schools. For super reach, I crossed out ones where I don't think I stand any chance, and for the ones not crossed out (not that I have any better chances), I have a really particular reason for wanting to go there. I need help drafting a list of schools that are appropriate for my ECs + stats that focus on Radiology/Engineering/Research with medicine.

Super/Unrealistic Reach:

• UPenn
• WashU
• Columbia
• Yale
• Harvard HST & Pathways
• UVA

Realistic Reach:

• Cornell
• Mayo
• Duke
• UMich
• Case Western
• USF
• Stanford
• UCSF

Target:

• UPitt
• UF
• Dartmouth
• Albert Einstein
• Emory
• University of Central Florida
• Thomas Jefferson
• Carle Illinois
• NOVA MD
• Florida International University
• FSU

@Goro, @Faha, @LizzyM, or @Mr.Smile12 if you could help that would be super appreciated!

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[Mr.Smile12]

Are you pursuing an engineering degree? Just asking since Carle is on your list, and you seem to express some interest that could fit. You may want to check with them. Can you explain why you want to focus on Radiology/Engineering? I am not sure about Harvard/HST or Stanford.

You have a lot of non-clinical volunteering with children/youth yet your VA work I presume is with a lot of older adults/veterans. It's interesting since you have 500 hours with children and only 100 with veterans/older adults. Just noticing this, and not sure what you will do with this.

I'm also checking... I don't think you listed all of your in-states. Where are Miami, NOVA MD, FSU on your original list? Where are the other Philly med schools? Perhaps NJ if you want to be close?

 

[flamephoenix15]

Are you pursuing an engineering degree? Just asking since Carle is on your list, and you seem to express some interest that could fit. You may want to check with them. Can you explain why you want to focus on Radiology/Engineering? I am not sure about Harvard/HST or Stanford.

You have a lot of non-clinical volunteering with children/youth yet your VA work I presume is with a lot of older adults/veterans. It's interesting since you have 500 hours with children and only 100 with veterans/older adults. Just noticing this, and not sure what you will do with this.

I'm also checking... I don't think you listed all of your in-states. Where are Miami, NOVA MD, FSU on your original list? Where are the other Philly med schools? Perhaps NJ if you want to be close?

I'm pursuing a neuroscience degree, but I'm taking a lot of engineering courses (including the math components) on the side. Specifically, a lot of the engineering courses focus on data science/image analysis/machine learning. I think the approach that I want to take is that AI is going to be integrated into medicine in the future, and it's important to understand how both things work to push for effective use in practice.

I want to focus on radiology/engineering as a lot of the research skills I've built could be put into practice with medicine (such as using machine learning to supplement clinical knowledge). This is especially true in radiology (which is what my research focuses on). I want to continue to build those computational skills while in medical school, but I want my primary focus to be in the clinic rather than research (hence not an MD/Ph.D.).

I also think I have a natural tendency to want to work with children/youth over older adults (I personally resonate more), but I did want the experience of working with older adults to see what it is like. Is it a bad thing to have that imbalance?

I can add Thomas Jefferson and NOVA, but I'm not inclined to take the AAMC Preview/CASPER if I can avoid it. So that limits Drexel, Temple, and Miami. That being said, if it severely limits my list of med schools, I am willing to take it, but I'd rather not take on the extra work for that. FSU I wasn't sure of yield protection (>90% of MCAT), but if that does not present a problem I'd be happy to add it!

 

[Faha]

How many clinical volunteering hours will you have at the time you submit your application in June ?

 

[Mr.Smile12]

If you are in-state,I don't think you would be subject to yield protection.

 

[flamephoenix15]

How many clinical volunteering hours will you have at the time you submit your application in June ?

By the end of my senior year May 2024, I expect to have 450 hours confirmed hours, and I'll be submitting my application in June of 2024. I would have at least 1000 projected hours as a medical assistant (but I'm guessing those won't count).

 

[Faha]

I suggest these schools when you apply:
U Penn
Miami
USF Morsani
U Florida
Florida State
Florida Atlantic
Florida International
Central Florida
NOVA MD
Carle Illinois
Emory
Duke
Jefferson
Pittsburgh
Hofstra
Einstein
Cornell
Rochester
Dartmouth
Tufts
Case Western
Cincinnati
U Michigan
Mayo
As long as you apply to all your Florida schools you can add OOS reaches.

 

[flamephoenix15]

I suggest these schools when you apply:
U Penn
Miami
USF Morsani
U Florida
Florida State
Florida Atlantic
Florida International
Central Florida
NOVA MD
Carle Illinois
Emory
Duke
Jefferson
Pittsburgh
Hofstra
Einstein
Cornell
Rochester
Dartmouth
Tufts
Case Western
Cincinnati
U Michigan
Mayo
As long as you apply to all your Florida schools you can add OOS reaches.

Thanks for the recommendation! Any particular reason for adding Cincinnati, Tufts, Rochester, and Hofstra vs removing Stanford and UCSF?

 

[Faha]

Thanks for the recommendation! Any particular reason for adding Cincinnati, Tufts, Rochester, and Hofstra vs removing Stanford and UCSF?

Those are realistic schools compared to Stanford and UCSF. UCSF is also a state public school with an instate preference (only 38 non residents in a recent class and some of those would have attended undergraduate school in CA, legacies, URM, etc.)

 

[flamephoenix15]

Those are realistic schools compared to Stanford and UCSF. UCSF is also a state public school with an instate preference (only 38 non residents in a recent class and some of those would have attended undergraduate school in CA, legacies, URM, etc.)

I get UCSF, I meant removing Stanford compared to Duke or Mayo. I also meant adding Cincinnati, Tufts, Rochester, and Hofstra specifically rather than any other school, like the University of Minnesota instead of Cincinnati. Any reason for those particular schools or just the overall rank of the school?