WAMC/SChool List 523 MCAT, 3.94sGPA 3.95cGPA ORM, CA Resident

[ThyAmbitionsToRest]

Hope everyone's day is going great, and thank you in advance! I'm a senior graduating soon and looking to apply to this upcoming cycle, and I'd like to get some advice from everyone where on my school list/chances:

1. cGPA and sGPA as calculated by AMCAS or AACOMAS: 3.95/3.94 Neuroscience B.S.
2. MCAT score(s) and breakdown: 523 (131/131/129/132)
3. State of residence or country of citizenship (if non-US): California
4. Ethnicity and/or race: ORM/Asian
5. Undergraduate institution or category: T25 private institution
6. Clinical experience (volunteer and non-volunteer):
   1. 400 hours in local hospital, rotatingin different departments like med/surg, radiology, ED, CLS, etc
   2. 50 hours measuring blood pressure/blood glucose checks for local underserved communities
7. Research experience and productivity:
   1. 2000 hours in basic science research (no pubs, because the project I was working on took a long time of planning, etc, and my PI unfortunately passed away before I could finish it, and I was unable to find another mentor to take on the lab because of our niche the subject is; regardless, I can talk extensively about my experience and will likely be one of my most meaningful experiences)
   2. 500 hours in translational science research (2 pubs as mid-author, literature reviews and meta-analysis on high-impact journal for the field of interest; more on the way with one of them being 1st author, projected to submit before application submission)
8. Shadowing experience and specialties represented:
   1. 40 hours (10 radiology, 15 neurosurgery, 15 ER), looking to get more primary care shadowing + other specialties before I graduate
9. Non-clinical volunteering:
   1. 250 hours volunteering with medical relief organization at school, president until junior year
   2. 150 hours volunteering teaching neuroscience topics to local schools
   3. 120 hours volunteering to help design modules for hospital for education
10. Other extracurricular activities (including athletics, military service, gap year activities, leadership, teaching, etc):
    1. 700 hours in pre-professional/volunteer organization (ethnic organization focused on STEM), co-president
       1. Hosted various guest speakers, panels, events focused on professional growth and networking
       2. Hosting annual event for ethnic group high school students, especially targeting underserved areas near Los Angeles with lower economic status to help with college preparedness, networking, and academics; Proctoring and volunteering at national math competition for k-12
       3. I'm not sure how to classify this activity because half of what we do is pre-professional networking, but the other half is dedicated to volunteering at the said annual events, which is more volunteer than pre-professional?
    2. 200 hours in national leadership team of the aforementioned pre-professional organization, managing 7 of 25+ different student chapters across the country
    3. Leadership Presentation at a major national conference hosted by aforementioned pre-professional organization to other presidents, VPs, student leaders in different student chapters that came to conference(attended conference twice, presented at most recent one)
    4. TA for 1 semester in neuroscience course
    5. 1500 hours Rubik's cube (hobby)
11. Relevant honors or awards:
    1. Scholarship from national chapter of pre-professional organization for research, leadership, and service
    2. 2 semesters of research grant from school
    3. Summa cum Laude (unless I somehow seriously tank my GPA this last semester)
    4. Phi Beta Kappa
    5. Dean's List every semester (lol just to throw it in)
12. Anything else not listed you think might be important:
    1. Projected 1750 hours in process of getting started with paid job in clinic for more clinical experience after graduation (I know projected doesn't mean anything)
    2. Selected as 1 of 15 delegates to go to STEM conference in foreign country from competitive application, while also selected as lead delegate
    3. My PI who passed away, who bless his heart, wrote me a LOR before his passing. It was meant to be a scholarship LOR but he wrote me one for medical school since he just needed to change a few things. One of his old PhD students/current faculty will write me a LOR, including my PI's LOR after it. He also taught one of my classes.

My tentative school list in no particular order is as follows:

Stanford
UCLA
NYU Grossman
Harvard
Johns Hopkins
Icahn SoM at Mt. Sinai
Duke
Penn Perelman
USC Keck
Yale
Cornell Weill
WashU St. Louis
Vanderbilt
UVA
UCSF
UCSD
UCI
Kaiser
Mayo Clinic
CWRU
Hofstra
Northwestern
Columbia
UChicago Pritzker
UMichigan
Boston University
Dartmouth Geisel
USF

Please feel free to suggest any schools to add or remove, and thank you!

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[Faha]

You have a good list and should receive several interviews.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Point out to me your activities that fulfill the AAMC service orientation definition. I'm skeptical that you have this competency covered in your non clinical volunteering.

 

[ThyAmbitionsToRest]

Point out to me your activities that fulfill the AAMC service orientation definition. I'm skeptical that you have this competency covered in your non clinical volunteering.

The medical relief organization focused on fundraising and creating support packages for medical underserved communities both in the US and outside. The hospital education non-clinical focuses on instructing local communities to better apply first-aid, especially in cases where EMS services may not easily access, or patients are skeptical of calling 911 due to obscene costs of medical services at times. Other than that, my pre-professional organization has done a lot of projects helping communities in LA, especially with networking and getting help with college preparedness for areas that are less economically supported.

Just curious, what part of my non-clinical volunteering leads you to believe it doesn't specifically meet the AAMC service orientation definition? I believe my involvement in my clinical volunteering would meet that core competency, if my non-clinicals specifically do not.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

The issue I have is seeing how you stretch out of your comfort zone and provide empathetic care for others unlike yourself who are in distress. Fundraising does not fulfill this competency. Creating support packages doesn't bring you face-to-face with those in need. I can understand what you are trying to do with educating local communities but it doesn't really alleviate distress in real time. College prep is okay, but a LOT of premeds will do this sort of activity and (for some faculty) it doesn't address the competency.

 

[ThyAmbitionsToRest]

The issue I have is seeing how you stretch out of your comfort zone and provide empathetic care for others unlike yourself who are in distress. Fundraising does not fulfill this competency. Creating support packages doesn't bring you face-to-face with those in need. I can understand what you are trying to do with educating local communities but it doesn't really alleviate distress in real time. College prep is okay, but a LOT of premeds will do this sort of activity and (for some faculty) it doesn't address the competency.

I see your point. I worked most of my time in the ED and the ED radiology department during my hospital volunteer shifts, where I've seen and assisted with many urgent cases, especially strokes. Perhaps my non-clinical activities don't strictly meet these criteria and hospital volunteering may not be the most unique way to demonstrate this, but I would certainly include my experience as a hospital volunteer to support my service orientation competency.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

You need to have some non-clinical experiences that show service orientation as well. Arguably, most people understand alleviating distress is part of the job as a healthcare provider, but what makes applicants stand out is how this is carried forward outside the clinic. A lot of people become unhealthy due to the lack of support or social services, so alleviating distress there can impact their health. One must stretch out of one's comfort zone to understand this, especially outside a clinical setting.