Medical WAMC + School List Advice

[GoSpursGo]

1. cGPA: 3.80, sGPA: 3.66
2. MCAT: 511 (126, 129, 128, 128)
3. State of residence: IA
4. White
5. Public state school - Interdepartmental Studies Major, Philosphy Minor. I graduate this semester
6. 90 hours of completed hospital volunteering (hours cut way down b/c volunteers weren't allowed in hospital the past year). I will continue volunteering during my gap year at this hospital, and start hospice volunteering as well, so projected hours will be closer to 300.
7. 800 hours as an undergraduate, with a poster presentation, and was awarded $5,000 fellowship. Also working as a full time research intern during my gap year so another 2,000 hours. 2,800 hours total
8. 70 hours shadowing across ob-gyn, oncology, surgery
9. 50 hours volunteering at a food pantry over the past year, will continue doing this over gap year so projected hours will be around 150
10. I was a volunteer mentor at a hospital prior to COVID (trained new volunteers). Have been an officer in our philosophy club for the past year, have also published a paper in our undergraduate philosophy journal, and now edit this same journal.
11. I'm in Phi Beta Kappa, was awarded a $5,000 fellowship for my research as mentioned previously, and am graduating with distinction
12. I worked around 500 hours as a library assistant for 2 years, and now work as a standardized patient

I graduate this semester and will be a first time applicant. Over my gap year I will be researching full time, continuing my clinical and non-clinical volunteering, and working as a standardized patient. This gap year volunteering will boost my hours a lot, but I am not entirely sure if adcoms look at completed hours vs future hours differently? I also have strong LORs from 2 sci profs, a philosophy prof, my PI, and a physician I shadowed. My interest in philosophy is also something I talk about in my personal statement, as it is what prompted me to go into medicine. Here is my school list, trying to narrow it down and am open to any suggestions you might have:

Pitt
Cincinnati
OSU
Einstein
Dartmouth
SLU
Minnesota
Tufts
Maryland
Colorado
Iowa
Wayne State
Creighton
VCU
Connecticut
Wisconsin
Quinnipiac
Temple
Wake Forest
Drexel
Vermont
U Illinois chicago
Eastern Virginia
Indiana
Buffalo
TCU
Oakland
(I am also applying to several DO schools as well)

Overall, just looking to see what my chances are, if my clinical experience is enough, and any other application advice you might have. Thank you!

The answer is that projected hours are kind of ignored. Your intentions may be good, but who knows what the future will bring? It may inform potential interviewers to ask about these activities, but probably won't help you get interviews in the first place.

With that in mind... your clinical exposure is honestly very low. It's your money, but I think your application will be much stronger a year from now.

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[GoSpursGo]

Thanks for the feedback. What would you consider a sufficient amount of clinical hours? With COVID closing many hospitals for volunteering this past year, I thought adcoms might have different expectations for hours this upcoming cycle.

I've loosely heard 150 hours of volunteering thrown around, but perhaps some of the other experts who are actual adcoms could give their input.

The problem is that there are already so many qualified applicants that even if some percentage of applicants can't get enough hours, there are going to be enough that can. And ultimately schools want to make sure you know what you're getting yourself into.

 

[Goro]

Here is a more realistic list. You have a fair number of donations above, as OOS public schools heavily favor the home team.

Dartmouth (maybe)
Rochester
U ILL
NYU-LI
Emory
Tufts
Jefferson
Miami
Nova MD
U VM
Miami
George Washington
Georgetown
SLU
Albany
Rush
Rosy Franklin
NYMC
MCW
VCU
EVMS
Wayne State
Wake Forest
Netter
Temple
Drexel
Creighton
Tulane
Loyola
Uniformed Services University/Hebert (just be aware of the military service commitment)
Oakland-B
Hackensack Meridian
TCU/UNT
U IA

Any DO program. Include OSUCOM. I can't recommend ARCOM, RVU, Nova, BCOM, ICOM and LUCOM, for different reasons. MSUCOM? Read up on Larry Nasser and you decide. LMU has an accreditation warning, which concerns me. CUHS is too new and appears to be too limited in rotations sites. Avoid those new schools that haven't graduated a class yet, if at all possible.

Here's a harsh truth: your safety, as well as that of your family and society, is more important than your med school plans.

In the mean time, you can work on your nonclinical volunteering. Venues include scribing, food banks, COVID screening or contact tracing, Meals on Wheels, election poll working (normally done by seniors) and whatever your local houses of worship can suggest.

Do not count on your research hours to be of much help for MD.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

As it stands I think 150 hours still stands as a solid minimum expectation for clinical as well and non-clinical community service hours (each). I don't know how my committees will deal with 2020 clinical activities, but if you were scribing in a telemedical capacity, you are probably still good.

 

[TheBoneDoctah]

Personally, I would probably take a gap year and really focus on your ECs. You have a solid GPA/MCAT and would get some good interviews with a boost in your ECs.