MD & DO WAMC + school list: cGPA 3.3, master's GPA 3.9x, ORM, FAP

[PurpleLightSky]

1. AMCAS GPA: cGPA 3.3 and sGPA 3.35 AACOMAS: sGPA 3.4x + master's GPA 3.9x (this was kind of an SMP but not through the med school, lasted one year, 15 credit hours both semesters)
2. MCAT 500 (127, 125, 124, 124) -> 503 (125, 124, 128, 126)
3. State of residence: Midwest + dual citizenship
4. Ethnicity and/or race: ORM white
5. Undergraduate institution or category: state college
6. Clinical experience (volunteer and non-volunteer):
   1. university's clinic: 800 hours started during covid, learned administrative side of healthcare since my boss was the clinic manager + was in a leadership position
   2. clinical research: 450h during a little less than a year, did not get published, interacted with patients to enroll them in several different studies. This was more clinical than research because I gathered the data but did not analyze it. I was in a leadership position overseeing a team of 10-15 people. Diverse pop and doctors, got to speak other foreign languages that I know. (PI is an MD that offered to write a letter of rec before I even asked for one, they are awesome and well know in the hospital network + in state med school)
   3. full time clinical research just started and will be working during application year (so will be 1500-2000 hours by the time of matriculation
7. Research experience and productivity
   1. research with computer coding: 150h in trying to code for a program that actually did not end up working, but it was fun. Did not get published but the application (if the program were to ever work) would have real world application. It has been 2 years since I did this project and no one has figured out how to make it work haha.
8. Shadowing experience and specialties represented
   1. in person shadowing: cardiologist, medical examiners, rheumatology, about 60h total. I also did online shadowing for about 80h but I did not include that in the application since I had real in person shadowing
9. Non-clinical volunteering ( I do not have much volunteering because I have to pay my bills, and this is also reflected by my long resume and having virtually no unemployed time since I started college even during covid)
   1. tour guide for museum: i value humanities, history, and other fine arts. about 80h, 50h projected, have been doing this for a year and a half.
   2. science fair: 8h did it once but I loved it, def planning on doing this again
10. Other extracurricular activities (including athletics, military service, gap year activities, leadership, teaching, etc)
    1. Teaching assistant: 100h in 1 year, loved to mentor the students
11. Relevant honors or awards
12. Anything else not listed you think might be important
    1. I have other non-clinical jobs (total of 1530h) in customer service for the first two years before I knew I wanted to go to med school
    2. Worked for medical examiner office (400h) and this is when I knew I wanted to go to medical school and help people before they die/ help them improve symptoms and have decent life before they die.
    3. spanish intermediate (can become fluent if i were to use it everyday for like a month), another european language fluenty/native
    4. I received FAP. I did not write the adversity assay bc tbh I feel like I did not have any major disadvantages that trickled down (like URM might experience or people from extremely low SES) but a bunch of tiny things that all felt like reaches so I decided to leave them out.

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[Mr.Smile12]

PREview/Casper?

 

[Mr.Smile12]

1. Non-clinical volunteering ( I do not have much volunteering because I have to pay my bills, and this is also reflected by my long resume and having virtually no unemployed time since I started college even during covid)
   1. tour guide for museum: i value humanities, history, and other fine arts. about 80h, 50h projected, have been doing this for a year and a half.
   2. science fair: 8h did it once but I loved it, def planning on doing this again
2. Other extracurricular activities (including athletics, military service, gap year activities, leadership, teaching, etc)
   1. Teaching assistant: 100h in 1 year, loved to mentor the students

All of these activities demonstrate your dedication to nurturing others' academic competencies and education. I love my time doing all these activities because it complements my dedication to education. However, this does not show service competency according to the AAMC competency definition where you need to demonstrate humble empathy to alleviate others' distress. Typical activities include food distribution, shelter work, job placement services, transportation services, and housing rehabilitation.

Where are your service orientation activities that are not related to clinical experience? If you have zero, this will put your application at risk of getting screened out.

 

[PurpleLightSky]

this does not show service competency according to the AAMC competency definition where you need to demonstrate humble empathy to alleviate others' distress

I believe I demonstrated this during my time at the medical examiner office. I had to call the decedent's family members to coordinate identification of decedent/ pick up of personal property etc. I wouldn't say it was my fav job ever, but I had to cope in a very sad environment. I listened and empathized. There are other examples in the same experience but they would be too detailed. These are skills that everyone can say that they have and can "practice" by serving food to the underserved, but I believe what I did at the medical examiner to be more impactful/has impacted me more than if I would have delivered canned food.
In addition, I have also volunteered for a naturalization ceremony, loved it, but I was only able to do it once because of covid and because I had school and work the times have not aligned since ( I did not include this in the application because I felt like it was too little for the ADCOM to believe it made an impact at all, even though it did because my mother had to be naturalized, in addition to all of my partner's family)

I want to clarify that I do not believe serving food type of volunteering services to be pointless/useless, I just did different activities.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

I believe I demonstrated this during my time at the medical examiner office. I had to call the decedent's family members to coordinate identification of decedent/ pick up of personal property etc. I wouldn't say it was my fav job ever, but I had to cope in a very sad environment. I listened and empathized. There are other examples in the same experience but they would be too detailed. These are skills that everyone can say that they have and can "practice" by serving food to the underserved, but I believe what I did at the medical examiner to be more impactful/has impacted me more than if I would have delivered canned food.
In addition, I have also volunteered for a naturalization ceremony, loved it, but I was only able to do it once because of covid and because I had school and work the times have not aligned since ( I did not include this in the application because I felt like it was too little for the ADCOM to believe it made an impact at all, even though it did because my mother had to be naturalized, in addition to all of my partner's family)

I want to clarify that I do not believe serving food type of volunteering services to be pointless/useless, I just did different activities.

Were you working or volunteering? You put down working 400 hours. Working with an ME is still medical/clinic-related.

I'm just pointing out traps where your application could fall into based on working with admissions committees.

 

[Faha]

Where is your state of residence ?

 

[PurpleLightSky]

Where is your state of residence ?

I am very cautious about putting out too much information online, but I am from a midwest state where the med schools are considered lower tier and that shows instate preference. However, my MCAT is a couple points below their 10th percentile on MSAR. All my jobs, connections, and letters (most of which are very strong), are from people that work from this in-state med school. In addition I have ties to NJ (lived there when I was young), KY (I visit very often at least once a month), and PA (visit regularly a couple of times a year)

I do understand MD is extremely hard for me to even get interviews, but since I have FAP I thought I would at least use up most of the "free" 19 schools. I also understand I am mildly competitive for DO schools, which I would attend as long as the rotations are not a headache and they match well.

 

[PurpleLightSky]

I'm just pointing out traps where your application could fall into based on working with admissions committees.

it was paid. I thank you for pointing that out, especially so I can elaborate more if secondaries allow and i can see that being something being asked or clarified IF i get an interview

 

[Faha]

You may be able to receive interviews at your state public MD schools but OOS MD schools are unrealistic with your stats. You are competitive for most DO schools and I suggest these:
MU-COM
UP-KYCOM
WVSOM
LECOM (all schools)
PCOM (all schools)
MU-COM
KCU-COM
ATSU-KCOM
TUNCOM
UIWSOM
ACOM
NOVA
CUSOM
VCOM (all schools except Monroe)
WCU-COM

 

[Mr.Smile12]

I am very cautious about putting out too much information online, but I am from a midwest state where the med schools are considered lower tier and that shows instate preference. However, my MCAT is a couple points below their 10th percentile on MSAR. All my jobs, connections, and letters (most of which are very strong), are from people that work from this in-state med school. In addition I have ties to NJ (lived there when I was young), KY (I visit very often at least once a month), and PA (visit regularly a couple of times a year)

I do understand MD is extremely hard for me to even get interviews, but since I have FAP I thought I would at least use up most of the "free" 19 schools. I also understand I am mildly competitive for DO schools, which I would attend as long as the rotations are not a headache and they match well.

Your metrics are desirable for DO schools, but understand that DO schools are also preferring applicants with ties to the communities and regions where they serve. That's why we ask for your state residence. Our list is only as good as the information you give us.

I agree with @Faha you should try for the in-states because they go for the home team too. I understand the challenges of having to work a job while applying and doing all of this other extra stuff, but I assure you that if you set aside the time, you can do it. I'm amazed often at home many people will dedicate time on Sundays (or maybe Saturdays) to go to their weekly worship service and community for 3 hours a week and claim they don't have time to volunteer. I take them at their word, but one's calendar and one's bank account reveals one's priorities very effectively.