WAMC/ School list help (3.58/513)

[odious]

Hi. I'm planning to apply this cycle and would really appreciate help on creating a school list and also advice on how I can improve my chances for medical school.

1)Started off with biomedical engineering and ended as a Biochem major
cGPA: 3.58 Freshman: 3.12 Sophmore: 3.45 Junior 3.95 Senior: 3.82
sGPA: 3.42 Freshman: 3.0 Sophmore: 3.33 Junior 3.89 Senior: 3.74
Background on GPA: I had a rough first three semesters but pulled through the rest of my undergraduate degree

2)MCAT:
First attempt 509 (cp 128 cars 125 bb 128 ps 128)
Second attempt 513 (cp 128 cars 124 bb 132 ps 129)

3) NY resident, Asian Bengali, SUNY undergrad

4) Clinical
Medical scribe at Mount Sinai: about 1800 hours in the cardiology department
Expected to start working as a Medical assistant at a dermatology clinic soon

5) Shadowing: none. I will try to get some hours, but I'm hoping scribing could cover it.

6) About 300 hours of clinical research. I was given this opportunity by the doctors who work at Mount Sinai. I helped screen patients and get their consent for research studies involving drugs we use in our cardiology department.

7) Volunteering
Make- A Wish~ 50 hours
local Mosque~ 500- 600 hours over in 7 years
Joined my friend's nonprofit in high school where we provide food to shelters and distribute leftover food from restaurants: ~700 hours in 7 years

8) Other EC/ hobby
Teaching assistant for 1 year
Lead teaching assistant for 0.5 year
Hobby: I learned how to cut hair for COVID-19 and started doing it for fun since then

9) LOR
1 letter from the physician I scribed for (he let me write the letter) 1 letter
2 Science professors ( I was a teaching assistant for one of them), 1 from my English professor
1 letter from the youth leader at the mosque I volunteered at

I will apply as a disadvantaged applicant and I qualify for FAP

I plan to apply to all the NY state schools. I want to apply broadly and I will also add in DO schools. I listed a couple of schools I was looking into but this is not the final list. Any suggestions on what I should add or remove would help greatly.

Albany medical college

Alber Einstein

TCU

CMU

Drexel

Eastern Virginia Medical School

George Washington University

Ubuffalo

Lewis Katz

Loyola

Medical college of Wisconsin

OUWB

OHSU

penn state

Robert lerner

rush

SUNY upstate

Toledo college

Tulane

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[Angler]

Shadowing: none. I will try to get some hours, but I'm hoping scribing could cover it.

Your application looks pretty well balanced. Subtract 50+ hours from your scribing hours for shadowing, but a few hours of primary care will help.

I think the 7 years of food distribution is quite good. It shows ongoing interest in helping others.

There are others who will give you a decent school list. I'm surprised you don't list Icahn, but you obviously have reasons!

Good luck!

 

[Mr.Smile12]

You are in good shape. Break down your community service activities through your mosque as well (as opposed to say, teaching Sunday school).

At this point, identify your mission fit. You might be a shade low on community service hours for Rush or Loyola depending on what you did with your 700 hours with your mosque. Pay attention to your public schools and how willing they are to accept OOS applicants. With a 509/513 MCAT, you need to be reasonable where you have a strong shot for interview.

 

[odious]

Your application looks pretty well balanced. Subtract 50+ hours from your scribing hours for shadowing, but a few hours of primary care will help.

I think the 7 years of food distribution is quite good. It shows ongoing interest in helping others.

There are others who will give you a decent school list. I'm surprised you don't list Icahn, but you obviously have reasons!

Good luck!

Yeah, I'll make sure to do that. Thank you!

 

[odious]

You are in good shape. Break down your community service activities through your mosque as well (as opposed to say, teaching Sunday school).

At this point, identify your mission fit. You might be a shade low on community service hours for Rush or Loyola depending on what you did with your 700 hours with your mosque. Pay attention to your public schools and how willing they are to accept OOS applicants. With a 509/513 MCAT, you need to be reasonable where you have a strong shot for interview.

I'll make sure to specify how I volunteered at the mosque. It was a whole bunch of things like sending out food boxes to the community during COVID, collecting donations for the poor, and also helping out with the youth program.

 

[Faha]

I suggest these schools with your stats:
All 4 SUNYs
New York Medical College
Albany
Mount Sinai
Vermont
Quinnipiac
Hackensack
Drexel
Temple
Jefferson
Penn State
George Washington
Georgetown
Virginia Commonwealth
Eastern Virginia
Wake Forest
NOVA MD
Belmont
Tulane
Creighton
Loyola
Rosalind Franklin
Rush
Medical College Wisconsin
Western Michigan
Oakland Beaumont
Wayne State
Any new schools that open for 2025 (Alice Walton, Methodist, Roseman, American University)

 

[HappyRabbit]

Here's my school list with DO added. Not sure if it is needed since you are on the border but it is available to you. You can also add the schools I didn't that Faha did (Hackensack, Jefferson, Virginia Commonwealth, Creighton, Western Michigan).

Reach
Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry
Albert Einstein College of Medicine
Stony Brook University School of Medicine
Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell
Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at the University at Buffalo
State University of New York Upstate Medical University
New York Medical College
Albany Medical College
SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University
Wake Forest School of Medicine of Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center
George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences
University of Vermont College of Medicine
Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University
Wayne State University School of Medicine
Drexel University College of Medicine
Eastern Virginia Medical School
Medical College of Wisconsin
Tulane University
Loyola University Chicago (Stritch)
Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine
Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science (Chicago)
Quinnipiac University
Oakland University Beaumont
Nova Southeastern University (Patel)

Target
Touro College of Osteopathic Medicine
Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine
Texas Christian University
Rush Medical College of Rush University Medical Center
Campbell University (Wallace)
Des Moines University

Baseline
New York Institute of Technology
West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine
University of New England
Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine
University of Pikeville
William Carey University College of Osteopathic Medicine
Marian University College of Osteopathic Medicine
A.T. Still University of Health Sciences--Kirksville (Kirksville)
Chicago College of Osteopathic Medicine of Midwestern University
Noorda College of Osteopathic Medicine
Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine
University of the Incarnate Word

 

[odious]

Here's my school list with DO added. Not sure if it is needed since you are on the border but it is available to you. You can also add the schools I didn't that Faha did (Hackensack, Jefferson, Virginia Commonwealth, Creighton, Western Michigan).

Reach
Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry
Albert Einstein College of Medicine
Stony Brook University School of Medicine
Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell
Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at the University at Buffalo
State University of New York Upstate Medical University
New York Medical College
Albany Medical College
SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University
Wake Forest School of Medicine of Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center
George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences
University of Vermont College of Medicine
Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University
Wayne State University School of Medicine
Drexel University College of Medicine
Eastern Virginia Medical School
Medical College of Wisconsin
Tulane University
Loyola University Chicago (Stritch)
Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine
Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science (Chicago)
Quinnipiac University
Oakland University Beaumont
Nova Southeastern University (Patel)

Target
Touro College of Osteopathic Medicine
Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine
Texas Christian University
Rush Medical College of Rush University Medical Center
Campbell University (Wallace)
Des Moines University

Baseline
New York Institute of Technology
West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine
University of New England
Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine
University of Pikeville
William Carey University College of Osteopathic Medicine
Marian University College of Osteopathic Medicine
A.T. Still University of Health Sciences--Kirksville (Kirksville)
Chicago College of Osteopathic Medicine of Midwestern University
Noorda College of Osteopathic Medicine
Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine
University of the Incarnate Word

Is it my GPA that would make schools such as SUNY Upstate and Albany Medical School a reach? If so how much will my upward trend help when applying to MD programs?

 

[HappyRabbit]

Is it my GPA that would make schools such as SUNY Upstate and Albany Medical School a reach? If so how much will my upward trend help when applying to MD programs?

Your multiple MCAT attempts and GPA trend have all been accounted for in the list. With those two schools specifically, it would be your GPA and multiple MCAT attempts that put those schools in the reach category rather than target.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

I also suggest checking with for chapters of the American Muslim Medical Students Association (AMMSA) or similar organizations.

 

[pierty]

Your multiple MCAT attempts and GPA trend have all been accounted for in the list. With those two schools specifically, it would be your GPA and multiple MCAT attempts that put those schools in the reach category rather than target.

This... is simply not true. I am not sure where/when you started giving advice on the forums (as a new paid membership as a vendor), but your conception of "target" "reach" etc. schools is off and sounds like college admissions jargon.

Stick to Faha's suggestions.

 

[HappyRabbit]

This... is simply not true. I am not sure where/when you started giving advice on the forums (as a new paid membership as a vendor), but your conception of "target" "reach" etc. schools is off and sounds like college admissions jargon.

Stick to Faha's suggestions.

The applicant has a 509 -> 513 retake which will be averaged at most schools to produce a 511 and their GPA even with a boost for an upward trend will still be below the median for those two schools specifically.

As far as the semantics behind target/reach, that is not important but rather to help the student know how the schools on their list are generally categorized. This then becomes helpful if they want to reduce the size of the list from let’s say 40 to 20 based on personal preference without changing the risk profile of the application (they should not remove all their baselines in favor of more reaches, rather a mix of reaches/targets/baseline).

The list I recommended is the same as Faha’s minus a few schools that I also recommended the applicant to apply to if they wanted.

Hopefully this helps clarify why the list I generated is the way it is and I’m happy to go more into detail into the underlying methodology.

 

[odious]

The applicant has a 509 -> 513 retake which will be averaged at most schools to produce a 511 and their GPA even with a boost for an upward trend will still be below the median for those two schools specifically.

As far as the semantics behind target/reach, that is not important but rather to help the student know how the schools on their list are generally categorized. This then becomes helpful if they want to reduce the size of the list from let’s say 40 to 20 based on personal preference without changing the risk profile of the application (they should not remove all their baselines in favor of more reaches, rather a mix of reaches/targets/baseline).

The list I recommended is the same as Faha’s minus a few schools that I also recommended the applicant to apply to if they wanted.

Hopefully this helps clarify why the list I generated is the way it is and I’m happy to go more into detail into the underlying methodology.

I understand what you mean. However, how about schools that consider the most recent mcat score as opposed to averaging my two scores. Wouldn’t those schools be more near a target for me? I ask because I want to make sure I have a good balance between target and reach schools when applying.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

I understand what you mean. However, how about schools that consider the most recent mcat score as opposed to averaging my two scores. Wouldn’t those schools be more near a target for me? I ask because I want to make sure I have a good balance between target and reach schools when applying.

If you do the networking and find out which schools consider the most recent, that should guide your list-making. Don't treat our lists as definitive gospel... you still have homework to do. Your app is more than your MCAT.... old or new score.