WAMC/School List Help | 4.0 sGPA/4.0 cGPA/524 MCAT

[jovialfly]

Hi all! As I collect my activities and hours, I would really appreciate input to help my application. My advisors and friends seem to think I am golden but I feel much more anxious about my ECs not stacking up to my stats, and would like help on both how to best frame my application and schools that would be wise to add/remove from my list. Here goes:

1. cGPA and sGPA as calculated by AMCAS or AACOMAS Both 4.0, barring anything happening this last semester
2. MCAT score(s) and breakdown 524 (132/129/132/131)
3. State of residence or country of citizenship (if non-US) TN
4. Ethnicity and/or race ORM, white
5. Undergraduate institution or category Large public state school, not notable
6. Major Microbiology
7. Clinical experience (volunteer and non-volunteer) 350-400 hours
   1. About 250 hours (over 2 years) working in a free clinic for underserved populations, which included lots more face-to-face patient interaction than like getting ice chips (I just want to clarify, since clinical volunteering can vary a lot), plus a great letter from that
   2. 100+ hours by application working as a MA
8. Research experience and productivity
   1. Over 600 hours total across 3 labs/experiences; not the most hours, partially due to COVID cutting off 2+ semesters due to university regulations, but a clear thread and sense of commitment to research
   2. One funded independent project, one minor 2nd author pub, one poster
9. Shadowing experience and specialties represented
   1. ~50 hours by application, across mainly ER and Pulm, with some other stuff sprinkled in
10. Non-clinical volunteering 200+ hours total
    1. Main thing is 150 hours as a tutor working with local K-12 students. It is a free weekly service so it primarily serves people left behind by local school systems. It's both a 3+ year commitment and a leadership position.
    2. 40 or so hours in a club that is hard to describe but included working at a community garden to provide free food to people in need. Also a leadership position.
    3. A little over 50 hours across some other things, including working with 2 different animal shelters
11. Other extracurricular activities (including athletics, military service, gap year activities, leadership, teaching, etc.
    1. 500 hours as a chemistry and biology tutor with my school. 6 semester commitment.
    2. 200 hours as a paid lab assistant (not really research, prepping materials for courses and helping out with classes)
    3. Trying to work as a research assistant/tech for gap year
12. Relevant honors or awards
    1. Aforementioned grant for a research project (which I had to write the proposal for)
    2. A couple of academic departmental awards, prestigious-ish but it is all relative
    3. Research award for outstanding undergraduate
13. Anything else not listed you think might be important
    1. It is obviously a subjective assessment, but I think my writing skills are strong and will hopefully serve me well. Have gotten very positive feedback on my PS to date.
14. School List(Planning on around 30 to increase yield due to stats; I probably have too many state schools and too top-heavy a list, but there are a lot of places I don't know a lot about)
    1. Tennessee
    2. Vanderbilt
    3. Northwestern
    4. UAB
    5. Duke
    6. WashU
    7. UPenn
    8. NYU
    9. Columbia
    10. Stanford
    11. Yale
    12. Harvard
    13. UMich
    14. UCLA
    15. Emory
    16. Case Western
    17. UNC
    18. UVA
    19. BU
    20. Tufts
    21. Utah (low yield but also a personal connection)
    22. Wisconsin
    23. UTSA (iffy, have a personal connection but not sure if it is worth the extra system)
    24. Wake Forest
    25. VCU
    26. Washington
    27. Colorado

Thanks for all the help!

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[Mr.Smile12]

That non clinical volunteering...

Take out tutoring for 150 hours for children. Every premed does this so it's value is overrated and falls into its own category.

40 hours in a club you can't describe... is it a service fraternity? Over what length of time? This is not a lot.

So what activity does of your service orientation? You have the metrics so you need equally impressive demonstration of desired competencies and fit with institutional mission. I don't know what makes you someone schools would want.

 

[jovialfly]

That non clinical volunteering...

Take out tutoring for 150 hours for children. Every premed does this so it's value is overrated and falls into its own category.

40 hours in a club you can't describe... is it a service fraternity? Over what length of time? This is not a lot.

So what activity does of your service orientation? You have the metrics so you need equally impressive demonstration of desired competencies and fit with institutional mission. I don't know what makes you someone schools would want.

"Every premed does this" I am not entirely sure that is the case from my experience, but I'm sure it depends on what type of student. Just going to some random school with kids who don't want to be there is different than organizing an entire thing for people from many different schools, also recruiting tutors, and putting in 1-2 nights a week throughout the semester. Plus being an officer means I am far more than just a passive participant.

The club basically works to support the mostly-volunteer dependent clinic I volunteer at. So we do service projects and also collaborate with a community garden where the time the club puts in there yields fresh vegetables and the like which are given to patients, many of whom may otherwise not be able to afford it.

I know non-clinical might be the weak point, but I think I fall back on the relative length of my commitments and quality over quantity. I can pull a lot and talk a lot about those hours, at least in a way that I feel is meaningful. I recognize that is difficult to express in a forum post though.

 

[chilly_md]

Washington takes almost no OOS students from non-WWAMI states. The other public schools similarly take few OOS students. Your clinical volunteering at a free clinic is good and shows you have worked with people who are less fortunate.

I suggest:

Tennessee
Vanderbilt
Northwestern
ETSU
Duke
WashU
NYU
Penn
Columbia
Stanford
Yale
Harvard
UCLA
Michigan
Emory
Case Western
Ohio State
Cincinnati
UVA
BU
Tufts
Wisconsin
Colorado
Miami
Iowa
Einstein
Mayo
Dartmouth
Rochester

 

[LeaveNoTrace]

Take out tutoring for 150 hours for children. Every premed does this so it's value is overrated and falls into its own category.

I'd say it at least checks the boxes, but not much more; it seems like it was for underserved kids and so is admirable.

OP is pack fodder for top 20s and strong elsewhere.