What am I missing or lacking in before I apply?

[antipeptide]

Hey guys,

I'm prepping to apply for 2025 matriculation, hoping to get a sense of what I need to do before then to be a well filled out applicant. Sort of a "pre" WAMC?

I'm a 27 M ORM Massachusetts resident
Bachelors in Molecular Bio '18 2.89 GPA
AAS '22 in Respiratory Therapy 4.0 (70 credits)
Post Bacc (in progress, '24) 3.9 3.9 (24 credits)
Estimated Cumulative GPA would be 3.3 overall

MCAT 511 in September 2023

400 hours clinical scribe in ED
~3000 hours as Respiratory Therapist / ECMO specialist

Shadowing: projected 50 - 80 hours in anesthesia, PM&R, Pulmonology, EM, MD and DO, hopefully some FM shadowing too
Non-clinical volunteering: projected 100 hours at community garden/bike shop/shelter over about 2 years. Various other volunteering over previous years.

Research, some in UG (projects, presentations)
Currently in clinical role working on publishable project (no end date yet)
Working on possible abstract/poster to complete during the cycle.

LOR's:
Not yet collected but likely 1 MD 1 DO, 2 profs in Post Bacc, 2 from clinical mentors/manager

Other experience: lots of teaching and tutoring, (HS bio teaching, academic advising, tutoring for genetics, physiology, etc). Lead some fun student orgs in UG (music, theater, comedy groups) some other professional groups and accolades in other jobs (small roles on boards, journal clubs, etc)

Planning to apply to about 40 schools, MD and DO. Rough list below, in no order

Massachusetts-Chan
Vermont-Larner
Albany
Oakland Beaumont
Quinnipiac-Netter
Rush
Penn State
Drexel
Temple-Katz
MC Wisconsin
Rosalind Franklin
Eastern Virginia
Virginia Tech Carilion
Loyola-Stritch
Wake Forest
Others??

DO Choices:

Michigan State University COM
University of New England COM
Philadelphia COM
Rocky Vista University COM
New York Institute of Technology COM
Pacific Northwestern University of HS COM
Rowan University SOM
Des Moines University COM
Kansas City University COM - Kansas City
Touro University COM - California

Reaches:
Dartmouth-Geisel (Family lives very near here)
Tufts
Colorado
Oregon (Lived in OR, would dual apply MD/MPH)
Einstein
New York Medical
Boston University
Brown-Alpert
Saint Louis?
U Washington (HS graduate in WA)

Preferred schools:
Research/thesis ops, home hospital/rotations
True or partial P/F
No strong preference on rural/urban

Ideal Specialties are anesthesia or IM, maybe EM, anything competitive enough for Critical Care fellowship

Let me know if I'm leaving out relevant info. I'm really looking for things I can do between now and the app to shine, and checking that I don't have any glaring holes in my app so far. I know a low of schools will want more volunteering hours, I also know longevity is prized in that respect. Hoping my clinical experience counts for a lot, it's been a huge part of my ability to try for a career in medicine.

All advice welcome, thanks guys!!

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[bomba]

Caveat, I'm not an adcom--but I would say your application is light on volunteering if you only have 100 hours total. Especially volunteering experience that demonstrates your altruism, e.g., working with special needs, homeless, etc.

 

[Goro]

Massachusetts
Vermont-Larner
Albany
Oakland Beaumont
Quinnipiac-Netter
Drexel
Temple (maybe)
MC Wisconsin
Rosalind Franklin
Eastern Virginia
Loyola-Stritch
Wake Forest

Tufts
New York Medical
Saint Louis
U Washington (Maybe)

ADD: NovaMD, Tulane, SUNY-Upstate (maybe); Gtown, GWU, Creighton, Wayne State, U Miami


DO Choices:

Michigan State University COM
University of New England COM
Philadelphia COM
New York Institute of Technology COM
Rowan University SOM
Des Moines University COM
Kansas City University COM - Kansas City
Touro University COM - California
ADD: LECOM (all), MUCOM

Get in more nonclinical volunteering, especially in service to others less fortunate than yourself. Many of the schools that reward reinvention are service loving.

I have removed schools where I think you have poor odds of getting IIs

 

[antipeptide]

I have removed schools where I think you have poor odds of getting IIs

Fantastic, thank you!
I may apply to Tufts anyway just because I’m in the city and might be able to get in touch with some of the staff there

For CUNY, I thought these state schools were pretty unfriendly to OOS applicants, I’d love to apply to more in NY though.

Creighton also I believe has IS bias, but I had taken them off my list as I don’t have a strong religious affiliation. Still worth an application you think?

I’ll hopefully get as many hours of non clinical volunteering as possible in the next year! Does everything else look like I have a fair shot at an MD?

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Push to 150 hours community service by submission to avoid getting screened out. More for a cushion. That said, your experience as an RT is a plus to me. Mission fit will help your chances.

 

[esob]

Unless you oppose moving, I would significantly broaden your DO list. I know many premed stories are centered on an "upward" trend, but that makes more impact when the cumulative is closer to the 50% percentile. MD schools don't like to take a stats ding to their averages unless you are making up for it with something insane (think Olympic medalist, peace corp, etc).

Applying is expensive, and applying again is far more expensive and may hurt your chances of getting in at all.

 

[Myopicvisions]

Fantastic, thank you!
I may apply to Tufts anyway just because I’m in the city and might be able to get in touch with some of the staff there

For CUNY, I thought these state schools were pretty unfriendly to OOS applicants, I’d love to apply to more in NY though.

Creighton also I believe has IS bias, but I had taken them off my list as I don’t have a strong religious affiliation. Still worth an application you think?

I’ll hopefully get as many hours of non clinical volunteering as possible in the next year! Does everything else look like I have a fair shot at an MD?

The only CUNY school is the BA/MD program. I think you mean SUNY as in Upstate and Downstate. Both accept OOS

 

[antipeptide]

The only CUNY school is the BA/MD program. I think you mean SUNY as in Upstate and Downstate. Both accept OOS

Oh yes I did mean SUNY my bad. That's good to know! I'll look into them.

Is there's a % of OOS accepted students you consider a cutoff for applying? There's a lot of schools I'd like to consider but they only take around 20% out of state, so I kind of put them on the back burner. What is the threshold for schools you should never consider vs those you should check out based on OOS matriculants?

 

[antipeptide]

Unless you oppose moving, I would significantly broaden your DO list. I know many premed stories are centered on an "upward" trend, but that makes more impact when the cumulative is closer to the 50% percentile. MD schools don't like to take a stats ding to their averages unless you are making up for it with something insane (think Olympic medalist, peace corp, etc).

Applying is expensive, and applying again is far more expensive and may hurt your chances of getting in at all.

Yeah true life I appreciate your input. I'd happy expand the DO list. I know it's foolish and presumptuous, but I kind of figure I'm a strong DO applicant and can afford to pick choose DO schools more and look for ones with more established rotations, match lists, and more desirable locations. I would much rather spend the money on more like 15+ DO schools this app cycle than have to reapply. I'll include some "safety" schools on that list for sure.

It's funny though in 2020 I was accepted into the peace corp but it was postponed because of COVID so I went to RT school instead. I still kind of wish I could have followed through with it.

 

[PandaBaer]

Unless you oppose moving, I would significantly broaden your DO list. I know many premed stories are centered on an "upward" trend, but that makes more impact when the cumulative is closer to the 50% percentile. MD schools don't like to take a stats ding to their averages unless you are making up for it with something insane (think Olympic medalist, peace corp, etc).

It'd be nice to know your estimated sGPA. As a low GPA applicant, I felt it really dinged my chances at MD schools even with a stellar MCAT.
Also it'd be helpful to know your geographic preferences.

I think you can be a little more selective with DO schools.

My thoughts for DO:
You can consider adding Ohio Heritage, Marian, and Campbell.
RVU has great outcomes, but is very expensive, quite strict (harsh academic cutoffs and anecdotal feedback), and is for-profit (personal distain).
Not a fan of Touro, though I hear CA/NV are better than the NY ones, MT just opened and is a branch of NY.

MD:
SLU might be a good one to add, definitely not WUSTL.
Geisinger would be a good addition.
Thomas Jefferson is a consideration.
Consider adding Rochester, and Hofstra since you added Einstein, Brown, Dartmouth, and Tufts.
If you add SUNY, then add Stony Brook.

Check with UWa if you qualify as in region, if not, it's a waste. Same with OHSU.
NYMC is within range (not reach), Mass-Chan is probably more of a reach.

 

[esob]

Yeah true life I appreciate your input. I'd happy expand the DO list. I know it's foolish and presumptuous, but I kind of figure I'm a strong DO applicant and can afford to pick choose DO schools more and look for ones with more established rotations, match lists, and more desirable locations. I would much rather spend the money on more like 15+ DO schools this app cycle than have to reapply. I'll include some "safety" schools on that list for sure.

It's funny though in 2020 I was accepted into the peace corp but it was postponed because of COVID so I went to RT school instead. I still kind of wish I could have followed through with it.

At the end of the day, you just want to make sure you get in somewhere. Nobody really cares once you are a physician between MD and DO