Worried about Ec's, gpa, and school list based on what I have so far? Need help!

[deleted1121920]

Hello!

I'm a junior looking to apply this cycle and I need some input on whether my ECs are good enough to move forward. For context:

my cGPA is a 3.7 (more of a U shaped curve due to Covid 19 personal loss that i blamed myself for and accompanying mental health difficulties due to that in that one semester of fall 2020, I got 3 W's a D+ and a C+, C+ was in bio lab. Not sure how to address this on the application maybe you could help me on that as well. Since then, I haven't gotten worse than a few B+/A-. Rest are As)

BCPM is a 3.74
MCAT: 517 which i'm very happy with and gives me a little more confidence.
URM: No (South asian)
State of Residence: Indiana
School: Big 10 state school.

On to the ECs. The reason I'm worried is I started many of them around the same time so Im worried that it will look bad that I was cramming even though in reality i didn't really do much freshman year because of covid and sophomore year because I wanted to get the help I needed. Also the hours and time are forecasted to when I'm going to submit my AMCAS as I am continuing almost all the activities at the same rate.

Patient Care technician (420hrs, 1 year 3 months)

tutor for underprivileged Latino children ( 120 hr, 1 year 5 months)

Mental health and co-philanthropy chair for my fraternity (60 hrs, 9 months ended last October)

Certified Personal trainer in a nursing home/long term care facility working with elders individually and in groups (350 hrs, 2 years)

Research:
2021 summer Alzheimers research (300 hrs, 3 months) - ended with poster presentation

lab on college campus: cognition lab (340hrs , 1 year 5 months. started last February might be able to get a publication but not guaranteed)

Hospital sponsored program advising and training overweight children 8-12 at risk for heart disease through nutrition and physical exercise (100 hrs, 1 year)

Shadowing (60 hrs in PC and Neurology)

Hobbies: DJ and mixing/music, health and fitness hence the fitness related activities, and woodworking not sure if I should mention these.

I would love some opinions on how these look and if I need more. If so, what areas? Should I stick to my plan of applying this summer like I wanted to or push back a year which I really don't want to do unless I really have to. I don't have any awards or honors thus far other than deans list which doesn't mean much. Im also worried that I don't have any clinical volunteering and not very diverse clinical experience (i'm sure personal training in a nursing home doesn’t count). here is my school list so far

Reaches:
Cornell
Duke
Vanderbilt
Northwestern
Uchicago
Umich
CWRU
Icahn

Target-Semi Target
Indiana
University of Cincinnati
University of Miami
Ohio state
Boston
Georgetown
USC
George Washington
Thomas Jefferson
Medical college of Wisconsin
Tufts
Hofstra
Rochester
Tulane
Western Michigan
Wake forest
University of Wisconsin
Albert Einstein

More confident
VCU
Loyola
New York medical college
Temple
Wayne state
Wright state (born in Dayton and lived there for a while)
USF Morsani
St. Louis University


Please let me know what you think of my Ec's and if Im ready to apply this next cycle or if my school list it too ambitious and what can i do better? Should i start making summer research plans or commit to the cycle? Welcome all feedback, thank you!

@Faha @Goro @LizzyM @gyngynj

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[LindaAccepted]

Hello!

I'm a junior looking to apply this cycle and I need some input on whether my ECs are good enough to move forward. For context:

my cGPA is a 3.7 (more of a U shaped curve due to Covid 19 personal loss that i blamed myself for and accompanying mental health difficulties due to that in that one semester of fall 2020, I got 3 W's a D+ and a C+, C+ was in bio lab. Not sure how to address this on the application maybe you could help me on that as well. Since then, I haven't gotten worse than a few B+/A-. Rest are As)

BCPM is a 3.74
MCAT: 517 which i'm very happy with and gives me a little more confidence.
URM: No (South asian)
State of Residence: Indiana
School: Big 10 state school.

On to the ECs. The reason I'm worried is I started many of them around the same time so Im worried that it will look bad that I was cramming even though in reality i didn't really do much freshman year because of covid and sophomore year because I wanted to get the help I needed. Also the hours and time are forecasted to when I'm going to submit my AMCAS as I am continuing almost all the activities at the same rate.

Patient Care technician (420hrs, 1 year 3 months)

tutor for underprivileged Latino children ( 120 hr, 1 year 5 months)

Mental health and co-philanthropy chair for my fraternity (60 hrs, 9 months ended last October)

Certified Personal trainer in a nursing home/long term care facility working with elders individually and in groups (350 hrs, 2 years)

Research:
2021 summer Alzheimers research (300 hrs, 3 months) - ended with poster presentation

lab on college campus: cognition lab (340hrs , 1 year 5 months. started last February might be able to get a publication but not guaranteed)

Hospital sponsored program advising and training overweight children 8-12 at risk for heart disease through nutrition and physical exercise (100 hrs, 1 year)

Shadowing (60 hrs in PC and Neurology)

Hobbies: DJ and mixing/music, health and fitness hence the fitness related activities, and woodworking not sure if I should mention these.

I would love some opinions on how these look and if I need more. If so, what areas? Should I stick to my plan of applying this summer like I wanted to or push back a year which I really don't want to do unless I really have to. I don't have any awards or honors thus far other than deans list which doesn't mean much. Im also worried that I don't have any clinical volunteering and not very diverse clinical experience (i'm sure personal training in a nursing home doesn’t count). here is my school list so far

Reaches:
Cornell
Duke
Vanderbilt
Northwestern
Uchicago
Umich
CWRU
Icahn

Target-Semi Target
Indiana
University of Cincinnati
University of Miami
Ohio state
Boston
Georgetown
USC
George Washington
Thomas Jefferson
Medical college of Wisconsin
Tufts
Hofstra
Rochester
Tulane
Western Michigan
Wake forest
University of Wisconsin
Albert Einstein

More confident
VCU
Loyola
New York medical college
Temple
Wayne state
Wright state (born in Dayton and lived there for a while)
USF Morsani
St. Louis University


Please let me know what you think of my Ec's and if Im ready to apply this next cycle or if my school list it too ambitious and what can i do better? Should i start making summer research plans or commit to the cycle? Welcome all feedback, thank you!

@Faha @Goro @LizzyM @gyngyn

Your ECs look good to me and congrats on the MCAT!

I believe chance of acceptance would be be better if you applied to the schools you're aiming for with an additional year of solid grades and higher GPA showing that you really put the problems of your sophomore year behind you than if you apply now. So you have a choice faced by many:

1. Apply now for the chance to start earlier, even if that chance is less than optimal (and perhaps apply to more of your "more confident" schools and fewer of the Target and Reaches and perhaps a DO program for good measure,) OR
2. Apply with an additional year of solid grades and the clinical and research experience provided by applying a year later, which will improve your chances of acceptance, but postpone both starting medical school and your career.

I can make an argument for either decision, but it's for you to decide if having the chance to start early is worth the emotional, time, and financial investment. I really feel it is a personal decision.

 

[voxveritatisetlucis]

Too many reaches given the size of your list. I would say that the reaches are all high reaches besides maybe CWRU which is just a reach. Take off UW and wright state (being born in a state doesn’t give you ties unless you went to HS in Ohio), unless you went to one of them for undergrad as it is a donation for most OOS students. There are much more schools that you could add as reaches that are closer to targets.

It’s fine to apply to that many high reaches but they have to be in addition rather than replace targets. Also be sure you have the money and effort to focus on target schools before committing to completing the reach secondaries.

 

[Faha]

Your ECs are fine and you should receive several interviews from your Target-Semi Target and More confident lists.

 

[Goro]

Cornell
Duke
Vanderbilt
Northwestern
Uchicago
Umich
CWRU
Icahn
Indiana
University of Cincinnati
University of Miami
Ohio state
Boston
USC
Thomas Jefferson
Tufts
Hofstra
Rochester
Tulane
Western Michigan
Wake forest
University of Wisconsin
Albert Einstein
USF Morsani
St. Louis University

ECs are fine, but suggest getting in some more nonclinical service to others (and make that off campus)

My mods to your school list above

ADD:
U CO
U VM
U ILL
U Miami
UCSF
Pitt
Mt Sinai
NYU.LI
U VA

 

[LizzyM]

Here's how I would break it down:

Pick 4 from your reach list.
Pick 10-15 from your target list
Apply to all on the "more confident" list after double checking that they are OOS friendly (most are private and will be but I'm not confident about all of them).

Fall 2020 was a tough time but you made a good come-back and having grades from 2021 and 2022 (3 semesters) will help.

As a patient care technician you've done far more in a clinical setting than a voluteer would do with twice as many hours. You've also worked with youngsters and older folks and could make a good case for having walked the talk with regard to an interest in family medicine, particularly with your interest in exercise and fitness. Usually people don't go out on a limb regarding specialty but family medicine is a safe one in that regard, IMHO.

Use at least one space on the AMCAS application for hobbies. Woodworking is cool as is DJ work (both are unusual, too, which is always fun for the interviewer).

 

[deleted1121920]

Here's how I would break it down:

Pick 4 from your reach list.
Pick 10-15 from your target list
Apply to all on the "more confident" list after double checking that they are OOS friendly (most are private and will be but I'm not confident about all of them).

Fall 2020 was a tough time but you made a good come-back and having grades from 2021 and 2022 (3 semesters) will help.

As a patient care technician you've done far more in a clinical setting than a voluteer would do with twice as many hours. You've also worked with youngsters and older folks and could make a good case for having walked the talk with regard to an interest in family medicine, particularly with your interest in exercise and fitness. Usually people don't go out on a limb regarding specialty but family medicine is a safe one in that regard, IMHO.

Use at least one space on the AMCAS application for hobbies. Woodworking is cool as is DJ work (both are unusual, too, which is always fun for the interviewer).

@LizzyM Follow up question. Do you think it is in my best interest to be proactive and address the circumstances behind the 3 W,D+, and C+ semester in secondaries that ask questions like "any additional comments" (particularly curious if I should bring attention to it in an open ended question like this) or more directly "did you experience something that affected you school, work, etc." or should I let them ask me about it. I was planning on addressing it in most/all my secondaries.

 

[LizzyM]

I usually advise not pointing out a slight flaw in an application just as you'd advise a friend not to point out a pimple on their chin when on a first date. Everyone can see it; spend your time drawing attention to what you want them to see.

However, this is not a pimple. This is the equivalent of a scar running from your earlobe to your chin. Adcoms will be curious and fascinated and you need to get out ahead of it and offer an explanation. One of the secondary prompts is usually a place to do this.

 

[deleted1121920]

I usually advise not pointing out a slight flaw in an application just as you'd advise a friend not to point out a pimple on their chin when on a first date. Everyone can see it; spend your time drawing attention to what you want them to see.

However, this is not a pimple. This is the equivalent of a scar running from your earlobe to your chin. Adcoms will be curious and fascinated and you need to get out ahead of it and offer an explanation. One of the secondary prompts is usually a place to do this.

One last question thank you for your help! In such a response, should I detail what exactly happened (passed Covid to my grandfather who I was taking care of and he ended up passing away so my mental health was not great. It was the first time a loved one of mine had passed way and i blamed myself hard.) or should i explain it more generally as a death of loved one due to Covid and then more go into how I learned to be honest with myself about my wellbeing and capabilities during these times and learned better proactive coping strategies in the face of tragedy (which are proven by my grades after) which I think will benefit me in life and especially as a physician.

In other words, how much detail is required and do I need to say exactly what happened. I don't want to come across as a victim or garner pity/make excuses and I've also heard that discussing mental health in an application is not advised.

Thank you!

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Most schools (and in some cases primary applications outside of medicine) will have a prompt on challenges during the pandemic. Keep it factual, and remember it is not a confessional.

 

[LizzyM]

Grief at the death of a loved one is a normal reaction and not something that would be held against you by an adcom. The fact that you feel culpable for having infected your grandfather would seem to have compounded your grief and that, too, is understandable.

I think that it is reasonable to say "In [month year] while enrolled in classes at [school name], I came down with Covid-19. Before I even realized that I was infected, I passed the virus to my grandfather. After his death from the virus, I had a hard time coming to terms with his death and my role in his fatal infection." Then add a sentence about how you recovered your over the subsequent months whether with the support of family, faith community, or whatever. The adcom will be able to connect the dots between the grades and Ws and the dates/location in the essay and will see that you have the resilience to bounce back when faced with grief.