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Started by eggche1234
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State of residence?
You know your application needs the additional clinical experience to make it stronger and more attractive. Don't rush your application.
You know your application needs the additional clinical experience to make it stronger and more attractive. Don't rush your application.
Washington State should be included, but you need more clinical experience and community service orientation. But i am guessing you are going for UWSOM as your top choice. Why not MSTP?
What are your service orientation activities?
What are your service orientation activities?
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UConn? SUNY Downstate? How are you choosing the schools on your list? Pay attention to the number of OOS students accepted to each school.
(And do some volunteering with the underserved).
(And do some volunteering with the underserved).
With your low clinical hours your chances for interviews at top tier schools will be limited. UConn and SUNY Downstate admit few non residents with no connection to the state. Consider adding these schools:
Washington State
USF Morsani
Miami
Iowa
Illinois
UMass
Arizona (Phoenix)
Rochester
Western Michigan
Washington State
USF Morsani
Miami
Iowa
Illinois
UMass
Arizona (Phoenix)
Rochester
Western Michigan
These are activities where you are teaching or mentoring others, so it comes from a position of expertise. This demonstrates academic competency, not serving individuals in addressing their direct needs with food, housing, finances, or social services. So many premeds tutor or teach underserved, first-gen, or refugee students in STEM fields or the "college admissions process" that it does not help you stand out or point towards your potential as a future physician. You might as well be in education and become a teacher. We need teachers who arguably make a bigger impact than physicians, so why don't you become a teacher? You have more hours tutoring than you do in clinical activities, and where your hours are, that's where you demonstrate your commitment.
And thus, zero hours in service orientation, which will screen you out at most schools. Even with a high GPA and MCAT.
As far as clinical hours go, most successful applicants will have several hundred hours, and many will have thousands.
At least another 100 hours. The more the better for top tier schools. You also need 150+ hours of non clinical volunteering such as food bank, homeless shelter, etc. to avoid being screened out at some schools.
I agree with the others that say you need more clinical experience before you apply and your tutoring, while meritorious, is very common. You haven't volunteered in a soup kitchen, homeless shelter or something like that. Also, some of the programs you're aiming for really want to see that service commitment (BU, KP for example) to the underserved. Others on your list are just extremely difficult to get into (Stanford, Mt. Sinai, Yale, Penn, Harvard, Mayo, UCHicago)
You'll have much more success if you get the experience before you apply (IOW apply in Spring/Summer 2026) or start getting a lot more clinical volunteer and non-tutoring hours ASAP so that you can apply this cycle.
