MD 3.12 cGPA, 3.03 sGPA, 4.0 PB, 512 MCAT URM CA Resident

[fineapplejuice]

PLEASE DO NOT QUOTE THIS MESSAGE, thank you!

TL;DR: 3.12 cGPA, 3.03 sGPA, 4.0 PB, 512 MCAT black female, CA Resident. Disadvantaged. Lots of clinical (research) experience, volunteering, & leadership. 4 research posters, no pubs. Strong PS and LORs.

Hi everyone,

Thanks in advanced for any input. I want to apply this cycle and would like help constructing a realistic school list. I'm a CA resident, URM black female. Applied economically disadvantaged (bc childhood), but didn't qualify for FAP bc my mom was recently promoted and makes slightly over the income cutoff to qualify.

GPA:
AMCAS verified 3.12 cGPA, 3.03 sGPA (150 sem units). Went to a top CA public university, 4.0 postbacc.

MCAT: 512 (128 125 130 129)

Clinical Experience (3400+ hours)
- 3000+ hours (over 3 years) as a clinical research coordinator
- 200 hours as a scribe (paid).
- 250 hours (volunteer) providing blood pressure/BMI screenings

Volunteering (~1700 hours total):
- 600 hours as a director for volunteer org addressing hypertension in underserved minority commumunities
- 200 hours as a volunteer "social worker"
- 250 hours in free clinic, cleaned encounter rooms and transferred medical records from paper to EMR.
- 200 hours health education/outreach + registration for community seminars
- 100 volunteering with community public health organization
- 50 hours preparing/distributing food to the homeless

Research (Aside from the clinical research mentioned above; 500 hours):
- 250 hours research assistant in a neurology lab
- 250 hours research assistant in geriatrics
4 research posters total, 2 first author + presentations. 2 other posters co-authored. All from long term clinical research coordinator position. No publications.

Teaching:
- 250 hours in an internship in Japan

Other Leadership (outside of volunteering):
- 700 hours as captain on a dance team. Large time suck; dropped to get my grades in order.

Shadowing:
- 500 total hours

LORs/Other Stuff:
- Very strong LOR packet
- Strong personal statement
- Chancellor's Service Award from undergrad
- member of 2 highly competitive/selective school-specific pre-med programs for URM students.
- "Good" level fluency in Japanese

GAP YEAR PLANS: Returning to clinical research coordinator position full-time. Will continue to take upper level science courses and begin to learn Spanish.

Sorry for the long post, but I wanted to be thorough. Any help is appreciated!

My current school list:
All UCs (CA resident but I know they're reaches)
All HBCUs
Drew/UCLA
USC Keck
Tulane
UAZCOM Phoenix
U Cincinnati
Creighton
Rush
Dartmouth
Georgetown
OUWB
George Washington
Loyola
U Rochester
Albany
St. Louis U
Drexel
Wright State
EVMS
NYMC
Tufts
Hofstra

Thinking about tossing in, but (mostly) big reaches:
U Minnesota Twin Cities
Duke
Vanderbilt
Columbia
U Chicago
Cornell
Harvard (lol a girl can dream)

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[Dr. Meliodas]

I'd recommend removing Wright State, and UAZCOM Phoenix - state schools that show strong in-state bias

To your list you should adding Case Western, Emory

Of the tossins your considering the only one I'd take out would be Minnesota Twin Cities - again show in-state bias. The other ones as you know are reaches but if I were you and had the funds I'd apply to them as well.

In my opinion you have a good app.

It would be best to hear from the adcoms on here as well @Goro @Faha @LizzyM

 

[Faha]

You have a good list but the reaches are not realistic to add. You could add these schools:
Quinnipiac
Seton Hall
NOVA MD
Rosalind Franklin
Medical College Wisconsin
Temple
Jefferson
As mentioned above UA Phoenix and Wright State accept few non residents.

 

[Goro]

PLEASE DO NOT QUOTE THIS MESSAGE, thank you!

TL;DR: 3.12 cGPA, 3.03 sGPA, 4.0 PB, 512 MCAT black female, CA Resident. Disadvantaged. Lots of clinical (research) experience, volunteering, & leadership. 4 research posters, no pubs. Strong PS and LORs.

Hi everyone,

Thanks in advanced for any input. I want to apply this cycle and would like help constructing a realistic school list. I'm a CA resident, URM black female. Applied economically disadvantaged (bc childhood), but didn't qualify for FAP bc my mom was recently promoted and makes slightly over the income cutoff to qualify.

GPA:
AMCAS verified 3.12 cGPA, 3.03 sGPA (150 sem units). U shaped trend (wasn't involved in ANY ECs freshman year). Went to a top CA public university, 4.0 postbacc of 30 sem units upperdiv sciences from WashU (STL) included in verified GPA.

Bad things: C+ physics average, retook Ochem 2 D --> C-, C- in intro cell biology. 1 D & a W during concurrent college enrollment in highschool due to a family member having cancer and needing to take care of them.
No excuses for the poor uGPA; I was overcommitted to ECs and had poor study habits. Got it together in senior year and postbacc.
Tried to address cell bio/chem weakness in postbacc by taking advanced cell bio and a medicinal chemistry course; both As & obtained strong, personal LORs from both professors (was told top student in chem course).

MCAT: 512 (128 125 130 129); don't know what happened with CARS, it was usually my best section...

Clinical Experience (3400+ hours):
- 3000+ hours (over 3 years) as a clinical research coordinator (paid) in nephrology (hands-on, saw patients & took vitals, documented visits & managed adverse events with PI). Was top undergrad student while I was there. Very strong LOR.
- 200 hours OB/GYN scribe (paid).
- 250 hours (volunteer) providing blood pressure/BMI screenings in multiple clubs.
Volunteering (~1700 hours total, 1200 non clinical, 500 clinical):
- 600 hours as lead director for volunteer org addressing hypertension in black/underserved minority commumunities (education/screenings, planned health fairs, wrote grant/funding proposals, initiated expansion of org)
- 200 hours as a volunteer "social worker", helping find resources for people in need, usually with regard to food insecurity or shelters
- 250 hours in free clinic, cleaned encounter rooms and transferred medical records from paper to EMR.
- 200 hours kidney health education/outreach + registration for community seminars
- 100 volunteering with community public health organization for black women
- 50 hours preparing/distributing food to the homeless w/ organization

Research (Aside from the clinical research mentioned above; 500 hours):
- 250 hours research assistant in a neurology lab, watched videos of rats & collected data.
- 250 hours research assistant in geriatrics, phone screened potential participants.
4 research posters total, 2 first author (both presented at undergrad research day). 2 other posters co-authored. All from long term clinical research coordinator position. No publications.

Teaching:
- 250 hours in an internship in Japan for an "Empowerment Program" for Japanese high school students. (mentioned as most meaningful)
Other Leadership (outside of volunteering):
- 700 hours as captain on a dance team on campus. Large time suck; dropped to get my grades in order.

Shadowing:
- 500 total hours shadowing nephrologists, OB/GYNs, & resident pediatricians.

LORs/Other Stuff:
- Very strong LOR packet from postbacc institution w/ cover letter, 1 bio prof from ugrad, 1 ugrad honors health disparities course prof / URM program director, 1 MD/PhD clinical research PI (3000+ hours one), 1 cell bio prof (postbacc), 1 medicinal chem prof (postbacc), 1 community service (free clinic; postbacc). 7 letters total. I also have an additional one I can send from an MD I shadowed, a past NMA president.
- Strong personal statement (as told from numerous advisors [including an adcom MD] & writing center staff)
- Chancellor's Service Award from undergrad
- member of 2 highly competitive/selective school-specific pre-med programs for URM students.
- "Good" level fluency in Japanese (not of Japanese descent; CA State Seal of Biliteracy), "basic" level fluency in Tagalog/Filipino.

GAP YEAR PLANS: Returning to clinical research coordinator position full-time, possibly in a supervisory role (still seeing patients). Will continue to take upper level science courses (university extension) and begin to learn Spanish (community college). Didn't extend formal postbacc due to cost.

I've only submitted AMCAS as I'm more inclined to go MD. Not completely sure what I want to do yet in terms of specializing or not; I want to serve the underserved but I'm also interested in clinical research. Mostly interested in/applying to schools offering MD/MPH programs (public health minor). Not completely opposed to throwing in a DO app if necessary. My postbacc was good, but I know it doesn't necessarily mean I'll get accepted somewhere. I want to be smart with where I apply. Been pre-writing common secondary prompts to be complete ASAP if I get secondaries.

Sorry for the long post, but I wanted to be thorough. Any help is appreciated!

My current school list:
All UCs
All HBCUs
Drew/UCLA
USC Keck
Tulane
UAZCOM Phoenix
U Cincinnati
Creighton
Rush
Dartmouth
Georgetown
OUWB (maybe)
George Washington
Loyola
U Rochester
St. Louis U
Drexel
Tufts
Hofstra
Duke
Vanderbilt
Columbia
U Chicago
Cornell
Harvard
ADD:
Mayo
Pitt
U Miami
IU
Dartmouth
Wayne State
U WV
JHU
Vandy

 

[thenucleusaccumbens]

I'd recommend removing Wright State, and UAZCOM Phoenix - state schools that show strong in-state bias

To your list you should adding Case Western, Emory

Of the tossins your considering the only one I'd take out would be Minnesota Twin Cities - again show in-state bias. The other ones as you know are reaches but if I were you and had the funds I'd apply to them as well.

In my opinion you have a good app.

It would be best to hear from the adcoms on here as well @Goro @Faha @LizzyM

This is solid advice.

OP you should also consider adding Mayo Clinic SOM. I'm a med student at Mayo and they don't have a strict GPA screen like most of the other top tier schools. They do have an MCAT screen but your MCAT is above it. they are very holistic when it comes to reviewing applicants with lower GPA's (speaking from experience, feel free to message me if you have any other questions)

 

[fineapplejuice]

Thank you for the advice everyone! I really appreciate it.

@Goro do I really have a chance at the top tiers you recommended? Even though I wanted to apply to some of them, I left them out because I figured my MCAT and GPA (even with the postbacc) would still be too low for them to bite at.

@thenucleusaccumbens Thank you for that insight, I will add Mayo to my list!

 

[fineapplejuice]

@Dr. Meliodas Thanks for you support! Can I ask why you suggest Case and Emory?

 

[Dr. Meliodas]

@Dr. Meliodas Thanks for you support! Can I ask why you suggest Case and Emory?

Just based on the experience of close friends who will be starting at both institutions next year. Case in particular has a strong pull for diversity as does Drexel, GW, and Drew UCLA (from my personal experience).

Make sure that in your essays you expound on the different perspective you will bring to the medical field - how your experiences growing up as a minority and disadvantaged have given you a perspective that the typical applicant does not have and how that will help you to better connect with underserved patient populations. This is key!

 

[Chromium Surfer]

This is solid advice.

OP you should also consider adding Mayo Clinic SOM. I'm a med student at Mayo and they don't have a strict GPA screen like most of the other top tier schools. They do have an MCAT screen but your MCAT is above it. they are very holistic when it comes to reviewing applicants with lower GPA's (speaking from experience, feel free to message me if you have any other questions)

Would you mind sharing what the MCAT screen is, I am very curious. Let me know if you would rather have me PM you about this, if you are allowed to talk about this.

 

[Goro]

Thank you for the advice everyone! I really appreciate it.

@Goro do I really have a chance at the top tiers you recommended? Even though I wanted to apply to some of them, I left them out because I figured my MCAT and GPA (even with the postbacc) would still be too low for them to bite at.

@thenucleusaccumbens Thank you for that insight, I will add Mayo to my list!

URM clinicians are needed because, well, they're UiM. Clinical outcomes are depending upon this!

 

[fineapplejuice]

@Goro @Faha Sorry to bring this back up, but do either of you think I need to apply DO as well?

 

[Goro]

@Goro @Faha Sorry to bring this back up, but do either of you think I need to apply DO as well?

Only if you want to. My school would love to have you!

 

[fineapplejuice]

@gyngyn If you have the time, I would also really appreciate your thoughts on my chances at California schools and any other schools I should consider adding/removing! Thank you!

 

[gyngyn]

@gyngyn If you have the time, I would also really appreciate your thoughts on my chances at California schools and any other schools I should consider adding/removing! Thank you!

You should get plenty of interviews in CA.

 

[fineapplejuice]

You should get plenty of interviews in CA.

Oh wow, wasn't expecting that response! Thank you!

 

[Walter Raleigh]

Goro: you quoted the message!

 

[fineapplejuice]

Hi all! Logging back in to give a final update—

I started receiving interviews in July.
I received invites to Loyola Chicago, Mayo AZ, UC Riverside, CDU/UCLA, USC, Duke, Tulane, Drexel, Cincy, Case Western, Tufts, Emory, and Dartmouth. I attended all interviews because given the spread, I wasn't sure which would actually bite.

For those wondering about CA schools, I received all secondaries except for UCSD’s and UCI’s.

I was waitlisted at Mayo AZ, UC Riverside, USC, Duke, Tulane, Case, Drexel, and Emory. I withdrew from Dartmouth before receiving a decision.

I received 3 outright acceptances from Loyola, Tufts, and Cincy, all in October/November.

My top choice, CDU/UCLA, was the final decision I was waiting on before making my choice— I was accepted in March and offered a Geffen scholarship! I withdrew from all other schools at that point, so I’m not sure how my waitlists would’ve turned out.

Thank you so much for all of your advice! So excited to be starting this year!

 

[Faha]

Congratulations !!!

 

[deleted972488]

Congratulations on such a successful cycle and especially the Geffen scholarship! You earned it!

 

[fineapplejuice]

Thank you!