MD 3.82 cGPA, 3.86 sGPA, 520 MCAT

[allofthegood]

Thanks for all the help!

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[Goro]

You already know what the problem is...your low clinical hours will be lethal. Shadowing is following a doctor(s) around to learn what their day is like and how different doctors approach the practice of Medicine.

Clinical experiences are those encountering patients. These are not shadowing, although you may meet patients while shadowing. The idea behind patient contact experience is to demonstrate that you know what you're getting into and that you really want to be around sick people for the next 30-40 years. Would you buy a car without test driving it?

I get nervous when I see people who have more shadowing than actual patient contact.

Oh, the trip to central American will be treated as "medical tourism" and ignored.

Look, you've got tons of research cred. But 4.0 automaton lab rats are a dime a dozen. The SDNers I've been advising who got into the schools you're aiming for have hundreds of hours of patient contact experience.

So you can knock off the research and spend the summer doing ECs. I suggest that it's worth a shot to apply later in the cycle. While classes fill up fast, someone with your stats will be at an advantage.




I’m mainly concerned about how my clinical experience and volunteering experience will affect my app seeing as I spent a lot more time on research. I’m definitely applying to my state schools but I don’t really know how high to set my expectations and how many schools I should apply to(hopefully a max of 20?). Also, I’m not really sure how to distinguish between shadowing and clinical experience? I’ve heard clinical is “within breathing distance” of the patient but during my shadowing, the doctors would let me get pretty close and look through the slit lamp microscope at the patient’s eye, etc.

I welcome any opinions or advice, thanks![/QUOTE]

You're also lacking in the non-clinical service-related Ecs that are supposed to show off your altruism. Get off campus and out of your comfort zone. Service towards those of greater need than yourself is especially valuable.

 

[allofthegood]

Thank you for your honesty. I had been planning to apply MD/PhD until this past semester which is why I spent so much more time focusing on research. Do you think I would be a more competitive candidate for MD/PhD? I've seen some posts that suggest that they would be more forgiving of lower clinical experience hours, but I am also aware that MD/PhD is more competitive than MD. (I'm guessing admissions doesn't really care about high school stuff, but I did do >400 hours of hospital volunteering while I was in high school so I have had experiences interacting with patients that helped inform my decision to pursue med school.)

Regarding your advice, unfortunately, I'm obligated to finish out my research fellowship this summer and so would only be able to volunteer on weekends. Given that, would you suggest still applying this cycle but to lower/mid tier schools or schools that value research more or would a gap year be more advisable to gain more clinical and volunteering experience?

 

[allofthegood]

Anybody else have any advice? I think I can probably get my clinical hours up to ~100 hours by the summer and then do more during the summer. Any suggestions for how to adjust my schools list?

 

[Krabbeman]

SUNY Buffalo, Upstate, Downstate for sure.

You'll be a safe bet at any SUNY I think

 

[allofthegood]

Thanks! Any suggestions for out of state schools?

 

[MaxPlancker]

Chances look good except your clinical experience is lacking and may hold you back. This is less relevant for MD/PhD programs though. I'd bet you will end up at a solid 10-20 program. Doesn't look like you have that extra umph for the top programs.

Goodluck and I was a Beckman too

 

[allofthegood]

Thanks for your reply! By 10-20 school do you mean somewhere like Pitt, Baylor or Mt. Sinai? To be honest, I'm still not entirely clear with how people are classifying schools as top 10, top 20, high tier, mid tier, low tier, etc. but I've just been looking at the US News rankings.

 

[WedgeDawg]

If you can raise your USA active clinical experience hours into the triple digits, you'll likely be a competitive applicant anywhere. You've done enough shadowing. Stop doing that and start doing more active clinical work (volunteering, scribing, etc). High school stuff usually doesn't count, but if you have an extra slot in your AMCAS ECs, it probably wouldn't hurt to list it anyway.

I would remove Drexel, Temple, Georgetown, and Tulane. Also consider taking out Baylor (Texas bias) and Mayo (low yield for everyone).

I would add USC-Keck, Rochester, and then any of WashU, UChicago, Cornell, NYU, Northwestern, Sinai, and possibly Emory. I would also add all the SUNY schools that you don't already have and possibly NYMC.

Only do MD/PhD if you're interested in doing research for the rest of your life / you need a PhD for some reason. Don't do it to try to tailor your degree to your application. Research heavy applicants do not in any way necessarily have to go MD/PhD.

Get some more active clinical experience and you'll be in great shape.

 

[allofthegood]

If you can raise your USA active clinical experience hours into the triple digits, you'll likely be a competitive applicant anywhere. You've done enough shadowing. Stop doing that and start doing more active clinical work (volunteering, scribing, etc). High school stuff usually doesn't count, but if you have an extra slot in your AMCAS ECs, it probably wouldn't hurt to list it anyway.

I would remove Drexel, Temple, Georgetown, and Tulane. Also consider taking out Baylor (Texas bias) and Mayo (low yield for everyone).

I would add USC-Keck, Rochester, and then any of WashU, UChicago, Cornell, NYU, Northwestern, Sinai, and possibly Emory. I would also add all the SUNY schools that you don't already have and possibly NYMC.

Only do MD/PhD if you're interested in doing research for the rest of your life / you need a PhD for some reason. Don't do it to try to tailor your degree to your application. Research heavy applicants do not in any way necessarily have to go MD/PhD.

Get some more active clinical experience and you'll be in great shape.

Thanks for the advice! Would the reason for removing Drexel, Temple, etc be that they receive a lot of apps so they would be low yield? Also, do you think I'm applying broadly enough?

 

[WedgeDawg]

Thanks for the advice! Would the reason for removing Drexel, Temple, etc be that they receive a lot of apps so they would be low yield? Also, do you think I'm applying broadly enough?

Yes and yes

 

[AlphaBeta<3]

You already know what the problem is...your low clinical hours will be lethal. Shadowing is following a doctor(s) around to learn what their day is like and how different doctors approach the practice of Medicine.

Clinical experiences are those encountering patients. These are not shadowing, although you may meet patients while shadowing. The idea behind patient contact experience is to demonstrate that you know what you're getting into and that you really want to be around sick people for the next 30-40 years. Would you buy a car without test driving it?

I get nervous when I see people who have more shadowing than actual patient contact.

Oh, the trip to central American will be treated as "medical tourism" and ignored.

Look, you've got tons of research cred. But 4.0 automaton lab rats are a dime a dozen. The SDNers I've been advising who got into the schools you're aiming for have hundreds of hours of patient contact experience.

So you can knock off the research and spend the summer doing ECs. I suggest that it's worth a shot to apply later in the cycle. While classes fill up fast, someone with your stats will be at an advantage.




I’m mainly concerned about how my clinical experience and volunteering experience will affect my app seeing as I spent a lot more time on research. I’m definitely applying to my state schools but I don’t really know how high to set my expectations and how many schools I should apply to(hopefully a max of 20?). Also, I’m not really sure how to distinguish between shadowing and clinical experience? I’ve heard clinical is “within breathing distance” of the patient but during my shadowing, the doctors would let me get pretty close and look through the slit lamp microscope at the patient’s eye, etc.

I welcome any opinions or advice, thanks!

You're also lacking in the non-clinical service-related Ecs that are supposed to show off your altruism. Get off campus and out of your comfort zone. Service towards those of greater need than yourself is especially valuable.[/QUOTE]
Medical Tourism? Why? What about student led organizations that focus on sustainability?

 

[Goro]

These are all about people going on the trips and looking good for Adcoms, and NOT about helping people in the Third World. Join the Peace Corps or a real NGO if you're interested in helping people overseas.


Medical Tourism? Why? What about student led organizations that focus on sustainability?[/QUOTE]

 

[occams_razor]

Anybody else have any advice? I think I can probably get my clinical hours up to ~100 hours by the summer and then do more during the summer. Any suggestions for how to adjust my schools list?

This is a good move. Focus on gaining more clinical experience. You can also always update schools about this after you apply, or bring it up during an interview. When I interviewed at Mayo, I had a clinical experience that was not on AMCAS and talked about it during the interview. My interviewer asked me to email him a description so he could present it to the committee since it wasn't on my application.

The hospital volunteer program where you talk to patients and write down their life stories sounds like a great experience and a wonderful thing to do for patients. I would definitely try to spend more time doing this program.