519/3.9 WAMC + School List Help :)

[peachyogurt]

PLEASE DO NOT QUOTE THIS MESSAGE

Hi everyone!! I'm looking for help curating/trimming down my school list to ~25-30 schools + adding any schools that may be a good fit. I'm also open to any feedback on my application. Thank you for your help in advance!

• cGPA and sGPA
  • cGPA: 3.91; sGPA: 3.85
• MCAT
  • 519 (128/129/130/132)
• State of residence
  • Michigan
• Race
  • Asian female; ORM
• Undergrad
  • T30
• Clinical experience (volunteer and non-volunteer)
  • ~450 hours total
  • ~275 hours working at a Home Health Clinic as a Nurse's Aide (unpaid)
  • ~120 hours working as a Medical Assistant at a Pediatrics Office (paid)
  • ~64 hours working as a patient sitter (paid)
• Research
  • 1500+ hours
  • 2 mid-author publications
  • 2 oral presentations
• Shadowing
  • ~120 hours across 5 specialties
• Non-clinical volunteering
  • ~120 hours through a community service-oriented club
• Other extracurricular activities
  • ~300 hours study group facilitator (promoted to course leader) (paid)
  • ~100 hours as a tutor to disenfranchised students on campus (paid)
  • ~100 hours Leadership role for a community service club
  • ~300 hours Leadership role in cancer fundraising club
  • ~75 hours as a peer mentor for a cohort of 10 freshmen helping them navigate college through a mentorship program (unpaid) (would this be considered non-clinical volunteering)
  • ~80 hours as an orientation leader (paid)
  • Other clubs include baking, a cultural club, and a religious club
• Relevant honors or awards
  • Won facilitator of the year
  • Merit scholarship for my freshman year
  • Dean's list
• Additional info
  • I took an online physics class at a community college in 2022. Would this negatively impact my chances anywhere? I've seen COVID policies that only take online classes from 2020-2021.

Tentative School List (writing down every school I could possible apply to):

1. Michigan
2. Michigan State
3. Oakland Beaumont
4. Wayne State
5. Western Michigan
6. Central Michigan
7. UPenn
8. Columbia
9. Duke
10. Stanford
11. UCSF
12. Weill Cornell
13. WashU in St. Louis
14. University of Virginia
15. Icahn
16. Case Western
17. University of Rochester
18. USF Morsani
19. Brown
20. Emory
21. Donald and Barbara Zucker at Hofstra
22. UCLA
23. Boston University
24. UColorado
25. Drexel
26. Nova Southeastern
27. Seton Hall Hackensack
28. Rosalind Franklin
29. Albert Einstein
30. University of Vermont
31. George Washington
32. Eastern Virginia
33. Penn State
34. Dartmouth
35. University of Cincinnati
36. New York Medical College
37. USC Keck
38. Sidney Kimmel
39. Wake Forest
40. Virginia Commonwealth
41. University of Miami
42. Quinnipiac University
43. Albany Medical College
44. Lewis Katz
45. Medical College of Wisconsin

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[AJS59]

On the whole things look solid except for the non-clinical hours where you're a bit low; see if you can get 30ish more hours to hit the minimum 150 hours to avoid getting screened out (as many others will say). For reference, the peer mentor thing DOES NOT really count; look into more volunteering outside of campus. What sort of service did you do through your campus club?

Was the physics class one that you intend to count for your pre-reqs? And was the lab also online?

For the most part your list looks fine, it's just long. Try and bring it down to no more than 30, with an even balance of reaches and matches (i.e. not all T20s!)

 

[peachyogurt]

On the whole things look solid except for the non-clinical hours where you're a bit low; see if you can get 30ish more hours to hit the minimum 150 hours to avoid getting screened out (as many others will say). For reference, the peer mentor thing DOES NOT really count; look into more volunteering outside of campus. What sort of service did you do through your campus club?

Was the physics class one that you intend to count for your pre-reqs? And was the lab also online?

For the most part your list looks fine, it's just long. Try and bring it down to no more than 30, with an even balance of reaches and matches (i.e. not all T20s!)

Ooh I didn't know that they might screen out sub-150 non-clinical hours -- I'll work on that, thanks!

My club does a lot of volunteering at homeless shelters, food pantries, and cleaning up trash around campus and in urban areas.

Yes, it is one of my pre-reqs and the lab was also online. I took it because it was cheaper and the the physics classes offered at my university clashed with my work schedule. Do you think that might be a problem?

 

[Mr.Smile12]

• ~120 hours through a community service-oriented club

As pointed out, avoid getting screened-out by getting closer to 150 hours. However, with your metrics and some of the schools you are interested in, the more you get (closer to 250+), the more "average" your application will look compared to others in those applicant pools. You don't want to be at the tail of the peloton. Also, many of your activities are associated with student organizations, so having a service orientation activity that is a bit more independent of a student club will show that you aren't doing community service because you were part of a club or organization on campus. I am fully aware of "community service days" run by universities.

Also fundraising does not constitute a "service orientation" activity. Please describe your specific responsibilities with your 120 hours above.

What assistance are you getting from your prehealth team at your institution? What feedback have you received?

Obviously, the in-state options must be in play, but be aware of the mission-specific nuances of each school. You should not be yield-protected from your in-state programs, but you could be rejected for a mismatch in mission fit. You do have many non-MI programs listed that will likely yield-protect you unless you communicate a strong mission fit.

Read

How to Assess Your Pre-Professional Competencies - SDN

The Student Doctor Network provides free tools, resources, and advising services to help students become health professionals.

www.studentdoctor.net

 

[peachyogurt]

As pointed out, avoid getting screened-out by getting closer to 150 hours. However, with your metrics and some of the schools you are interested in, the more you get (closer to 250+), the more "average" your application will look compared to others in those applicant pools. You don't want to be at the tail of the peloton. Also, many of your activities are associated with student organizations, so having a service orientation activity that is a bit more independent of a student club will show that you aren't doing community service because you were part of a club or organization on campus. I am fully aware of "community service days" run by universities.

Also fundraising does not constitute a "service orientation" activity. Please describe your specific responsibilities with your 120 hours above.

What assistance are you getting from your prehealth team at your institution? What feedback have you received?

Obviously, the in-state options must be in play, but be aware of the mission-specific nuances of each school. You should not be yield-protected from your in-state programs, but you could be rejected for a mismatch in mission fit. You do have many non-MI programs listed that will likely yield-protect you unless you communicate a strong mission fit.

Read

How to Assess Your Pre-Professional Competencies - SDN

The Student Doctor Network provides free tools, resources, and advising services to help students become health professionals.

www.studentdoctor.net

Hi! Thanks for the input, I appreciate it! That's super interesting - do you have any specific schools in mind that might yield-protect me if I don't have a strong mission fit?

Also, sorry for any confusion, the service-oriented club and cancer fundraising are totally separate. With those 120 hours, most of them come from the community service club that involves directly working (no fundraising), mainly the stuff that I listed in the reply to the comment above. I also have a few hours working as a facilitator for a sexual assault support group. Hope that clears things up!

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Hi! Thanks for the input, I appreciate it! That's super interesting - do you have any specific schools in mind that might yield-protect me if I don't have a strong mission fit?

Others should help with this, but you should have access to the MSAR.

Read

Mission Fit: Key to Your Success - SDN

The Student Doctor Network provides free tools, resources, and advising services to help students become health professionals.

www.studentdoctor.net