AMCAS 2026: WAMC / School List - 3.99 / 518 - I'm Just a Girl

[Pallas]

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Hi all. Looking for feedback on my school list given my stats. I submitted my app for the 2026 cycle within a few days of submission opening, but I only applied to one program. I will apply to more after some SDN discourse!

*editing post to include LizzyM and Admit.org scores...

What do I like in a program?

• Prioritizing mission-driven, urban-based programs with substantial research and advocacy infrastructure.
• Schools with a strong match list give me good vibes. 🙂
• To apply to ~50 schools, including a balanced list of Reach, Target, and Baseline institutions.
  • My internship ended recently so I will be unemployed until August, likely. I will be able to dedicate full-time to secondaries and am currently prewriting some common prompts.
• I would like to stay in CA for med school. If I can't, I'd like to match back to CA for residency, at least. My whole family is here, mostly, but I do have ties to other states.
  • Family ties to:
    • Northern CA
      • I used to live in the Central Valley
      • Family in LA
      • Family in Irvine
      • Family in SF Bay Area.
    • Rhode Island
    • New York
    • Texas (won't be applying TMDSAS)

WAMC / School List Help (2026 Cycle)
cGPA: 3.99
sGPA: 3.99
MCAT: 518 (130/128/131/129) – one attempt
Casper and PREView not available. Will have score back in time for secondary submission.
LizzyM: 74.9 / 93rd percentile
Admit.org: 734 Admit score / 96th percentile
State of Residence: CA
Ethnicity: not "ORM", but also not URM
Disadvantaged Status: Yes (FGLI, FAP recipient, Med-MAR, Pell recipient, single-parent household, family on public assistance... you get the vibe).

Undergraduate Institution: T20 uni
Major: Cell Biology
Graduation: 2024

Clinical Experience (1,870 hrs):

• Clinical Research Coordinator (910 hrs): Worked as CRC on a complex clinical trial.
  • Presented research poster at a university hospital conference.
• Cancer Center Intern (870 hrs): Weekly outreach to underserved cancer patients. Provided needs assessments and referrals, especially for patients with limited English proficiency.
  • Have a great letter of recommendation from my clinical supervisor (who is also a non-science professor) for this.
• Patient Scribe (90 hrs): Drafted plain-language summaries to support patient understanding of diagnoses and treatments at a university hospital.

Shadowing (40 hrs):

• Shadowed six surgical oncologists at an academic hospital in the OR and clinic.

Research (930 hrs total):

• Basic Science Research (880 hrs): Undergraduate researcher in a basic science physiology lab. No pubs or posters -- my project was in its baby steps.
  • Have a letter of recommendation from my PI from this lab for my research. We have a good relationship, and they are very highly regarded (world-renowned) in their field, so I hope this letter has a good impact!
• Health Policy Research (50 hrs): At a university health policy institute, conducted under the non-science professor I also did clinical work with.
  • Co-authored two posters and a conference abstract published in a well-regarded journal of the relevant field.

Non-Clinical Involvement (840+ hrs):

• Community Service (460 hrs): Service leadership in collegiate service group; coordinated over a dozen partnerships with organizations catering to the local underserved for weekly volunteer projects.
  • Won 1st place for two state-level volunteering awards through said service org. They are a national group and have districts on the state level.
• Social Justice/Advocacy (210 hrs): Political advocacy for refugee resettlement; organized media campaigns, legislative phone banking, and fundraising projects (five-figures raised).
• Leadership (170 hrs): Co-president of a student group focused on pre-health mentorship for underrepresented students. Managed a large budget and secured grants for FGLI student researchers to present at conferences and publish.

Paid Employment (4,500 hrs):

• Worked part-time at family business (to help make ends meet 😉 ) from age 14 and through uni -- hence the high # of hours.

Other:

• Science professor letter of recommendation from one of my university upper division courses that I topscored. They have written me another letter before for a different program, and I was told that it was really excellent, so I hope this one is, too!
• No MD/DO letters of recommendation. I did not have an extensive working relationship with any physicians so I did not feel that I could get a solid one from them if I asked. I would rather have no Letter of Recommendation from a physician than a mediocre one!
• All commitments listed here are longitudinal and are 1.5 years+ in duration with the exception of my 40-hr research project.
• Graduated summa cum laude from my uni and received an award designated for the top 0.5% of the graduating class. Requires professor recommendation and summa cum laude to graduate with this distinction.
• My personal statement is tailored towards working with the underserved as a large part of my reason for going into medicine. A former adcom member (MD) I know personally reviewed it for me and evaluated it very favorably. I'm not a talented writer, but it definitely gets the point across!

Current School List:
I am generally applying to schools in which I am within the 10-90th percentile, with the exception of a few. I have FAP so I want to apply to many programs.

Reaches

• Harvard
• Stanford
• Johns Hopkins
• Columbia
• Yale
• NYU Grossman
• Mayo Clinic Alix
• UCSF
• UPenn
• Duke
• WashU
• Weill Cornell
• UChicago
• Vanderbilt

Target

• UMich
• UCLA
• UCSD
• UC Irvine
• USC
• Northwestern
• Emory
• Mt. Sinai (Icahn)
• Case Western
• Brown
• UPitt
• UVA
• Boston University
• Hofstra
• Albert Einstein
• Tufts

Baseline

• UC Davis
• UC Riverside
• Kaiser Permanente
• Dartmouth
• Temple
• University of Vermont
• Tulane
• Wake Forest
• George Washington
• University of Colorado
• University of Iowa
• University of Rochester
• Georgetown
• Hackensack
• University of Cincinnati
• Jefferson (Sidney Kimmel)
• Creighton
• New York Medical College (NYMC)
• California Northstate University (CNU)
  • Waiting on most recent Accreditation & Licensing news.
  • I have a family member who will be loaning me money for medical education with no interest (he's Muslim). I'm not worried about the private loan situation!
• California University of Science and Medicine (CUSM)

Questions:

• How do I "stack up" for the top 20 programs given my background and stats?
• How do I "stack up" for CA schools?
• Are there any mission-fit schools I should consider adding/dropping?

Thanx SDN!

 

[Mr.Smile12]

First, you don't need to apply to 50 schools, even if you get 20 for free with the FAP. You will exhaust yourself from doing secondaries. Limit yourself to 30 secondaries that you can do well and submit within the 1-2 week window after receiving them.

You have the right to be picky. Choose schools where you know you want to be, not where stats say you can be. I'm saying this because I'm not sure you would be happy at many of your brand-name schools. Find out by talking with students at those schools, especially those who are FGLI like yourself. If you are Muslim, check with AMMSA chapter officers.

I would be surprised if a few California schools don't interview you. Most of the UC schools show a strong preference for candidates who grew up in their area. Drop Cal Northstate (still on provisional accreditation after 10 years). You hint that you may live in Southern California though you have "family ties" to areas around the state. If you have lived in California all your life, pick places where you know you will be comfortable.

I don't know what your purpose is since you don't give details about your advocacy or your service-orientation activities. The hours won't be a problem, but your vision as a physician matters in setting up your alignment. I'm not so worried about the lack of research productivity. Now that you have graduated (I think?), what will you do for community service? I'd suggest a little more primary care exposure to back up any "mission" focus with your purpose.

Resources to check out (from Becoming a Student Doctor course)

A Continuous Charity

acceducate.org

Scholarships

imana.awardspring.com

Titan Web (for undergrad)

 

[Pallas]

First, you don't need to apply to 50 schools, even if you get 20 for free with the FAP. You will exhaust yourself from doing secondaries. Limit yourself to 30 secondaries that you can do well and submit within the 1-2 week window after receiving them.

You have the right to be picky. Choose schools where you know you want to be, not where stats say you can be. I'm saying this because I'm not sure you would be happy at many of your brand-name schools. Find out by talking with students at those schools, especially those who are FGLI like yourself. If you are Muslim, check with AMMSA chapter officers.

I would be surprised if a few California schools don't interview you. Most of the UC schools show a strong preference for candidates who grew up in their area. Drop Cal Northstate (still on provisional accreditation after 10 years). You hint that you may live in Southern California though you have "family ties" to areas around the state. If you have lived in California all your life, pick places where you know you will be comfortable.

I don't know what your purpose is since you don't give details about your advocacy or your service-orientation activities. The hours won't be a problem, but your vision as a physician matters in setting up your alignment. I'm not so worried about the lack of research productivity. Now that you have graduated (I think?), what will you do for community service? I'd suggest a little more primary care exposure to back up any "mission" focus with your purpose.

Resources to check out (from Becoming a Student Doctor course)

A Continuous Charity

acceducate.org

Scholarships

imana.awardspring.com

Titan Web (for undergrad)

Mr. Smile,

Thank you for the reply. The consensus I've gathered from asking advisors, peers, and mentors is to cut down my school list. I'll take your advice and narrow down my choices after speaking with other FGLI students. Will look into AMMSA.

As for CNU, the program's final accreditation decision will be announced after the team reconvenes sometime this month. I have family in Elk Grove, and I love the area. Wouldn't it be wiser to wait on the accreditation decision and, if accredited, apply to the school? While program mission fit is important to me, I could live with going to a program not entirely aligned with my priorities so long as I can get a comfortable medical education.

Lastly, regarding my activities since graduation (summer 2024): I had an internship at an academic hospital (first activity listed — CRC role) for the better part of my gap year. After my internship ended, I studied for the MCAT (which I took a bit over a month ago) and worked on my primary application (for the past month or so) until I submitted it a few days ago. I have been working as a babysitter in my free time. I am currently also applying for part-time clinical positions in my area, because I am not really in a "free labor" position right now -- as much as I love volunteering. No more scholarship and financial aid means I have to put in the work for a job :'( . The only volunteering I see myself doing until 2026 matriculation (fingers crossed) would be taking on an unpaid, part-time clinical research position with one of the academic groups at a local university -- if I find one that seems to be a good fit for me. I've found that this also opens the door for shadowing physicians so that I could be exposed to other programs (including family med ones).

Thanx again,
Pallas