Hey everyone! So unfortunately this cycle hasn't gone as well as I had hoped :/ and I am currently preparing for a reapp. I was wondering if there are any glaring issues or things that need improvement on my app? I submitted all secondaries between the end of July to early August. The only thing that may have held me back that I am not sure of was an important letter of rec that did not get submitted to all schools until September.
Current Results: 31 MD Secondaries/1 MD Interview/1 MD Waitlist
Demographics:
Syrian Male, California Resident, Disadvantaged (EO1 Status), First Gen and first in family to attend university
GPA: 3.79
sGPA:3.76
MCAT:517 (130/126/130/131)
Clinical Volunteering:
~350 hours as a Volunteer Medical Assistant at a Neurology private practice (1 year)
Clinical Work:
~100 hours as a COVID tester during COVID at a free clinic in an underserved area (4 months)
Research experience:
~500 hours in a Neuroscience lab studying auditory nervous system development in mice (1.5 years)
-made and presented a poster for an undergraduate research symposium
-no authorship
Nonclinical volunteering:
~150 hours as a volunteer on Skid Row working with homeless and undocumented elementary school children (one of most meaningful experiences) (1 year by the time I apply)
~1300 hours as a Scout Leader for a Boy Scout troop mainly consisting of Middle-Eastern immigrants. (6 years)
Shadowing:
~60 hours shadowing Neurologist
Employment history:
~500 hours as STEM tutor at undergrad (1 year)
~2000 hours as a TA at an elementary school (current job)
~3000 hours of other work history retail, food, grocery (working continuously since I was 17 to pay for my schooling)
Leadership/Others:
~100 hours as the cofounder and Treasurer of an undergraduate chapter of a nationally recognized Neuroscience honor society
~LONG term multi-instrumentalist and started a band that had a local following. Played many shows and released an EP on streaming services+made and sold merch.
Letters of Rec:
1x MD Neurologist (strong)
2x Stem Professors (likely average)
1x Research PI (likely relatively average-to-strong)
1x Boss from STEM tutoring center (strong)
Focus:
My motivation for becoming a doctor stems from my experiences translating for my immigrant parents in the doctor's office when I was a kid. As I grew up I started to understand that there are a lot of cultural and language barriers that affect healthcare and my goal was to help mitigate those barriers for underserved and immigrant populations in particular like my own. STRONG focus on working with underserved populations, particularly those who speak different languages. Although I grew up fluent in Arabic and English, I am now conversational in Spanish as a result of working with backgrounds different than my own and I hope to use these experiences to become a more culturally competent physician and to reduce the barriers between myself and the patient.
School List (from this cycle):
U Chicago
Stanford University School of Medicine
University of California, Los Angeles David Geffen School of Medicine
University of California, San Francisco, School of Medicine
Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
University of Arizona College of Medicine - Phoenix
Kaiser Permanente Bernard J. Tyson School of Medicine
Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California
University of California, Irvine, School of Medicine
University of California, San Diego School of Medicine
Boston University Aram V. Chobanian & Edward Avedisian School of Medicine
Emory
New York Medical College
Case Western
Dartmouth
Ohio State
U Miami
University of Arizona College of Medicine
California University of Science and Medicine-School of Medicine
University of California, Davis, School of Medicine
University of California, Riverside School of Medicine
Chicago Medical School at Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine & Science
Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine
Tufts University School of Medicine
Albany Medical College
Tulane
Wayne state
George Wasington
SLU
rochester
einstein
What I "Think" May Have Affected My Cycle:
-writing could've been more clear and less clunky
-PS definitely needs reworking
-my MD letter didn't get sent until ~2 months after I sent secondaries and after I already pressed no longer sending
-school list too top heavy?
Current Results: 31 MD Secondaries/1 MD Interview/1 MD Waitlist
Demographics:
Syrian Male, California Resident, Disadvantaged (EO1 Status), First Gen and first in family to attend university
GPA: 3.79
sGPA:3.76
MCAT:517 (130/126/130/131)
Clinical Volunteering:
~350 hours as a Volunteer Medical Assistant at a Neurology private practice (1 year)
Clinical Work:
~100 hours as a COVID tester during COVID at a free clinic in an underserved area (4 months)
Research experience:
~500 hours in a Neuroscience lab studying auditory nervous system development in mice (1.5 years)
-made and presented a poster for an undergraduate research symposium
-no authorship
Nonclinical volunteering:
~150 hours as a volunteer on Skid Row working with homeless and undocumented elementary school children (one of most meaningful experiences) (1 year by the time I apply)
~1300 hours as a Scout Leader for a Boy Scout troop mainly consisting of Middle-Eastern immigrants. (6 years)
Shadowing:
~60 hours shadowing Neurologist
Employment history:
~500 hours as STEM tutor at undergrad (1 year)
~2000 hours as a TA at an elementary school (current job)
~3000 hours of other work history retail, food, grocery (working continuously since I was 17 to pay for my schooling)
Leadership/Others:
~100 hours as the cofounder and Treasurer of an undergraduate chapter of a nationally recognized Neuroscience honor society
~LONG term multi-instrumentalist and started a band that had a local following. Played many shows and released an EP on streaming services+made and sold merch.
Letters of Rec:
1x MD Neurologist (strong)
2x Stem Professors (likely average)
1x Research PI (likely relatively average-to-strong)
1x Boss from STEM tutoring center (strong)
Focus:
My motivation for becoming a doctor stems from my experiences translating for my immigrant parents in the doctor's office when I was a kid. As I grew up I started to understand that there are a lot of cultural and language barriers that affect healthcare and my goal was to help mitigate those barriers for underserved and immigrant populations in particular like my own. STRONG focus on working with underserved populations, particularly those who speak different languages. Although I grew up fluent in Arabic and English, I am now conversational in Spanish as a result of working with backgrounds different than my own and I hope to use these experiences to become a more culturally competent physician and to reduce the barriers between myself and the patient.
School List (from this cycle):
U Chicago
Stanford University School of Medicine
University of California, Los Angeles David Geffen School of Medicine
University of California, San Francisco, School of Medicine
Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
University of Arizona College of Medicine - Phoenix
Kaiser Permanente Bernard J. Tyson School of Medicine
Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California
University of California, Irvine, School of Medicine
University of California, San Diego School of Medicine
Boston University Aram V. Chobanian & Edward Avedisian School of Medicine
Emory
New York Medical College
Case Western
Dartmouth
Ohio State
U Miami
University of Arizona College of Medicine
California University of Science and Medicine-School of Medicine
University of California, Davis, School of Medicine
University of California, Riverside School of Medicine
Chicago Medical School at Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine & Science
Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine
Tufts University School of Medicine
Albany Medical College
Tulane
Wayne state
George Wasington
SLU
rochester
einstein
What I "Think" May Have Affected My Cycle:
-writing could've been more clear and less clunky
-PS definitely needs reworking
-my MD letter didn't get sent until ~2 months after I sent secondaries and after I already pressed no longer sending
-school list too top heavy?
