CA URM 3.8/515, WAMC + school list outside CA

[Gapped3x]

Thanks in advance!

1) GPA: 3.7s / 3.8c

2) 515 (128/129/129/129)

3) CA, prefer to stay in CA if I can? If I can't, I'd prefer a state that isn't trying to ban certain healthcare options for women and trans people.

4) Hispanic & LGBTQ+

5) OOS state school.

6) Clinical exp: 7,500 hours paid clinical (paramedic), 100 hours volunteer clinical (general hospital volunteer, water, blankets, restock shelves, go-fer)

7) Research: None, no longer in school, so doubt I'll find any

8) Shadowing: 20 hours (peds, GP, neurology, shadowed an MPH/hospital administrators to make sure I wanted to do hands on medicine and not something medicine-adjacent). My shadowing is weird b/c I've done volunteer and clinical rotations, approx 80 add'l hrs, in med-surg, labor & delivery, ICU / NICU, employee health, and a couple others, so I have a good breadth of experience in what medical life is like on various hospital floors, but a lot of it wasn't technically shadowing.

9) Non-clinical volunteering: 300 hours, wrote & edited outreach materials, coordinated logistics & fundraising for food drive & outreach programs for low-SES / non-English speaking pops

10) ECs: TA for EMT-Basics, 102 hrs (most meaningful, discovered I love teaching, who knew?), Hobbies: theatre (/hairflip, 300+ hrs, I'm usually the villain), creative writing (published). Leadership: squad commander in medic academy?

11) Honors/Awards: Dean's list all semesters, Magna Cum Laude, Nat'l Merit Finalist (got me a full ride to my undergrad)

12) Other:

• 3 gap years. 6-8 months caretaker for family member with dementia. This is why my volunteer hours are kinda low, and it's partly why I took 3 gap years. My family needed me, and if I wasn't at work, I was caretaking.
• Resident / strong connection to CA Inland Empire.
• LORs: one MD (science) from my uni who knows me really well, my favorite humanities prof (because theatre and literature), my volunteer coordinator, a C-level person from the hospital where I volunteered, maybe the director at my medic company.
• Languages: Basic Spanish, basic ASL
• My most meaningfuls are a specific motor vehicle accident as a medic where I realized I wanted to be on the receiving end of the gurney, not the handing off end, TAing, and a talk with a suicidal trans teen during a pediatric ER rotation. Basically, I was really surprised to learn a) how much I like peds, and b) how much I like teaching. I guess I don't know how much doctors teach, but I really liked teaching EMS and helping certify new EMTs. I assume I would also love teaching medicine at some point.

I'm applying next cycle, and I have 7-8 months to fix anything lacking in my app. Anything I should work on?

Possible specialties: ER / Pediatric ER (but, ew, double boards), physiatry, mayyybe pediatric psych? I really liked pediatric ER but not so much when I shadowed a pediatrician.

School list: All of the CA publics, USC, no clue where I should look outside of CA. Probably won't apply DO. Having trouble thinking about applying OOS or private due to cost.

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[Mr.Smile12]

Welcome to the forums!

If you have grown up in the IE area, you will be in a strong position with many in-state programs. Do your networking and get a sense of how each of those schools compare to fulfill your needs with mentoring and support. Connect with MiMentor and LMSA at all of the California schools before you begin applying. Attend recruitment events when you can.

 

[Faha]

You could add any of these schools:
USF Morsani
Miami
Tulane
St. Louis
Creighton
Western Michigan
Oakland Beaumont
Rosalind Franklin
Eastern Virginia
Virginia Commonwealth
Georgetown
George Washington
Temple
Jefferson
Drexel
Pittsburgh
Rochester
Hofstra
Einstein
New York Medical College
Boston University
Tufts
Quinnipiac

 

[Gapped3x]

Welcome to the forums!

If you have grown up in the IE area, you will be in a strong position with many in-state programs. Do your networking and get a sense of how each of those schools compare to fulfill your needs with mentoring and support. Connect with MiMentor and LMSA at all of the California schools before you begin applying. Attend recruitment events when you can.

Thank you. I mostly grew up in the IE, graduated HS here. Did part of middle school in Central CA, doubt that'll matter. I only left CA because I got a full ride out of state. Came back after I graduated and have been working 911 EMS ever since.

 

[Gapped3x]

You could add any of these schools:
USF Morsani
Miami
Tulane
St. Louis
Creighton
Western Michigan
Oakland Beaumont
Rosalind Franklin
Eastern Virginia
Virginia Commonwealth
Georgetown
George Washington
Temple
Jefferson
Drexel
Pittsburgh
Rochester
Hofstra
Einstein
New York Medical College
Boston University
Tufts
Quinnipiac

Thank you! Western MI is interesting. I have extended family nearby and the COL is low.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Adding to also check if there are MSPA chapters at the schools on your list. I would presume there is an LGBTQ+ ally group at all of the California medical schools, but check.

 

[Gapped3x]

Thank you both.

So I'm inferring that I'm a strongish applicant for my local UCs, and fairly solid for mid and lower tier OOS / privates. Dope. I'm not interested in T-whatever schools, really. If I get into UCR or UCLA, I'm good. My dream is actually if UCR offered me some FA.

When I look at accepted vs. matriculant stats on the MSAR, it seems like accepted UCR students with higher MCATs than mine go elsewhere. All of my paid clinical hours are in the IE, with about half of them and a third of my volunteering hours with rural / underserved/ low-SES populations. I'll have to tell good stories, but am I smoking something to think that I might have a shot at aid?

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Thank you both.

So I'm inferring that I'm a strongish applicant for my local UCs, and fairly solid for mid and lower tier OOS / privates. Dope. I'm not interested in T-whatever schools, really. If I get into UCR or UCLA, I'm good. My dream is actually if UCR offered me some FA.

When I look at accepted vs. matriculant stats on the MSAR, it seems like accepted UCR students with higher MCATs than mine go elsewhere. All of my paid clinical hours are in the IE, with about half of them and a third of my volunteering hours with rural / underserved/ low-SES populations. I'll have to tell good stories, but am I smoking something to think that I might have a shot at aid?

Being proactive puts you in a stronger position in these conversations. Check on HPSP or NHSC or similar California based opportunities regarding loan repayment. Ask students.

 

[Gapped3x]

Being proactive puts you in a stronger position in these conversations. Check on HPSP or NHSC or similar California based opportunities regarding loan repayment. Ask students.

Really? Unless I'm missing something major, queer and military aren't besties these days. OTOH, your say-so means it's worth me checking it out again. Just to be super clear, are you saying that if I had one of those in hand, it would strengthen my position for competing offers from schools? I was thinking it would be more, why would we give you anything, homie? You've already got a ride.

Ask students, check - thank you.

ETA: OK, I take back my initial skepticism. HPSP is not for me, but NHSC is a solid maybe, especially once I saw some of the Native connections. I'm part Yaqui. No tribal registry, not claiming it for admissions purposes because it's small, and it's Yaqui from Mexico, not the US. TBH, I don't even know what it means to be Yaqui because those ancestors were forcibly assimilated, but it might be nice to pay it back a little even if it's to a different Nation.