cGPA 3.9, sGPA 3.85, MCAT Pending, Questions on clinical experience

[SicEmBears]

On my MCAT practice tests I averaged a 34-35.
I am in AFROTC so I have been trained in medical activities through that, especially at Field Training (Boot Camp). I worked in Uganda in high school on testing for HIV and helped administer 400+ tests with a doctor (I was in Uganda for three different summers total). I am on cabinet (exec board) for my fraternity and have been in many rigorous leadership positions. I also worked in a medical clinic in Haiti in college. Finally, I volunteered at a Cerebral Palsy Home for a summer and go back every once in a while. I did biological research as well. I have a bunch of other leadership and nonmedical volunteering.

My question though is that I have only had the clinical experience in Haiti, the CP home and Uganda, with one day of shadowing a maxillofacial surgeon. I am scheduled to shadow a general surgeon and spinal surgeon all this summer, but I was wondering if I should just not mention any shadowing until secondary apps or interviews. I have some great clinical experiences but just not much shadowing that I'm worried it will make my application look bad.

I also have spent lots of time in the hospital with my family, my dad has lymphoma and my mom had 6 surgeries in two years on a broken leg. Altogether my family had 12 surgeries in 23 months haha. I don't know if that counts for anything but I've had lots of experience with doctors, just not technically shadowing.

Also, what schools should I add to my list?

Sorry for how long the post is! Thanks so much for any suggestions!

Schools I'm for sure applying to (CA Resident):
Baylor
UCLA and UCLA Drew
USC
Loma Linda
Stanford
USUHS (Military med school)
UCSD
UCSF
UCD
UCI
Vanderbilt

Potential Schools:
Emory
NYU
Columbia
Tulane
Tufts
Johns Hopkins
Mayo
Wake Forest
Jefferson
Temple
Drexel
Vermont
U of Washington
UNC Chapel Hill

Some of these are a stretch, but I have tons of leadership activities that I think will make for a unique application, especially with AFROTC and my missions trips abroad and to Los Angeles.

Thanks guys!

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[BigBlueBear]

Your list certainly seems top-heavy, but if you do end up getting a 34ish on your MCAT you shouldn't have any problem getting some acceptances.

In my pre-medical opinion, of course

 

[SicEmBears]

Your list certainly seems top-heavy, but if you do end up getting a 34ish on your MCAT you shouldn't have any problem getting some acceptances.

In my pre-medical opinion, of course

Thanks! Ya the USUHS is hopefully a guaranteed acceptance after talking to some of my friends there. But do you have any more schools that are easier to get in to to add to my list? My potential list is super top-heavy, that's why it is potentials haha im going to look more into them to see which ones I like the most.

 

[Charles Darwin]

Add a few more safety schools to your list and you'll be good to go.

 

[SicEmBears]

Add a few more safety schools to your list and you'll be good to go.

what are some good safety schools? I was looking at some of the U of Arizona schools, would those qualify? And what is your advice on the shadowing part, should I just not include it until secondaries? Thanks!!

 

[BigBlueBear]

I would definitely include the shadowing on your AMCAS. Who cares if technically it's not "real" shadowing, you still had a lot of experience with it so list it.

The U of A schools accept up to 50% OOS now, so those would be good. Although I'm applying there too so you shouldn't!!

As far as safety-ish schools, if you're interested in New York at all there's Albany, NYMC, Einstein maybe, that are all private so are generally OOS friendly. Hope that helps.

 

[SicEmBears]

awesome, thanks!

 

[semicharmed]

Wait and see about the MCAT, a lot of the time this can dictate school decisions. It's great that you're averaging good scores and you tend to get +/- 2 points of your averages if you've taken enough practice tests. You seem to have a good story too.

I think your potential school list looks great. Just make sure that all of the schools are places you would actually like to go. I agree with some of the schools listed by BigBlueBear if you want to add some good places with a little lower score averages to be "safe."

You'll be fine, good luck.

 

[Catalystik]

On my MCAT practice tests I averaged a 34-35.
I am in AFROTC so I have been trained in medical activities through that, especially at Field Training (Boot Camp). I worked in Uganda in high school on testing for HIV and helped administer 400+ tests with a doctor (I was in Uganda for three different summers total). I am on cabinet (exec board) for my fraternity and have been in many rigorous leadership positions. I also worked in a medical clinic in Haiti in college. Finally, I volunteered at a Cerebral Palsy Home for a summer and go back every once in a while. I did biological research as well. I have a bunch of other leadership and nonmedical volunteering.

My question though is that I have only had the clinical experience in Haiti, the CP home and Uganda, with one day of shadowing a maxillofacial surgeon. I am scheduled to shadow a general surgeon and spinal surgeon all this summer, but I was wondering if I should just not mention any shadowing until secondary apps or interviews. I have some great clinical experiences but just not much shadowing that I'm worried it will make my application look bad.

I also have spent lots of time in the hospital with my family, my dad has lymphoma and my mom had 6 surgeries in two years on a broken leg. Altogether my family had 12 surgeries in 23 months haha. I don't know if that counts for anything but I've had lots of experience with doctors, just not technically shadowing.

Besides the sparse shadowing (a passive observership), you don't seem to have much active US-based clinical experience where you interacted with patients. What were your duties in the CP home? I'm particularly interested in anything you did that provided therepeutic benefit, as opposed to playing with the kids. Did you ever use the medical training from ROTC?

Would it be possible to call up your own primary care doc and get in some quick, intense shadowing before you submit your application? When do you start the scheduled summer shadowing?

 

[SicEmBears]

Besides the sparse shadowing (a passive observership), you don't seem to have much active US-based clinical experience where you interacted with patients. What were your duties in the CP home? I'm particularly interested in anything you did that provided therepeutic benefit, as opposed to playing with the kids. Did you ever use the medical training from ROTC?

Would it be possible to call up your own primary care doc and get in some quick, intense shadowing before you submit your application? When do you start the scheduled summer shadowing?

At the CP home all I did was read to the patients and communicate with the ones that could communicate/talk about life with them. In Haiti I helped talk with a nurse about what to do with patients and how to reason with some of the people who were resistant to spending money on medication. In Uganda I monitored test results for the HIV tests. But ya, the problem is my ROTC commitment got in the way of volunteering at clinics when I was at school, none of the clinics in my area would let me volunteer if I had to miss a day a week which was a huge bummer.

In ROTC we did many different medical "disaster" drills where we had to apply our first aid skills and were told if we did them correctly. There were drills like bomb explosions and chemical warfare attacks. During the frequent exercises where people got "shot" by paintballs, we had to know what to do to stabilize them.

I start my summer shadowing on monday. And would it matter if my primary care doc is a DO if im applying to all allopathic schools? do you think I should apply to DO schools too?
Also, would you recommend mentioning how much time i've spent in the hospital because of my family health issues? I have a ton of leadership activities and community service, just not as much on the medical side because most cases have been really inflexible when i tried to volunteer. Thanks so much!

 

[Catalystik]

1) At the CP home all I did was read to the patients and communicate with the ones that could communicate/talk about life with them. In Haiti I helped talk with a nurse about what to do with patients and how to reason with some of the people who were resistant to spending money on medication. In Uganda I monitored test results for the HIV tests. But ya, the problem is my ROTC commitment got in the way of volunteering at clinics when I was at school, none of the clinics in my area would let me volunteer if I had to miss a day a week which was a huge bummer.

In ROTC we did many different medical "disaster" drills where we had to apply our first aid skills and were told if we did them correctly. There were drills like bomb explosions and chemical warfare attacks. During the frequent exercises where people got "shot" by paintballs, we had to know what to do to stabilize them.

2) I start my summer shadowing on monday. And would it matter if my primary care doc is a DO if im applying to all allopathic schools? do you think I should apply to DO schools too?

3) Also, would you recommend mentioning how much time i've spent in the hospital because of my family health issues? I have a ton of leadership activities and community service, just not as much on the medical side because most cases have been really inflexible when i tried to volunteer. Thanks so much!

1) You might consider starting a volunteer gig in a US clinical environment, like a hospital, hospice, clinic, rehab center, or skilled-nursing home. You can update schools through the cycle via periodic letters, where allowed.

2) Allopathic med schools won't care about the letters after the doc's name, though there are a number of DO schools that do, and some require a DO LOR.

Reasons to consider applying to DO schools can relate to a variety of unrelated factors: It could depend on your MCAT score, if a DO program is conveniently close to an area where you'd like to have proximity, your own physician's input, whether you become knowledgeable about the one difference in their approach to practicing medicine, etc. Many apply to both MD and DO programs.

3) It would be reasonable to discuss this under the "Other" designation, rather than "Community Service/Volunteer-Medical/Clinical."