State/Country of Residence: New Jersey
Ties to other States/Regions:
Year in School: Junior
Undergraduate Major(s)/Minor(s): Major: Molecular and Cellular Biology Minor: Psychology From a Top Ten non-ivy school
Cumulative GPA: 3.97
Science GPA: 3.95
MCAT Score(s): 515(132, 125, 130, 128)
Research Experience: By the time of application I should have around 180 hours of research. No publications or anything yet, but I focused my research with a lab that studies the fly gut microbiome. I worked to develop a way to extract the crop organ from a fly and still keep it alive to aid my PI in his paper.
Clinical Experience (paid or volunteer): I am a volunteer EMT and I have 121 hours and plan to hit around 220 by the time of my application. I also am a virtual hospice volunteer so that will be around 30-40 hours by the time of application.
Physician Shadowing: I currently shadow a psychiatrist and should be around 36 hours by the end of the semester. I have already set up a plan to shadow two primary care physicians in the winter and spring(4 hours each). So in total should be around 44 hours. Many of my shadowing opportunities got canceled due to COVID but I also did 10 hours of virtual shadowing where a physician went through his/her own personal cases and how they dealt with it(Ik that usually this would not count, but it was through a formal setting so not really sure if they would actually count this).
Non-Clinical Volunteering: I have 45 hours through a service organization called APO, where I focused on volunteering at an elderly care home. I have 45 through another organization called Circle K, where I focused on volunteering with food insecure individuals around my college city. By the time of my application, I plan to add at least 15-20 hours to each of these two organizations (because I am an active member of both). I also during COVID did around 30-40 hours serving a population that I hope to serve as a physician in the future: I helped deliver groceries back to my neighbors who were elderly(25 hours), I gave presentations to the local senior center about EMS and what sorts of things to expect(10 hours), and I was part of an organization that helped deliver tablets to elderly care homes across the country(10 hours). Lastly, my friend and I founded an organization called RiseUp College Counseling, it is an aspiring non-profit(we are currently looking for funds lol), that works with Baltimore City kids get advice about college admissions from real college students. I do not know how to calculate the exact hours of that but in terms of the impact, we have 21 mentors currently working with students from two Baltimore City High schools.
Employment History: By the time of application, I will have 91 hours as a tutor for Calculus II at my university. This is not really employment but I have the president of my Faith organization on campus and VP of Circle K(as I mentioned above).
Immediate family members in medicine? (Y/N): N
Specialty of Interest (if applicable): I sincerely want to work with the geriatric population. I personally have a lot of stories and reasons why I have chosen this population to serve, and I have tried to focus my volunteering efforts on this population to hopefully show my dedication to this population.
My main concern, I think, is my MCAT. I do not know if I should retake it. I really want to go to Weill Cornell but I think my MCAT has taken me out of contention for a T20 school, especially considering that I am an ORM. I also do not plan to take a gap year.
Ties to other States/Regions:
Year in School: Junior
Undergraduate Major(s)/Minor(s): Major: Molecular and Cellular Biology Minor: Psychology From a Top Ten non-ivy school
Cumulative GPA: 3.97
Science GPA: 3.95
MCAT Score(s): 515(132, 125, 130, 128)
Research Experience: By the time of application I should have around 180 hours of research. No publications or anything yet, but I focused my research with a lab that studies the fly gut microbiome. I worked to develop a way to extract the crop organ from a fly and still keep it alive to aid my PI in his paper.
Clinical Experience (paid or volunteer): I am a volunteer EMT and I have 121 hours and plan to hit around 220 by the time of my application. I also am a virtual hospice volunteer so that will be around 30-40 hours by the time of application.
Physician Shadowing: I currently shadow a psychiatrist and should be around 36 hours by the end of the semester. I have already set up a plan to shadow two primary care physicians in the winter and spring(4 hours each). So in total should be around 44 hours. Many of my shadowing opportunities got canceled due to COVID but I also did 10 hours of virtual shadowing where a physician went through his/her own personal cases and how they dealt with it(Ik that usually this would not count, but it was through a formal setting so not really sure if they would actually count this).
Non-Clinical Volunteering: I have 45 hours through a service organization called APO, where I focused on volunteering at an elderly care home. I have 45 through another organization called Circle K, where I focused on volunteering with food insecure individuals around my college city. By the time of my application, I plan to add at least 15-20 hours to each of these two organizations (because I am an active member of both). I also during COVID did around 30-40 hours serving a population that I hope to serve as a physician in the future: I helped deliver groceries back to my neighbors who were elderly(25 hours), I gave presentations to the local senior center about EMS and what sorts of things to expect(10 hours), and I was part of an organization that helped deliver tablets to elderly care homes across the country(10 hours). Lastly, my friend and I founded an organization called RiseUp College Counseling, it is an aspiring non-profit(we are currently looking for funds lol), that works with Baltimore City kids get advice about college admissions from real college students. I do not know how to calculate the exact hours of that but in terms of the impact, we have 21 mentors currently working with students from two Baltimore City High schools.
Employment History: By the time of application, I will have 91 hours as a tutor for Calculus II at my university. This is not really employment but I have the president of my Faith organization on campus and VP of Circle K(as I mentioned above).
Immediate family members in medicine? (Y/N): N
Specialty of Interest (if applicable): I sincerely want to work with the geriatric population. I personally have a lot of stories and reasons why I have chosen this population to serve, and I have tried to focus my volunteering efforts on this population to hopefully show my dedication to this population.
My main concern, I think, is my MCAT. I do not know if I should retake it. I really want to go to Weill Cornell but I think my MCAT has taken me out of contention for a T20 school, especially considering that I am an ORM. I also do not plan to take a gap year.
