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[CaptNemo]

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[Mr.Smile12]

Good luck. The themes are very apparent. Carle not being on your AMCAS list is surprising.

 

[CaptNemo]

Good luck. The themes are very apparent. Carle not being on your AMCAS list is surprising.

I suggested Carle to my parents, but we were worried that they
1. Wouldn't accept me because of anti-Texan resident bias for OOS state schools
2. Wouldn't give good financial aid if accepted from OOS because state school

Hence, I decided to apply to Michigan (engineering) and UC's for OOS public school. Is UCSD's secondary worth writing as an OOS student with my background though? That autobiography looks frightening, and I'm worried that it will have all been for naught come II time.

Also thank you for reading through!

 

[Mr.Smile12]

I suggested Carle to my parents, but we were worried that they
1. Wouldn't accept me because of anti-Texan resident bias for OOS state schools
2. Wouldn't give good financial aid if accepted from OOS because state school

Hence, I decided to apply to Michigan (engineering) and UC's for OOS public school. Is UCSD's secondary worth writing as an OOS student with my background though? That autobiography looks frightening, and I'm worried that it will have all been for naught come II time.

Did you task to anyone at Carle (admissions, OOS students)? Your metrics will entice many programs presuming they have an interest in your engineering background and special needs insights. If they told you clearly about how they handle OOS or Texas applicants, ok. If you didn't reach out to them, you could be wrong in assuming. I don't have issues with the other schools in your list that have strong ties to engineering programs on their campus.

The autobiography prompt is up to you. I don't have a better idea of your background in this thread, but it's your blank canvas to paint with.

 

[CaptNemo]

Did you task to anyone at Carle (admissions, OOS students)? Your metrics will entice many programs presuming they have an interest in your engineering background and special needs insights. If they told you clearly about how they handle OOS or Texas applicants, ok. If you didn't reach out to them, you could be wrong in assuming. I don't have issues with the other schools in your list that have strong ties to engineering programs on their campus.

The autobiography prompt is up to you. I don't have a better idea of your background in this thread, but it's your blank canvas to paint with.

I have not talked to anyone at Carle just yet; I don't know any OOS students because it's relatively new and most of my friends have stayed in Texas. But I will try to reach out to admissions and understand their policy towards Texas applicants.

Understood about the autobiography prompt. My lethargy in doing it is half burnout from filling out 20-odd secondaries already and half burnout from a packed internship carrying over - but I had better put in the work now or forever hold my peace. 😮‍💨

Thanks again! Open to any other feedback.

 

[wysdoc]

Hi all,

This is my first SDN post, admittedly a little late into the cycle. I currently have one II from Baylor COM in their first wave (extremely thankful for that), however after that first invite, my neuroticism has taken over and I can't stop thinking about my chances at my school list overall. I am making this post in hopes of not setting my expectations too high as we go further into the cycle. What are my projected chances at these schools for this cycle with my stats and ECs? Thanks in advance!

cGPA: 3.91 for TMDSAS, 3.92 for AMCAS

sGPA: 3.83 for TMDSAS, 3.87 for AMCAS

Few grade red flags: 3 B's in one semester (including in gen chem 2) due to parental illness back in 2019, 1 P/F in engineering core class, 1 withdrawal in engineering elective, 1 B+ in engineering core class (reason for TMDSAS-AMCAS discrepancy) - are these major things? I've tried to avoid pointing them out in my applications specifically to avoid drawing attention...

MCAT: 518 (128, 131, 128, 131) -> 525 (131, 132, 130, 132)

State of residence: TX

Ethnicity and/or race: ORM

Undergraduate institution: "dual-credit" high school (only university transcript) 2 years, UT 3 years (class of '23), applying as trad applicant

Clinical experience (volunteer and non-volunteer):
- Hospital volunteering (72 hours)

Research experience:
- ~1800 hours across 3 years in 2 labs, plant molecular biology (~1650 hrs) and translational neurological science using lab-on-chip (~170 hrs).
- No publications, but authored on 3 presentations on plant mol bio.

Shadowing experience and specialties represented:
- Otologist (clinic + outpatient procedures ~45 hours)
- Ophthalmologist (mostly outpatient surgeries with some clinic ~80 hours)

Non-clinical volunteering:
- 200+ hours across different things
- Special focuses on caring for special needs children and food desert communities

Other extracurricular activities (including athletics, military service, gap year activities, leadership, teaching, etc):
- Lots of leadership (special needs children volunteering lead, team lead on engineering build team for two years designing medical devices for developing nations, co-founded premed club for dual degree students, leading my engineering major's "student council" academic committee next year, etc.)
- Undergrad TA for a year in two different programming/computing classes.
- Full-time intern at P&G this summer while I apply, focus on science communication.
- Part-time developer in lab under Dell Medical School faculty this summer.
- Was in a high school garage band playing rhythm and singing, was also in a student-organized high school choir, play the guitar by myself now (not super prestigious, but music is my main relaxant and I talk about it a bit 😝)

Relevant honors or awards:
- Summer research scholarship for plant mol bio lab
- College research award
- GPA honors
- 3rd place in international 2021 Design Competition from engineering build team that I co-led over COVID remote work, building a low-cost electrode cap + ML algorithm for predicting seizures
- 2nd place in UT research presentation competition in spring 2022 for engineering build team that I co-led, building low-cost fridge

Anything else not listed you think might be important: In the majority of schools, wherever they give me an opportunity, I talk about wanting to guide development of medical devices as a surgeon. I want to use medical school as an opportunity to gain critical biomedical knowledge that can then support medtech development. This would mean I can then build trust as a surgeon in the devices that I work with in the field. This desire is due to how much I fell in love with my engineering build team over two years of school, and the fun experiences I had both years so far.


School list:

AMCAS (verified late June after primaries started getting sent out, received all secondaries including screened ones, done with all but underlined but planning on finishing all by start of August):
Columbia
Harvard
NYU
UPenn
Stanford
UCLA
UCSF
UChicago
Michigan
Pitt
Vanderbilt
WashU
Cornell
Yale
UCSD
Duke
Emory
JHU
Mayo
Northwestern

TMDSAS (verified early June, all secondaries received but UTSA Long + UT Dell, secondaries submitted by mid June but complete by end of June due to mid-June CASPer):
UTSW
UTMB
McGovern
Long
Dell
TAMU
TAMU EnMed (I wonder why they still use the same app form even though they're a completely different school now?)
Texas Tech Lubbock
UH
Baylor COM

Again, thank you all in advance for reading through!

You have no reason to doubt yourself, please be patient. Only 4 of the TX schools have even started inviting for interviews

 

[CaptNemo]

You have no reason to doubt yourself, please be patient. Only 4 of the TX schools have even started inviting for interviews

I've been told this - but at the same time, I can't help but worry seeing as to how my CASPer test date caused many Texas applications to only be complete at the end of June, and how being a few days late for completion of my primary (resulting in it being verified after the first batch was already sent out) meant that I was behind on the curve for Pitt with people from a few days prior completeness already being offered II.

I've tried to put in a lot of work towards this, I'd just hate to see it all down the drain because of me taking too much time.

As an additional question regarding the current II that I do hold, does an earlier invite signify anything regarding medical school interest in my paper app? In the case of TMDSAS schools, do earlier invites point to a higher chance at prematching at all, or is that just wishful thinking from me?

Also, thank you for reading through!

 

[Bwesternn]

It's still July my hyper-neurotic friend, take an extra strength chill pill. No, take two.

You are an excellent candidate (btw are you seriously asking if your B+'s are red flags?), as is shown by your first wave II from BAYLOR. I'm writing this at a bar with my future medical school classmates, double fisting mai tai's. You're gonna be just fine

 

[Mr.Smile12]

R. E. L. A. X.

 

[wysdoc]

I've been told this - but at the same time, I can't help but worry seeing as to how my CASPer test date caused many Texas applications to only be complete at the end of June, and how being a few days late for completion of my primary (resulting in it being verified after the first batch was already sent out) meant that I was behind on the curve for Pitt with people from a few days prior completeness already being offered II.

I've tried to put in a lot of work towards this, I'd just hate to see it all down the drain because of me taking too much time.

As an additional question regarding the current II that I do hold, does an earlier invite signify anything regarding medical school interest in my paper app? In the case of TMDSAS schools, do earlier invites point to a higher chance at prematching at all, or is that just wishful thinking from me?

Also, thank you for reading through!

It's a good sign that you are one of the first Baylor interviewees.
Referring to your A&M EnMed question, the primary app is the same but EnMed applicants will be interviewed by the EnMed admissions team when the time comes.

I always encourage TMDSAS applicants not to obsess on prematch offers because only 1 out of 7 applicants who eventually match were given a prematch offer.

 

[CaptNemo]

It's still July my hyper-neurotic friend, take an extra strength chill pill. No, take two.

You are an excellent candidate (btw are you seriously asking if your B+'s are red flags?), as is shown by your first wave II from BAYLOR. I'm writing this at a bar with my future medical school classmates, double fisting mai tai's. You're gonna be just fine

Thanks for the encouragement! Yeah, I was kind of serious about thinking that the B+ was a red flag... Was worried that the last three semesters would show a downward trend (since the latter 3 red flags I talked about each happened in one of the last 3 sems). Will adcoms not care as much as I think they will?

It's a good sign that you are one of the first Baylor interviewees.
Referring to your A&M EnMed question, the primary app is the same but EnMed applicants will be interviewed by the EnMed admissions team when the time comes.

I always encourage TMDSAS applicants not to obsess on prematch offers because only 1 out of 7 applicants who eventually match were given a prematch offer.

Thank you for the clarification. Are you aware of any correlation at all between earlier interviews and greater chance of prematch?

R. E. L. A. X.

I think this thread is what happens when I browse too much SDN and Reddit in my downtime already being nervous about the process 😅
Point well taken haha

 

[CaptNemo]

Also open to any other feedback about my chances at the given schools from @Goro or @Faha

 

[Boltman10]

I've been told this - but at the same time, I can't help but worry seeing as to how my CASPer test date caused many Texas applications to only be complete at the end of June, and how being a few days late for completion of my primary (resulting in it being verified after the first batch was already sent out) meant that I was behind on the curve for Pitt with people from a few days prior completeness already being offered II.

I've tried to put in a lot of work towards this, I'd just hate to see it all down the drain because of me taking too much time.

As an additional question regarding the current II that I do hold, does an earlier invite signify anything regarding medical school interest in my paper app? In the case of TMDSAS schools, do earlier invites point to a higher chance at prematching at all, or is that just wishful thinking from me?

Also, thank you for reading through!

People can get interviews more than a month apart despite submitting on the same day, try not to think about being "behind the curve" too much. Granted I've fallen into the same trap of worrying about that, so do as I say not as I do I suppose

 

[Goro]

Hi all,

This is my first SDN post, admittedly a little late into the cycle. I currently have one II from Baylor COM in their first wave (extremely thankful for that), however after that first invite, my neuroticism has taken over and I can't stop thinking about my chances at my school list overall. I am making this post in hopes of not setting my expectations too high as we go further into the cycle. What are my projected chances at these schools for this cycle with my stats and ECs? Thanks in advance!

Chances outstanding

Few grade red flags: 3 B's in one semester (including in gen chem 2) due to parental illness back in 2019, 1 P/F in engineering core class, 1 withdrawal in engineering elective, 1 B+ in engineering core class (reason for TMDSAS-AMCAS discrepancy) - are these major things? I've tried to avoid pointing them out in my applications specifically to avoid drawing attention...

These are NOT red flags.

Columbia
Harvard
NYU
UPenn
Stanford
UCLA
UCSF
UChicago
Michigan
Pitt
Vanderbilt
WashU
Cornell
Yale
UCSD
Duke
Emory
JHU
Mayo
Northwestern

Good list. Add U Rochester, USF/Morsani, Sinai, Einstein, Duke, Mayo to list

I suggested Carle to my parents, but we were worried that they
1. Wouldn't accept me because of anti-Texan resident bias for OOS state schools
2. Wouldn't give good financial aid if accepted from OOS because state school

Ahh, parents. Trying out of love and ignorance to derail your medical career.

STOP listening to them

 

[CaptNemo]

People can get interviews more than a month apart despite submitting on the same day, try not to think about being "behind the curve" too much. Granted I've fallen into the same trap of worrying about that, so do as I say not as I do I suppose

Wow, I didn't know that. Is there any knowledge about how adcoms approach apps for II's? Is it chronological or do they rearrange based on features of the app, or is it different for every med school? Also thanks for the advice.

Chances outstanding

Wow, thanks. Any schools in the list that you believe I may have a better chance at than others based on stats and mission fit for EC's?

These are NOT red flags.

Thanks for letting me know. So you don't believe that interviewees will have significant questions in open file interviews about why I didn't mention these throughout my app although they were in my transcripts?

Add U Rochester, USF/Morsani, Sinai, Einstein, Duke, Mayo to list

From reading about the first four schools before, I got a few general ideas about each school: could anybody confirm or deny them? I feel that even in some of the schools I've applied to, that just their websites don't give the full story.
1. URochester: I've heard that Western New York is a more rural area, so not as well known outside the Northeast. Also, I don't know much about their aid disbursement process and don't want to get deep into debt just to find out that it wasn't as competitive as other programs in the Northeast or back in Texas.
2. Sinai: I've heard that they have a strong bias for Ivy League and other prestigious undergrad applicants. I'm just from a regular state school, so would dumping money on their (very expensive) secondary be worth it? I am actually reconsidering whether to finish filling out Mayo's app for this very reason.
3. Einstein: See Sinai.

I've already received secondaries from Duke and Mayo, but as I said above I am considering whether paying for Mayo is worth it in my situation. I am going to be putting myself through med school, and would only really like to go out of Texas if the OOS school is either substantially better than the UTSW/Baylor combo (so like T15 since the two big Texas schools sit around rank 25 in residency director rankings IIRC) and/or if the OOS school is able to match COA with UTSW/Baylor. Hence why I have schools like NYU on the list as high reaches.

Also LOL at the parents thing. Glad I made an account here, I'm first in family medical school aspirant so the process is quite arcane without resources like this.

 

[squids82]

Consider CCLCM --> Full Tuition scholarship with potential for full CoA + CCF is a very prestigious name in medicine

 

[CaptNemo]

Consider CCLCM --> Full Tuition scholarship with potential for full CoA + CCF is a very prestigious name in medicine

Interesting. Thank you for the rec!

 

[Mr.Smile12]

I'm first in family medical school aspirant so the process is quite arcane without resources like this.

This is why we're here.

Is there any knowledge about how adcoms approach apps for II's? Is it chronological or do they rearrange based on features of the app, or is it different for every med school? Also thanks for the advice.

Every process is different about the order of screening applications for II. We will make determinations based on how high you rank on our preference scale in whatever way each committee defines it.

I am going to be putting myself through med school, and would only really like to go out of Texas if the OOS school is either substantially better than the UTSW/Baylor combo (so like T15 since the two big Texas schools sit around rank 25 in residency director rankings IIRC) and/or if the OOS school is able to match COA with UTSW/Baylor. Hence why I have schools like NYU on the list as high reaches.

Why aren't you applying to national scholarship programs like HPSP and NHSC? With one of these, you can basically punch a ticket to any school that accepts you.

 

[CaptNemo]

We will make determinations based on how high you rank on our preference scale in whatever way each committee defines it.

Thanks for the clarification!

Why aren't you applying to national scholarship programs like HPSP and NHSC?

I'm not necessarily interested in working for the military for personal/family reasons or restricting myself to a PCP role before I enter medical school. Do I have any chance of procuring merit-based aid packages from OOS schools on my list, or is that too big of an ask in your educated opinion?

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Thanks for the clarification!


I'm not necessarily interested in working for the military for personal/family reasons or restricting myself to a PCP role before I enter medical school. Do I have any chance of procuring merit-based aid packages from OOS schools on my list, or is that too big of an ask in your educated opinion?

I don't have enough information to know if you would be someone I would hypothetically nominate for scholarship consideration. What makes you an outstanding candidate?

 

[CaptNemo]

I don't have enough information to know if you would be someone I would hypothetically nominate for scholarship consideration. What makes you an outstanding candidate?

I don't know if I would be comfortable going too deep into my background online. However, I will keep that question in mind as I go further into the cycle. Thank you all for all your help!