Medical Having the Confidence to Apply

[Goro]

I am having a really bad case of imposter syndrome right now, and it is really affecting my confidence in applying. I keep having this nagging feeling that my school list is horrible and I am not going to get in anywhere. I feel like I have nothing compelling or interesting about me that would make these schools want to look at my application besides my race.

I guess I want to reach out and ask what are the strengths in my application? How do I manage my expectations and not be foolishly optimistic? Do you have recommendations for schools? Here is my application:

cGPA: 3.93
sGPA: 3.9
Mcat: 512
AA female

Clinical
Paid Experience (Emergency Room PCT): 11 months - 700 hours
Volunteer Experience #1 (HIV/AIDs clinic): 5 months - 100 hours
Volunteer Experience #2 (Low income clinic): Sporadically over 3 years - 50 hours

Shadowing
Pediatrics: 40 hr
Neurology: 20 hr
Internal Medicine: 20 hrs

Non-Clinical
Volunteer Experience #1 (homeless shelter): 7 months - 300 hours
Volunteer Experience #2 (tax preparer for low income families): 6 months over 2 years - 90 hours*
Volunteer Experience #3 (mentoring disadvantaged kids): 9 months over 2 years - 60 hours

Research
Research Experience #1 (Clinical HIV pain lab): 3.5 years - 600 hours
(1 thesis, 2 mid author publications, and 2 first author posters at national conferences)

Research Experience #2 (Clinical OA pain lab): 1 year - 100 hours

Leadership
President (Community service club): 2 years - 200 hrs (started health education outreach program during my time as president and was recognized by the national organization for our work in education)

Work
Research Assistant (Biobanking lab): 2.5 years - 1200 hrs

Other ECs
Mental health peer educator: 1.5 years - 110 hours

Hobbies: Drawing and Martial arts (I don’t have an awards or done anything extraordinary with these. Just things I do in my free time)

This is the application of someone who is likely to get lots of IIs, whatever your skin color is.
Now go smack yourself if you have any doubts like these again. Do you wanna be a doctor or not? If yes, APPLY!

Start list with the HBCs, your states schools, and then with WashU.

Then radiate outwards after that. Any school is yours.

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[Mr.Smile12]

You need to own your own personal strengths, acknowledge your weaknesses, and realize there are no perfect candidates. That said, you do need to know yourself when it comes to your motivation, resiliency, adaptability to changing environments (content, teams, clinic/workplaces), empathy, and full awareness of the parts of "medicine" you really don't like but have to tolerate. Focus on the material you need for your interviews, personal statements, and situational thinking (if you apply to a school that uses CASPer or MMI).