Help paring down school list for high-stat, mid-ECs

[JakAttk]

I need help narrowing down my school list and deciding which schools are a good fit for my application.
Stats:

• 527 MCAT
• 3.95 sGPA/cGPA
• Biochem B.S.
• NC resident, born in NY with family still there
• Non-URM

ECs:

• ~500 paid clinical hours, mostly hospital CNA work
• 1200 research hours in biochemistry, 0-1 pubs
• 60 volunteer clinical hours at a free clinic
• 120 hours of nonclinical volunteering with animals and free tutoring
• A few hobbies and other jobs (engineering internship, language learning, etc.)

Here's the list I'm working with. It's an edited version of what I got from admit.org:

• Harvard Medical School
• John's Hopkins University School of Medicine
• University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine
• Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons
• Duke University School of Medicine
• Stanford University School of Medicine
• Vanderbilt University School of Medicine
• Washington University in St. Louis School of Medicine
• Weill Cornell Medicine
• New York University Grossman School of Medicine
• Yale School of Medicine
• Mayo Clinic School of Medicine
• Northwestern University The Feinberg School of Medicine
• University of Michigan Medical School
• University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine
• Ichahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
• University of California Los Angeles David Geffen School of Medicine
• University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine
• Emory University School of Medicine
• Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine
• University of Colorado School of Medicine
• University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine
• Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California
• University of Virginia School of Medicine
• Boston University School of Medicine
• University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry
• The Warren Alpert Medical School at Brown University
• University of Cincinnati College of Medicine
• Albert Einstein College of Medicine
• Wake Forest University School of Medicine
• USF Health Morsani College of Medicine
• Tufts University School of Medicine
• Stony Brook University School of Medicine
• Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra
• Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University

I'm looking to knock off ~10 schools, so are there any that are obviously not strong fits? Is it too top-heavy? Otherwise, what criteria should I use to narrow it down?

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[Mr.Smile12]

120 hours of nonclinical volunteering with animals and free tutoring

There's not enough service orientation activities listed, so you are at risk of getting screened out at most schools. You should have at least 150 hours of food distribution, shelter volunteer, job/tax preparation, transportation services, or housing rehabilitation when you submit your application. Given your metrics, if you intend to play with "brand name" school applicants, you are competing against people with hundreds of hours more (recommend at least 250 at submission, but many will have up to a thousand or so). I see no X-factors that would help me other than to say "strike all the brand schools because you are presenting as common cannon fodder."

Overall your WAMC profile is sparse. Understand the importance of mission fit. Most of the top brand schools see so many applicants with impressive resumes and test scores, so nothing in your profile makes you really stand out. Why should a school want you as a student? Why would you be happy as a student at each school on your list?

If you can't come up with 3+ specific resources, opportunities, or community opportunities, you should strike the school off your list. If you were born in NY, then you should include all your NY schools. If you have lived in NC for a while, you can include NC schools too. Outside of this, I don't know where you got the names of other schools on your list outside of those areas. Others on the list will likely yield protect you. For example: Wake Forest, Rochester, Hofstra, Colorado. Your metrics are "high roller" metrics so you need to tell us why you would forego an offer at Harvard or Hopkins (if you get one) to go to their programs (like Stony).

 

[JakAttk]

There's not enough service orientation activities listed, so you are at risk of getting screened out at most schools. You should have at least 150 hours of food distribution, shelter volunteer, job/tax preparation, transportation services, or housing rehabilitation when you submit your application. Given your metrics, if you intend to play with "brand name" school applicants, you are competing against people with hundreds of hours more (recommend at least 250 at submission, but many will have up to a thousand or so). I see no X-factors that would help me other than to say "strike all the brand schools because you are presenting as common cannon fodder."

Overall your WAMC profile is sparse. Understand the importance of mission fit. Most of the top brand schools see so many applicants with impressive resumes and test scores, so nothing in your profile makes you really stand out. Why should a school want you as a student? Why would you be happy as a student at each school on your list?

If you can't come up with 3+ specific resources, opportunities, or community opportunities, you should strike the school off your list. If you were born in NY, then you should include all your NY schools. If you have lived in NC for a while, you can include NC schools too. Outside of this, I don't know where you got the names of other schools on your list outside of those areas. Others on the list will likely yield protect you. For example: Wake Forest, Rochester, Hofstra, Colorado. Your metrics are "high roller" metrics so you need to tell us why you would forego an offer at Harvard or Hopkins (if you get one) to go to their programs (like Stony).

I've tried to get more volunteer hours, but it's been very difficult to fit into my schedule, and I don't want to push my application back another year for it. It seems like you're saying I shouldn't apply to top schools because my ECs aren't good enough, and I shouldn't apply to mid-tiers because my stats are too high, so what schools am I supposed to add?

Also, I've lived in NC most of my life, hence all of the NC MD schools. I wouldn't be able to claim residency in NY, which is why those schools are mostly missing. I included the ones near family (NYC schools, Hofstra, Stony Brook).

 

[wysdoc]

I've tried to get more volunteer hours, but it's been very difficult to fit into my schedule, and I don't want to push my application back another year for it. It seems like you're saying I shouldn't apply to top schools because my ECs aren't good enough, and I shouldn't apply to mid-tiers because my stats are too high, so what schools am I supposed to add?

Also, I've lived in NC most of my life, hence all of the NC MD schools. I wouldn't be able to claim residency in NY, which is why those schools are mostly missing. I included the ones near family (NYC schools, Hofstra, Stony Brook).

The things you mention are the reason many people don't apply directly after graduating - they need to build up the non-classroom components of their medical school application, and avoid having to do the entire application twice.

 

[JakAttk]

The things you mention are the reason many people don't apply directly after graduating - they need to build up the non-classroom components of their medical school application, and avoid having to do the entire application twice.

But I feel like I have sufficient clinical and research experience so really it would only be for volunteering that I'm not passionate about at this point. Everyone says that the application process isn't about checking boxes but then gives a short list of volunteering activities that are mandatory, which is frustrating.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

But I feel like I have sufficient clinical and research experience so really it would only be for volunteering that I'm not passionate about at this point. Everyone says that the application process isn't about checking boxes but then gives a short list of volunteering activities that are mandatory, which is frustrating.

Unfortunately medical school is all about providing service at a low to no cost to marginalized populations through community service and some limited clinical opportunities (free clinics, street medicine, health fairs). If you're not passionate about volunteering, you won't be highly regarded when it comes to alignment with their mission. I agree, the application process shouldn't just be about checking boxes, but you still have to make efforts to jump when expected to. The problem is that what you have provided is transactional and demonstrates a "checklist" mindset.

Of course, I can be jaded and say that passing medical school is all about addressing checklists.

Thrive in Medical School: Checklists for Medical Students

Use these checklists to keep track of required and recommended activities to complete throughout medical school.

students-residents.aamc.org

 

[JakAttk]

Unfortunately medical school is all about providing service at a low to no cost to marginalized populations through community service and some limited clinical opportunities (free clinics, street medicine, health fairs). If you're not passionate about volunteering, you won't be highly regarded when it comes to alignment with their mission. I agree, the application process shouldn't just be about checking boxes, but you still have to make efforts to jump when expected to. The problem is that what you have provided is transactional and demonstrates a "checklist" mindset.

Of course, I can be jaded and say that passing medical school is all about addressing checklists.

Thrive in Medical School: Checklists for Medical Students

Use these checklists to keep track of required and recommended activities to complete throughout medical school.

students-residents.aamc.org

I don't mean that I'm not passionate about volunteering - some of the volunteering that I've done has been wonderful. However, my experience with the type of volunteering that medical schools seem to live (i.e. soup kitchen) has been that I often feel like the work I'm doing in unnecessary and/or unhelpful, and I always feel like I'm just there to pump up my hours. Free tutoring is how I've felt most able to use my skills to provide actual benefit, but that seems to be looked upon less favorably.

 

[wysdoc]

I don't mean that I'm not passionate about volunteering - some of the volunteering that I've done has been wonderful. However, my experience with the type of volunteering that medical schools seem to live (i.e. soup kitchen) has been that I often feel like the work I'm doing in unnecessary and/or unhelpful, and I always feel like I'm just there to pump up my hours. Free tutoring is how I've felt most able to use my skills to provide actual benefit, but that seems to be looked upon less favorably.

Nobody who is giving you advice wants to see you get turned down for this easy-to-fix reason of needing some more community service.
"Just do it". If you go to a food pantry 2 Saturdays a month from now until May, problem solved. You might be surprised at the variety of people you serve there and whether their need for the food bank is temporary or longterm.

 

[JakAttk]

Nobody who is giving you advice wants to see you get turned down for this easy-to-fix reason of needing some more community service.
"Just do it". If you go to a food pantry 2 Saturdays a month from now until May, problem solved. You might be surprised at the variety of people you serve there and whether their need for the food bank is temporary or longterm.

I usually work at the hospital on Saturdays, but I have Tuesday mornings free this semester, so I'll try to do a few hours every week. By May it'll probably only be 60 hours or something, but I suppose it's better than nothing. Thanks.

 

[JakAttk]

@Mr.Smile12 @wysdoc

Assuming I maximize my volunteer hours by May and get to ~250 hours total volunteering (clinical + nonclinical), what tier of schools should I focus my application on? Do I need to add more mid-tiers and drop the big-name schools, or is the distribution I have reasonable? Also, I've heard TX loves high-stats - is that something worth considering?

Thank you guys for all the advice.

 

[thorntonjr]

no harvard ur ecs aren’t enough, mcat for washu vanderbilt and nyu tho should suffice but t5s will be hard cuz no x factor