Help with making a school list?

[drtribbiani]

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Hey guys, I'm applying this coming cycle and would really appreciate some help formulating a school list. For my GPA, I used an AMCAS GPA calculator that I found on google (first link if you google "amcas gpa calculator").

cGPA: 3.90
sGPA: 3.88
MCAT: 514 (129/125/128/132)

State: OH

Race: Asian

Clinical experience:
~300 hrs volunteering at a hospital (ED, patient floors, Surgery Center, ICU/CCU, patient transport, Ortho Center, etc.) where the vast majority of patients/ family were from disadvantaged populations. This was a smaller hospital, so my interactions here were very meaningful.

Research: ~100 hrs

Shadowing: ~40 hrs w/ Orthopedic surgeon, I hope to add some PCP shadowing before sending in my application (how bad would it hurt if I didn't have an PCP shadowing?)

Non-clinical volunteering:
~60 hrs (1 year) as a TA for a few classes (8th grade math, 8th grade science, kindergarten "after-school care") at a school where most (if not all) of the students were from disadvantaged backgrounds. The school itself was underfunded as well.
~40 hrs at a major tennis tournament in the men's locker room.
(I should probably get more experience here in the next month or so, right?)

Other:
Tennis player (1000+ hrs from freshman yr to junior yr of college, many more thousands of hours if you include years before)
Tennis coach
Camp counselor
Tutor/ informal mentor (this is unpaid, but it isn't under a certain organization or anything, which is why I didn't list it under "non-clinical volunteering")

Honors:
Honors College
Deans List (every semester)

Other interesting stuff that I don't know if I should put on my app:
Former swimmer (before college)
Former martial artist (before college)
Basketball (as a hobby, ei. pick-up games)

Many thanks!

 

[OtisO]

I'm not sure, but I would accept you as long as you interviewed well. Good luck!

 

[DrFortiusNatando]

Your school list will be critical. You will need to include ALL Ohio schools, plus include Drexel, Netter, NYMC, Hofstra, UVM, etc. Reach could include a school like Miami or Tufts, if those are particularly appealing. I would not waste money applying to T20 or research-heavy schools or any state schools outside OH with heavy IS preference. May be important to ask someone like @Goro which schools seem to require a lot of volunteering and commitment to the community and cross those schools off your list too.

Your shadowing hours should be expanded to include primary care (IM, FM, Peds) or EM.
You also need more volunteering for those less fortunate than yourself. Volunteering in locker room of major tennis tourney is not helping those less fortunate than yourself (tennis tourney could have hired people to do this).

Your research is essentially non-existent. That is fine if your other EC's are stellar, but other than your sport, it does not look like you embraced other EC's at any significant expense to yourself. And unfortunately, being from a very over-represented background (in Medicine) will not help.
That said, if you do not want to take a gap year to improve these issues in your app and to improve your life experience, I think you will still find mid-tier acceptances, including state schools, due to your good stats. You will find some interviewers who truly understand the dedication it takes to play college-level sports, though it is always better when you can tell your story from the standpoint of playing as a member of a team, which is less true of a sport like tennis. (I can see weaving a story about doubles maybe...)

If I was your mother however, my advice would be to take TWO gap years and find what it is that you love, other than tennis, that is compatible with a career in medicine. Do you love research? Do you love helping underserved communities? Do you have stellar communication and interpersonal skills, one on one, that enable you to connect with people? Why do you want to go into medicine? There is not much in your application that would convince me how you know that you love medicine as a life-long career, but maybe there is a story that you can tell in your application that will be compelling. I do not mean my criticism to be harsh, or overly personal. This is the same advice I give to many people in your shoes.

 

[Woe_is_me23]

Is the Tennis varisty level or club?

 

[wholeheartedly]

moving to WAMC

 

[drtribbiani]

Your school list will be critical. You will need to include ALL Ohio schools, plus include Drexel, Netter, NYMC, Hofstra, UVM, etc. Reach could include a school like Miami or Tufts, if those are particularly appealing. I would not waste money applying to T20 or research-heavy schools or any state schools outside OH with heavy IS preference. May be important to ask someone like @Goro which schools seem to require a lot of volunteering and commitment to the community and cross those schools off your list too.

Your shadowing hours should be expanded to include primary care (IM, FM, Peds) or EM.
You also need more volunteering for those less fortunate than yourself. Volunteering in locker room of major tennis tourney is not helping those less fortunate than yourself (tennis tourney could have hired people to do this).

Your research is essentially non-existent. That is fine if your other EC's are stellar, but other than your sport, it does not look like you embraced other EC's at any significant expense to yourself. And unfortunately, being from a very over-represented background (in Medicine) will not help.
That said, if you do not want to take a gap year to improve these issues in your app and to improve your life experience, I think you will still find mid-tier acceptances, including state schools, due to your good stats. You will find some interviewers who truly understand the dedication it takes to play college-level sports, though it is always better when you can tell your story from the standpoint of playing as a member of a team, which is less true of a sport like tennis. (I can see weaving a story about doubles maybe...)

If I was your mother however, my advice would be to take TWO gap years and find what it is that you love, other than tennis, that is compatible with a career in medicine. Do you love research? Do you love helping underserved communities? Do you have stellar communication and interpersonal skills, one on one, that enable you to connect with people? Why do you want to go into medicine? There is not much in your application that would convince me how you know that you love medicine as a life-long career, but maybe there is a story that you can tell in your application that will be compelling. I do not mean my criticism to be harsh, or overly personal. This is the same advice I give to many people in your shoes.

Thanks for the feedback! I don't intend on taking a gap year for personal reasons. There is indeed a compelling story behind my decision to pursue this field (part of that story includes tennis actually), but I'd like to keep away from giving too many personal details. As for T20 schools, I do realize that my shot at them is very slim, but this doesn't bother me at all (I'm not too crazy about prestige). With that said, I'm still thinking of applying to ~5 of them out of 25-30 schools. That said, I think your criticism is very helpful though as I can see how it's not entirely clear on how I'm committed to this field on paper. My hope is that my narrative, that will include many of my experiences, speaks towards this a bit better. Thank you!

 

[drtribbiani]

@Goro any insight on a school list?