hounds-of-love
New Member
- Joined
- May 13, 2024
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Hello! I would like advice on crafting a solid school list for the 2025-2026 cycle. I am a first-time applicant in my second gap year. Admittedly, I do not yet have a solid angle/direction for my application. My primary instinct is to make my application service-oriented with a focus on community health. It feels like patient-care and cultural competency is what I have done best. There's a lot I need to refine though.
My main concern is: I think my research experience is kind of weak, and I know that the top schools value research heavily. I don't know if there are some schools I should hold off applying to for that reason. I would appreciate some insight!
cGPA and sGPA as calculated by AMCAS or AACOMAS:
cGPA: 3.8 & sGPA: 3.74
MCAT score(s) and breakdown:
518 (pretty evenly spread score distribution if that matters)
State of residence or country of citizenship (if non-US):
California/Citizen
Ethnicity and/or race:
Hispanic/Mexican
Undergraduate institution or category:
UCLA/Bachelors in Biology
Clinical experience (volunteer and non-volunteer):
Health Fair Client Navigator:
Undergrad club for 2 years. We planned and hosted community health fairs for different underserved populations in Los Angeles. I got to flex my translation skills and learn patient interaction while participating in community health. I was part of a referrals team where we gathered the information of low-cost clinics in the areas we served, either through the internet or by in-person visit, and consolidated the info into 1-page referral sheets for our clients. We translated these flyers into many different languages.
Hearing Screening Volunteer:
Volunteered to help run a hearing screening booth for 2 years. As volunteers, we would help with setting up the booth, client intake, and translation between the audiometrist and the client. The second year I helped secure spots for the booth in different community health fairs. I was also in charge of directing volunteers and communicating the schedule with the audiometrist.
Hospital volunteer:
~70-80 hours. Very standard experience of restocking, answering calls, making small talk with patients. Nothing to write home about, but the experience inspired me to become a CNA.
Certified Nursing Assistant:
This is my ongoing paid clinical experience. I work full time in the progressive care unit of a hospital. We see the whole range of medical conditions, but mostly we have high acuity patients. So far, I have been finding this experience incredibly valuable in terms of clinical exposure and patient interaction. I plan to work for a year and a half total. I started this January, so I'll have worked around six months when I first apply.
Research experience and productivity:
I volunteered in an undergrad lab for a year and a half. Our focus was behavioral neuroscience. I really cannot speak too much about my research productivity since the project quickly became a train-wreck. Honestly, most of my time was spent being emotional support for an unstable grad student and a mediator between my PI and this aforementioned student. The experience taught me a lot more about accountability and emotional maturity than research skills. Everyone in the lab recognized my contributions to the research, despite the messiness of the situation. While I certainly gained laboratory skills and learned more about research, I do not think I fulfilled my potential as a researcher. I felt I was put on the specific project for the wrong reasons. Almost everything I contributed to our research was quietly put away when the project failed.
Shadowing experience and specialties represented:
Around 65 hours as of now. Planning to shadow again very soon
Specialties (so far): Surgical oncology (~50), Emergency Med (16), Vascular Surgery
Non-clinical volunteering:
Probably my weakest point. I volunteered sporadically at a VA mental hospital and a community garden during college. Probably less than 30 hrs overall.
I am looking to get way more non-clinical hours under my belt in the next few months. Hopefully in science education.
Other extracurricular activities: (including athletics, military service, gap year activities, leadership, teaching, etc)
Learning Assistant:
I was a learning assistant for a lower-division physiology course my final quarter of school. I worked under TAs during class discussions, helping students with their work and sometimes teaching a slide or two of material. As learning assistants, we also led our own smaller learning sections for students who wanted extra help. I also learned a lot about pedagogy, which was very insightful.
Director for Deaf youth/teen mentorship events:
This was my 1 year leadership role in an undergraduate club. I worked with a local nonprofit for deaf youth and they gave me free-reign to plan and execute monthly mentorship events for middle school/high schoolers at their center. My team and I focused mostly on college preparation and career exploration since we're college students. I learned a lot about mentorship and keeping kids engaged while learning
Environmental Policy Research Project:
This was an undergraduate think tank I was part of for a year. My team focused on transportation and green space accessibility in Los Angeles, comparing the city to other global cities and making recommendations for improvement. It culminated in a policy paper that we presented during our undergraduate research week. Ultimately I found myself not enjoying the experience too much, but it was the first time I did any form of research.
Covid-19 Service-Learning Project:
I took this course for around 3 months. I worked closely with a faculty advisor and peers to develop and distribute informative resources about COVID-19, including translated materials and compiled government benefit programs. The research we did on county- and state-wide social services, health coverage, and demographics was a great introduction to community health for me.
Beekeeping:
I was in my school's beekeeping club for 2 years. I took a course and got certified so that I could work directly with the bees. Taking on a hive by myself taught me a lot about responsibility and caring for the wellbeing of a living thing. At one point I had to devise a treatment plan for my infected colony. That felt like a full circle moment for me.
Relevant honors or awards:
N/A
My main concern is: I think my research experience is kind of weak, and I know that the top schools value research heavily. I don't know if there are some schools I should hold off applying to for that reason. I would appreciate some insight!
cGPA and sGPA as calculated by AMCAS or AACOMAS:
cGPA: 3.8 & sGPA: 3.74
MCAT score(s) and breakdown:
518 (pretty evenly spread score distribution if that matters)
State of residence or country of citizenship (if non-US):
California/Citizen
Ethnicity and/or race:
Hispanic/Mexican
Undergraduate institution or category:
UCLA/Bachelors in Biology
Clinical experience (volunteer and non-volunteer):
Health Fair Client Navigator:
Undergrad club for 2 years. We planned and hosted community health fairs for different underserved populations in Los Angeles. I got to flex my translation skills and learn patient interaction while participating in community health. I was part of a referrals team where we gathered the information of low-cost clinics in the areas we served, either through the internet or by in-person visit, and consolidated the info into 1-page referral sheets for our clients. We translated these flyers into many different languages.
Hearing Screening Volunteer:
Volunteered to help run a hearing screening booth for 2 years. As volunteers, we would help with setting up the booth, client intake, and translation between the audiometrist and the client. The second year I helped secure spots for the booth in different community health fairs. I was also in charge of directing volunteers and communicating the schedule with the audiometrist.
Hospital volunteer:
~70-80 hours. Very standard experience of restocking, answering calls, making small talk with patients. Nothing to write home about, but the experience inspired me to become a CNA.
Certified Nursing Assistant:
This is my ongoing paid clinical experience. I work full time in the progressive care unit of a hospital. We see the whole range of medical conditions, but mostly we have high acuity patients. So far, I have been finding this experience incredibly valuable in terms of clinical exposure and patient interaction. I plan to work for a year and a half total. I started this January, so I'll have worked around six months when I first apply.
Research experience and productivity:
I volunteered in an undergrad lab for a year and a half. Our focus was behavioral neuroscience. I really cannot speak too much about my research productivity since the project quickly became a train-wreck. Honestly, most of my time was spent being emotional support for an unstable grad student and a mediator between my PI and this aforementioned student. The experience taught me a lot more about accountability and emotional maturity than research skills. Everyone in the lab recognized my contributions to the research, despite the messiness of the situation. While I certainly gained laboratory skills and learned more about research, I do not think I fulfilled my potential as a researcher. I felt I was put on the specific project for the wrong reasons. Almost everything I contributed to our research was quietly put away when the project failed.
Shadowing experience and specialties represented:
Around 65 hours as of now. Planning to shadow again very soon
Specialties (so far): Surgical oncology (~50), Emergency Med (16), Vascular Surgery
Non-clinical volunteering:
Probably my weakest point. I volunteered sporadically at a VA mental hospital and a community garden during college. Probably less than 30 hrs overall.
I am looking to get way more non-clinical hours under my belt in the next few months. Hopefully in science education.
Other extracurricular activities: (including athletics, military service, gap year activities, leadership, teaching, etc)
Learning Assistant:
I was a learning assistant for a lower-division physiology course my final quarter of school. I worked under TAs during class discussions, helping students with their work and sometimes teaching a slide or two of material. As learning assistants, we also led our own smaller learning sections for students who wanted extra help. I also learned a lot about pedagogy, which was very insightful.
Director for Deaf youth/teen mentorship events:
This was my 1 year leadership role in an undergraduate club. I worked with a local nonprofit for deaf youth and they gave me free-reign to plan and execute monthly mentorship events for middle school/high schoolers at their center. My team and I focused mostly on college preparation and career exploration since we're college students. I learned a lot about mentorship and keeping kids engaged while learning
Environmental Policy Research Project:
This was an undergraduate think tank I was part of for a year. My team focused on transportation and green space accessibility in Los Angeles, comparing the city to other global cities and making recommendations for improvement. It culminated in a policy paper that we presented during our undergraduate research week. Ultimately I found myself not enjoying the experience too much, but it was the first time I did any form of research.
Covid-19 Service-Learning Project:
I took this course for around 3 months. I worked closely with a faculty advisor and peers to develop and distribute informative resources about COVID-19, including translated materials and compiled government benefit programs. The research we did on county- and state-wide social services, health coverage, and demographics was a great introduction to community health for me.
Beekeeping:
I was in my school's beekeeping club for 2 years. I took a course and got certified so that I could work directly with the bees. Taking on a hive by myself taught me a lot about responsibility and caring for the wellbeing of a living thing. At one point I had to devise a treatment plan for my infected colony. That felt like a full circle moment for me.
Relevant honors or awards:
N/A
