- Joined
- May 12, 2017
- Messages
- 344
- Reaction score
- 407
So I am still sitting on complete silence from 19/24 schools that I applied to. I'm emotionally preparing myself for needing to reapply. If I need to reapply, I'm looking at skipping the next cycle and applying in the 2021/2022 cycle. Given all of this, I would greatly appreciate a postmortem on my application. All thoughts and opinions will be accepted, just let me down gently. Please tell me what I can do better for 2021/2022!
Let me know if you have any questions or need more info!
EDIT: I forgot to add this -- I am unable to take more classes to improve my GPA. This is for financial reasons and the fact that I have over 230 credits, so it would take many classes to move my GPA in a meaningful way.
Let me know if you have any questions or need more info!
EDIT: I forgot to add this -- I am unable to take more classes to improve my GPA. This is for financial reasons and the fact that I have over 230 credits, so it would take many classes to move my GPA in a meaningful way.
- cGPA/sGPA/aoGPA: 3.64/3.52/3.93
- High-school CC dual-credit: 3.84
- Year 1: 3.92
- Year 2: 3.43
- Year 3: 3.23
- Year 4: 3.79
- MCAT score(s) and breakdown: 510 (129/126/127/128)
- State of residence: OR with personal and family ties to NY and VT
- Ethnicity and/or race: White, non-Hispanic
- Undergraduate institution or category: Public 4-year of no particular prestige
- Clinical experience (volunteer and non-volunteer):
- Volunteer at an outpatient diabetes and endocrinology clinic associated with my state medical school (210 hours, ongoing): Marked as one of my MMEs. I briefly discussed my personal interest in diabetes and access to healthcare/nutrition. I followed this with info and a story about my participation in the clinic's food insecurity program where I directly interact with patients to give them information and resources to meet their nutritional needs. Since I've applied, there will be more information to add regarding helping the clinic establish a partnership with a CSA to have produce available for patients.
- Paid scribe for a colon and rectal surgeon (900 hours): Discussed how the role has given me more insight into the roles and responsibilities of a physician and their interactions with patients.
- Receptionist for a neurosurgery clinic (400 hours, ongoing): This is something I have begun in the past few months (after I submitted to AMCAS) as I wanted to get more exposure with another specialty/clinic and to make more money. It has given me a much better understanding to how our healthcare system functions. I do have a quite a bit of patient interaction because I am taking many calls from patients and performing triage for patient's medical needs.
- Research experience and productivity:
- Biology undergraduate research assistant (900 hours): Marked as one of my MMEs. I was honest and described most of my duties as maintaining the animals our lab worked with. But I talked a lot about how the experience was meaningful to me because it led to some good friendships and taught me about teamwork, resiliency, and dedication. I also mentioned how it showed me that I really needed to be working in a social environment and that I want to be working directly with patients/clients instead of individually in a lab.
- Undergraduate honors thesis (250 hours): Independent and self-led project in the lab I mentioned above. I designed and executed the project, wrote a thesis, and successfully defended it in front of a three-person committee. Also presented my research at my school's annual Undergraduate Research Symposium.
- Medical research volunteer (120 hours): volunteered for 3-months at a medical research lab associated with my state's medical school. I briefly discussed some of the skills I learned and a project I designed using the skills I learned in the lab.
- Shadowing experience and specialties represented:
- Private practice PCP: 44 hours
- HMO PCP: 8 hours
- Hospital pediatric endocrinologist: 3 hours
- Non-clinical volunteering:
- Citizenship program volunteer (75 hours, ongoing): Briefly discussed my role in teaching civics/history to students and conducting mock interviews. I also went into a little detail about how I enjoy learning about the students' lives and hearing about their experiencing coming to the US or their journey on becoming a citizen.
- Volunteer pharmacy technician (215 hours): Talked about how this position involved working with underserved populations and helped me become more curious about the diseases/conditions behind the medications I was helping to dispense.
- Undergraduate laboratory tutor (80 hours): One term as an in-class lab tutor for a general biology class. Mostly just talked about how I got satisfaction about helping others learn/understand complex concept.
- Other extracurricular activities (including athletics, military service, gap year activities, leadership, teaching, etc):
- Student Health Coordinator (200 hours): Marked as MME. Summer job where I was a health educator for new students at my university. Taught them about contraception, immunizations, access to healthcare, and insurance. I talked in-depth how this was personally fulfilling because I had my own anxieties about managing my healthcare as a new student, so it was nice to educate other students and relieve them of their own worries.
- Student Health Advisory Committee (150 hours): Member of the committee for two years, educating students about healthcare on campus and giving students' input to the health center's administration. Also played a large role in the committee's recruitment process, helping to revamp the application process and actively increasing the diversity of students on the committee.
- Letters of Recommendation:
- Biology professor who taught me in one upper-division biology class and whose lab I worked in for two years and did my thesis in. He and his wife/research partner fund a scholarship at my state medical school.
- Biology professor who I took one genetics class with. I was a lab tutor for her class for one term, at her request.
- Honors college literature professor I took two classes with. I spoke with her many times while taking her classes and I feel like she would've written a good letter even though we didn't know each other more personally.
- Surgeon I scribed for. He did his residency at my state medical school.
- My supervisor from my time as a Student Health Coordinator; she was also the adviser for the Student Health Advisory Committee.
- Volunteer supervisor for the diabetes/endocrinology clinic associated with my state medical school.
- Relevant honors or awards:
- $20,000 scholarship from my university, based on high school academics
- $1,000 scholarship from local hospital, based on academics, recommendations, and volunteerism
- Award from Student Health Advisory Committee for having a positive impact on the committee
- Anything else not listed you think might be important
- Discussed my interest and passion for architecture
- Discussed how I was training my dog to be a therapy animal in the hospital. Unfortunately, I haven't had my dog tested and certified yet because I'm afraid he'll fail for being "too friendly."
- Schools applied to (all complete by early-August, under 2-week turnaround)
- Albany
- Buffalo
- Colorado
- Creighton
- Eastern Virginia
- Georgetown (pre-II rejection)
- George Washington (pre-II rejection)
- Jefferson
- Loyola
- Medical College of Wisconsin ("small pool" email, aka hold)
- New York Medical College
- Oregon Health & Science University
- Oakland Beaumont
- Quinnipiac
- Rosalind Franklin
- Rush
- Seton Hall
- Temple
- Toledo
- Tufts (pre-II rejection)
- Vermont
- Virginia Commonwealth
- Wake Forest (pre-II rejection)
- Wayne State
