Medical How can I improve my applicant for next year?

[Mr.Smile12]

Hello, and thank you for offering this service. Below is a snapshot of my application, followed by some questions and concerns I have.

CA resident, ORM reapplicant. Applied broadly >25 schools. No positive news, plenty of bad news.

Chronologically by category:
Metrics: 513 (2016) --> 3.7s/3.7c (2017) --> 3.4 g (2018, incomplete M.S.) --> 522 (2019)
Research: 3 years. 1 thesis. 1 poster at a big conference.
Shadowing: 100+ hrs, emergency medicine/primary care
Clinical: 200+ hrs, medical tent @ high altitude bicycle race --> taking BP/glucose readings at health fairs --> clinic at international site (monthly for ~2 yrs) --> chair of health fair committee for resource awareness in inner city --> local clinic (rural)
Non-clinical: 200+ hrs, food bank, fundraising for mission trips, habitat for humanity, mentor for high school students interested in healthcare careers
Etc: teaching (elementary --> upper division level), community manager (>1,000 members globally), natural disaster survivor, biotech and engineering consulting


Would an AdCom member notice or care that without the research units, my gGPA was >3.9? My inability to define clear expectations with my PI is the reason behind my poor gGPA. My lecture course grades were in the A-/A+ range while my graded research units hovered between a B- and A.

Essentially, is there anything I can do (or have already done) to overshadow my graduate school experience? What else do you see that is missing?

Currently, I am weighing my options between working an entry-level clinical/clinical research position, accepting a fellowship with the NIH, or working with a healthcare consulting firm and am interested to hear what the other side of admissions has to say.

Where did you apply, listing all MD and DO schools, and noting which ones you have been in contact with since your first application. Any comments from prehealth advisors, your evaluators, and admissions staff? Did you have interviews in your previous attempts?

And anything else you are not disclosing? What bad news?

No DO schools. Is it unreasonable to submit an application now?

Creighton*
NYMC*
UC Davis*
UCSD*
CNUCOM*
Dartmouth*
Icahn*
UCI*
Stanford*
Yale*
UCSF*
Cornell*
Columbia*
Pritzker*
SKMC
Hofstra
Penn State
Tufts
UA - Phoenix
Rochester
VCU
Case Western
Rosalind Franklin
Albert Einstein
Wayne State
Albany
WUSTL
California University

*: Prior cycle, only 9 secondaries to mostly the UCs were completed. I received no interviews. Those schools I did reach out to during the first cycle "do not provide personalized feedback". I can bet that they would have said that I needed more clinical hours, more volunteering, and research experience with more substance than washing dishes. Most of the listed ECs came during or after the 2016 cycle.

My school advisers said my application "looked good" but this was after a summary similar to what I presented here. I have reached out to them again to see if they'd be willing to do a more extensive review but even when I was a student they were not very amenable to file reviews.

Sorry I've just seen the edit: "bad news" refers to the amount of rejections I have seen so far this cycle. I have some old speeding tickets from 4+ years ago, otherwise a clean record. I left the master's program after taking a voluntary leave of absence to interview with other PIs at the school so I have no reason to believe they wouldn't have let me continue (no academic probation, etc.).

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[Goro]

Would an AdCom member notice or care that without the research units, my gGPA was >3.9?
The problem is that your research grades are supposed to be high, so you wouldn't get a "bye" for omitting them.


Essentially, is there anything I can do (or have already done) to overshadow my graduate school experience? What else do you see that is missing?


Clinical: 200+ hrs, medical tent @ high altitude bicycle race --> taking BP/glucose readings at health fairs --> clinic at international site (monthly for ~2 yrs) --> chair of health fair committee for resource awareness in inner city --> local clinic (rural)

Your clinical ECs are very weak. They're not clinical because you weren't dealing with patients. You need to show Adcoms that you really want to be around sick of injured people for the next 30-40 years, and that you know what you're getting into. The international experience will be swamped by not having domestic experience, and a lot of people view overseas missions as medical tourism. Your non-clinical ECs are fine.

You can't rely only on your numbers to get you any traction.

Not all volunteering needs to be in a hospital. Think hospice, Planned Parenthood, nursing homes, rehab facilities, crisis hotlines, camps for sick children, or clinics.

Some types of volunteer activities are more appealing than others. Volunteering in a nice suburban hospital is all very well and good and all, but doesn't show that you're willing to dig in and get your hands dirty in the same way that working with the developmentally disabled (or homeless, the dying, or Alzheimers or mentally ill or elderly or ESL or domestic, rural impoverished) does. The uncomfortable situations are the ones that really demonstrate your altruism and get you 'brownie points'. Plus, they frankly teach you more -- they develop your compassion and humanity in ways comfortable situations can't.

 

[Goro]

As a reapplicant, it will be wise to have DO schools on your next list, and aim a bit lower for MD. Many schools will average your MCAT scores.

 

[Goro]

I will have to work on finding a MD/DO letter then. I should average the MCATs and use the new LM score (72-73) to develop a list, right?

Yup.

Employed clinical experience is fine.