Just looking for advice WAMC

[Jpondys]

Hey guys—just made account. Looking for some advice as I prepare to apply to the 2025-2026 cycle.

cgpa: 3.85; sgpa: 3.9
MCAT: 519 (131, 128, 129, 131)
Small liberal arts school
Race: white M
No state schools in my state!

I took 3 gap years

Research:
400 hrs organic chem bench in college (1 poster conference)
2500 hrs CRC (1 publication) — maybe 500 hrs clinical here too
500 hrs independent (non academic) research assistant post grad (1 pub) l

Clinical:
~500 hrs from CRC
1000 hrs Medical Assistant pediatrics (ongoing)

Shadowing:
40 hrs addiction medicine

No clinical volunteering

Non clinical volunteering: 250 hrs designing/teaching nutrition to boys/girls club at a camp over two summers in college

Honors in college + science society thing

School list in progress, im just concerned about 1, not having enough shadowing even though I basically shadow drs all day as a MA, and 2, not enough volunteering. I am extremely busy and don’t have much extra time so I guess im seeing if y’all think I have a enough stuff at this point.

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[Mr.Smile12]

Welcome to the forums.

Can you disclose your state of residency? Sure, you may not have an in-state option, but the information helps.

I think working/volunteering in a clinical environment is important since your M3/M4 years will be held in those environments. I understand you have clinical research experience, so why not pursue a master's in clinical research? Your MA work will help, but a little more shadowing and a bit more clinical volunteering can help give you a better idea of what your future would be like.

What is your purpose as a physician? How do your activities inform us about the type of physician you want to be (not talking about specialty)?

 

[Jpondys]

RI resident. I definitely have a ton of clinical exposure so I was hoping I could just keep my MA job. At this point I’m done with clinical research but hope to do it once I’m a physician.

I can shadow a bit more definitely but I’m less excited doing clinical volunteering because I’ve been exposed to it thoroughly I believe and also I need money haha

Purpose as physician is definitely geared towards primary care and preventative medicine. My independent publication is geared towards that and so is my work with kids and nutrition. Overall, how does the application look ?

 

[Faha]

Accumulate another 20 hours of shadowing in a specialty other than addiction medicine. I suggest these schools with your stats:
Brown
Dartmouth
UMass
UConn
Tufts
Boston University
Vermont
Quinnipiac
Albany
New York Medical College
Hofstra
Einstein
Mount Sinai
NYU
Columbia
Cornell
Rochester
Hackensack
Jefferson
Pittsburgh
Georgetown
George Washington
Duke
Emory
USF Morsani
Tulane
Washington University (in St. Louis)
Northwestern
U Chicago
U Michigan
Western Michigan
Case Western
Cincinnati
Iowa
Colorado
Mayo

 

[LunaOri]

You need some primary care shadowing, and some non-clinical volunteering would also help. You do not need clinical voluunteering.