MD Last-minute schools/WAMC - career-changer from software engineering

[qsgg9cvYQusEBJG]

PLEASE DO NOT QUOTE THIS MESSAGE

Applying this cycle, WAMC? And please let me know if there are any last-minute schools I should add. I know I applied to many OOS-unfriendly schools, so there is no need to critique this part of the app, but maybe let me know which I should add.

1. cGPA and sGPA as calculated by AMCAS or AACOMAS
   
   
   
   Very rough start to college, which I think I've done a decent job explaining on my secondaries. I hope the strong upward trend makes a difference.
   
2. MCAT score(s) and breakdown
   
   
   
   512 (129/125/129/129). I know CARS is bad. The proctor said something going into that section that really screwed me over, which threw me off for the first three passages. It is what it is. 🤷‍♂️
   
   
3. State of residence or country of citizenship (if non-US)
   CA resident, strong ties to IL, ideally will end up in one of these two states.
   
   
4. Ethnicity and/or race
   White/Arab, ORM
   
   
5. Undergraduate institution or category
   Started in a big 10, struggled a lot, and transferred to a private in IL. I have transcripts from 5 different schools (mostly summer classes and schools I attended between transfer + my post-bacc school). I'm guessing that will count against me
   
   
6. Clinical experience (volunteer and non-volunteer)
   230 hours of clinical volunteering in the children's hospital
   
   
7. Research experience and productivity
   1 second author publication
   
   
8. Shadowing experience and specialties represented
   144 hours in emergency medicine, forensic pathology, radiation oncology, otolaryngology, general surgery, anesthesiology
   50 hours additional of virtual shadowing
   
   
9. Non-clinical volunteering
   It is by far the weakest part of my application. Basically, I spent only 50 hours working with a non-profit on a software project related to early childhood education. If I have to reapply, I'm prioritizing this aspect.
   
   
10. Other extracurricular activities (including athletics, military service, gap year activities, leadership, teaching, etc)
    
    - 2 years as a children's swim coach during college
    - master's swimming (didn't include in my app, whoops)
    - 1 semester as a TA for computer science class
    - 2 years Uber driver (lol, I tried to spin this)
    - 7+ years as a software engineer with tons of medical informatics, EMR, and biotech/scientific programming experience. I'm hoping this is what sets me apart, but I understand this is pretty common these days.
    
    
11. Relevant honors or awards
    Dean's list for 3 semesters. I also have my name on a patent. I am still not sure it is special, which is why I didn't include it.
    
    
12. Anything else not listed you think might be important
    1 institutional action for academic dishonesty, 3 alcohol-related legal issues over a decade ago 🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️ this part gives me the most anxiety. I think I explained it well, but sheesh, these are easy reasons to reject me.

I applied to the following schools:

Albert Einstein College of Medicine

Boston University Aram V. Chobanian & Edward Avedisian School of Medicine

Carle Illinois College of Medicine

Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine

Central Michigan University College of Medicine

Chicago Medical School at Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine & Science

Creighton University School of Medicine

Eastern Virginia Medical School

George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences

Kaiser Permanente Bernard J. Tyson School of Medicine

Louisiana State University School of Medicine in New Orleans

Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine

Medical College of Wisconsin

Medical University of South Carolina College of Medicine

Michigan State University College of Human Medicine

Northwestern University The Feinberg School of Medicine

NYU Grossman School of Medicine

Oakland University William Beaumont School of Medicine

Ohio State University College of Medicine

Oregon Health & Science University School of Medicine

Robert Larner, M.D., College of Medicine at the University of Vermont

Rush Medical College of Rush University Medical Center

Saint Louis University School of Medicine

Southern Illinois University School of Medicine

Stanford University School of Medicine

The University of Toledo College of Medicine and Life Sciences

Tufts University School of Medicine

Tulane University School of Medicine

University of California, Davis, School of Medicine

University of California, Irvine, School of Medicine

University of California, Los Angeles David Geffen School of Medicine

University of California, Riverside School of Medicine

University of California, San Diego School of Medicine

University of California, San Francisco, School of Medicine

University of Chicago Division of the Biological Sciences The Pritzker School of Medicine

University of Cincinnati College of Medicine

University of Illinois College of Medicine

University of Iowa Roy J. and Lucille A. Carver College of Medicine

University of Kansas School of Medicine

University of Minnesota Medical School

University of Nevada, Reno School of Medicine

University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health

Wayne State University School of Medicine

West Virginia University School of Medicine

Western Michigan University Homer Stryker M.D. School of Medicine

Wright State University Boonshoft School of Medicine

Should I add any? WAMC? Be brutally honest.

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[Dr_Pediatrics]

Last year Southern Illinois only interviewed 1 out of 66 out-of-state applicants. I also think UChicago, UCLA, UCSF, UCI, Stanford, NYU Grossman, Boston University, and Case are very unreasonable given your stats. I also think that you have a lot of public schools (i.e. Michigan State) that are not very friendly to out of state applicants with your stats. I'm sorry I'm not trying to sound harsh, I just don't think this is a list that you will see much success with. Have you thought about moving and establishing residency in a different state (i.e. Illinois)? California is a brutal state to live in for pre-meds.

 

[qsgg9cvYQusEBJG]

Last year Southern Illinois only interviewed 1 out of 66 out-of-state applicants. I also think UChicago, UCLA, UCSF, UCI, Stanford, NYU Grossman, Boston University, and Case are very unreasonable given your stats. I also think that you have a lot of public schools (i.e. Michigan State) that are not very friendly to out of state applicants with your stats. I'm sorry I'm not trying to sound harsh, I just don't think this is a list that you will see much success with. Have you thought about moving and establishing residency in a different state (i.e. Illinois)? California is a brutal state to live in for pre-meds.

Not harsh at all. I appreciate your candor. Southern Illinois was definitely a mistake, so was UNevada, OHSU, and MUSC. However, I'm trying to move on and stay positive. Do you have any private or public schools that are friendly to out-of-state students that you could recommend? All the schools you recommended that are out of reach I was planning not to even bother with, but a people I trust convinced me to apply anyway based on my non-traditional background. I still don't have high hopes.

I would consider establishing residency, but I don't want to get ahead of myself. Looking to add at least 1-2 more schools. I've already spent so much time and money already this cycle, really trying to make it count.

 

[Dr_Pediatrics]

Not harsh at all. I appreciate your candor. Southern Illinois was definitely a mistake, so was UNevada, OHSU, and MUSC. However, I'm trying to move on and stay positive. Do you have any private or public schools that are friendly to out-of-state students that you could recommend? All the schools you recommended that are out of reach I was planning not to even bother with, but a people I trust convinced me to apply anyway based on my non-traditional background. I still don't have high hopes.

I would consider establishing residency, but I don't want to get ahead of myself. Looking to add at least 1-2 more schools. I've already spent so much time and money already this cycle, really trying to make it count.

Did you already submit secondaries for these all these schools?

If you're looking to establish residency somewhere, it might be a good idea to start looking I can think up a list and post it a little later for you.

Did you try California University?

 

[qsgg9cvYQusEBJG]

Did you already submit secondaries for these all these schools?

If you're looking to establish residency somewhere, it might be a good idea to start looking I can think up a list and post it a little later for you.

Did you try California University?

I submitted secondaries for all except Oakland Beaumont, UVermont, which I'm currently working on. Received hold for II from WVU and Tulane, rejected from Wayne and Western Michigan.

I would love to move out of California, but my partner is still finishing school. Earliest I can leave is next June.

I think California University is cool. I would love to move back to the midwest, though, to be closer to family. Really appreciate your help.

 

[Faha]

The majority of the schools you applied to are unrealistic with your stats. You could add these schools:
California University
NOVA MD
Wake forest
Drexel
Temple
Penn State
Hackensack
Quinnipiac
You should also apply to DO schools and I suggest these:
WESTERN
TUCOM-CA
TUNCOM
AZCOM
ATSU-KCOM
KCU-COM
MU-COM
ACOM
WCU-COM
LMU-DCOM
CUSOM
NOVA
WVSOM
UP-KYCOM
PCOM (all schools}
LECOM (all schools)