MD-PhD '24 Applicant - School List Advice

[DataDiva]

I am looking for some feedback about my school list and advice on if/how concerned I need to be able my MCAT score during my application (applying in ’24 cycle). I'm applying to MD/PhD programs, and I’m concerned that my score will cause me to be screened out during a program’s initial review of my application. I am not really interested in advice on re-writing the MCAT. However, I am looking for feedback about whether my research experience and scholarly productivity will be strong enough to support a successful application cycle. I am also looking for guidance to make sure that I have a realistic school list and to help me narrow down my list (hoping to take about 8 off my list).

Also, to clarify the "why MD" piece, I had a significant medical illness during my teenage years (now completely healthy) and spent about 2-3 days per week in the hospital for medical treatment, for over 2.5 years. My interest in medicine comes form these experiences and my desire to be at the point of care engaging with patients and leading/designing their treatment plans and seeing them through their own medical journey. I believe that my experience as a patient, albeit something I will likely keep private in my day-to-day career, brings a very important perspective to my career and has largely seeded my interest to become a physician.

I have since had many different clinical experiences, some in the same place where I received my own care, that have really confirmed my desire to practice medicine. During my career exploration, I've observed beauty in the complement between clinical medicine, biomedical research, and teaching -- I've come to see my desired career continuing forward as an academic physician scientist.

Thank you in advance for your thoughts!

Demographics
State of Residence: Oregon
Race: Middle East and North Africa (MENA)
Other information:
Disadvantaged applicant (rural + economic) with FAP
90% of funding for undergraduate and graduate education were need-based or merit-based scholarship

Undergraduate
State University, Honors College BS in Health Studies (public health) and General Science.
cGPA: 3.59*
sGPA: 3.77*

Master of Science
State Medical University, Health Informatics (cGPA 3.97*); awarded Thesis of the Year.

At the time I applied to this MS program, I was unsure about if I truly wanted to pursue a MD-PhD (or if the PhD was truly necessary for the career I desired). I chose to complete the MS to help me sort out my interests and career desires. I had a phenomenal experience in my MS! I had/have great mentors and have been extremely productive with my scholarly work. I am highly interested in continuing down the physician scientist pathway.

MCAT
2019: 501 (125/125/126/125)
2022: 506 (126/126/127/127)

Research Experience
McNair Scholar (2016)
NIH Build Programs Scholar (2017-2019)
I have worked with 3 different clinical research groups
Oncology Clinical Research Coordinator: 600+ hours
Research Intern: 1,200+ hours
Research Assistant --> Senior Research Assistant: 4,000+ hours (+3,000 hours expected before/during ‘24 cycle)

Publications
1st author: 5+ (undergrad thesis; MS thesis; 1 manuscript selected 1st place at the national conference for my discipline; 1 manuscript in journal in impact of 56; 2 others in moderate-impact journals, several manuscripts under review)

Middle author: 2+ (1 manuscript selected for honorable mention at national conference of my discipline; 2 in moderate-impact journals, several manuscripts under review)

Multiple posters, podiums, and panels at regional/national conferences starting in 2015 and continually throughout my degree (+returning to in-person podium presentations at conferences starting in fall 2021).

Shadowing
2014 – 2019:
Emergency medicine (30 hours): 3 physicians
Anesthesiology (12 hours): 1 physician
Oncology (100 hours): 3 physicians
Neurology (30 hours): 1 physician (observing in Down syndrome specialty clinic)
Otolaryngology (20 hours): 1 physician
Internal medicine (40 hours): 1 physician

2019-2022:
Virtual/eShadowing (~20 hours)
Note: Scheduled to rotate with attending and residents in the MICU in August and November of this year.

Extracurricular activities
Leadership experiences throughout undergraduate and graduate school
Tutoring biology and chemistry for my university (2017-2019)
Clinical and non-clinical volunteer activities with longevity (2-3+ years each)
Non-clinical paid employment as a nanny

*GPAs as calculated by AMCAS

School List (ordered by interest and then alphabetically)
I tried to be strategic about building my school list so far. I started my list by including MD/PhD programs that have a supported PhD of interest to me and have whittled down the list by examining the researchers at these institutions, examining the curriculum of the MD, PhD, and MD-PHD programs, asking alumni/current students/faculty about institutional culture, and a few other more personal factors. I currently have ~28 schools but am intending to apply to ~20 (hopefully less than, if appropriate).

Applying
Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons
Northwestern University the Feinberg School of Medicine
Oregon Health & Science University School of Medicine
Renaissance School of Medicine at Stony Brook University
Stanford University School of Medicine
University of Iowa Roy J. and Lucille A. Carver College of Medicine
University of Michigan Medical School
University of Minnesota Medical School
University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine
University of Utah School of Medicine
University of Washington School of Medicine
Washington University in St. Louis School of Medicine

Interested
Duke University School of Medicine
University of Cincinnati College of Medicine
University of Florida College of Medicine
Vanderbilt University School of Medicine
Yale University School of Medicine

Exploring
Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine
Emory University School of Medicine
Harvard Medical School
Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania
University of California, Irvine, School of Medicine
University of California, Los Angeles David Geffen School of Medicine
University of California, San Diego School of Medicine
University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health

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[VaultArmitage]

That list is very, very top heavy even if you had a 515+ mcat score. You have a great looking application in regards to research and shadowing, but with your mcat you need to be adding A LOT more schools in the T50 range. I would also add at least 5 non-MSTP MD/PhD programs.

 

[Faha]

If you were applying to MD only the only school on your list that is realistic with your GPAs and MCAT of 506 is Oregon. The other schools on your list are far reaches (Harvard, Johns Hopkins, Stanford, etc.) or state public schools that admit few (if any) non residents with your stats and no connection to the state. Are you willing to consider more realistic MD schools or DO schools ?

 

[Fencer]

If you add all 50+ MSTPs, you will be lucky receiving more than 5 invitations to interview. Your only two non-MSTP schools are much more competitive than your stats. The real problem is which ones will truly consider your application... as I have previously suggested, this is my standard advice (feel free to PM me):

I tell applicants to be very open to applying broadly. Take AAMC table B-8 in excel from the AAMC FACTS tables webpage. Calculate number of applicants per matriculating slot of all programs. Select the list of MSTP programs from the NIGMS website. Arrange the spreadsheet by size of entry class. Examine table B-12 to see if a particular year was odd with more matriculants than it seems. Check their websites. For example, my program takes 7 applicants every year since 2018, we used to take 4-5 prior to that. We just received an Impact Score of top 5% in our T32 MSTP renewal, and we will be adding an extra slot per year. Examine NIH funding tables at the Blue Ridge or NIH websites, particularly looking at funding from the NIH Institute of your area of interest (NCI, NIA, etc.). Depending upon your stats, you will group the 51 MSTPs by groups of 15-20, and select several from each group for your list... You have to have different levels of difficulty to make sure that you get into the best program for you (interest, fit, location, etc. low in the scale is USNWR ranking or perceived prestige). Choose at least 5-10 from each tier (more in top tier if you wish)... Apply early, if you need to triage interviews, that would be a good problem to have. If you follow my advice, you will get MD/PhD acceptance early from the bottom tier, and might end up in one of your dream schools by matriculation date.