MSTP WAMC + School List Help

[coolcookie24]

Hello,

I plan on applying straight from undergrad (no gap years) in the upcoming 2023 cycle and was wondering if I'm a competitive applicant for MSTP programs.

Asian male (Ivy undergrad)
Not a minority, low SES, or disadvantaged

These stats are projected to the end of my junior year aka time of submission:
cGPA: 3.91
sGPA: 3.88
MCAT: 517 (no retakes)
Major: Biochemistry, Biophysics

Research: ~3000 hours (Spring freshman year - end of jr year + 2 summers)

One national conference poster which was online bc of COVID ​

Should have one or two first-author pubs in revision in good journals (IF 7+)​

Structural biology/immunology computational work (100% dry lab)​

Graduating with a master's so a thesis will be completed by matriculation​

Should get a very strong LOR from my PI​

​

Volunteering:

Clinical: 100 hours​

Non-clinical: 250 hours​

Shadowing: ~120 hours mainly in pediatric oncology and in the NICU

Misc: President of a volunteering club and mentored underclassmen interested in getting involved in research

Interests: biochemistry/protein biology research mainly from the structural perspective. I'm not too attached to any specific diseases, however.

I know my clinical hours are pretty low – mainly due to COVID and my own shortcomings – so I wanted to get a feel for how competitive my application is. I haven't looked to deeply into programs yet and would happily take suggestions! Here a few I thought would be a good fit (in no particular order):

University of Washington
UC San Diego
UCSF
Stanford
Yale
Penn
WUSTL
Vanderbilt
Columbia
UT SW Dallas
UNC Chapel Hill
UCLA
Tufts

Thank you!

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[thr1932359]

I'm a bit leery of projecting stats because it's hard to predict precisely what will come to fruition, esp. regarding your journal publications b/c the peer review process is very unpredictable in terms of timeline. What have you accomplished so far?

My experience this cycle has taught me this:
You should apply to a very broad school list (i.e. NOT the list you have right now), but feel free to include the T20s and T10s that interest you. So if all of these schools are ones you can see yourself at, then apply to them. I applied straight through with a significantly weaker profile than yours; no publications at time of submission (and no publications even now), <50% of the shadowing hours you have, and less nonclinical + clinical volunteering as I switched from pre-PhD to pre-MD/PhD late in my college career. I also did not hold any leadership positions in student organizations, but I did TA classes for nearly 3 years. However, I did have a slightly higher GPA and MCAT score. I received multiple interviews in the T40 and above, including interviews at two of the programs on your list, and am currently holding an offer at one (T10) that I will very likely take.

On paper, you seem competitive, so don't worry about that. I think the main thing you need to do is present a cohesive picture of yourself and your motivations to pursue an MD/PhD through your personal statement, your Why MD/PhD essay, your SRE essay and your secondaries. I spent a lot of time thinking about how to justify my transition from pre-PhD to pre-MD/PhD and I made sure I delineated exactly how I came to pursue both degrees and why an MD/PhD specifically was vital to achieving my career goals. I thought (correctly or incorrectly, I'm not sure) that this was especially important especially because I had a dearth of clinical experience.

I think my writing, in combination with what I suspect are strong reference letters, is why I am overperforming relative to my "paper" stats, so I wouldn't underestimate the importance of putting down your thoughts on paper and cleaning them up so your reasoning is clear and compelling. Get multiple sets of eyes on your writing (I asked my first-year writing professor and several non-premed friends to proofread my work for clarity and flow) and revise, revise, revise.

 

[thr1932359]

Some schools I think are worth adding to your list, mostly because they're well-organized MSTPs / MD/PhDs:

UC Irvine
UC Davis
University of Texas, San Antonio (directed by our friendly neighborhood program director Fencer)
Stony Brook University
Hofstra University
Albert Einstein College of Medicine
Case Western
NYU
University of Michigan
University of Maryland
University of Iowa
Baylor College of Medicine
University of Minnesota
Johns Hopkins University
Tri-I (Memorial Sloan Kettering, Cornell, Rockefeller)
Mount Sinai
University of Virginia
University of Chicago
Northwestern
University of Wisconsin
University of Rochester
Oregon Health and Sciences University (OHSU)
University of Colorado
Indiana University - Purdue
University of Illinois
University of Cincinnati
University of Pittsburgh
Emory University - Georgia Tech
Mayo Clinic

 

[coolcookie24]

Thank you @thr1932359 for your advice and school list! I will definitely focus on getting my essays tightened up before June rolls around and will look into these programs.

In terms of what I've accomplished in my research, about 90% of the paper's results and analysis were generated by myself and I did much of the initial writing with revisions made by my PI. I definitely can talk confidently about my research and its implications to the broader field.

 

[thr1932359]

Thank you @thr1932359 for your advice and school list! I will definitely focus on getting my essays tightened up before June rolls around and will look into these programs.

In terms of what I've accomplished in my research, about 90% of the paper's results and analysis were generated by myself and I did much of the initial writing with revisions made by my PI. I definitely can talk confidently about my research and its implications to the broader field.

Okay, great. Good luck!