please help, WAMC+ school list 4.0 GPA 514 MCAT ORM non-traditional applying in June

[lava_girl]

---

Members do not see this ad.

Hi all,
I'm making the list of medical schools I will apply to in this upcoming cycle. Could anyone please take a look and tell me whether I should take off/add schools to it? also, what's the min/max number of schools should I be applying to? Very lost and any help will be much appreciated 🙂


Here are my stats:

ORM
GPA: 4.0

MCAT: 514


Current Medical School List:

1. Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
2. University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine
3. New York University Long Island School of Medicine
4. Albert Einstein College of Medicine
5. Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell
6. University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry
7. Rutgers New Jersey Medical School
8. Rutgers, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School
9. Tufts University School of Medicine
10. Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University
11. Sidney Kimmel Medical College at Thomas Jefferson University
12. Drexel University College of Medicine
13. University of Maryland School of Medicine
14. University of Miami Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine
15. George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences
16. Robert Larner, M.D., College of Medicine at the University of Vermont
17. State University of New York Downstate Medical Center College of Medicine
18. Eastern Virginia Medical School
19. Nova Southeastern University Dr. Kiran C. Patel College of Allopathic Medicine
20. Cooper Medical School of Rowan University
21. Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine
22. Albany Medical College
23. Hackensack-Meridian School of Medicine at Seton Hall University
24. New York Medical College
25. West Virginia University School of Medicine
26. Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at the University at Buffalo
    Considering adding some of these schools, what do you think?:
    
    
27. University of California, Los Angeles David Geffen School of Medicine
28. Weill Cornell Medicine
29. columbia
30. mayo clinic - all 3 schools
31. Uconn
32. West Virginia University School of Medicine
33. University of Louisville School of Medicine
34. The University of Toledo College of Medicine and Life Sciences
35. Chicago Medical School at Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine & Science
36. Nova Southeastern University Dr. Kiran C. Patel College of Allopathic Medicine
37. Georgetown University School of Medicine
38. Quinnipiac
39. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine

If you guys have any suggestions for schools I should add/take off please let me know

 

[Faha]

You have a good list and should receive several interviews. Among the schools you are thinking of adding you could include these:
Rosalind Franklin
Georgetown
Quinnipiac
Mayo

 

[lava_girl]

You have a good list and should receive several interviews. Among the schools you are thinking of adding you could include these:
Rosalind Franklin
Georgetown
Quinnipiac
Mayo

Thank you! I appreciate your help

 

[lava_girl]

@LizzyM , @Goro ,@TheDataKing , would love hearing your input. Thanks 🙂

 

[LizzyM]

Did you serve in the US military or in a foreign military? Foreign military doesn't stir the adcom like the US military does.

Have you used WARS? That should be your first stop in assessing your strength and making a list. I really don't keep up with what's what these days in terms of other schools.

 

[lava_girl]

Did you serve in the US military or in a foreign military? Foreign military doesn't stir the adcom like the US military does.

Have you used WARS? That should be your first stop in assessing your strength and making a list. I really don't keep up with what's what these days in terms of other schools.

Hi @LizzyM thank you for your reply. I served in a foreign military - will that be a disadvantage or just not an advantage?
I have used WARS and believe I have a score of somewhere between 70-80
Thanks again!

 

[LizzyM]

Just not an advantage... maybe, just maybe an advantage if you get an adcom member that goes to bat for you as a former member of the IDF. Not a sure thing but not that unlikely in some regions of the country.

 

[lava_girl]

Just not an advantage... maybe, just maybe an advantage if you get an adcom member that goes to bat for you as a former member of the IDF. Not a sure thing but not that unlikely in some regions of the country.

Thank you!

 

[Mr.Smile12]

I'm sure you're not disclosing a lot for privacy reasons, but any other non-clinical volunteering? Club officer doesn't tell me anything. Of course all of your in-state schools are in play, so network with them and other regional schools that may be friendly to non-trads and appropriately convenient for your needs.

 

[echsmew]

Just not an advantage... maybe, just maybe an advantage if you get an adcom member that goes to bat for you as a former member of the IDF. Not a sure thing but not that unlikely in some regions of the country.

Going off that, how does serving on a US military base as a foreign citizen (soldier) sound to adcoms? Specifically, there is a program in Korea that places Korean soldiers on a US military base (in Korea). Korean soldiers there live with American soldiers and work together for 2 years.

 

[LizzyM]

Going off that, how does serving on a US military base as a foreign citizen (soldier) sound to adcoms? Specifically, there is a program in Korea that places Korean soldiers on a US military base (in Korea). Korean soldiers there live with American soldiers and work together for 2 years.

I've never seen this. Is military service compulsory in Korea? I don't see it giving much of a bump, even if on a US base. The bump to US service members is, I think, because it is service to the US people (whereas service as a member of the Korean military is service to that country) and we have an all-volunteer military. So, the bump for US service members is a bit of a "thank you for your service" from the adcoms in the USA.

You should certainly list it as an activitity and focus on the teamwork, leadership, responsibiities, and so forth. Just don't expect the equivalent of 5 points on the MCAT which is what I've seen for US military service.

 

[Goro]

Hi all,
I'm making the list of medical schools I will apply to in this upcoming cycle. Could anyone please take a look and tell me whether I should take off/add schools to it? also, what's the min/max number of schools should I be applying to? Very lost and any help will be much appreciated 🙂


Here are my stats:

ORM , non-traditional student ( served in the military )
state: NJ
GPA: 4.0

MCAT: 514 (128/127/128/131)

Research: over 1200 hours of wet lab research with one publication and 2 poster presentations

recently started doing clinical research and will likely have a publication by June

volunteering: about 130 hours volunteering in an emergency room

Physician shadowing: shadowing summer program (150 shadowing hours in many different specialties including primary care and surgery)

40 hours shadowing an OBGYN

8 hours shadowing an internist

9 hours shadowing in the NICU

Extracurricular activities: vice president of a club, active member of another club

Employment history: been an ambassador for my school for the past year, ex-military (before starting college, though not in U.S army), Nanny




Current Medical School List:

1. 
   
2. University of Maryland School of Medicine
3. State University of New York Downstate Medical Center College of Medicine
4. Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine
5. West Virginia University School of Medicine
6. Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at the University at Buffalo
   University of California, Los Angeles David Geffen School of Medicine
7. Weill Cornell Medicine
8. columbia
9. mayo clinic - all 3 schools
10. Uconn
11. University of Louisville School of Medicine
12. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine
    

If you guys have any suggestions for schools I should add/take off please let me know

Good list, but delete the ones above.

You need more clinical exposure (NOT shadowing) and service to others less fortunate than yourself. Your military service to your home country won't count as it would here, not even with serving on a US base.

 

[echsmew]

I've never seen this. Is military service compulsory in Korea? I don't see it giving much of a bump, even if on a US base. The bump to US service members is, I think, because it is service to the US people (whereas service as a member of the Korean military is service to that country) and we have an all-volunteer military. So, the bump for US service members is a bit of a "thank you for your service" from the adcoms in the USA.

You should certainly list it as an activitity and focus on the teamwork, leadership, responsibiities, and so forth. Just don't expect the equivalent of 5 points on the MCAT which is what I've seen for US military service.

Military service is compulsory in Korea but the said program is volunteer-based (but I don't expect to be thanked for doing compulsory service). The work the soldiers there do are exactly the same as that of US personnel on the base (same MOS, living spaces, etc.). Do you think adcoms will give it more merit once one explains this part?

Also, how would one emphasize the values learned from the military?

Thank you!

edit: to add more context, Korean and US soldiers there are all working on strengthening the defense capability in Korea (mainly against North Korea)

 

[LizzyM]

Since 2001, Americans, including adcoms, have been very grateful to US service personnel, all who serve as volunteers to defend and protect the United States of America. I don't see that gratitude extending in the same way to foreign nationals who are required to serve in defense of their countries. It doesn't matter where you live or what army you serve along side, if you aren't a volunteer in the US military, you can't expect the same bump that US service members receive. Not to say that it is not valuable service but this is just the way it is likely to be assessed.

 

[echsmew]

Since 2001, Americans, including adcoms, have been very grateful to US service personnel, all who serve as volunteers to defend and protect the United States of America. I don't see that gratitude extending in the same way to foreign nationals who are required to serve in defense of their countries. It doesn't matter where you live or what army you serve along side, if you aren't a volunteer in the US military, you can't expect the same bump that US service members receive. Not to say that it is not valuable service but this is just the way it is likely to be assessed.

I understand that part and I don't expect to be shown gratitude. I'm just wondering how I could best convey what military can teach an applicant. I would be doing the same thing as US military there, so I'm wondering what soft skills I can emphasize. In your experience as an adcom, what are some things that you find valuable in veterans/active duty personnel?

 

[LizzyM]

You will enter this in the work/activities section. Read the instructions.

You have the opportunity to describe or summarize each experience. The space allotted for each description is 700 characters.



You may identify up to three experiences that you consider to be the most meaningful. This designation will allow you an additional 1,325 characters to explain why the experience(s) was particularly meaningful to you.

Most Meaningful Experience Summary

When writing your summary, you may want to consider the transformative nature of the experience, the impact you made while engaging in the activity, and the personal growth you experienced as a result of your participation. If you have two or more experience entries, you will be required to identify at least one as the more or most meaningful.

You may change which experience(s) you designate as Most Meaningful until the initial submission of your application. The text you entered in the Experience Summary section will be lost if you remove an experience from those you have designated as Most Meaningful. Your Most Meaningful selection(s) will be designated as such by a check-mark in the Work/Activities main screen.

I can't desribe or summarize your experiences for you. I can't tell you what the transfomative nature of the experience was for you or what personal growth you experienced as a result of your participation. This is for you to think and write about.

 

[echsmew]

You will enter this in the work/activities section. Read the instructions.

I can't desribe or summarize your experiences for you. I can't tell you what the transfomative nature of the experience was for you or what personal growth you experienced as a result of your participation. This is for you to think and write about.

Noted, thank you for the info!

 

[Mr.Smile12]

I've never seen this. Is military service compulsory in Korea? I don't see it giving much of a bump, even if on a US base. The bump to US service members is, I think, because it is service to the US people (whereas service as a member of the Korean military is service to that country) and we have an all-volunteer military. So, the bump for US service members is a bit of a "thank you for your service" from the adcoms in the USA.

You should certainly list it as an activitity and focus on the teamwork, leadership, responsibiities, and so forth. Just don't expect the equivalent of 5 points on the MCAT which is what I've seen for US military service.

Yes, I've seen this because military service is compulsory in Korea. As a screener, I just chalk it up as a requirement of being a Korean citizen. Similarly, the two-year missions for LDS applicants are also chalked up that way. It's a nice plus when it comes to what you have to do, and you may gain some key competencies (you should know what those are because I see the same ones cited). But in-and-of-itself, it doesn't make you shine when comparing apples to apples.