Please provide me with feedback on my school list! (CA, 3.6/3.5/517)

[lavenderlizard]

Hi all! I am applying this cycle and was wondering if my school list was too top-heavy.

1. 3.69 cGPA, 3.58 sGPA
2. 517 MCAT (130/127/128/132)
3. CA resident
4. SE Asian
5. Graduated from a UC in spring 2023
6. Clinical: 900 hours as an MA, LOR from physician
7. Research: 1000+ hours in current role, primarily patient-facing, public health research, no pubs, LOR from manager
8. Shadowing: 20 hours in dermatology, general surgery, and radiology. Working on shadowing in primary care
9. Non-clinical volunteering: 200 hours with underserved communities
10. Other: 300 hours as a TA, LOR from professor

In-state: Stanford, UCSF, UCLA, UCSD, USC, UCI, UCD, Kaiser

OOS: Columbia, Cornell, Yale, Northwestern, UMich, Pitt, Icahn at Mt Sinai, UChicago, Emory, BU, Brown, Albert Einstein, Georgetown, Tufts, GW, Stony Brook, Sidney Kimmel at Thomas Jefferson, UIC, Hofstra, Temple, Wayne State, Hackensack, NYMC, Loyola

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[Mr.Smile12]

Welcome to the forums.

Where in California did you grow up? This affects whether it's worth applying to UCD and UCI. Your stats feel low for Stanford and UCSF.

Details help with your activities, but you should have 50 hours of shadowing upon submission; I get the feeling you're now checkboxing for primary care shadowing. What is the nature of your non-clinical volunteering?

I don't get a sense of any mission fit. Why should I invite you to an interview at (each school on your list)?

 

[lavenderlizard]

Welcome to the forums.

Where in California did you grow up? This affects whether it's worth applying to UCD and UCI. Your stats feel low for Stanford and UCSF.

Details help with your activities, but you should have 50 hours of shadowing upon submission; I get the feeling you're now checkboxing for primary care shadowing. What is the nature of your non-clinical volunteering?

I don't get a sense of any mission fit. Why should I invite you to an interview at (each school on your list)?

I grew up in the Bay Area, but my family now lives in the greater Sacramento area. More about my background: I grew up middle class and went to under-resourced schools that tried their best to prepare me for college, but the transition was still rough academically. I didn't realize UCI had regional bias. Do you suggest I remove it from my list?

My non-clinical volunteering consisted of administering blood pressure screenings and preparing various resources for homeless individuals. To provide additional detail, I TA'ed under a program dedicated to diversity in data science (my second major alongside public health). Many of my students were part of underrepresented populations. These were my MMEs along with the MA job I worked during my junior and senior years.

I have been struggling with mission fit, so I am trying to apply broadly. I want to live and work in a more urban area with a diverse patient population, which may explain the lack of schools like Quinnipiac and UVM.