- Joined
- Aug 24, 2018
- Messages
- 70
- Reaction score
- 73
Thank you in advance to anyone who reads this, I know what I wrote below is long, it really does mean a lot.
Current Stats
3.8 cGPA/sGPA : Biomed Major @ local state university
508 MCAT (127/124/127/130)
Secondaries in the first week of September
FL Resident, White, Female, first-gen college, Disadvantaged, rural
Applied to UF, UCF (R), USF, UM, FSU, FIU, FAU, NOVA MD, Tufts(R), Temple, Drexel, Vermont (R), Rosalind Franklin (R), Loyola, Kaiser, GW (R), Georgetown (R), Wake Forest (Interviewed on Waitlist (will be waiting from May 1st- July 3rd)), NYMC (hold), Quinnipiac (R)
ECs on Primary:
5,000 Hours in Medical Camping Industry, Mixture of non-clinical volunteering, and clinical work experience (some positions very similar to CNA providing personal care + making sure medicine is taken etc).
Working with the mentally and physically disabled along with children with chronic and life-threatening illnesses. The majority of these hours have been with children, acting similarly to a life coach (but with the responsibility of their physical safety).
I have taken up many leadership positions with my roles, helping train individuals and leading large group programming, and have also helped a multimillion-dollar fundraising team.
All of these camps had doctors and nurses on-site that I worked with.
230 Hours of Biomedical research + poster (tissue culture + project design)
150 Hours of Hospital Volunteering
400 Hours as Teaching Assistant/ Supplemental Instructor at university level (Biochem, microbio, anatomy, and research methods)
120 Hours shadowing (a mixture of specialists and primary care)
1000+ hours Art (as Hobby but talked about sharing the experience with children)
Other: Was caregiver to a grandmother with Parkinsons's for several months, and also worked at McDonald's for a few months in-between jobs.
New ECs:
1,400 hours as Public Title I High School Biology teacher (I expect to add another 850-1000 hours by the end of the school year). Teaching general and AP bio. Helping students bridge poverty with education, helping with their personal endeavors, dealing with situations of student homelessness, DCF, childhood hungry, learning to support ESOL students, learning to work in an under-resourced environment and guiding students in general life skills and morality.
Continued volunteering in Medical Camping Industry (150 hours since secondaries) (potentially another 70-150 by June 1st)
Planned shadowing for spring break (10 hours)
Letters of Rec: Will be hard to get new ones now that I have been apart from the university for almost 2 years, and my current employer is unable to write me one (they are aware of my short time commitment but not about med school)
Current Letters were 3 teachers I do have a close relationship with, 1 from my previous camp director, 1 from an MD (if anything this might be the one I replace)
Personal Statement: Talked about my experience being ill with an undiagnosed illness as a teenager, the anger and isolation I felt, and then relating it to the children I have worked with and channeling my experiences into being able to help them with emotional support. Hinted at my interest in sub-specializing in pediatrics, and going into academic medicine (due to wanting to handle nuanced medical cases like mine was), as well as my interest to continue working with nonprofits. (I am worried mentioning academic med with my limited research experience, and lower MCAT might have been a mistake).
I just for the last 8 eight years have been interested in going into peds oncology, rheumatology, neurology etc; and currently do not see that changing after 5000+ hours working with the population and their parents, and shadowing. I did say that I am open-minded because I am always willing to try something new, but I felt that being honest about the direction I am leaning towards was important to my why medicine.
Secondaries: a bit rushed (wrote all 20+ in a 5-day time span) did have them read by 2 individuals (English major that does not know me well, and friend), plan to pre-write.
Interview: I felt decent about it. I wove a lot of my personal experiences into every answer in a way I thought was fluid and felt I connected to everyone I spoke to. I did stumble a little with umm the first minute or two, the MMI format was new.
I want to get into MD, particularly now that Step 1 is P/F. I do not know how much truth there is to it, but I have been told you want 512+ if you are applying strictly MD (and that would put me at the 50% for more schools). I am going to try to retake my MCAT but am trying to fit it in (I work a rough 70+ hours a week (stopping fights, getting screamed at, teaching tested subjects, etc) and volunteer 12 hours a week). The only thing is if I retake the MCAT (which I will only do when I see substantially higher practice tests (514+) I do not see it happening until this summer after I hope to resubmit my primary.
Is this wise, or should I wait another year? I am 24 now, and I must admit 2 more years out of school worries me (right now I will be 33 when I am done with schooling if I somehow get in off the waitlist, being 35 I feel is pushing it, with starting a family if that is something I decided I wanted to do).
So, for the upcoming year, I am going to try to land a research position. I have tried in the past, as it is something that genuinely interests me, but did not have the money to move, so I hope more options will open up with the money I have been able to save. If not, I was thinking about either teaching for another year (and save more money and provide some stability for the kids, even though the job is wearing me out) or go back to working in the medical camping industry (which is where my heart is, even if it will not do anything to advance my resume).
Should I re-apply this upcoming cycle?
Should I re-apply before retaking the MCAT?
Are there any tips on re-application school lists? (Can I reapply to the majority of my list and then add another 10+ or so schools?)
Is there anything at all that I am missing? Suggestions to where I went wrong the first time, that another set of eyes might be able to catch? I can only imagine where my own biases might be clouding something super obvious.
Thank you for any advice you might have. I know this was long but being removed from the premed community it really means a lot to hear another’s opinion.
Current Stats
3.8 cGPA/sGPA : Biomed Major @ local state university
508 MCAT (127/124/127/130)
Secondaries in the first week of September
FL Resident, White, Female, first-gen college, Disadvantaged, rural
Applied to UF, UCF (R), USF, UM, FSU, FIU, FAU, NOVA MD, Tufts(R), Temple, Drexel, Vermont (R), Rosalind Franklin (R), Loyola, Kaiser, GW (R), Georgetown (R), Wake Forest (Interviewed on Waitlist (will be waiting from May 1st- July 3rd)), NYMC (hold), Quinnipiac (R)
ECs on Primary:
5,000 Hours in Medical Camping Industry, Mixture of non-clinical volunteering, and clinical work experience (some positions very similar to CNA providing personal care + making sure medicine is taken etc).
Working with the mentally and physically disabled along with children with chronic and life-threatening illnesses. The majority of these hours have been with children, acting similarly to a life coach (but with the responsibility of their physical safety).
I have taken up many leadership positions with my roles, helping train individuals and leading large group programming, and have also helped a multimillion-dollar fundraising team.
All of these camps had doctors and nurses on-site that I worked with.
230 Hours of Biomedical research + poster (tissue culture + project design)
150 Hours of Hospital Volunteering
400 Hours as Teaching Assistant/ Supplemental Instructor at university level (Biochem, microbio, anatomy, and research methods)
120 Hours shadowing (a mixture of specialists and primary care)
1000+ hours Art (as Hobby but talked about sharing the experience with children)
Other: Was caregiver to a grandmother with Parkinsons's for several months, and also worked at McDonald's for a few months in-between jobs.
New ECs:
1,400 hours as Public Title I High School Biology teacher (I expect to add another 850-1000 hours by the end of the school year). Teaching general and AP bio. Helping students bridge poverty with education, helping with their personal endeavors, dealing with situations of student homelessness, DCF, childhood hungry, learning to support ESOL students, learning to work in an under-resourced environment and guiding students in general life skills and morality.
Continued volunteering in Medical Camping Industry (150 hours since secondaries) (potentially another 70-150 by June 1st)
Planned shadowing for spring break (10 hours)
Letters of Rec: Will be hard to get new ones now that I have been apart from the university for almost 2 years, and my current employer is unable to write me one (they are aware of my short time commitment but not about med school)
Current Letters were 3 teachers I do have a close relationship with, 1 from my previous camp director, 1 from an MD (if anything this might be the one I replace)
Personal Statement: Talked about my experience being ill with an undiagnosed illness as a teenager, the anger and isolation I felt, and then relating it to the children I have worked with and channeling my experiences into being able to help them with emotional support. Hinted at my interest in sub-specializing in pediatrics, and going into academic medicine (due to wanting to handle nuanced medical cases like mine was), as well as my interest to continue working with nonprofits. (I am worried mentioning academic med with my limited research experience, and lower MCAT might have been a mistake).
I just for the last 8 eight years have been interested in going into peds oncology, rheumatology, neurology etc; and currently do not see that changing after 5000+ hours working with the population and their parents, and shadowing. I did say that I am open-minded because I am always willing to try something new, but I felt that being honest about the direction I am leaning towards was important to my why medicine.
Secondaries: a bit rushed (wrote all 20+ in a 5-day time span) did have them read by 2 individuals (English major that does not know me well, and friend), plan to pre-write.
Interview: I felt decent about it. I wove a lot of my personal experiences into every answer in a way I thought was fluid and felt I connected to everyone I spoke to. I did stumble a little with umm the first minute or two, the MMI format was new.
I want to get into MD, particularly now that Step 1 is P/F. I do not know how much truth there is to it, but I have been told you want 512+ if you are applying strictly MD (and that would put me at the 50% for more schools). I am going to try to retake my MCAT but am trying to fit it in (I work a rough 70+ hours a week (stopping fights, getting screamed at, teaching tested subjects, etc) and volunteer 12 hours a week). The only thing is if I retake the MCAT (which I will only do when I see substantially higher practice tests (514+) I do not see it happening until this summer after I hope to resubmit my primary.
Is this wise, or should I wait another year? I am 24 now, and I must admit 2 more years out of school worries me (right now I will be 33 when I am done with schooling if I somehow get in off the waitlist, being 35 I feel is pushing it, with starting a family if that is something I decided I wanted to do).
So, for the upcoming year, I am going to try to land a research position. I have tried in the past, as it is something that genuinely interests me, but did not have the money to move, so I hope more options will open up with the money I have been able to save. If not, I was thinking about either teaching for another year (and save more money and provide some stability for the kids, even though the job is wearing me out) or go back to working in the medical camping industry (which is where my heart is, even if it will not do anything to advance my resume).
Should I re-apply this upcoming cycle?
Should I re-apply before retaking the MCAT?
Are there any tips on re-application school lists? (Can I reapply to the majority of my list and then add another 10+ or so schools?)
Is there anything at all that I am missing? Suggestions to where I went wrong the first time, that another set of eyes might be able to catch? I can only imagine where my own biases might be clouding something super obvious.
Thank you for any advice you might have. I know this was long but being removed from the premed community it really means a lot to hear another’s opinion.