Preparing to reapply: Help with action plan

[janinu_zozo]

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I applied this current cycle and currently have no interviews, so I am preparing to re-apply next cycle. I would appreciate advice on what I can do to improve my application.

1. cGPA and sGPA as calculated by AMCAS or AACOMAS
   1. cGPA: 3.36 (3.11 -> 3.61 -> 3.32- > 3.93; post-grad: 2.55)
   2. sGPA: 3.25 (2.94 -> 3.00 -> 3.26 -> 3.95; post-grad: 2.55)
   3. Notes: [redacted]
2. MCAT score(s)
   1. 518
3. State of residence or country of citizenship (if non-US)
   1. [redacted]
4. Ethnicity and/or race
   1. [redacted]
5. Undergraduate institution or category
   1. Top 5 university [redacted]
6. Clinical experience (volunteer and non-volunteer)
   1. Volunteer in a hospital oncology department (350 hours)
   2. Internship in public & patient education department at top orthopedic hospital (120 hours right before covid)
7. Research experience and productivity
   1. NIH IRTA (2 years doing [redacted]) - 5,000+ hours [redacted]
   2. Spent 2 summers in 2 different labs at my university -- 550 hours
   3. Papers: 1 mid-author, currently working on a first-author manuscript (my NIH work) that will hopefully publish before I reapply, other mid-authors will hopefully be published before I reapply
   4. Presentations: Presented posters at 2 global conferences, 5 NIH-specific research symposiums.
8. Shadowing experience and specialties represented
   1. 100 hours ([redacted])
9. Non-clinical volunteering
   1. [redacted]
10. Other extracurricular activities (including athletics, military service, gap year activities, leadership, teaching, etc)
    1. Currently working as [redacted]
    2. President of [redacted], founder & president of [redacted]
    3. Worked various jobs throughout college to support myself: [redacted]
    4. [redacted]
11. Schools I applied to
    1. Albert Einstein, BU, Columbia, Drexel, GW, Georgetown, Mount Sinai, Johns Hopkins, Temple, NYU, Penn State, UPenn, Stony Brook, Rutgers, Rutgers RWJ, Thomas Jefferson, Brown, Tufts, UConn, UMD, UMass, UPitt, UVA, VCU, Tri-I, WVU, Yale.
    2. I feel silly having applied to so many top schools, but as you can probably tell, geography is very important to me so I thought I might just take a shot anyways.
12. Essays & cycle timing
    1. I like to think that I had goodish essays. I worked heavily with the NIH applicant advisory groups, and also worked intensely with my university's pre-med advisory committee far in advance.
    2. Done with all secondaries by the end of July.

My ideas for next cycle:

• Apply to more schools across a much broader geographic range.
• Take more upper-level science courses this Spring to demonstrate my ability to handle coursework?
• SMP? Masters?
• More non-clinical volunteering?

Any other thoughts? Are MSTPs simply out of reach for me?

Thank you!!!

 

[janinu_zozo]

@Fencer Not sure if you are at liberty to give advice, but would really appreciate any wisdom you might be able to share.

 

[Fencer]

In May and early June, prior to receiving applications, I offer to do a 30 min Zoom discussion on strategy. Please PM me if you are interested for details. You have a MSTP level application, but not top 20 or so. There are many MSTPs that would be interested on you. The question is whether you strategically excluded them due to geography or other reasons...

 

[janinu_zozo]

In May and early June, prior to receiving applications, I offer to do a 30 min Zoom discussion on strategy. Please PM me if you are interested for details. You have a MSTP level application, but not top 20 or so. There are many MSTPs that would be interested on you. The question is whether you strategically excluded them due to geography or other reasons...

I excluded them due to geography alone (8 years is a long time away from family). Next cycle I will open it up to any school in the US.

I will reach out re: strategy Zoom convo. Thank you!