MD Progress Report (I double dog dare you to read this!)

[Hi_I'mPaul]

I applied the last cycle to no avail, just want to see people's opinions on this current cycle for meeeeeee.

Last cycle's application:
Undergrad: BA in Business Administration with physics minor from a high-ranked public university.
cGPA = 3.62
sGPA = 3.55
MCATs: 507 + 507

Extracurriculars:
Undergrad TA in Business Law: 130 hours
Tutor in Mathematics in underserved school: 160 hours
Researcher: 600 hours
Hospital Volunteer: 70 hours
Shadowing: 215 hours (includes primary care experience)
Work (nonmedical): 400 hours
Intramurals: 150 hours
ETS Major Field Tests in Business: 94th Percentile

Current cycle's application: (obviously includes what I wrote above as well)
M.S. in Medical Sciences grad program + new MCAT
sGPA = 4.0 (32 hours)
MCAT: 515 (130,126,130,129)
I turned in my secondaries early (all completed for almost 1.5-2 months now), applied to about 25 med schools (all FL med schools and some private OOS that I could see myself attending, so no problems with school list).

Extracurriculars:
Tutor in Mathematics in underserved school: 75 hours (and continuing in current gap year)
Graduate Certificate in Health Sciences
Student Ambassador for my graduate program: 50 hours
Co-author on a research paper from my undergrad laboratory

New for the current gap year (update worthy stuff at some point in the near future?):
Kaplan MCAT Instructor (part-time job)
Crisis Text Line Volunteer (must commit to 200 hours)
Community-Based Memory Screener volunteer for Alzheimer's Disease detection and intervention (good clinical experience, which I know my clinical volunteering is low, but my overall clinical experience is fine including shadowing.)

// Thoughts? Anything else I should be doing? //

My assessment of my application: NOT IMPORTANT TO READ UNLESS YOU WANT.
I think I have solid gap year activities, and I hope I have shown that I improved from my undergrad and can handle the rigors of a medical education. It was not easy taking the MCAT and excelling in my SMP at the same time while working on my app. From an unbiased standpoint, I think my ECs are average, I have a solid upward trend in my coursework and MCATs, and my LORs are slightly above average. I have solid team experiences as a TA, math volunteer, and researcher, and leadership as a student ambassador, captain of my intramural team, and undergrad researcher. My new activities will add to these important categories as well.

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[Goro]

I applied the last cycle to no avail, just want to see people's opinions on this current cycle for meeeeeee.

Last cycle's application:
Undergrad: BA in Business Administration with physics minor from a high-ranked public university.
cGPA = 3.62
sGPA = 3.55
MCATs: 501 + 504

Extracurriculars:
Undergrad TA in Business Law: 130 hours
Tutor in Mathematics in underserved school: 160 hours
Researcher: 600 hours
Hospital Volunteer: 70 hours
Shadowing: 215 hours (includes primary care experience)
Work (nonmedical): 400 hours
Intramurals: 150 hours
ETS Major Field Tests in Business: 94th Percentile

Current cycle's application: (obviously includes what I wrote above as well)
M.S. in Medical Sciences grad program + new MCAT
sGPA = 4.0 (32 hours)
MCAT: 515 (130,126,130,129)
I turned in my secondaries early (all completed for almost 1.5-2 months now), applied to about 25 med schools (all FL med schools and some private OOS that I could see myself attending, so no problems with school list).

Extracurriculars:
Tutor in Mathematics in underserved school: 75 hours (and continuing in current gap year)
Graduate Certificate in Health Sciences
Student Ambassador for my graduate program: 50 hours
Co-author on a research paper from my undergrad laboratory

New for the current gap year (update worthy stuff at some point in the near future?):
Kaplan MCAT Instructor (part-time job)
Crisis Text Line Volunteer (must commit to 200 hours)
Community-Based Memory Screener volunteer for Alzheimer's Disease detection and intervention (good clinical experience, which I know my clinical volunteering is low, but my overall clinical experience is fine including shadowing.)

// Thoughts? Anything else I should be doing? //

My assessment of my application: NOT IMPORTANT TO READ UNLESS YOU WANT.
I think I have solid gap year activities, and I hope I have shown that I improved from my undergrad and can handle the rigors of a medical education. It was not easy taking the MCAT and excelling in my SMP at the same time while working on my app. From an unbiased standpoint, I think my ECs are average, I have a solid upward trend in my coursework and MCATs, and my LORs are slightly above average. I have solid team experiences as a TA, math volunteer, and researcher, and leadership as a student ambassador, captain of my intramural team, and undergrad researcher. My new activities will add to these important categories as well.

Your ECs are problematic, not avg as of right now.
Too much shadowing
Too little patient contact experience
Too little non-clinical volunteering

The bolded is a major mistake some people make while taking post-bac or SMP...they can't do both at the same time. You were lucky!!!

Once you get the ECs out of the way, I suggest the following:
BU
Case
Duke (maybe)
Dartmouth
Keck (maybe)
UCSF (maybe)
Wake
Gtown
GWU
EVMS
U Miami
Hofstra
Wayne State
NYMC
Rosy Franklin
Your state schools
SLU
Loyola
Rush
Pitt
Mayo
Tufts
Drexel
Netter
Albany
Any DO school, except the four I can't recommend

 

[Hi_I'mPaul]

Your ECs are problematic, not avg as of right now.
Too much shadowing
Too little patient contact experience
Too little non-clinical volunteering

The bolded is a major mistake some people make while taking post-bac or SMP...they can't do both at the same time. You were lucky!!!

Once you get the ECs out of the way, I suggest the following:
BU
Case
Duke (maybe)
Dartmouth
Keck (maybe)
UCSF (maybe)
Wake
Gtown
GWU
EVMS
U Miami
Hofstra
Wayne State
NYMC
Rosy Franklin
Your state schools
SLU
Loyola
Rush
Pitt
Mayo
Tufts
Drexel
Netter
Albany
Any DO school, except the four I can't recommend

Hi Goro, thanks for the response. Quick questions with respect to your evaluation:

1)235 total hours of tutoring elementary school students on my application (non-clinical volunteering) in underserved populations is too little? I'll also be adding about 30 hours more in my November update.

2)Every advisor I went to in undergrad and grad school (associated with a med school) said to shoot for 150 hours of shadowing, maybe went a little overboard but I got some great experiences. In hindsight, I think it was too much, but I could only do what I thought (was told) was correct at the time lol.

3)Working on patient interaction currently with the memory screening and will update schools at the end of November with probably an additional 70 hours, bringing clinical volunteering to 140 hours and 355 hours of patient contact (including shadowing).

4) Those ECs aren't average nowadays? I know for sure I do not have the most time spent on ECs, especially compared to other's on SDN, but I find it difficult to believe that my ECs are below 50th percentile?

4)I sent it into high gear in my SMP, realized my mistakes in undergrad and had a mindset change. I was always capable, just didn't direct my motivation. Now, I know what I want and am going to achieve it! Hence, why I did the SMP + MCAT. I don't think it was luck, definitely skill, my friend! lol And a lot of 12 hour study days... for months... haha so fun.

 

[Goro]

I1)235 total hours of tutoring elementary school students on my application (non-clinical volunteering) in underserved populations is too little?
My apologies; I didn't noticed that your students were underserved. Thus, that EC is fine.


2)Every advisor I went to in undergrad and grad school (associated with a med school) said to shoot for 150 hours of shadowing, maybe went a little overboard but I got some great experiences. In hindsight, I think it was too much, but I could only do what I thought (was told) was correct at the time lol.
The smart thing is not to listen to your advisor. The road to medical school is littered with the festering corpses of students who did and found out that the information they'd been given was lousy. The wise LizzyM

What's done is done. Don't worry about it




3)Working on patient interaction currently with the memory screening and will update schools at the end of November with probably an additional 70 hours, bringing clinical volunteering to 140 hours and 355 hours of patient contact (including shadowing).
This is great

4) Those ECs aren't average nowadays? I know for sure I do not have the most time spent on ECs, especially compared to other's on SDN, but I find it difficult to believe that my ECs are below 50th percentile?
Nope. The avg EC combo (what we call cookie cutter) is 100-150 hrs each.

4)I sent it into high gear in my SMP, realized my mistakes in undergrad and had a mindset change. I was always capable, just didn't direct my motivation. Now, I know what I want and am going to achieve it! Hence, why I did the SMP + MCAT. I don't think it was luck, definitely skill, my friend! lol And a lot of 12 hour study days... for months... haha so fun.
You did good!

 

[Hi_I'mPaul]

Awesome, thanks for the help! Fingers crossed that I'll hear back from some schools!

 

[Hi_I'mPaul]

Ooooo sorry @Goro, last question. I'm curious what you would classify the Crisis Text Line Volunteer as? I assume non-clinical volunteering?

 

[Goro]

Ooooo sorry @Goro, last question. I'm curious what you would classify the Crisis Text Line Volunteer as? I assume non-clinical volunteering?

It's a grey area. I consider it clinical because it's dealing with mental health, and avery vulnerable population.