Hello! Please lemme know how I am doing and what my weaknesses are. I would like to improve on anything I can in the next semester while there is still time. Constructive feedback is much appreciated. I apologize for how long this post got; brevity is not my strong suit.
I will be applying to mostly MD schools (a couple DOs) this upcoming summer, no gap year. I will be applying to schools mostly based on their Primary Care rankings and specific programs for family medicine (i.e. NYU has a 3 year MD program with guaranteed family medicine match and loan repayment). My in-state schools hold a lot of appeal for me.
The basics: 3.81 GPA, 520 MCAT. Public health major. Over-represented in medicine. No huge distinctions or honors, but I was just inducted into Phi Beta Kappa. Not sure how big of a deal that is. Also a public service scholar through a university program, will graduate with a special distinction for that. But everyone and their mother do that.
My extracurriculars are pretty good, in my humble opinion: 700 hours CNA work at a hospital. 3 semesters as a peer mentor (2 of them as lead peer mentor) for A&P. Leadership in two volunteer organizations (one helping people get insurance in the marketplace and the other is essentially undergraduate support for a free clinic run by medical students). 300+ hours of volunteering through those two. I am also a kind of community representative for both organizations and I both counsel people on health insurance and schedule them for clinic appointments/follow up with reminders at a local community center. I essentially created this position for myself because of my unique combination of involvements and I am addressing a real need for community outreach. That is another 100+ volunteer hours by the time I apply. The insurance-related organization also gives me a Certified Application Counselor certification through CMS. I am a paid research assistant for a small research project one of my professors is running in his class. Have been tutoring with Chegg and Varsity Tutors for 2 years on the side. I also incorporated an LLC under my own name sophomore year, but I have really just been using it for renting out some property through AirBnB. Not a very big deal, but maybe it is worth adding to my application? There are a couple of other volunteer things I did earlier on in college, but I have chosen to omit them from my application because I quit them to focus on the other projects listed above. Planning to quit CNA this winter to focus on the research stuff. Also my back is killing me from working with 600 pound patients for 2 years.
Research: I have just started a research position at a rural health research center with my own project, where I will be working for the rest of my undergraduate career (I am doing an internship there this upcoming summer and my Honors Thesis will be completed through my projects there). However, I will have just 1.5 semesters of research when I apply, plus I will be in the middle of that summer internship. I doubt I will have anything published, though I may be able to do a poster presentation at the end of the spring semester if my work goes well. I feel this is a great setup for research, but I do not think this it will look particularly impressive by the time I apply. I mostly hope to use the experiences to add to my personal statement narrative and to demonstrate my interest in rural medicine.
Shadowing: Have shadowed family medicine for 16 hours, emergency medicine for 16 hours, and a cardiologist for 10 more. Will continue shadowing family medicine and the cardiologist at a rural clinic next semester, hoping to get 40ish more hours by the time I apply. I will be asking the cardiologist for one of my letters of req.
My other two letters of req will come from the professor I assist with his research (same person I peer mentor for) and from my mentor in my public health program. Expecting that both letters will be strong or at least passable.
General theme of my application and personal statement will be how my passion for preventative care and serving underserved population combined with my public health education drive me towards primary care and rural medicine (this is what I want to do as a doctor). I will draw from my personal life experiences growing up with experiences with underserved populations from my volunteer work and I will discuss the themes and issues I saw through my CNA job, connecting it to public health.
A note on gap years: I would REALLY REALLY like to avoid taking one, mainly because I am eager to expand my involvement in medicine and because I have worked my ass off to get all of the pre-reqs and MCAT done on time. Since I took the MCAT in September of 2019, most schools will only accept it next application cycle and the one after that. That means I can reapply immediately after this cycle if I flop, or I can delay my current application one year if something major comes up. Would rather avoid both things though.
I will be applying to mostly MD schools (a couple DOs) this upcoming summer, no gap year. I will be applying to schools mostly based on their Primary Care rankings and specific programs for family medicine (i.e. NYU has a 3 year MD program with guaranteed family medicine match and loan repayment). My in-state schools hold a lot of appeal for me.
The basics: 3.81 GPA, 520 MCAT. Public health major. Over-represented in medicine. No huge distinctions or honors, but I was just inducted into Phi Beta Kappa. Not sure how big of a deal that is. Also a public service scholar through a university program, will graduate with a special distinction for that. But everyone and their mother do that.
My extracurriculars are pretty good, in my humble opinion: 700 hours CNA work at a hospital. 3 semesters as a peer mentor (2 of them as lead peer mentor) for A&P. Leadership in two volunteer organizations (one helping people get insurance in the marketplace and the other is essentially undergraduate support for a free clinic run by medical students). 300+ hours of volunteering through those two. I am also a kind of community representative for both organizations and I both counsel people on health insurance and schedule them for clinic appointments/follow up with reminders at a local community center. I essentially created this position for myself because of my unique combination of involvements and I am addressing a real need for community outreach. That is another 100+ volunteer hours by the time I apply. The insurance-related organization also gives me a Certified Application Counselor certification through CMS. I am a paid research assistant for a small research project one of my professors is running in his class. Have been tutoring with Chegg and Varsity Tutors for 2 years on the side. I also incorporated an LLC under my own name sophomore year, but I have really just been using it for renting out some property through AirBnB. Not a very big deal, but maybe it is worth adding to my application? There are a couple of other volunteer things I did earlier on in college, but I have chosen to omit them from my application because I quit them to focus on the other projects listed above. Planning to quit CNA this winter to focus on the research stuff. Also my back is killing me from working with 600 pound patients for 2 years.
Research: I have just started a research position at a rural health research center with my own project, where I will be working for the rest of my undergraduate career (I am doing an internship there this upcoming summer and my Honors Thesis will be completed through my projects there). However, I will have just 1.5 semesters of research when I apply, plus I will be in the middle of that summer internship. I doubt I will have anything published, though I may be able to do a poster presentation at the end of the spring semester if my work goes well. I feel this is a great setup for research, but I do not think this it will look particularly impressive by the time I apply. I mostly hope to use the experiences to add to my personal statement narrative and to demonstrate my interest in rural medicine.
Shadowing: Have shadowed family medicine for 16 hours, emergency medicine for 16 hours, and a cardiologist for 10 more. Will continue shadowing family medicine and the cardiologist at a rural clinic next semester, hoping to get 40ish more hours by the time I apply. I will be asking the cardiologist for one of my letters of req.
My other two letters of req will come from the professor I assist with his research (same person I peer mentor for) and from my mentor in my public health program. Expecting that both letters will be strong or at least passable.
General theme of my application and personal statement will be how my passion for preventative care and serving underserved population combined with my public health education drive me towards primary care and rural medicine (this is what I want to do as a doctor). I will draw from my personal life experiences growing up with experiences with underserved populations from my volunteer work and I will discuss the themes and issues I saw through my CNA job, connecting it to public health.
A note on gap years: I would REALLY REALLY like to avoid taking one, mainly because I am eager to expand my involvement in medicine and because I have worked my ass off to get all of the pre-reqs and MCAT done on time. Since I took the MCAT in September of 2019, most schools will only accept it next application cycle and the one after that. That means I can reapply immediately after this cycle if I flop, or I can delay my current application one year if something major comes up. Would rather avoid both things though.
