School list advice and WAMC (International adjustment of status, ORM, 524, 3.97)

[corvuscardinalis]

PLEASE DO NOT QUOTE THIS MESSAGE

I am an international student with pending green card (adjustment of status) though I’ve lived in the US since 2016. I go to a public school in Georgia, and my state school (MCG) is going to make a case by case determination for my application this cycle. I’d appreciate thoughts on my school list and whether it’s wishful thinking not to apply DO this cycle if I am expecting to get in somewhere.

Asian ORM GPA (both cumulative and science): 3.97, Genetics major MCAT: 524

Strong LORs

Experience Clinical: MA, Scribe. 370 hours, 200 at a free clinic for the uninsured, rest at a rural-ish podiatry clinic. 50 shadowing.

Non-Clinical Volunteering/Community Service: Lead a GED tutoring for incarcerated students and expanded the program to new facilities. (150 hours) Mentored students with intellectual disabilities taking a non-degree program at my college + organized events for the cohort (250 hours)

Research: ~650 hours total, 2 posters no pubs at my undergrad lab and 120 hours over the summer cleaning a clinical dataset. About to start a clinical research/health policy REU at a t20 med school but I understand it won’t help much until I send updates.

Employment: Health policy analysis consulting internship, 150 hours. Made me genuinely super interested in health policy (hence the REU) and informs my future interests so I will be talking about it a lot.

Tutoring: 200ish hours, including MCAT tutoring with a company and free tutoring service at my college

Tennis and programming as hobbies, won a category at a hackathon

List: NYU

Columbia

Yale

UPenn

Harvard

Johns Hopkins

Vanderbilt

UChicago

WashU

Northwestern

Duke

UVA

Sinai

Stanford

Weill Cornell

Boston University

Case Western

Emory

Stony Brook

Colorado

Dartmouth

NYU Long Island

UNC

TJU

Virginia Commonwealth

St. Louis University SOM

Tulane

Connecticut

Tufts

TCU?

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[Mr.Smile12]

Welcome to the forums.

If you have a 4.0/524, you probably should not apply to DO programs unless your purpose is to be in rural health in Georgia (hence Mercer, MCG, and PCOM-South GA). What were you doing for that many hours shadowing a podiatry clinic? Are you involved with an AHEC or FQHC?

Rather, it feels like you want to go for health policy. Fortunately for you, Emory is in your neighborhood, but with the gutting of the CDC, now might not be the best time to go into health policy research. What niches are you most interested in, and what clinical experiences do you seek to deepen your insight and your advocacy?

Your stated metrics likely tempt you to go big-name. While I'll give you credit for working with incarcerated and disabled people, your activities can be described as teaching/tutoring/mentoring, so they show academic competency and comfort. You need 250 hours minimum of food distribution, shelter volunteer, job/tax preparation, legal support, transportation services, or housing rehabilitation to keep up with similar high-metrics applicants.

 

[corvuscardinalis]

Thanks for the reply! I'll answer your questions in order:

• I wasn't shadowing at the podiatry clinic, I worked there as a certified MA for around ~120 hours. I forgot to include this in my first post, but 50 of the total 370 hrs was at a cardiology clinic where I was only responsible for doing vitals. the 50 shadowing is separate from the 370 total clinical.
• The free clinic for uninsured patients I work at is not an FQHC, it raises its own funds as a nonprofit. My clinical hours (200) there were spent scribing and helping patients schedule appointments/lab tests and navigate referrals to specialty clinics.
• I'm really interested in public insurance policy and Medicaid (the political climate and my state's non-expansion notwithstanding). My REU this summer involves a policy brief to state Medicaid directors to modify their inhaler coverage to address racial and socioeconomic inequities in asthma. If I don't get in this cycle, I also have the option to work full-time at the consulting firm, which helps large payors/pharma/tech firms navigate health policy changes.
• I'm also realizing that my experience skews heavily towards tutoring. My leadership with the prison tutoring org involves advocating for the program in city government, which I hope sets it at least a little bit apart from just "tutoring/mentorship." At this point I can't change much for my activity, but if you have thoughts on how I might present this effectively I'd appreciate that!

I take your point about my ECs not holding up to similar stat applicants at top institutions (part of the reason my list is so top-heavy is international status). You also say I shouldn't apply DO due to my stats. Do you think I might have a reasonable shot at the non-top tier schools on my list?

Overall, my decision to apply this cycle instead of taking a gap year is motivated by me being okay financially and mentally with reapplying and not wanting to waste a cycle. I feel ready and I think I at least have a shot at some IIs, and I don't think there are any major gaps in my application. Is this thinking misguided?

If I do have to reapply, would adding more non-tutoring service be priority #1?