School List Advice for Nontrad TX

[chartingappseas]

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[Faha]

You have a good list and should receive several interviews.

 

[chartingappseas]

You have a good list and should receive several interviews.

Thank you for the feedback!

 

[Approach]

To be honest I'm a nontrad at a T5 and your app is effectively the same "level" as mine and my nontrad peers at my institution and other nontrads I've met at similar schools in my region. you will have no problem with your pick of schools. I'd add Harvard just to round out your list.

Edit: Just be sure to really invest in your writing, your narrative, and your interviewing.

 

[chartingappseas]

To be honest I'm a nontrad at a T5 and your app is effectively the same "level" as mine and my nontrad peers at my institution and other nontrads I've met at similar schools in my region. you will have no problem with your pick of schools. I'd add Harvard just to round out your list.

Edit: Just be sure to really invest in your writing, your narrative, and your interviewing.

Thank you, that's encouraging!

 

[Approach]

Thank you, that's encouraging! I've been worried that the top schools might screen me out due to my lack of research.

Research can be a reason that a med school appreciates a non-trad student, but I can tell you that most of the ones I know, including myself, had low research involvement. IB, consulting, teaching, pro to semi-pro sports, veterans, lawyers, and so on. It's all about your background and career; that's what you're evaluated against, not a student who spent four years in their undergraduate lab and then took two gap years working in the same lab. Sure, that student may get into [Top School] as well, but that's not the student keeping you from a top school. I do have a couple peers that came from PhD backgrounds to medicine, but they're a different bucket.

 

[chartingappseas]

Research can be a reason that a med school appreciates a non-trad student, but I can tell you that most of the ones I know, including myself, had low research involvement. IB, consulting, teaching, pro to semi-pro sports, veterans, lawyers, and so on. It's all about your background and career; that's what you're evaluated against, not a student who spent four years in their undergraduate lab and then took two gap years working in the same lab. Sure, that student may get into [Top School] as well, but that's not the student keeping you from a top school. I do have a couple peers that came from PhD backgrounds to medicine, but they're a different bucket.

Thanks, that's reassuring! It sounds like they really do take a holistic look at applicants.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Call your shot. I agree with all of the above advice to make sure you can articulate the value of your experiences to an incoming class.

Also figure out how you wish to leverage your past towards your career in medicine. Lots of "medical humanities" options exist in your list.

Get connected with SNMA and LMSA officers for the schools you covet. See if they can find you a peer/buddy with similar experiences as yours (which might be challenging given what you have mentioned, but it's interesting to see who they come up with). This will be your peer support group for the rest of your professional life should you get in. I'd also include AMWA.