somehuman_json
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Hello! This is my first post here on SDN and I am looking for advice for building my school list for next application cycle. Hours and statistics will be posted as is right now (and will increase as time goes on towards the upcoming cycle). I will brief describe my activities as well to give a better idea on what I am working with right now.
Demographics:
- ORM (Asian)
- Michigan resident (attending Michigan State University)
- Gay cisgender male
- FAP recipient; but not SES (one parent has bachelors)
- 4.0 cGPA/sGPA; Human Biology major w/ Bioethics minor
- 512 (129/124/130/129) MCAT, currently debating on whether or not to retake this based on the goals I will list at the end of this post.
- Have yet to take situational judgement test.
Clinical Experience:
- 75 hours volunteering (rounding floor and providing comfort care)
- 30 hours shadowing across five specialties (IM, EM, plastics, optho, cardio)
- Currently hunting for a clinical job to get more experience in.
Research Experience:
- 225 hours of molecular dynamics research, expected have a mid-level publication, and am working on my own project currently
- Presented 3 posters related to research-focused honors projects from my coursework
Non-Clinical Volunteering:
- 300 hours of being an online game level evaluator, working with the level designer to make sure their level follows the standard "ranking criteria" while keeping their artistic and stylistic goals with the level
Leadership:
- Current president (and former secretary) of club centered on academic competition, where we hosted many tournaments for high schools across the state and Great Lakes region, and also compete in our own tournaments against other universities (would estimated about 300 hours here).
- Founded and current president of club about rhythm games, where we procure controllers and software to be able to play these games as whole to make them more accessible since they are typically very costly, and are very sparse (would estimate about 150 hrs done here).
Honors & Awards:
- Deans List
- Valedictorian in HS (idk how much this matters)
Notes and Goals:
- Only looking at MD schools, and intend to go into a specific specialty.
- My goal is to get into a T20 school, but not too sure if it's realistic given my MCAT is on the lower end of these T20s. I was averaging closer to 515 during my preparation, and peaked at 519. The thing that has me debating on retaking or not is my main glaring weakness in my MCAT being CARS, and I'm not sure how much it matters relative to my content-based sections.
- Would prefer to go to a school that is attached to a large university system or hospital, but am open minded based on what would best fit my interests.
Current (and very very unpolished) List:
- (probably) All Michigan MD schools (UMich, MSU, Wayne are my main focus, but most likely I will apply to them all)
- Some UC's (UCLA, UCSD, etc.), Emory, Brown, UPitt, generally schools in the median 514-517 range.
- Very very unpolished and very very unfinished, am open to suggestions. I am planning to apply to 20 schools to make use of my FAP grant, but may apply to more if its advisable.
Thanks for any and all advice!
Demographics:
- ORM (Asian)
- Michigan resident (attending Michigan State University)
- Gay cisgender male
- FAP recipient; but not SES (one parent has bachelors)
- 4.0 cGPA/sGPA; Human Biology major w/ Bioethics minor
- 512 (129/124/130/129) MCAT, currently debating on whether or not to retake this based on the goals I will list at the end of this post.
- Have yet to take situational judgement test.
Clinical Experience:
- 75 hours volunteering (rounding floor and providing comfort care)
- 30 hours shadowing across five specialties (IM, EM, plastics, optho, cardio)
- Currently hunting for a clinical job to get more experience in.
Research Experience:
- 225 hours of molecular dynamics research, expected have a mid-level publication, and am working on my own project currently
- Presented 3 posters related to research-focused honors projects from my coursework
Non-Clinical Volunteering:
- 300 hours of being an online game level evaluator, working with the level designer to make sure their level follows the standard "ranking criteria" while keeping their artistic and stylistic goals with the level
Leadership:
- Current president (and former secretary) of club centered on academic competition, where we hosted many tournaments for high schools across the state and Great Lakes region, and also compete in our own tournaments against other universities (would estimated about 300 hours here).
- Founded and current president of club about rhythm games, where we procure controllers and software to be able to play these games as whole to make them more accessible since they are typically very costly, and are very sparse (would estimate about 150 hrs done here).
Honors & Awards:
- Deans List
- Valedictorian in HS (idk how much this matters)
Notes and Goals:
- Only looking at MD schools, and intend to go into a specific specialty.
- My goal is to get into a T20 school, but not too sure if it's realistic given my MCAT is on the lower end of these T20s. I was averaging closer to 515 during my preparation, and peaked at 519. The thing that has me debating on retaking or not is my main glaring weakness in my MCAT being CARS, and I'm not sure how much it matters relative to my content-based sections.
- Would prefer to go to a school that is attached to a large university system or hospital, but am open minded based on what would best fit my interests.
Current (and very very unpolished) List:
- (probably) All Michigan MD schools (UMich, MSU, Wayne are my main focus, but most likely I will apply to them all)
- Some UC's (UCLA, UCSD, etc.), Emory, Brown, UPitt, generally schools in the median 514-517 range.
- Very very unpolished and very very unfinished, am open to suggestions. I am planning to apply to 20 schools to make use of my FAP grant, but may apply to more if its advisable.
Thanks for any and all advice!
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