School list help and other advice! (3.96, 519)

This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.

biscuits18

Full Member
2+ Year Member
Joined
May 23, 2019
Messages
28
Reaction score
37
*Please don't quote*

Hi all,

I’m a senior graduating this spring. I am planning on applying this coming cycle, and would appreciate advice on my schools list. Additionally, I am concerned about my lack of clinical experience. I’d also appreciate any input on this aspect of my application, and advice as to whether I should consider taking an additional gap year to build up more clinical experience. Thank you so much!
  1. cGPA and sGPA
    • cGPA: 3.96, sGPA: 3.97
  2. MCAT score and breakdown
    • 519 (132/128/131/128)
  3. State of residence or country of citizenship
    • California
  4. Ethnicity and/or race
    • Asian American
  5. Undergraduate institution or category
    • Top public school in CA
  6. Clinical experience (volunteer and non-volunteer)
    • Volunteer: 40 hours
      • Mostly accompanying patients and their families outpatient waiting areas
      • Some teaching and working with hospitalized children (was hoping to do more teaching this semester but that got cut short due to the pandemic)
  7. Research experience and productivity
    • 1st Lab: ~800 hrs
    • Summer internship in pharma (full-time, paid): ~500 hrs
    • 2nd Lab: ~1000 hrs
    • No publications, finishing up honors thesis in current lab
  8. Shadowing experience and specialties represented
    • 60 hrs, mostly in GI, some ENT/anesthesiology
  9. Non-clinical volunteering
    • Mentoring elementary/middle school students: all 4 years of college, ~150 hrs
  10. Other extracurricular activities (including athletics, military service, gap year activities, leadership, teaching, etc)
    • Mentorship: held leadership position for 2 years in addition to volunteering
    • Biotech/healthcare consulting: actively involved for 3.5 years, "officer"-but-not-"exec"-level leadership
    • Dance team for 3 years
  11. Anything else not listed you think might be important
    • Expecting average rec letters, as my professors definitely know who I am, but do not know me well outside of the classroom/scope of the course

Schools list (aiming for 25)
Out of State

  • Harvard
  • Johns Hopkins
  • Washington University in St. Louis
  • University of Pennsylvania
  • Cornell
  • Columbia
  • Yale
  • University of Michigan
  • Icahn at Mt. Sinai
  • University of Pittsburgh
  • Boston University
  • Emory
  • Dartmouth
  • Hofstra
  • Tufts
In state
  • Stanford
  • UCs (UCSF, UCLA, UCSD, UCI, UCD)
  • USC

Am I aiming too high given my current stats, experiences, and activities? I feel like I'm probably aiming too high, especially given some of the other threads in this forum I've seen so far, so I would appreciate any advice on schools should I consider removing/adding!

Also, this is probably the bigger question for me now, but should I consider taking an extra gap year to build up additional clinical experience? Ideally, I would want to apply this cycle but I know that I'm lacking in this area.

Members don't see this ad.
 
Last edited:
It is not that you are aiming too high but that you need more schools where your chances for interviews area much greater than Harvard, UPenn, etc. I suggest adding more schools and consider these:
Kaiser
California University
Rochester
Einstein
Case Western
Cincinnati
USF Morsani
Miami
Try and accumulate another 100+ hours of clinical volunteering before you apply.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 users
In my opinion, gunning for the top tier means not having the bare minimums for clinical exposure. Usual minimums are 50 shadowing and 100 clinical volunteering hours, but for the top tier, we recommend double (100 shadowing, 200 clinical volunteering, lots of community service that is not all about teaching/tutoring). If you wish to take an extra gap year to save some money and rack up more hours, that would be great, but you should also make sure you do something that involves immersing yourself in the concerns of vulnerable populations that do not reflect your own cultural background.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 users
Members don't see this ad :)
Add more mid-tiers, you need to balance out your list!
I believe you would be fine for a mid-tier school with your current clinical hours. For a little boost (but by no means guarantee) you can take a year off to work on it for a year. In my opinion I do not think it’s worth it.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
It is not that you are aiming too high but that you need more schools where your chances for interviews area much greater than Harvard, UPenn, etc. I suggest adding more schools and consider these:
Kaiser
California University
Rochester
Einstein
Case Western
Cincinnati
USF Morsani
Miami
Try and accumulate another 100+ hours of clinical volunteering before you apply.

Thanks so much for your advice! Do you think that accumulating these additional clinical hours would likely make a significant difference in my application and chances? I'll also be adding some of these schools to my list!
 
In my opinion, gunning for the top tier means not having the bare minimums for clinical exposure. Usual minimums are 50 shadowing and 100 clinical volunteering hours, but for the top tier, we recommend double (100 shadowing, 200 clinical volunteering, lots of community service that is not all about teaching/tutoring). If you wish to take an extra gap year to save some money and rack up more hours, that would be great, but you should also make sure you do something that involves immersing yourself in the concerns of vulnerable populations that do not reflect your own cultural background.

Thank you for your feedback! To clarify your first sentence, do you mean that although my chances would be lower without additional hours, I could still try to apply to top tier schools (and maybe have a chance)?

The mentoring org I've been involved in is focused on providing additional STEM education for under-resourced schools that often have lower-income, URM students. As for gap year plans, I have been interviewing for jobs to keep my options open (although things have been put on hold now) and would potentially be working in clinical research with late-stage cancer patients. Do you have any advice on how to do additional volunteering (in a way that addresses your last sentence) while working a full-time job?
 
Add more mid-tiers, you need to balance out your list!
I believe you would be fine for a mid-tier school with your current clinical hours. For a little boost (but by no means guarantee) you can take a year off to work on it for a year. In my opinion I do not think it’s worth it.

Thanks so much for your input! Do you think Faha's recommendations would be good mid-tiers to add, or are there others you'd recommend? Also, do you think that taking a year off for gaining additional clinical hours would not be worth it because it might not make a huge difference for the top-tier/reach schools?
 
Thanks so much for your advice! Do you think that accumulating these additional clinical hours would likely make a significant difference in my application and chances? I'll also be adding some of these schools to my list!
Yes, you would be more likely to receive interviews.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
Top