MD Wait for Publications?

[SoManyMedQuestions]

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I am a 22-year-old male, DACA recipient (Mexican), first-generation college graduate (B.S. Neuroscience) that was ready to apply this cycle. Because of my DACA status, I cannot take federal loans to pay for med school. I did a TON of research and came up with a school list that, although top heavy, was selected because those particular schools (i.e. Harvard, Albert Einstein, Duke, UCLA, Dartmouth) have proven to be "DACA friendly" and have found ways to fund their students. With that being said, here are my metrics:

MCAT: 513 (130/126/128/129)
CGPA: 3.76 (magna cum laude)
SGPA: 3.70
Upper Div GPA: 3.94

I spent 3 years in undergrad working in a research lab on a project that may take another 6 months to complete and publish, and I am a month away from submitting a separate educational research manuscript to a journal to try to publish that as well. As of today, I do NOT have any first author publications, only 2 posters, and an oral presentation. Because a lot of these schools are research heavy, I am considering taking a second gap year in order to be able to complete both projects and submit my very best application. Am I making the right decision here?

 

[Dr. Meliodas]

You have a very strong application as is. A URM with your stats is competitive for any medical school in the country!

I would not wait to apply, I believe @LizzyM has mentioned that less than 5% of medical school applicants have a publication. If your papers get published during the application cycle you could always submit an update to the schools you are applying to.

As far as your school list you should definitely consider adding more schools - its always better to be safe than sorry. The AAMC MSAR also list those schools that accept DACA students (although I am not sure how financial aid works for them). It would be best to call these schools personally and speak with someone on the admissions staff.

These are the schools I saw that are DACA friendly:

• Harvard
• Upenn
• Vanderbilt
• WashU
• Cornell
• Yale
• Uchicago
• Northwestern
• Columbia
• Duke
• St Louis University
• Stanford
• Icahn
• Penn State
• Thomas Jefferson
• Einstein
• Emory
• Case
• Loma Linda
• Brown
• Hofstra
• Rush
• Medical College of Wisconsin
• Keck USC
• Dartmouth
• University of Miami
• University of Pittsburgh
• Loyola
• Tufts
• Tulane
• NY Medical College
• Georgetown
• Rosalind Franklin

In addition to LizzyM it would be good to hear from the other adcoms on here - @Goro and @Faha could give additional advice.

 

[Goro]

You have a very strong application as is. A URM with your stats is competitive for any medical school in the country!

I would not wait to apply, I believe @LizzyM has mentioned that less than 5% of medical school applicants have a publication. If your papers get published during the application cycle you could always submit an update to the schools you are applying to.

As far as your school list you should definitely consider adding more schools - its always better to be safe than sorry. The AAMC MSAR also list those schools that accept DACA students (although I am not sure how financial aid works for them). It would be best to call these schools personally and speak with someone on the admissions staff.

These are the schools I saw that are DACA friendly:

• Harvard
• Upenn
• Vanderbilt
• WashU
• Cornell
• Yale
• Uchicago
• Northwestern
• Columbia
• Duke
• St Louis University
• Stanford
• Icahn
• Penn State
• Thomas Jefferson
• Einstein
• Emory
• Case
• Loma Linda
• Brown
• Hofstra
• Rush
• Medical College of Wisconsin
• Keck USC
• Dartmouth
• University of Miami
• University of Pittsburgh
• Loyola
• Tufts
• Tulane
• NY Medical College
• Georgetown
• Rosalind Franklin

In addition to Lizzym it would be good to hear from the other adcoms on here - @Goro and @Faha could give additional advice.

Agree 100% with my young colleague