MD WAMC 2026-2027 Application Cycle

[Ishmeller289]

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1. 4.0 cGPA and sGPA
2. 519 (132/125/132/130)
3. MD
4. White ORM
5. T15 -- Ivy
6. ~900 at the time of application, another 300 over the summer (same job
7. ~1200 hours of research by the time of application, no pubs, one poster presentation at national conference (i may get a pub mid-application cycle or over the summer). Also plan on doing honors thesis, but this will be done after I start applying.
8. Anesthesia (40 hrs), peds (16 hours), emergency med (8 hours)
9. ~400 hours volunteering at food bank , ~200 hours volunteering for crisis text line
10. Secretary (and president next semester) of rec tennis, was a part of club ultimate frisbee team freshman year, TA for 4 different courses, volunteer online tutor, hobbies include rock climbing and tennis
11. Not many activities because a lot of what i've done was sustained since freshman year (volunteered and worked at the same places each summer, did research at the same place for two years...). I also have not taken (and don't plan on taking) a gap year.

I plan on applying to a good number of schools, ~40-45, and include many top schools (only ones where I'm at least 25th percentile MCAT, which includes most schools except like NYU and Columbia), but I'm not sure how my low cars might impact my chances at other schools (worried it will be a major red flag and hinder me from getting into good programs). Are there any schools I should avoid that I'd have almost no chance of getting into, any that I should definitely include? Any insight would be great!

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Tell us what your prehealth advisors think. I think 40 schools is overkill, but you also haven't given me much insight to your purpose as a physician. Your activities seem like you hit the checklist. You lack activities where teamwork and stretching beyond your comfort zone are important.

 

[Ishmeller289]

Tell us what your prehealth advisors think. I think 40 schools is overkill, but you also haven't given me much insight to your purpose as a physician. Your activities seem like you hit the checklist. You lack activities where teamwork and stretching beyond your comfort zone are important.

To be honest, my prehealth advisors aren't very helpful, they're not supportive of anyone not taking gap years, and they basically just sit there and try to convince you to take a gap year (regardless of how strong your application is), even though I feel like it really isn't necessary in my case. There are several stories (I won't go into detail here) from my shadowing and MA experiences that show how valuable physicians can be to people's lives. Part of the narrative i want to tell is how i want to become a practicing physician while also doing some sort of teaching (ideally teaching at med school), and I feel like my extensive background of being a TA for several classes over a long period of time (as well as doing other tutoring), can help support this narrative. I find immense value in education, so it is something I want to contribute to when I am a physician (though I don't want it to come off as "I want to be a teacher and a physician on the side i guess". For the teamwork part, I'd have to agree with that-- none of my activities have a strong teamwork aspect. The closest thing I could think of is my volunteering at the foodbank, but again, not the strongest teamwork. For the comfort zone part, I think that a lot of the teaching and being an MA was initially out of my comfort zone, as I am fairly introverted towards people I don't know well. Over time, I was able to gain that confidence, and now in those situations, I am a lot more outgoing, even to completely new people (I hope this doesn't give a bad look though). Thanks for taking the time to help, and sorry for the long response