WAMC - 2026 Application Year (3.9 sGPA/523 MCAT)

[Geodon]

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Hello, in good ole' fashion, what are my chances?

Demographics -- Age: 23

Gender: Male

Ethnicity: African American/Asian

State of Residence: California

Disadvantaged Status: Yes

First-Generation College Student: Yes

Languages: English (fluent), Vietnamese (fluent), Spanish (conversational), French (basic)

URM: Yes

Academic Metrics -- Undergraduate Institution: Stanford University (Graduated last year)

Major: Human Biology

Minor: Data Science

cGPA: 3.9

sGPA: 3.9

MCAT: 523

Clinical Experience
Clinical Research Intern at UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital (Hours: 550)

ED Medical Scribe (800 hours)

ED Technician (1000 hours, ongoing)

Shadowing -- Physician Shadowing (IM, IR cards, , neurosurgx) -- Hours: 80

Research
Stanford School of Medicine – Independent Researcher. Conducted a 2-year research project. Co-authored 2 publications, 1 first-author in Nature Neuroscience. (Hours: 1200)

Volunteering (Clinical) -- Ronald McDonald House & Stanford Pediatric Hospice Volunteer (Hours: 250)

Habitat for Humanity & Local Food Bank Volunteer (Hours: 100)

Leadership
President – Stanford Pre-Medical Association (Hours: 200)

Teaching / Tutoring
Anatomy and Physiology TA + MCAT Tutor (Hours: 300)

Artistic Endeavors / Hobbies
Semi-Pro Basketball – Bay Area Pro-Am + Team Captain (HS/College) -- (1000 hours)

Awards and Honors
Phi Beta Kappa

Stanford Dean’s Award for Exceptional Academic Achievement

1st place – Stanford Undergraduate Research Conference

Publication: Nature Neuroscience (First author), Cell Reports (Co-author)

School List (Probably too top-heavy)

Harvard
Stanford
UCSF
Johns Hopkins
Columbia VP&S
UCLA (DGSOM)
Penn (Perelman)
Duke
Yale
Mayo Clinic
Washington University in St. Louis
University of Chicago Pritzker
Northwestern Feinberg
UCSD
University of Michigan
Baylor
Vanderbilt
Tulane
Stanford
UC Davis
UC Irvine
Keck
UNLV
Einstein
Case Western Reserve University
University of Colorado
University of Washington St. Louis
University of Rochester
University of Miami Miller School of Medicine
Boston University School of Medicine

 

[Mr.Smile12]

You should be fine for a MS/PhD, since you are low on your community service hours. With your metrics, you should have at least 250 hours of service orientation activities (which would include the 100 hours of H4H + food bank). Working with underserved populations (not your own) is important to make your application stay on par with the rest of the applicants in your pool.

Are you applying MD/PhD? I think you have a very good shot there for sure, but I defer to those in the Research Scientists forum where the MSTP folks hang out.

 

[Geodon]

You should be fine for a MS/PhD, since you are low on your community service hours. With your metrics, you should have at least 250 hours of service orientation activities (which would include the 100 hours of H4H + food bank). Working with underserved populations (not your own) is important to make your application stay on par with the rest of the applicants in your pool.

Are you applying MD/PhD? I think you have a very good shot there for sure, but I defer to those in the Research Scientists forum where the MSTP folks hang out.

I am, but honestly, I’m burnt out from research. I might regret not applying regular MD, but you’re right I’m low on service hours.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

I am, but honestly, I’m burnt out from research. I might regret not applying regular MD, but you’re right I’m low on service hours.

No one says you have to just apply to MD/PhD. (Hopefully you attended the APSA session.)

 

[AsclepiusAdvisingLLC]

I am, but honestly, I’m burnt out from research. I might regret not applying regular MD, but you’re right I’m low on service hours.

No reason to pursue research just because you've done it 🙂 If you want to ever have MS or PhD alongside an MD, there are better ways than a MD/PhD program.

You are overall a very strong candidate. With your schools, consider what specifically you're really interested in getting from them. Is there something at Harvard, for example, that you are really called to?

Another thing to think about is that you're a clear "admit" for many programs (assuming ofc that you have good primary and secondary materials), so there will be many schools, especially top programs, who are really going to scrutinize you and want to see a compelling "why xyz?" essay.

A school like Duke or Penn will assume that you're also applying to other top schools and that you'd likely attend any one of them if accepted - so, why them? The same thought process goes for other top schools, not to mention lower ranked schools. As an applicant with a strong profile, you will be under a heightened level of scrutiny and expectation for your programs.

You will benefit from deep school program research. Reach out to groups on campus and seeing if they'll talk with you about their experiences, etc.