WAMC: 3.49 cGPA, 514 MCAT, NJ resident, URM, waiting on II's

[PremedNJ.123]

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Hello everyone, this is my first post on SDN and I've been a lurker here for a few months. My stats are as follows...

1. 3.49 cGPA and 3.41 sGPA (Strong uptrend from 2.79 freshman year)
2. 514 MCAT (129/127/130/128)
3. NJ resident
4. Latino
5. Graduated from Rutgers University
6. Clinical experience includes EMT:1300 hours with 120 hours volunteer
7. No research experience but I do work in a lab as a clinical lab assistant, 300+ hours projecting 1500 by matriculation
8. 25 hours shadowing online, currently looking for doctors willing to take me.
9. Non-clinical volunteering giving music lessons to under represented community in Newark NJ, over 500 hours. I also contribute to my Latin American church community via technical assistance and by playing drums for the worship group. Been doing it since I was 12 (well over 2000 hrs).
10. Extracurricular activities mainly involves my passion playing the drums, been playing since I was around 6-7 years old.
11. Extra info: My sister was born with chromosomal translocation and wanting to know more about her condition has guided me into wanting to practice medicine. Also act as a care taker for her.

Side note: I fully committed to practicing medicine after my freshman year and joined a program at my university which specializes in offering assistance to URM students. They helped me fix up my GPA from freshman year and instilled strong study habits I plan to bring with me.

I'm curious how others would look at my app and if I would have a decent chance. I'd say the two things hurting me the most are research and shadowing but I'm trying to get shadowing now to send update letters to schools since. I've applied to almost all state schools (including DO) and many schools in neighboring states. Thank you all in advance!!

 

[Faha]

Which schools did you apply to ? Are you fluent in Spanish ?

 

[Mr.Smile12]

A school list will help, but I assume you already have been in contact with the medical school admissions team at Rutgers (both campuses).

Do you serve your community and impact your community that doesn't involve music or tutoring?

 

[PremedNJ.123]

Which schools did you apply to ? Are you fluent in Spanish ?

These are the schools I applied to. They’re are listed exactly how it is on AMCAS:

MD
1. Albany Medical College

2. Boston University Aram V. Chobanian & Edward Avedisian School of Medicine

3. Chicago Medical School at Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine Regular M.D.
& Science

4. Cooper Medical School of Rowan University

5. Creighton University School of Medicine

6. Drexel University College of Medicine

7. Eastern Virginia Medical School at Old Dominion University

8. Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth

9. Indiana University School of Medicine

10. Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University

11. Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine

12. Medical College of Wisconsin

13. New York Medical College


14. Rutgers New Jersey Medical School

15. Sidney Kimmel Medical College at Thomas Jefferson University

16. Tufts University School of Medicine

17. Tulane University School of Medicine

18. University of Illinois College of Medicine

19. University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine

20. Wayne State University School of Medicine

21.Rutgers RWJMS

DO
1. Rowan SOM
2. Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine
3. Michigan State University College of Osteopathic Medicine
4. NYIT College of Osteopathic Medicine

I speak fluent Portuguese and can understand Spanish really well
* also thank you for taking the time to respond. Let me know if you need any more information!

Which schools did you apply to ? Are you fluent in Spanish ?

 

[PremedNJ.123]

A school list will help, but I assume you already have been in contact with the medical school admissions team at Rutgers (both campuses).

Do you serve your community and impact your community that doesn't involve music or tutoring?

I unfortunately haven’t been in contact with the admissions teams on either campus. I don’t really know how to approach them about my application. If you have any advice I would love to hear it!

I have served the community in other small ways like organizing events with my father where the minority population in Newark can receive free gifts on Christmas. I’ve done it for 4-5 years now but it’s something I didn’t mention on my App.I would say the music lessons and this event that I help in yearly are the only notable community based activities I participate in.

Thank you again for taking your time to respond to my post. I responded to someone else attaching my school list if that would help in your assessment.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

I unfortunately haven’t been in contact with the admissions teams on either campus. I don’t really know how to approach them about my application. If you have any advice I would love to hear it!

I have served the community in other small ways like organizing events with my father where the minority population in Newark can receive free gifts on Christmas. I’ve done it for 4-5 years now but it’s something I didn’t mention on my App.I would say the music lessons and this event that I help in yearly are the only notable community based activities I participate in.

Thank you again for taking your time to respond to my post. I responded to someone else attaching my school list if that would help in your assessment.

Rutgers New Jersey Medical School

Rutgers New Jersey Medical School: A unit of Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences, New Jersey Medical School is the oldest and largest school of allopathic medicine in New Jersey.

njms.rutgers.edu

 

[Faha]

Your main weakness in your application is your lack of in person shadowing (virtual shadowing has no value). You do not have any non clinical volunteering such as food bank, homeless shelter, etc. so your application could be screened out at schools that emphasize non clinical volunteering such as Loyola and Creighton. You are competitive for all DO schools and your New Jersey state school are your best chances for MD. Add more schools to your application this week and I suggest these:
Touro-NY
Hackensack
Vermont
Quinnipiac
Belmont
NOVA MD
Oakland Beaumont
TCU
George Washington

 

[PremedNJ.123]

Your main weakness in your application is your lack of in person shadowing (virtual shadowing has no value). You do not have any non clinical volunteering such as food bank, homeless shelter, etc. so your application could be screened out at schools that emphasize non clinical volunteering such as Loyola and Creighton. You are competitive for all DO schools and your New Jersey state school are your best chances for MD. Add more schools to your application this week and I suggest these:
Touro-NY
Hackensack
Vermont
Quinnipiac
Belmont
NOVA MD
Oakland Beaumont
TCU
George Washington

I appreciate your insight. Ill do my best to incorporate your suggestions into my application (will DEFINITELY be pursuing those shadowing hours!!). I also hope its not too late in the cycle to add these schools.

My last concern is if my volunteer music lessons are not valuable non-clinical volunteering hours. I've always assumed they were but I could see how community service like food bank assistance could carry more weight.

 

[Faha]

I appreciate your insight. Ill do my best to incorporate your suggestions into my application (will DEFINITELY be pursuing those shadowing hours!!). I also hope its not too late in the cycle to add these schools.

My last concern is if my volunteer music lessons are not valuable non-clinical volunteering hours. I've always assumed they were but I could see how community service like food bank assistance could carry more weight.

@Mr.Smile12 your opinion ?

 

[Mr.Smile12]

@Mr.Smile12 your opinion ?

I'm waiting for a more straightforward answer to my question.

Do you serve your community and impact your community that doesn't involve music or tutoring?

So if the answer is...

I would say the music lessons and this event that I help in yearly are the only notable community based activities I participate in. ... My last concern is if my volunteer music lessons are not valuable non-clinical volunteering hours. I've always assumed they were but I could see how community service like food bank assistance could carry more weight.

then I agree OP needs more traditional service orientation activities (done more frequently than yearly) to improve chances for an offer. The applicant should have been networking before applying (admissions/diversity teams, medical students, LMSA), but that's water under the bridge now. If music is that important in the OP's identity, why not become a music therapist?

I still think geography and demographics will still get some attention among the in-state schools. Maybe there is something in the personal journey we don't see (poster privacy), but plenty of musicians don't become or shouldn't become physicians.

 

[PremedNJ.123]

I'm waiting for a more straightforward answer to my question.

So if the answer is...


then I agree OP needs more traditional service orientation activities (done more frequently than yearly) to improve chances for an offer. The applicant should have been networking before applying (admissions/diversity teams, medical students, LMSA), but that's water under the bridge now. If music is that important in the OP's identity, why not become a music therapist?

I still think geography and demographics will still get some attention among the in-state schools. Maybe there is something in the personal journey we don't see (poster privacy), but plenty of musicians don't become or shouldn't become physicians.

I do love playing drums, but I promise medicine is my true passion.

I think my plan going forward is to get my shadowing hours in ASAP and send update letters if possible. Once that's done, I dedicate my time to building more traditional non-clinical volunteer hours to supplement what I already have while networking with my in-state schools in the event that I don't get in this cycle.

Thank you both again for taking the time to reply and I'll be sure to use these suggestions. If there is anything else, feel free to let me know.