WAMC? 3.6/507/URM

[imadethisaccountforpremed]

I’m FGLI URM so pls be gentle, I don’t have a reference point (but also be truly honest)

URM black female low-income

Questbridge Match Recipient

T10 undergrad

From GA but am in IL for undergrad

Graduating this June

cGPA: 3.73
sGPA: 3.63 (upward trend last 2 years with all A’s except for to B’s)

MCAT: 506 (129/127/124/126) —> 507 (128/125/127/127). my scores make me so depressed as they were 6 points lower than my FL average where I got the same score on literally all my FLs. I’ve cried about them for months and am still not over it

Research: no pubs, non-clinical neurobiology research. 500 hrs

clinical volunteering: 190 hrs. Started in 2019, then Covid, then resumed July 2021

ECs:

paid tutor for elementary + middle schoolers. 120 hrs (3x a week for an hour before their school starts)

Red Cross Instructor: taught CPR classes for free for low income community members 300hrs. Unpaid

Sex Educator: freshman year, I taught sex Ed to a local underfunded high school. 100 hrs. Unpaid

Student Government: was a member freshman year then co-chair of mental health at my school sophomore year. Did mostly awareness events/fundraising. 300-400hrs??? Unpaid.

Volunteer online tutor: 70 hours for a one-on-one tutoring session for an elementary student. Unpaid

Black mentor: am a mentor for the black incoming undergrad students at my school. 70hrs. Unpaid

Shadowing: 75 hrs. In OB/GYN, psychiatry, transplantation surgery

Kesem: 150 hrs as a camp counselor for kids whose parents have cancer + some fundraising. Unpaid


And I also have a gap year job full time as a medical assistant


Pls help me create a school list! Or also just tell me what I’m lacking in. I need all the tips/criticisms I can get! My health advisors at my school don’t usually work with URMs so I don’t know how much to take their advice. I also have no family or friends to ask. Thank you so so so much in advance

I’m thinking these schools: meharry. uMiami, Loyola, rush, Rosalind Franklin, UIC, Emory, medical college in Georgia, morehouse, Howard, George Washington, Georgetown, tufts, U Toledo, university of Wisconsin, Vandy, wakeforest, UNC chapel hill

PSA: I realize that, standalone, my MCAT score is not as dramatically bad as I am making it, I am more so upset by the severe drop in my FL average. My goal was a 510 and I would’ve never taken the test if I knew I would get the score that I have. 507 is just not the score I worked so hard for 🙁(( I also go to a pretty competitive undergrad so it stinks how much lower my score is compared to my peers and compared to the average MCAT score for my school that gets accepted into medical school. AND it also sucks bc I feel like (bc of my undergrad) I had much more resources than the average URM and I still underperformed 🙁(( I hope you understand that bc I don’t wanna sound ungrateful

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[Faha]

I suggest these schools with your stats:
Mercer
Medical College Georgia
Emory
Morehouse
Meharry
Howard
UCLA Drew
Miami
NOVA MD
Wake Forest
Virginia Commonwealth
Eastern Virginia
Georgetown
George Washington
Pittsburgh
Drexel
Temple
Jefferson
Hackensack
New York Medical College
Einstein
Mount Sinai
Vermont
Quinnipiac
Dartmouth
Tufts
Boston University
Brown
Oakland Beaumont
Wayne State
Medical College Wisconsin
Loyola
Rosalind Franklin
St. Louis
Creighton
TCU-UNT
25 schools from this list should be adequate but include all the Georgia schools and the HBCUs.

 

[imadethisaccountforpremed]

I suggest these schools with your stats:
Mercer
Medical College Georgia
Emory
Morehouse
Meharry
Howard
UCLA Drew
Miami
NOVA MD
Wake Forest
Virginia Commonwealth
Eastern Virginia
Georgetown
George Washington
Pittsburgh
Drexel
Temple
Jefferson
Hackensack
New York Medical College
Einstein
Mount Sinai
Vermont
Quinnipiac
Dartmouth
Tufts
Boston University
Brown
Oakland Beaumont
Wayne State
Medical College Wisconsin
Loyola
Rosalind Franklin
St. Louis
Creighton
TCU-UNT
25 schools from this list should be adequate but include all the Georgia schools and the HBCUs.

Brown, Boston U, darmouth, etc seem really really out of my stat range. Do you mind sharing why you included those in your recommended school list? Is it because of my extracurriculars?

 

[Faha]

Brown, Boston U, darmouth, etc seem really really out of my stat range. Do you mind sharing why you included those in your recommended school list? Is it because of my extracurriculars?

The African American applicant pool is small (only 7% of medical students despite 14% of the population). There are approximately 200 African American applicants each year with a MCAT of 507 or higher and a GPA of 3.6 or higher. There are more than 150 MD schools competing for those 200 applicants so it they want any diversity in their class they need to interview you.

 

[skeptastic]

The African American applicant pool is small (only 7% of medical students despite 14% of the population). There are approximately 200 African American applicants each year with a MCAT of 507 or higher and a GPA of 3.6 or higher. There are more than 150 MD schools competing for those 200 applicants so it they want any diversity in their class they need to interview you.

I never use the hug emoticon on social media platforms, but had to in this instance. I feel her worry, doubt, and struggle. I felt the exact same way when you provided me with nearly the same list. I've been stewing over it and finally get it. It's just difficult to process when the obstacles seem to be never-ending and all you can see is your faults, not the positive aspects of your application.

I look at my stats and see the 3.15/3.54 and an okay MCAT. I look at OP's stats and see a solid GPA and a perfectly fine MCAT given the GPA. The grass is always greener and never truly is lol.

As I sit here trying to finalize an OOS AMCAS school list, I'm still struggling to figure out if I'm reaching and/or wasting time and money applying to AMCAS schools. It's tough trying to see yourself from another's perspective. Thank you, @Faha, for helping us pre-meds do our best to figure out where we might fit in. It's nice to have support. Many people rag on SDN, but I've gotten so much from this forum and am eternally grateful for all that I've learned.