MD WAMC 3.6 cGPA, 3.55 sGPA, 516 MCAT

[hellowalnut]

Applying this cycle (2017-2018)
cGPA: 3.6 (>3.85 last 2 years)
sGPA: 3.55 (> 3.85 last 2 years)
MCAT: 516 129/126/129/132
State of residence: CA (w/ family ties to WA)
Ethnicity: Caucasian/White
Undergrad: UC (graduated 2016), two gap years
Clinical experience:
100 hours pediatric ICU (spent a lot of time with kids in the ICU)
Research:
2000+ hrs clinical research for surgery department (tons of patient contact, no pubs yet but a possibility throughout gap year/application cycle)
250 hours clinical research in an ED (tons of patient contact, no pubs)
Shadowing:
Not sure about this. Had a lot of "shadowing" in both my clinical research positions but not in the official sense. Might be able to get about 20hrs in before application time.
Non-clinical experience:
90 hours volunteering for two health conferences aimed at empowering and educating underserved communities
400 hours as a programming coordinator for a conference where I helped run workshops aimed at educating others about health disparities
80-100 hours in habitat for humanity
40-60 hours as a mentor for refugee families (will be starting late may/early June, should I even list this?)
Other extracurricular activities:
Worked throughout undergrad (ranging from 15-35 hours/week)
1600 hrs as a Transit driver
1200 hrs as a Supervisor/Supervisor Trainer for same transit company (Leadership experience, most meaningful, I could talk hours about the experience I've gained from this position)
~130 hours Lab Assistant/Tutor for Intro Bio and Upper Division Biochem Lab
Really into coffee brewing and cycling
Honors/Awards: 9 quarter dean's list, work award for exceptional performance.

School List: Aiming for like 30-35. Will be paying for entire cycle on own from gap-year job so do not mind throwing money at reaches. Please feel free to offer suggestions and/or critique. Very interested in academic medicine and research so would like to add schools that are conducive to that.

UCSF
UCLA
UCSD
UCI
UCD
USC
U Washington
NYU
Columbia
Icahn
UMich
Dartmouth
Brown
Einstein
Case Western
Boston U
Tufts
Georgetown
Emory
U Rochester
U Miami
Mayo (MN and AZ)
Duke
Jefferson
Baylor?
U Pitt
Temple

Questions:

Should I list my clinical research as clinical or as research or will the distinction not really matter?
They both have a good amount of patient contact and research but I am interested in research for medical school and I would like schools to understand that.

Also starting a program (late May/early June) where I help mentor refugee families and teach their kids english. Would it be better to leave this off my app? Would certainly be able to talk about it during the cycle.

sorry for long post, thanks for reading!!

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[Faha]

U Washington accepts very few applicants from states they are not contracted with (CA is not one of them). You have many reaches since your GPA's are towards the lower end of accepted students at those schools. I suggest adding more "safety" schools such as:
St. Louis
Tulane
Creighton
Medical College Wisconsin
Rosalind Franklin
Oakland Beaumont
GW
Hofstra
Quinnipiac
New York Medical College
Drexel

 

[hellowalnut]

@Faha I'll be sure to add schools from that list.

I understand UW's WWAMI bias but would it still be a waste if my immediate family are residents of Washington? I know they send out an OOS pre-secondary where I was hoping I would explain my situation. I would also love to be near family which is a reason for wanting to apply there.

 

[Faha]

@Faha I'll be sure to add schools from that list.

I understand UW's WWAMI bias but would it still be a waste if my immediate family are residents of Washington? I know they send out an OOS pre-secondary where I was hoping I would explain my situation. I would also love to be near family which is a reason for wanting to apply there.

With family in WA it is worth a try.

 

[precisiongraphic]

Unless you are from a low SES background and/or have a tremendous amount of service/exposure to under-served populations or rural medicine, even having relatives in Washington won't help, from my experience.

@Faha I'll be sure to add schools from that list.

I understand UW's WWAMI bias but would it still be a waste if my immediate family are residents of Washington? I know they send out an OOS pre-secondary where I was hoping I would explain my situation. I would also love to be near family which is a reason for wanting to apply there.

 

[hellowalnut]

Unless you are from a low SES background and/or have a tremendous amount of service/exposure to under-served populations or rural medicine, even having relatives in Washington won't help, from my experience.

Understood. Don't want to throw away money for no reason. I'll try to do a bit more research before I pull the trigger on UW.

Anyone else have other schools I should consider? Maybe mid-tier targets, as I have reaches and safeties covered?

 

[hellowalnut]

Used wedgedawg's school list system. Still preliminary. What do you all think? Probably want to consider a couple more schools.

Reach:
UCSF
NYU
Columbia
Icahn
UMich
Mayo
Duke
U Pitt

Target/Slight Reach:
UCLA
UCSD
UCI
USC
Emory
Dartmouth
Brown
Einstein
Case Western
UCinn
Ohio State
Boston U
Tufts
U Rochester
UMiami
UVA

Safety:
UCD
Hofstra
Jefferson
Georgetown
GW
Temple