WAMC - 3.87/519 TX applicant with no matches

[ballooncycledeck]

I'm a current applicant with only TMDSAS interviews so far, and didn't match at any of my 3 schools (Baylor, McGovern, UTRGV). The WL movement isn't very promising, so I'm looking at reapplying this coming cycle.

Stats: 3.78 cGPA, 3.72 sGPA (3.87 cGPA and 3.77 sGPA for TMDSAS), 519 (131/129/131/128), T30 undergrad
One gap year, went OOS for undergrad but have TX residency, ORM male

Experiences:

Clinical (200 hrs):
Volunteering at a COVID vaccine drive: 100 hrs
CNA at a SNF: 100 hrs

Non-Clinical Volunteering (450 hrs):
Temple summer and winter camp counselor: 300 hrs (added 50 hrs during gap year and took over as camp director)
Youth leadership camp counselor: 80 hrs
Volunteering with low-income high school students to help them prepare for college apps: 30 hrs
TFA Ignite fellow: 40 hrs

Leadership (1000 hrs):
Fundraising chair, recruitment chair, and vice president for club sport over 3.5 years: 1000 hrs

Research (500 hrs):
Summer research internship (got a mid-low author pub): 400 hrs
Dry lab research: 100 hrs
(Working at an academic hospital during gap year: 640 hrs so far)

Shadowing (70 hrs):
EM academic shadowing: 50 hrs
Wound care physician shadowing: 20 hrs

Misc:
Eagle Scout
Ochem learning assistant (would answer questions during lectures about practice problems): 100 hrs

School List:
TX: Baylor, UTSW, McGovern, Long, Dell, UTMB, Texas A&M, Texas Tech Lubbock, Texas Tech El Paso, UNT, UH, UTRGV (didn't finish UT Tyler because I don't have any ties)
OOS: Harvard, UCSF, UCLA, Duke, Icahn, Cornell, Northwestern, WashU, Pitt, USC, Case Western, Emory, Tufts, Brown, Rochester, Kaiser, Wake Forest, Miami, Colorado, TCU

Thoughts:
- I was definitely counting on being a TX resident to carry me so OOS school list is pretty heavy. Would apply to way more mid-tiers next cycle plus DO schools
- Clinical hours is possibly the only red flag I have on my application. I could quit my current research job at an academic hospital to work as a CNA to get up my hours before reapplying
- I might've been too over-rehearsed for interviews; will work on being more genuine

What should I do to prepare for the upcoming cycle? Any advice would be greatly appreciated 🙂

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[Mr.Smile12]

The Eagle Scout is nice, but your nonclinical community service is being a camp counselor. I don't know if you have stretched out of your comfort zone. Usually we want to see 150 hours of food distribution, shelter volunteer, job and tax preparation, transportation services, or housing rehabilitation.

More importantly, your clinical hours are low. Only 100 hours as a CNA? No hospital volunteering?

 

[ballooncycledeck]

The Eagle Scout is nice, but your nonclinical community service is being a camp counselor. I don't know if you have stretched out of your comfort zone. Usually we want to see 150 hours of food distribution, shelter volunteer, job and tax preparation, transportation services, or housing rehabilitation.

More importantly, your clinical hours are low. Only 100 hours as a CNA? No hospital volunteering?

I only worked 100 hrs because I needed more time to study for my MCAT during the summer, but point taken I’ll start working as a CNA again and look into shelter volunteering. Thanks for the advice!

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Were there any interview question topics that you had trouble with? What help did you get from preheaelth advisors or others about your application before applying?

Again, you never know about waitlists, but reflect on your interview and your mission alignment with the programs. If you reapply, a less top-heavy OOS list would help your chances. How did you pitch your application to OOS?

 

[ballooncycledeck]

Were there any interview question topics that you had trouble with? What help did you get from preheaelth advisors or others about your application before applying?

Again, you never know about waitlists, but reflect on your interview and your mission alignment with the programs. If you reapply, a less top-heavy OOS list would help your chances. How did you pitch your application to OOS?

I think one question that I had trouble with was "If you don't get in this cycle, what will you do?" and "There are a lot of applicants that like to help people or are smart, so why should we take you?" They caught me a little off guard, and I essentially said that I would reapply next year if needed and incorporate my current job experiences into my application, and that I had the ability to work well within a team and take on any role that was needed to achieve our shared goal.

My prehealth advisor looked over my school list and the first draft of my personal statement, and I had people who are currently in medical school review my PS, TMDSAS essays, and secondaries.

I think my leadership involvement in my club sport and volunteering at the youth camps was the main focus of my application. I didn't emphasize my research too much in my application because it wasn't as meaningful to me as my other activities. My CNA work and COVID volunteering made up the bulk of my PS.

I have a question- when writing letters of interest/intent to my WL schools, would it be a good idea to quickly leave my research job and get some clinical experience that I can include in my letters, or would it be better to send these letters as early as possible? Most of the TMDSAS WL movement happens between now and May 1st is what I've heard.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

I think one question that I had trouble with was "If you don't get in this cycle, what will you do?" and "There are a lot of applicants that like to help people or are smart, so why should we take you?" They caught me a little off guard, and I essentially said that I would reapply next year if needed and incorporate my current job experiences into my application, and that I had the ability to work well within a team and take on any role that was needed to achieve our shared goal.

Obviously, good answers to these questions are important. We'll see what happens with the waitlist. Getting three interviews is generally promising, but you have to prep a reapp anyway.

So how would you answer those two questions now?