WAMC: 3.9 and 506 URM

[medicine_lyfe]

• State/Country of Residence:
  • NC
• Ties to other States/Regions:
  • CA, AZ
• Gender:
  • Female
• URM? (Y/N):
  • Yes (Black)
• Year in School:
  • Junior
• Undergraduate Major(s)/Minor(s):
  • Major: Biology
• cGPA/sGPA: 3.96/3.95
• MCAT Score(s):
  • 506
• Research Experience:
  • None - I’ve never really been interested in research
• Publications/Abstracts/Posters (include how you were credited e.g. first author, second author, etc.):
  • N/A
• Clinical experience (paid):
  • 1600 hours of patient transport
  • 510 hours of CNA
• Clinical Experience (unpaid):
  • 540 hours of volunteering at a small, local clinic, acting as a medical assistant (in some aspects), directly working with the physicians & nurses
• Non-Clinical Volunteering:
  • 230 hours actively volunteering with kids over the course of 2+ years
• Physician Shadowing:
  • 60+ hours between heart and vascular, heart failure, ent surgery, family medicine, hospitalist
• Other employment history:
  • 900 hours of fast food food employment
• Leadership:
  • 100 hours science TA
  • Student Leader of one of the organizations on my campus
  • Attended several leadership conferences in which i represented my university
  • One of the Adult Lead volunteers
• Other Extracurricular Activities:
  • Active member & writer of one of the university’s writing group
  • university’s media team *other clubs..
• LOR:
  • Science prof had good rapport with [strong]
  • Science prof I TAed for [strong]
  • Psych prof *History prof
  • Doc @ clinic I volunteer at [strong]
  • history prof (he says its going to be a strong letter)
• Immediate family members in medicine? (Y/N):
  • Mom
• Specialty of Interest (if applicable): undecided, but ortho, OB, emergency medicine and anesthesiology interest me
• Medical School List:
  • Schools I'm sure of (but want opinions on): UNC, Brody, Wake Forest, Howard, UCSF, UCLA, UofA @ Tucson, UofA @ Phoenix, West Virginia, Emory, Stanford, Kaiser, NYU Grossman
  • Schools I'm not sure about adding: Temple, Medical school of wisconsin, University of vermont, USF Morsani, Ohio State, Eastern Virginia, Frank H Netter, Loyola, University of Pittsburgh, Toledo, Kentucky, Central Michigan, Tulane, Wright State, University of Nebraska, Sidney Kimmel, Robert Wood, NYMC, Albany, College of Human Medicine, Wayne State, Rosalind Franklin, George Washington, U of Maryland, Cincinnati

I need more schools and I would love to hear some feedback. Also, are my hours good and is there anything else I could improve upon?I’m aiming to apply to 20-25 schools, so any suggestions are good. And @Faha @Goro , if you have any spare time on your hands I would love to hear your words of wisdom regarding my app 🙂) thank you everyone!!

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[KaiBuzz]

Since you’re only a junior in college, why not consider retaking your MCAT? A higher score would open a lot more doors for you!

 

[Faha]

You have several state public schools on your list that admit few non residents with no connection to the state. you also have several reaches.
I suggest these schools with your stats:
UNC
Brody
Wake Forest
Duke
Howard
Meharry
Morehouse
UCLA Drew
Arizona (Tucson and Phoenix)
Kaiser
Miami
USF Morsani
Emory
Tulane
West Virginia
Eastern Virginia
Virginia Commonwealth
Georgetown
George Washington
Temple
Jefferson
Pittsburgh
Ohio State
Einstein
New York Medical College
Vermont

 

[medicine_lyfe]

Since you’re only a junior in college, why not consider retaking your MCAT? A higher score would open a lot more doors for you!

Hi, I briefly considered this but don't think it would be feasible. Unfortunately with my circumstances, I have to work and I was working two jobs while studying for the MCAT. It wouldn't be any different. I would have to give up my source of income to study, which would not be feasible 🙁

 

[medicine_lyfe]

You have several state public schools on your list that admit few non residents with no connection to the state. you also have several reaches.
I suggest these schools with your stats:
UNC
Brody
Wake Forest
Duke
Howard
Meharry
Morehouse
UCLA Drew
Arizona (Tucson and Phoenix)
Kaiser
Miami
USF Morsani
Emory
Tulane
West Virginia
Eastern Virginia
Virginia Commonwealth
Georgetown
George Washington
Temple
Jefferson
Pittsburgh
Ohio State
Einstein
New York Medical College
Vermont

Thank you so much for your feedback, I'll definitely revise my list!

 

[deleted1095841]

• MCAT Score(s):
  • 506
• Research Experience:
  • None - I’ve never really been interested in research

It's ok to not be interested in traditional basic science or translational research.
But what are you interested in?
You should be able to give schools a vision of how you will contribute to the advancement of medicine. And if you work on a project during undergrad and the results are published somewhere, it counts as "research"

Examples:
Health policy
Advocacy/serving the underserved (could be either urban or rural focused)
Global health
Technology/AI in medicine
Medical humanities
Medical education

Also, how does that 506 compare to how you did on the AAMC practice tests? Did you just have a bad day? (in which case you'll likely do better if you retake it even without studying further)

 

[medicine_lyfe]

It's ok to not be interested in traditional basic science or translational research.
But what are you interested in?
You should be able to give schools a vision of how you will contribute to the advancement of medicine. And if you work on a project during undergrad and the results are published somewhere, it counts as "research"

Examples:
Health policy
Advocacy/serving the underserved (could be either urban or rural focused)
Global health
Technology/AI in medicine
Medical humanities
Medical education

Also, how does that 506 compare to how you did on the AAMC practice tests? Did you just have a bad day? (in which case you'll likely do better if you retake it even without studying further)

I probably didn't frame this correctly. I haven't really been interested in research in undergrad because I wasn't able to get in to it. I don't mind doing some in the future.

It was a little lower than my AAMC practice tests. My last practice test was a 508.

 

[bob12364747474]

Save your money and remove NYU

 

[medicine_lyfe]

Save your money and remove NYU

May I ask why?

 

[Nontrad_FL_LGBT]

May I ask why?

Their average MCAT is around 520 and it's a tuition free program, it's a donation with a 506. They're getting like Olympic medalists with 523s and 4.0s.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Apply where your mom went to medical school (?). How about the HBCU medical schools?

 

[deleted1095841]

I probably didn't frame this correctly. I haven't really been interested in research in undergrad because I wasn't able to get in to it. I don't mind doing some in the future.

It was a little lower than my AAMC practice tests. My last practice test was a 508.

If you're able to get into it, and get one peer-reviewed publication out before you apply, that will take you a huge leap forward. When you talk about your vision for your career in medicine (everyone wants to advance human health, but how will YOU do it?) it's much more compelling when you've already taken (small) steps toward it.

That's more important that the MCAT actually. The point of the MCAT isn't to show how bright you are. It's just to show that you have basic knowledge of the main prerequisites for medical school (bio, chem, etc.). Given that, you just need to meet a certain rough bar, and scores above that are really pointless. That bar, if I guess, would be about 516 (95th percentile). But even a 512 would be decent.

If you can get one pub, and a 516 on the MCAT, even Harvard is possible. (there's a lot of randomness of course)
One pub and 512, and you'll have a good shot at T20. (not guaranteed of course; nothing is)

 

[medicine_lyfe]

Their average MCAT is around 520 and it's a tuition free program, it's a donation with a 506. They're getting like Olympic medalists with 523s and 4.0s.

Oh that makes sense :C

 

[medicine_lyfe]

Apply where your mom went to medical school (?). How about the HBCU medical schools?

The only HBCUs I'm interested in are Howard and now Charles Drew. I think I may or may not add Meharry to my list.

And my mother, she got her medical degree outside the country and then immigrated into the US 🙁

 

[medicine_lyfe]

If you're able to get into it, and get one peer-reviewed publication out before you apply, that will take you a huge leap forward. When you talk about your vision for your career in medicine (everyone wants to advance human health, but how will YOU do it?) it's much more compelling when you've already taken (small) steps toward it.

That's more important that the MCAT actually. The point of the MCAT isn't to show how bright you are. It's just to show that you have basic knowledge of the main prerequisites for medical school (bio, chem, etc.). Given that, you just need to meet a certain rough bar, and scores above that are really pointless. That bar, if I guess, would be about 516 (95th percentile). But even a 512 would be decent.

If you can get one pub, and a 516 on the MCAT, even Harvard is possible. (there's a lot of randomness of course)
One pub and 512, and you'll have a good shot at T20. (not guaranteed of course; nothing is)

Thank you for your response. I'm not sure I would be able to get a publication anytime before this cycle starts being that I haven't even started in a research lab. But I will keep this in mind.