WAMC 3.98 GPA and 522 MCAT, genuinely poor ECs

[acefire21]

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• Country/state of residence: Kansas
• Undergraduate Major: Chemical Engineering
• Cumulative GPA: 3.98
• Science GPA: 4.0
• MCAT Scores: 522 (132/128/131/131)
• Research – include any abstracts/posters/publications and how you were credited (eg. First author, senior author, etc):
  • 300 hrs my junior year of college, my name is on a pub for this experience. Would love to have more but my PI left to another university
• Clinical Experience – include hours/sites: Around 140 hours at two different hospitals doing pt transport, cleaning rooms etc. Over 500 hours and counting as a nursing assistant at a large hospital
• Physician shadowing – include hours/specialties: 12 hours ortho, 8 hours internal med, shooting for 50+ by app
• Non-clinical volunteering: Only like 20 hours at a humane society. Actively trying to bulk up this area before May
• Extracurricular activities: Swim club for 4 years
• Employment history: 500 hours as a swim coach in my home town, 100 hours of tutoring and 120 hours as a TA for engineering class
  
  School List:
• WUSTL
• Johns Hopkins
• Chicago
• Northwestern
• Baylor
• UMichigan
• Western Michigan
• Vandy
• UColorado
• UCSF
• Saint Louis University
• Case Western
• USF Morsani
• Central Florida
• Wisconin
• Cincinatti
• Ohio State
• UCLA
• Duke
• State school
  
  I would really appreciate some input on the school list and guidance for improving my app. Thank you!

 

[Banco]

Your EC's are not "genuinely poor." Nonclinical volunteering is the weak link, but bulk it up before your app and continue the activity so you can put projected hours. The rest of your experiences are great. Your stats are sky high.


I think your list is okay, I'd just add a few more mid-tiers to be safe. Seems like you want to be in the mid-west-ish area, just make sure to look at the OOS percentages for some of the state schools you have.

I'd also consider: Miami, Iowa, MCW, Emory, Loyola, Rosalind Franklin, Rochester, Mayo.

 

[acefire21]

Your EC's are not "genuinely poor." Nonclinical volunteering is the weak link, but bulk it up before your app and continue the activity so you can put projected hours. The rest of your experiences are great. Your stats are sky high.


I think your list is okay, I'd just add a few more mid-tiers to be safe. Seems like you want to be in the mid-west-ish area, just make sure to look at the OOS percentages for some of the state schools you have.

I'd also consider: Miami, Iowa, MCW, Emory, Loyola, Rosalind Franklin, Rochester, Mayo.

I appreciate the input! Will definitely look into those schools as well. What do you think about adding Tufts, Arizona, Maryland and Virginia? They seem OOS friendly.

I guess I thought ECs were weak since I’m severely lacking in non-clinical and shadowing and research isn’t great, so I’m glad to hear otherwise.

 

[Faha]

You could add these schools to your application:
Carle Illinois
NYU
Columbia
Cornell
Harvard
Yale
Mount Sinai

 

[acefire21]

@Banco @Rheopecty @Faha what do you think of this updated list?

1. Top tiers/Reaches: WashU, Chicago, Penn, Hopkins, UCSF
2. (Hopeful) Targets: Mayo, Michigan, Pittsburgh, Vanderbilt, Northwestern, Emory, UCLA, Baylor, Case, NYU, UVA, Keck USC
3. State/OOS friendly schools: Ohio State, Kansas, Western Michigan, Iowa, Miami, USF Morsani, Colorado, Indiana, Arizona, Tufts

Is this a good balance of T20/mid-tiers? I'm open to adding more mid tiers to be safe but I only want to apply to around 20-25 schools max so would have to take out some higher tier schools

 

[Banco]

That’s a pretty good list. Do Arizona and Indiana take a good chunk of OOS (>25%)? Just make sure.

If they don’t you can replace them with Cincinnati, Rochester. If you want a Boston school I’d say BU would be better than tufts. But otherwise solid.

 

[acefire21]

That’s a pretty good list. Do Arizona and Indiana take a good chunk of OOS (>25%)? Just make sure.

If they don’t you can replace them with Cincinnati, Rochester. If you want a Boston school I’d say BU would be better than tufts. But otherwise solid.

Arizona states they can accept up to 50% OOS but it's closer to around 30-40, and Indiana has a huge class and accepts around 100 OOS students.

Honestly not super attached to Tufts it's just a name I see thrown around a lot. Do you know of any other schools that would be wise to consider?

 

[acefire21]

@Goro Could I maybe get your opinion on this list as well?

 

[Goro]

• Country/state of residence: Kansas
• Undergraduate Major: Chemical Engineering
• Cumulative GPA: 3.98
• Science GPA: 4.0
• MCAT Scores: 522 (132/128/131/131)
• Research – include any abstracts/posters/publications and how you were credited (eg. First author, senior author, etc):
  • 300 hrs my junior year of college, my name is on a pub for this experience. Would love to have more but my PI left to another university
• Clinical Experience – include hours/sites: Around 140 hours at two different hospitals doing pt transport, cleaning rooms etc. Over 500 hours and counting as a nursing assistant at a large hospital
• Physician shadowing – include hours/specialties: 12 hours ortho, 8 hours internal med, shooting for 50+ by app
• Non-clinical volunteering: Only like 20 hours at a humane society. Actively trying to bulk up this area before May
• Extracurricular activities: Swim club for 4 years
• Employment history: 500 hours as a swim coach in my home town, 100 hours of tutoring and 120 hours as a TA for engineering class
  
  School List:
• WUSTL
• Johns Hopkins
• Chicago
• Northwestern
• Baylor
• UMichigan
• Western Michigan
• Vandy
• UColorado
• UCSF
• Saint Louis University
• Case Western
• USF Morsani
• Central Florida
• Wisconin
• Cincinatti
• Ohio State
• UCLA
• Duke
• State school
  
  I would really appreciate some input on the school list and guidance for improving my app. Thank you!

Apply in August to bulk on on more nonclinical hours. List is fine, but you need some Emory/Einstein class schools for balance. Your relative low research hours may hurt at the research who...um, sex workers. But a 522 MVAT is sure nothing to sneeze at, either.

Suggest adding:
Emory
Einstein
Keck
Rochester
U VM
Western MI
Jefferson
Hofstra
Miami
Brown
Tufts

 

[acefire21]

Apply in August to bulk on on more nonclinical hours. List is fine, but you need some Emory/Einstein class schools for balance. Your relative low research hours may hurt at the research who...um, sex workers. But a 522 MVAT is sure nothing to sneeze at, either.

Suggest adding:
Emory
Einstein
Keck
Rochester
U VM
Western MI
Jefferson
Hofstra
Miami
Brown
Tufts

Added Emory, keck, western mich, Vermont, Miami, and tufts! I appreciate the suggestions. Any other good mid tiers I won’t get yield protected at?
Honestly I don’t think I want to apply to NY schools. I come from a pretty small town and I don’t think I’d be comfortable in the concrete jungle.

 

[EdgeTrimmer]

I think you shouldn't wait till August to apply. Try to get to 100 non-clinical hrs by June.

 

[Banco]

I think you shouldn't wait till August to apply. Try to get to 100 non-clinical hrs by June.

Agreed, try to bulk as much as you can before submission and then put projected hours. Don't delay submission.

 

[deleted314957]

If you dig engineering you should most definitely look into Carle. It is very closely associated with the engineering department at the U of I Champaign-Urbana.

 

[DNAJB6]

Increase your non clinical volunteer hours otherwise you look solid. As is, the low volunteer hours could hurt.