MD & DO WAMC 509/3.59

[rockyc88]

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State/Country of Residence: CA
Ties to other States/Regions: N/A
URM? (Y/N): N
Year in School: Graduated from UCB in 2020, currently in second gap year
Undergraduate Major(s)/Minor(s): Mechanical engineering
Graduate Degrees (if applicable): none
Cumulative GPA: 3.59
Science GPA: 3.71
MCAT Score(s): 509 (128,127,127,127)
Research Experience: half a year in a nanobatteries lab totaling (300 hours)
Publications/Abstracts/Posters (include how you were credited e.g. first author, second author, etc.): none
Clinical Experience (paid or volunteer): clinic volunteer scribing (192 hours)
Physician Shadowing: virtual shadowing (30 hours)
Non-Clinical Volunteering: disadvantaged student mentor (50 hours)
Other Extracurricular Activities: Chem TA (120 hours),
Other Employment History: tutor (240 hours), National lab engineering intern (240 hours), national lab engineering intern (680 hours), Stanford hospital office assistant (started working in August, current)
Immediate family members in medicine? (Y/N): Y
Specialty of Interest (if applicable): N/A (essays focused more on primary/rural health, a few schools asked for specialties of interest so I picked ortho)
Interest in Primary Care (Y/N): Y
Interest in Rural Health (Y/N): Y
Medical School List:
MD: AMC, Carle Illinois, Drexel, NYMC, OUWB, PSU, UVM, SUNY Downstate, USUHS, UCD, UCI, UCLA, UCR, UCSD, WVU, IU
DO: Western University-Pomona, ATSU-Kirksville, CCOM, Marian University, ACOM, Touro University-Nevada
Submitted secondaries for all schools between August and early September. Received an early pre-II hold from WVU and an R from IU a few weeks ago.

 

[MyOdyssey]

I suggest doing more nonclinical volunteering with underserved populations, getting more clinical experience and doing more shadowing. Your hours there should be at the minimum 150 each for clinical and nonclinical and 50 for shadowing.

There’s a strong disconnect between your expressed interest in rural medicine and your expressed interest in Ortho. How did you address that in your app?

What experiences have you had that led you to be interested in rural medicine? How did you explain your interest in your application?

I recommend applying to a much larger list of MD and DO programs.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

I agree a lot of your clinical.hours carry no detail, and thus it only looks like you did the time but did not get the insight about the differences in the specialties. No description about where you were a clinic volunteer if it were in a rural clinic, not so I know what training one gets. It's all vague and it suggests a shotgun approach to wanting to be a doctor. In short, more details and help us connect the dots.

 

[rockyc88]

I agree a lot of your clinical.hours carry no detail, and thus it only looks like you did the time but did not get the insight about the differences in the specialties. No description about where you were a clinic volunteer if it were in a rural clinic, not so I know what training one gets. It's all vague and it suggests a shotgun approach to wanting to be a doctor. In short, more details and help us connect the dots.

Ah sorry about that! It was in a pain management & rehabilitation clinic. I know it seems a little weaker because it wasn't rural, but I tied my experiences working with the underserved communities that came into the clinic to wanting to work in primary care or in rural communities since they most struggle with medical care for minorities. Same with my experiences tutoring and as a student mentor since I also worked with a lot of underserved communities here.

 

[MyOdyssey]

Ah sorry about that! It was in a pain management & rehabilitation clinic. I know it seems a little weaker because it wasn't rural, but I tied my experiences working with the underserved communities that came into the clinic to wanting to work in primary care or in rural communities since they most struggle with medical care for minorities. Same with my experiences tutoring and as a student mentor since I also worked with a lot of underserved communities here.

Why do you want to practice medicine in rural communities? There are underserved communities in urban areas too.

 

[rockyc88]

Why do you want to practice medicine in rural communities? There are underserved communities in urban areas too.

On a good number of my essays, I touched on liking the areas and having the opportunity to do hobbies like fishing/hiking/etc. to keep me grounded while studying medicine. I also talked about rural communities being generally smaller and how I would appreciate the chance to build a strong sense of community with the people around me (kind of like the small clinic I volunteered at).

 

[MyOdyssey]

On a good number of my essays, I touched on liking the areas and having the opportunity to do hobbies like fishing/hiking/etc. to keep me grounded while studying medicine. I also talked about rural communities being generally smaller and how I would appreciate the chance to build a strong sense of community with the people around me (kind of like the small clinic I volunteered at).

How did you reconcile that with your interest in Ortho, which is not a rural medicine type of medical practice?

@Faha and @Goro are good at giving school list advice. Hopefully they’ll be able to drop in after their Thanksgiving Day festivities.

 

[Goro]

State/Country of Residence: CA
Ties to other States/Regions: N/A
URM? (Y/N): N
Year in School: Graduated from UCB in 2020, currently in second gap year
Undergraduate Major(s)/Minor(s): Mechanical engineering
Graduate Degrees (if applicable): none
Cumulative GPA: 3.59
Science GPA: 3.71
MCAT Score(s): 509 (128,127,127,127)
Research Experience: half a year in a nanobatteries lab totaling (300 hours)
Publications/Abstracts/Posters (include how you were credited e.g. first author, second author, etc.): none
Clinical Experience (paid or volunteer): clinic volunteer scribing (192 hours)
Physician Shadowing: virtual shadowing (30 hours)
Non-Clinical Volunteering: disadvantaged student mentor (50 hours)
Other Extracurricular Activities: Chem TA (120 hours),
Other Employment History: tutor (240 hours), National lab engineering intern (240 hours), national lab engineering intern (680 hours), Stanford hospital office assistant (started working in August, current)
Immediate family members in medicine? (Y/N): Y
Specialty of Interest (if applicable): N/A (essays focused more on primary/rural health, a few schools asked for specialties of interest so I picked ortho)
Interest in Primary Care (Y/N): Y
Interest in Rural Health (Y/N): Y
Medical School List:
MD: AMC, Carle Illinois, Drexel, NYMC, OUWB, PSU, UVM, SUNY Downstate, USUHS, UCD, UCI, UCLA, UCR, UCSD, WVU, IU
DO: Western University-Pomona, ATSU-Kirksville, CCOM, Marian University, ACOM, Touro University-Nevada
Submitted secondaries for all schools between August and early September. Received an early pre-II hold from WVU and an R from IU a few weeks ago.

You have a fair number of donations on your list.

 

[rockyc88]

How did you reconcile that with your interest in Ortho, which is not a rural medicine type of medical practice?

@Faha and @Goro are good at giving school list advice. Hopefully they’ll be able to drop in after their Thanksgiving Day festivities.

It was only 1-2 schools that asked the specialty question, but I talked about my reasons for choosing to major in mechanical engineering and connecting it to ortho and their similarities.

 

[rockyc88]

You have a fair number of donations on your list.

Besides most of the UCs, which ones would you consider it a donation?

Would you have recommended I apply to more DO schools? And if so would it be too late now?

 

[Goro]

Besides most of the UCs, which ones would you consider it a donation?

Would you have recommended I apply to more DO schools? And if so would it be too late now?

Yes, you should have had more DO schools on the list. Kinda late for the DO season, but worth a shot for: Western-OR, PCOM, LECOM, DMU, Touro-CA, PacNW, Touro-NY, KYCOM, WVSOM, CUSOM

Your donations were: Carle Illinois, SUNY Downstate, UCI, UCLA, UCR (UNLESS you're from the Inland Empire), UCSD, WVU, IU

You're lethally weak in nonclinical volunteering. You say that you have an interest in rural health, but zero evidence to back it up. If you wish to walk the walk and not merely talk the talk, you need to have some experience in rural areas.

 

[rockyc88]

Thank you everyone for the help! I'll work on applying to those schools and getting more non-clinical volunteering in the meantime.

 

[gavinupwht]

Yes, you should have had more DO schools on the list. Kinda late for the DO season, but worth a shot for: Western-OR, PCOM, LECOM, DMU, Touro-CA, PacNW, Touro-NY, KYCOM, WVSOM, CUSOM

Your donations were: Carle Illinois, SUNY Downstate, UCI, UCLA, UCR (UNLESS you're from the Inland Empire), UCSD, WVU, IU

You're lethally weak in nonclinical volunteering. You say that you have an interest in rural health, but zero evidence to back it up. If you wish to walk the walk and not merely talk the talk, you need to have some experience in rural areas.

Why is Carle Illinois a donation for OP given his strong engineering background?

 

[Goro]

Why is Carle Illinois a donation for OP given his strong engineering background?

Oh, it's not. I just didn't see that background