WAMC 514/4.0/ORM

[immuffinwithoutyou]

Hi! I'm hoping to get some help with finalizing my school list (I have some sprinkled in there that I know are absolutely dream schools). I would really appreciate any feedback on my list and thoughts on what my chances at these schools are!

• State of residence: MA
• Ties to other states (if applicable): N/A
• URM? (Y/N): N, Southeast Asian
• Undergraduate school: Private institution, around #50 on US News
• Undergraduate major(s)/minor(s): Health Sciences major, Nutrition minor
• Cumulative GPA: 4.0
• Science GPA: 4.0
• MCAT Score(s) (in order of attempts): 514 (129/126/127/132)
• First application cycle, applying as a junior with no gap years
• Research experience:
  • 800 hours as a research assistant at a public health institution doing research focused on women's reproductive health, projected total of 1000 hours once I am done with my internship at the end of June
  • 370 hours as a research assistant working on women’s health/public health research
    • 2 manuscripts in progress where I am a fourth author
    • 1 poster presentation at undergraduate research expo
  • 50 hours as a research intern where I worked on a project about severe maternal morbidity
• Clinical experience:
  • 1155 hours as an ophthalmic assistant at a major hospital, I’m planning on going back to this once my current research internship ends
  • 200 hours as a CNA in an assisted living facility
• Clinical volunteering:
  • 350 hours so far as a patient discharge volunteer at a major hospital
• Physician shadowing:
  • 35 hours with an ophthalmologist
  • 15 hours so far with an OB/GYN
• Non-clinical volunteering:
  • 350 hours at a service-oriented student organization where we teach a social and emotional learning (SEL) curriculum to local underserved, inner-city kids
• Leadership:
  • 200 hours, president/founded a chapter of a student organization that provides nutrition education programming to underserved students
• Employment history:
  • 255 hours working in retail part-time

Tentative School List (no particular order):

1. UMass (Worcester, MA)
2. Tufts (Boston, MA)
3. Boston University (Boston, MA)
4. Harvard (Boston, MA)
5. Johns Hopkins (Baltimore, MD)
6. George Washington (Washington, DC)
7. Georgetown (Washington, DC)
8. Penn State (Hershey, PA)
9. Temple (Philadelphia, PA)
10. Sidney Kimmel (Philadelphia, PA)
11. Drexel (Philadelphia, PA)
12. Eastern Virginia Medical School (Norfolk, VA)
13. Albany Medical College (Albany, NY)
14. Albert Einstein (Bronx, NY)
15. Hofstra/Northwell (Uniondale, NY)
16. Rochester (Rochester, NY)
17. New York Medical College (Valhalla, NY)
18. Dartmouth (Hanover, NH)
19. Brown (Providence, RI)
20. University of Vermont (Burlington, VT)
21. Quinnipiac (Handen, CT)
22. Rosalind Franklin (North Chicago, IL)
23. Loyola (Maywood, IL)
24. University of Miami (Miami, FL)
25. Saint Louis University (St. Louis, MO)
26. Kaiser Permanente (Pasadena, CA)
27. USC Keck (Los Angeles, CA)
28. UCLA Geffen (Los Angeles, CA)
29. Emory (Atlanta, GA)
30. Wake Forest (Winston-Salem, NC)

Again, thank you so much in advance!

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[Mr.Smile12]

350 hours at a service-oriented student organization where we teach a social and emotional learning (SEL) curriculum to local underserved, inner-city kids

Oh now, this is interesting. How immersed are you in the lives of these kids?

That said, I'm worried I'll have some faculty who aren't impressed if this is your only demonstration of service orientation.

Is your 514 high enough for some of the obvious brand names on your list? If you are trying to go for a public health research direction, Harvard, Hopkins, and YALE are the most well-known. Good pick for GW if you want to try for a community health and policy angle.

If I have a suggestion, it's to get a little more primary care, but I could be nitpicky with this.

I would also be prepared to discuss as non-politically as possible the current state of affairs with women's health care access and overall benefits for women and children/SNAP.

I think you have a good shot, though not sure about the brand names... might as well try if you resonate with their mission and culture fit. I don't know about your chances going out west to California. Did you grow up there?

 

[immuffinwithoutyou]

Firstly, thank you so much for taking the time to respond!

Oh now, this is interesting. How immersed are you in the lives of these kids?

I would say that the organization plays a big role in providing a safe after-school environment for the students I volunteer with. The schools I volunteer in are in neighborhoods that are known to have high rates of crime and violence. The games/activities/crafts I do with the kids are meant to help them develop skills like leadership and empathy, which I hope they will be able to carry with them as they interact with their families, friends, and other individuals within their community. I've been able to form really meaningful connections with these kids. I'm not sure if this completely answers your question, so please let me know if there's anything I can elaborate on!

That said, I'm worried I'll have some faculty who aren't impressed if this is your only demonstration of service orientation.

Thank you for pointing this out. This was also a concern of mine since my other major volunteer experience is clinical in nature. Do you have any suggestions on how I might be able to address this deficit in my application?

Is your 514 high enough for some of the obvious brand names on your list? If you are trying to go for a public health research direction, Harvard, Hopkins, and YALE are the most well-known. Good pick for GW if you want to try for a community health and policy angle.

Thank you for this insight! I didn't think Yale was worth applying to given my MCAT (I chose Harvard because it's in MA and why not and Hopkins because it is my dream school), but based on my interest in public health, do you think it's worth a shot?

If I have a suggestion, it's to get a little more primary care, but I could be nitpicky with this.

May I ask what you mean by "get a little more primary care"? My interpretation is that you are recommending that I choose more schools with less of a research focus and more of a primary care focus.

I actually am very interested in pursuing a primary care specialty (especially general pediatrics, and maybe ob/gyn). Are there any schools on my list you would recommend replacing with one that is more focused on primary care?

I would also be prepared to discuss as non-politically as possible the current state of affairs with women's health care access and overall benefits for women and children/SNAP.

Thank you for bringing this up, I'll keep this in mind!

I don't know about your chances going out west to California. Did you grow up there?

To be honest, while my parents have a lot of friends there and I have some extended family members there, I don't think I have very strong ties to California. My parents really wanted me to apply to some CA schools since the Southeast Asian community we are part of is strong over there. Do you think it would be pointless to apply to any CA schools at all?

Thank you again for your response!

 

[chilly_md]

Do you think it would be pointless to apply to any CA schools at all?

Yes, many applicants who are CA residents end up having to matriculate to a school outside the state.

Remove the CA schools, Harvard and Johns Hopkins.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

I chose Harvard because it's in MA and why not and Hopkins because it is my dream school

You don't get in state privilege for Harvard. If that was your rationale, I would have you reconsider those schools because your MCAT is lower than desired if your PH work doesn't interest them. (Now concur with @chilly_md .)

I actually am very interested in pursuing a primary care specialty (especially general pediatrics, and maybe ob/gyn).

Ok. I was getting a little confusing messages on this.

 

[theoceanman]

Hi! I'm hoping to get some help with finalizing my school list (I have some sprinkled in there that I know are absolutely dream schools). I would really appreciate any feedback on my list and thoughts on what my chances at these schools are!

• State of residence: MA
• Ties to other states (if applicable): N/A
• URM? (Y/N): N, Southeast Asian
• Undergraduate school: Private institution, around #50 on US News
• Undergraduate major(s)/minor(s): Health Sciences major, Nutrition minor
• Cumulative GPA: 4.0
• Science GPA: 4.0
• MCAT Score(s) (in order of attempts): 514 (129/126/127/132)
• First application cycle, applying as a junior with no gap years
• Research experience:
  • 800 hours as a research assistant at a public health institution doing research focused on women's reproductive health, projected total of 1000 hours once I am done with my internship at the end of June
  • 370 hours as a research assistant working on women’s health/public health research
    • 2 manuscripts in progress where I am a fourth author
    • 1 poster presentation at undergraduate research expo
  • 50 hours as a research intern where I worked on a project about severe maternal morbidity
• Clinical experience:
  • 1155 hours as an ophthalmic assistant at a major hospital, I’m planning on going back to this once my current research internship ends
  • 200 hours as a CNA in an assisted living facility
• Clinical volunteering:
  • 350 hours so far as a patient discharge volunteer at a major hospital
• Physician shadowing:
  • 35 hours with an ophthalmologist
  • 15 hours so far with an OB/GYN
• Non-clinical volunteering:
  • 350 hours at a service-oriented student organization where we teach a social and emotional learning (SEL) curriculum to local underserved, inner-city kids
• Leadership:
  • 200 hours, president/founded a chapter of a student organization that provides nutrition education programming to underserved students
• Employment history:
  • 255 hours working in retail part-time

I highlighted the interesting aspects of your WAMC.

Your lack of primary care shadowing, but wanting to go into pediatrics is a bit interesting. You should shadow a pediatrician before you apply, if you can, as that will help greatly on producing you as more mission-fit when you link your non-clinical experience with your clinical experiences. Your mission-fit is a bit interesting, if that's the right word from the above posts and replies, because you're interested in OB/GYN while having much more clinical experience with an ophthalmologist so it's a bit confusing to hear you say you're interested in pursuing OB/GYN with only 15 hours of shadowing in that field; perhaps you 350 hours of clinical discharge may have been related to OB/GYN, but it still throws me off a bit to hear you say that as well. It would have made more sense if you had said you're interested in pediatrics, with a focus on underserved, inner-city populations and educating the children, etc.

Also, I'm one of those people that'll say "if it's your dream school, why not", but as chilly_md and Mr.Smile12 have stated, I would remove JHU, Harvard, and the UC schools. I would even push it to say remove Emory, but then again, that's just the stats and mission-fit that I see. You can potentially add NOVA MD and Belmont if you choose.