WAMC- 517/3.90 FL resident ORM, School List Advice!

[maya_chen]

Hi all! Here is my info:

cGPA: 3.83
sGPA: 3.90
MCAT: 517 (129,129,127,132)
State of residence: FL, Strong ties (multiple years of residence during and after uni) with CA and NC
Ethnicity/race: Asian ORM
Undergraduate category: Ivy Adjacent, Private
Major: Neuroscience and Public Health double

Clinical Experience:
Volunteered at a nursing home (music focused): 104 hours
Designed mobile clinic for underrepresented residents: 300 hours
Working in public health institution with at-risk folks: 1,120 hours (gap year, 1,400 more hours to go)

Research experience
Public health research w/ underserved participants: 1,200 hours
Sexual and repro focused research: 650 hours
Wet lab independent research: 600 hours
Global health repro focused research: 900 hours (3 months in underserved country + training and analysis)

I started research at the beginning of sophomore year and have basically never stopped working on these projects. I work on them throughout the summer and I’m wrapping them up now after grad, which is why I have so many hours.

Research productivity:
Papers: One first author, two mid author, one in review
Posters: 1 international (co-first), 3 national (two first, one contributor), 1 local (first)

Shadowing experience:
Radiology, Gyn, Neurology: 140 hours

Non-clinical volunteering:
ESL tutoring lead teacher: 250 hours (200 more anticipated)
Resource navigator for underserved patients (over the phone): 72 hours

Probably a bit weaker in this aspect, but hoping other activities also express sentiments of service.

Tutoring/ teaching assistant:
Ethics TA: 250

Other extracurricular activities:
Advocacy: Leader in large cultural group (500+ members): 380 hours
Leadership: President of music org, basically built it from the ground up w/ heavy philanthropic focus: 500 hours

Relevant honors/awards:
Grant for international research, travel grants for presentations and publishing

LOR:
Science prof 1 (strong), science prof 2 (idk, he’s super cool and he likes me but he seems to write a lot of letters and has a template… so it’s a gamble), non-science prof (strong), PI 1(very strong), PI 2 (very strong), doctor 1 (very strong), doctor 2 (strong)

My narrative centers around public health and cultural competence for underserved immigrants, with focus on women and stigmatized sexual and reproductive health conditions.

I have too many schools and I’m looking for schools with a strong public health focus, queer diversity, and repro health friendly. I would like to apply to 35-37 schools, so I would appreciate any help whittling down this hefty list. I am a little stressed about my cGPA and low non-clinical hours, and I would love to have some advice on making a balanced list w/ not too many top heavy and low-yield spots.

Would love any feedback at all, thank you so much!

School list:
1. Albert Einstein
2. Boston University
3. Brown
4. Case Western
5. Columbia
6. Dartmouth
7. Drexel University
8. Duke University
9. Florida Atlantic University
10. Emory University
11. Florida International University
12. Florida State University
13. Georgetown
14. George Washington
15. Harvard
16. Icahn at Mt. Sinai
17. Indiana University
18. Jefferson
19. Johns Hopkins
20. Keck School of Medicine
21. Northwestern
22. OSU
23. Tufts University
24. Tulane
25. University of California
26. University of Central Florida
27. University of Chicago
28. University of Cincinnati
29. University of Colorado
30. University of Florida
31. University of Illinois
32. University of Iowa
33. UCLA
34. University of Massachusetts
35. University of Miami
36. University of Michigan
37. University of Minnesota
38. University of North Carolina
39. University of Pittsburgh
40. University of South Florida
41. University of Wisconsin
42. UVA
43. Virginia Commonwealth
44. Wake Forest
45. Weill Cornell
46. Yale

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[Mr.Smile12]

Application Tips: Showing a Global Health Focus - SDN

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My questions:

Clinical Experience:
Volunteered at a nursing home (music focused): 104 hours
Designed mobile clinic for underrepresented residents: 300 hours
Working in public health institution with at-risk folks: 1,120 hours (gap year, 1,400 more hours to go)

Details, please. What were your responsibilities at the nursing home and the public health institution? How are they clinical experiences? Were you supervised by physicians? Are these experiences part of any externships for your PH major?

For "designing" the mobile clinic, how is designing a resource "clinical"? Did you make decision on buying and equipping the van? Was this part of a capstone for your PH major?

Confirm that you have no hospital-based experiences in this bucket (just your shadowing).

Research productivity

Link your papers with your projects, and highlight public health efforts.

I’m looking for schools with a strong public health focus, queer diversity, and repro health friendly.

Cutting down your list: You know which states to avoid, so cross those publics off your list and reconsider the privates in those states. They can only protect for so long until their state legislatures do something (like ban certain procedures though that's more impactful on your residency). Connect with the MSPA. Ask about health insurance coverage.

 

[maya_chen]

Thanks for your reply!

Details, please. What were your responsibilities at the nursing home and the public health institution? How are they clinical experiences? Were you supervised by physicians? Are these experiences part of any externships for your PH major?

For "designing" the mobile clinic, how is designing a resource "clinical"? Did you make decision on buying and equipping the van? Was this part of a capstone for your PH major?

Confirm that you have no hospital-based experiences in this bucket (just your shadowing).

I was a basic nursing home volunteer. I play violin for residents and then spend the next hour and a half doing rounds and talking to them. I was a leader in the org, but that was more coordinating other volunteers. For my current job I work with a mobile clinic to provide HIV services to different areas of town. I interface with patients weekly, do patient interviews, health education, etc. Neither are a part of my major.

Yes I made decisions on buying and equipping the van, resource management, workflow management, etc. However, I also volunteered at the clinics when they were set up, doing intake and things at the location. There I was able to talk to patients, provide some educations, etc. Both my current job and this clinic experience is physician supervised.

No hospital-based experiences, although I did volunteer at a hospital for about 50 hours but didn't put it on my app. Just didn't resonate with me. Is this something I should consider bringing up in secondaries?

Link your papers with your projects, and highlight public health efforts.

I'm assuming you mean connect them to my projects and not actually link them lol. I have my first author and pending with my international research, and my two mid authors with my public health research. Basically international focuses on intervention to increase repro justice, other project focuses on cultural competence in hospitals.

Cutting down your list: You know which states to avoid, so cross those publics off your list and reconsider the privates in those states. They can only protect for so long until their state legislatures do something (like ban certain procedures though that's more impactful on your residency). Connect with the MSPA. Ask about health insurance coverage.

Thanks for this I'll look into the MSPA. Unfortunately I am a Florida resident so can't really budge with that state, but I will look into the other states.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

No hospital-based experiences, although I did volunteer at a hospital for about 50 hours but didn't put it on my app. Just didn't resonate with me. Is this something I should consider bringing up in secondaries?

That preference makes a difference to the types of schools you may want to go to. Many are tightly associated with hospital systems, so if you tried but didn't like it... maybe it's the hospital, or maybe you like community health more?