WAMC 521/3.92 Need help with school list (brutal honesty appreciated)

[AtlanticSalmon]

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1. cGPA and sGPA as calculated by AMCAS or AACOMAS

cGPA: 3.92 sGPA: 3.91

2. MCAT score(s) and breakdown. Include all (non-voided) attempts.

Total: 521
C/P: 129
CARS: 130
B/B: 132
P/S: 130

3. State of residence or country of citizenship (if non-US)

Massachusetts

4. Ethnicity and/or race

ORM

5. Undergraduate institution or category

Top 50 liberal arts college (small and crunchy <3)

6. Clinical experience (volunteer and non-volunteer)

300 volunteer with hospice
40 hours ER aide

7. Research experience and productivity

3500 hours
middle-author in two very high impact journals
second author and middle author in two mid-impact journals
independent presentation at conference

8. Shadowing experience and specialties represented

80 hours across ortho/FM/IM/MedOnc/OBGYN and a neat physician who does community IM with the Amish

9. Non-clinical volunteering

160 hours crisis hotline
15ish hours of some fun youth science education in college

10. Other extracurricular activities (including athletics, military service, gap year activities, leadership, teaching, etc)

Service in foreign military (required by citizenship; speak about in my P.S.)
TA for biology and chemistry in college
president of college neuroscience club

11. Relevant honors or awards

Goldwater nomination x2 (R.I.P.)
Internal college award in biology

12. Anything else not listed you think might be important

Currently completing a masters degree in engineering
Took Orgo 1 as P/F during COVID but got an A in both Orgo II and the associated lab the following semester

~~~~~~~~~ Below is my current school list which I feel is far too top heavy, but I don't know what else to add to make it less so (I have strong ties to the NYC area) ~~~~~~~~~
NYU Grossman School of Medicine
Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons
Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania
Yale School of Medicine
Harvard Medical School
Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
Vanderbilt University School of Medicine
Northwestern University The Feinberg School of Medicine
University of Chicago Division of the Biological Sciences The Pritzker School of Medicine
University of Virginia School of Medicine
Duke University School of Medicine
Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
Weill Cornell Medicine
Stanford University School of Medicine
USF Health Morsani College of Medicine
Boston University Aram V. Chobanian & Edward Avedisian School of Medicine
Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell
Kaiser Permanente Bernard J. Tyson School of Medicine
Renaissance School of Medicine at Stony Brook University
The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University
University of California, San Francisco, School of Medicine
Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California
Emory University School of Medicine
University of Massachusetts T.H. Chan School of Medicine
Albert Einstein College of Medicine
Rutgers New Jersey Medical School
New York Medical College
Tufts University School of Medicine
Rutgers, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School
Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine
University of Miami Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine
Sidney Kimmel Medical College at Thomas Jefferson University
University of California, Los Angeles David Geffen School of Medicine
SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University College of Medicine
Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine

 

[AtlanticSalmon]

@Goro @Faha @gyngyn @LizzyM Any chance you can input? Would be immensely appreciated. Worried about low hours...

 

[LizzyM]

Frankly, I think you can write your own ticket. I'd cut the list by half just because it could be exhausting if many of them want to meet you in the fall. I'm not an expert on lists but I think you have a shot at at least 3 interviews by Thanksgiving and at least one offer by this time next year if you apply to 18-20 schools.

If you are loving Engineering, you might want to take a look at the schools where you could use your engineering skills as part of your thesis (if a thesis is required for the MD).

My one concern is the low level of engagement in non-clinical community service to the most vulnerable but I've also seen adcoms overlook that if the rest of the application is strong.

Good luck! Come back and tell us next year if I was right.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

I think the nonclinical volunteering is the weak spot too, but you had mandatory military service. What did you do for that year? You need to put in some additional time in the US doing similar duties that are not health adjacent just in case. Give me your through line to medicine from your PS. What is your OIE?

Read our SDN interview with Nora at Carle Illinois College of Medicine.

Must ask why not +PhD?

 

[AtlanticSalmon]

I think the nonclinical volunteering is the weak spot too, but you had mandatory military service. What did you do for that year? You need to put in some additional time in the US doing similar duties that are not health adjacent just in case. Give me your through line to medicine from your PS. What is your OIE?

Read our SDN interview with Nora at Carle Illinois College of Medicine.

Must ask why not +PhD?

Don't want to identify myself excessively RE: mandatory military service but I was a commander in the infantry.

RE: +PhD. That was my original intent but then I was warned off by others and told one could do research alongside seeing patients with just an MD. The time I've had with hospice has also thrown me for a bit of a loop and left me very much set on straight MD.

 

[LizzyM]

Tag that military service as "leadership" in the W&A section of the application.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Don't want to identify myself excessively RE: mandatory military service but I was a commander in the infantry.

Sure. Be assured you aren't unique here. Just think about it. Some adcoms are less impressed than others about compulsory military service or anything else that you are told to do. Some argument that service orientation "should not involve carrots or sticks" but "you should do or out of the goodness of your heart while you smile in poverty" hogwash. 🙂

RE: +PhD. That was my original intent but then I was warned off by others and told one could do research alongside seeing patients with just an MD. The time I've had with hospice has also thrown me for a bit of a loop and left me very much set on straight MD.

Just be prepared to talk about it. How do you want research to fit in your career?

 

[Goro]

Rock stars should aim high.

I suggest

NYU Grossman School of Medicine
Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons
Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania
Yale School of Medicine
Harvard Medical School
Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
Vanderbilt University School of Medicine
Northwestern University The Feinberg School of Medicine
University of Chicago Division of the Biological Sciences The Pritzker School of Medicine
University of Virginia School of Medicine
Duke University School of Medicine
Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
Weill Cornell Medicine
Stanford University School of Medicine
USF Health Morsani College of Medicine
Boston University Aram V. Chobanian & Edward Avedisian School of Medicine
Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell
Renaissance School of Medicine at Stony Brook University
The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University
University of California, San Francisco, School of Medicine
Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California
Emory University School of Medicine
University of Massachusetts T.H. Chan School of Medicine
Albert Einstein College of Medicine
U VM
U Rochester
U MI
Pitt
U Cincy
OH State