WAMC 521 + 3.99 gpa

[nucleofied]

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[Goro]

Hi everyone,

I'm looking for some advice on my application for this upcoming cycle. Any help would be greatly appreciated! I really love the idea of academic medicine and translational science, probably the one reason I really want to attend a top medical school (also why the list appears really top heavy).

• URM
• State/Country of Residence: Virginia
• Ties to other States/Regions: Maryland
• Year in School: Graduated early, so 3 gap years...
• Undergraduate Major(s)/Minor(s): Biological Sciences
• Graduate Degrees (if applicable): N/A
• Cumulative GPA: 3.99
• Science GPA: 3.98
• MCAT Score(s): 509 -> 521 (131/128/131/131)
• Research Experience: 6000-7000hrs by time of application (working full time for two different labs since graduation)
• Publications/Abstracts/Posters (include how you were credited e.g. First author, second author, etc.): 1 first author (about to be submitted), 1 second author (accepted) ,mid-author white paper (accepted), and a lower authorship paper that is going to be submitted soon. 7 poster presentations, with four being first authors accepted at major conference
• Clinical Experience (paid or volunteer): ~200 hrs, should be about 250-300 by application
• Physician Shadowing: 2 different specialities about 40 hrs (trying to get more exposure, but COVID...)
• Non-Clinical Volunteering: 300 hrs various (volunteer TA'ing, tutoring, after school science programs)
• Other Extracurricular Activities: Long distance running, Investment club for undergraduate university, watch collecting
• Other Employment History: N/A really just been doing research
• Medical School List: Stanford, Harvard, WashU st. louis, UPenn, Yale, UChicago, Northwestern, Vandy, NYU, Cornell, Columbia, UVa, VCU, UNC, UCSF, UCLA, Dartmouth, Baylor, JHU, UMich, Case/CCLM, Pitt, Duke (maybe), Brown(?), UMD(?)

Thanks again for taking the time to look over my app! Any help/advice would be greatly appreciated!

@Faha @Goro

Get off campus and out of your comfort zone. Engage in service to others less fortunate than yourself.

List to follow

 

[Faha]

Which URM community are you from ? If Hispanic are you fluent in Spanish ?

 

[Dr.K124]

Unsure if you don't want us to quote your specifics, so I refrained from doing so just in case.

I'm not quite a member of an adcom, but when I see your application I instinctively raise an eyebrow. You have 20-30 times as many hours in research as you do in either nonclinical volunteering or clinical experiences. You'll need an excellent answer to the question "Why not Ph.D.?" as your numbers tell me you're more interested in science than serving the underserved (regardless of whether or not this is actually true).

Look for opportunities at a homeless shelter, free clinic, Meals on Wheels, etc.

 

[nucleofied]

Unsure if you don't want us to quote your specifics, so I refrained from doing so just in case.

I'm not quite a member of an adcom, but when I see your application I instinctively raise an eyebrow. You have 20-30 times as many hours in research as you do in either nonclinical volunteering or clinical experiences. You'll need an excellent answer to the question "Why not Ph.D.?" as your numbers tell me you're more interested in science than serving the underserved (regardless of whether or not this is actually true).

Look for opportunities at a homeless shelter, free clinic, Meals on Wheels, etc.

Thanks for the candid response. I completely understand what you’re saying with regards to having so much more research experience and not as much clinical/volunteer experience. It seems like I sort of shot myself in the foot by diving so heavily into research and initially wanting to do md/phd, but having a change of heart :/ Anyways, thanks for the advice!

 

[nucleofied]

Which URM community are you from ? If Hispanic are you fluent in Spanish ?

Yes to Hispanic, but no to the fluency. I’ve been trying my best to learn some for the clinic though.

 

[Faha]

Include Duke, Brown and U Maryland. You could add these schools:
Miami
USF Morsani
Einstein
Mount Sinai
Kaiser

 

[Dr.K124]

Thanks for the candid response. I completely understand what you’re saying with regards to having so much more research experience and not as much clinical/volunteer experience. It seems like I sort of shot myself in the foot by diving so heavily into research and initially wanting to do md/phd, but having a change of heart :/ Anyways, thanks for the advice!

Your GPA is essentially perfect, your MCAT retake is fantastic... honestly if you could just get 300 hours of serving the underserved I think it would make a huge difference.

Yes to Hispanic, but no to the fluency. I’ve been trying my best to learn some for the clinic though.

Do you have a working proficiency? As in, would you able to hold some level of conversation? If you achieve another 300 hours of volunteering as I mentioned above and target latinx groups in particular, it would bolster your application immensely.

 

[nucleofied]

Include Duke, Brown and U Maryland. You could add these schools:
Miami
USF Morsani
Einstein
Mount Sinai
Kaiser

Thank you for the help!

 

[nucleofied]

Your GPA is essentially perfect, your MCAT retake is fantastic... honestly if you could just get 300 hours of serving the underserved I think it would make a huge difference.


Do you have a working proficiency? As in, would you able to hold some level of conversation? If you achieve another 300 hours of volunteering as I mentioned above and target latinx groups in particular, it would bolster your application immensely.

I think working proficiency would be very very generous. It is something I am actively trying to improve though, so I hope to have at least the ability to hold a simple conversation. And I get what you mean by focusing on the latinx community by volunteering. Thank you again for your feedback!