amateurpupil
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Removed for privacy! Thanks for your help everyone 
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WAMC Removed for privacy
- Thread starter amateurpupil
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Are you fluent in Spanish ?
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OP: Darn. Can't we just keep your template so that people can appreciate the amount of work you put in to format the headers?
Okay, let's get to the critique, always designed to be constructive by intent.
1) Non-clinical community service. I appreciate your work with your community, and I hope you can continue it further. I always advice people to have 150 hours at submission time to assure that you are not excluded due to too few hours by screening.
In contrast, the campus peer-mentoring is great to include, but it doesn't carry so much weight as doing similar mentoring for your community, like for Big Brothers/Sisters/Siblings. I appreciate helping others culturally adjust to college life, and no doubt you'll be doing this in medical school. But as a result, it doesn't carry as much weight as one may believe. It falls under a similar category as your RA work.
2) Research: okay, so you tried it and didn't like it. If you find a project that energizes you that you want to research, go for it. If not, I wouldn't be so worried about not having a few publications under your belt, unless you are making an argument this is what gets you up in the morning (at 4am) as a future physician. You can do a research year, or you can be a flight attendant as you were planning. I have difficulty seeing you pull both off (nothing against you personally... just thinking how that could work).
3) You have an interesting list, though I don't think you have narrowed it down enough. I would check with your preferred schools first and see whether there are active LMSA chapters and whether they work closely with the Puerto Rican/Hispanic community. Second, you may have family in Texas, but that's a different application system, and you benefit more if you are in-state. Now, you might have a slightly better shot as UiM, but you need to clearly show why you want to work and study there. Ask LMSA chapter officers.
P.S. I am pleasantly surprised to tell you (from my perspective) there are a lot of Puerto Ricans in Ohio! It might not help you with Ohio State (OOS/public), but I'd keep some Ohio schools on my list.
4) Being a Maryland resident and UiM, I would take my shot at Virginia schools as there are more Virginia medical school seats than there are Maryland in-state seats. If you have made connections before applying to the DC schools (GW, Georgetown, Howard), you could probably add them in.
Okay, let's get to the critique, always designed to be constructive by intent.
1) Non-clinical community service. I appreciate your work with your community, and I hope you can continue it further. I always advice people to have 150 hours at submission time to assure that you are not excluded due to too few hours by screening.
In contrast, the campus peer-mentoring is great to include, but it doesn't carry so much weight as doing similar mentoring for your community, like for Big Brothers/Sisters/Siblings. I appreciate helping others culturally adjust to college life, and no doubt you'll be doing this in medical school. But as a result, it doesn't carry as much weight as one may believe. It falls under a similar category as your RA work.
2) Research: okay, so you tried it and didn't like it. If you find a project that energizes you that you want to research, go for it. If not, I wouldn't be so worried about not having a few publications under your belt, unless you are making an argument this is what gets you up in the morning (at 4am) as a future physician. You can do a research year, or you can be a flight attendant as you were planning. I have difficulty seeing you pull both off (nothing against you personally... just thinking how that could work).
3) You have an interesting list, though I don't think you have narrowed it down enough. I would check with your preferred schools first and see whether there are active LMSA chapters and whether they work closely with the Puerto Rican/Hispanic community. Second, you may have family in Texas, but that's a different application system, and you benefit more if you are in-state. Now, you might have a slightly better shot as UiM, but you need to clearly show why you want to work and study there. Ask LMSA chapter officers.
P.S. I am pleasantly surprised to tell you (from my perspective) there are a lot of Puerto Ricans in Ohio! It might not help you with Ohio State (OOS/public), but I'd keep some Ohio schools on my list.
4) Being a Maryland resident and UiM, I would take my shot at Virginia schools as there are more Virginia medical school seats than there are Maryland in-state seats. If you have made connections before applying to the DC schools (GW, Georgetown, Howard), you could probably add them in.
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Yes, becoming conversationally proficient is a plus. Your school list is far too large. Another 100+ hours of non clinical volunteering in the Hispanic community would be good.I suggest these schools from your list:
Boston U
Brown
Case Western Lerner College Program
Case Western University Program
Cincinnati (family in Cincy)
Colorado (main program)
Colorado (CSU fort collins program)
Columbia
Duke
Eastern Virginia
Einstein
Emory
Georgetown
GW
Harvard
Hofstra
Jefferson
Johns Hopkins
Kaiser
Loyola
Mayo
Miami
Mt Sinai
Northwestern
NYU
Pitt
St Louis
Stanford
Temple
Tufts
UA Phoenix
UChicago
UCSD
UCSF
UMD (state school)
USC (family in SoCal)
UTSW
UVA
Vandy
VCU
Vermont
VT
WashU
Western Michigan
amateurpupil
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Even as a URM, seeing crazy-stat schools like NYU, Harvard, and Mayo remaining on your suggested list is surprising! Would you suggest I get involved in research considering the amount of research that goes on at these institutions, or would you say the importance of research is over-emphasized for top schools?
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More non clinical and clinical volunteering in the Hispanic community would be better.
amateurpupil
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amateurpupil
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First of all, thanks for the praise on the formatting! Wasn't really any trouble at all--but it seems at least one person has already used it as a template, so that's nice to see!OP: Darn. Can't we just keep your template so that people can appreciate the amount of work you put in to format the headers?
Okay, let's get to the critique, always designed to be constructive by intent.
1) Non-clinical community service. I appreciate your work with your community, and I hope you can continue it further. I always advice people to have 150 hours at submission time to assure that you are not excluded due to too few hours by screening.
In contrast, the campus peer-mentoring is great to include, but it doesn't carry so much weight as doing similar mentoring for your community, like for Big Brothers/Sisters/Siblings. I appreciate helping others culturally adjust to college life, and no doubt you'll be doing this in medical school. But as a result, it doesn't carry as much weight as one may believe. It falls under a similar category as your RA work.
2) Research: okay, so you tried it and didn't like it. If you find a project that energizes you that you want to research, go for it. If not, I wouldn't be so worried about not having a few publications under your belt, unless you are making an argument this is what gets you up in the morning (at 4am) as a future physician. You can do a research year, or you can be a flight attendant as you were planning. I have difficulty seeing you pull both off (nothing against you personally... just thinking how that could work).
3) You have an interesting list, though I don't think you have narrowed it down enough. I would check with your preferred schools first and see whether there are active LMSA chapters and whether they work closely with the Puerto Rican/Hispanic community. Second, you may have family in Texas, but that's a different application system, and you benefit more if you are in-state. Now, you might have a slightly better shot as UiM, but you need to clearly show why you want to work and study there. Ask LMSA chapter officers.
P.S. I am pleasantly surprised to tell you (from my perspective) there are a lot of Puerto Ricans in Ohio! It might not help you with Ohio State (OOS/public), but I'd keep some Ohio schools on my list.
4) Being a Maryland resident and UiM, I would take my shot at Virginia schools as there are more Virginia medical school seats than there are Maryland in-state seats. If you have made connections before applying to the DC schools (GW, Georgetown, Howard), you could probably add them in.
Now to respond to your (much appreciated) critiques!
1. I hope to get more than that 150, but its good to have an idea about possible thresholds, so I appreciate you throwing a number out!
2. I'm unsure of how I feel about this. If it would help put me over the edge at top schools, I'd consider doing it, as I'm sure I can find a lab I'd be interested in working in--but I know I'll have plenty of time to do this in medical school, so I'm not deadset on trying it again.
3. Thanks for the LMSA tips. I'll be sure to reach out to some of my top schools and do some networking...
4. Alright, sounds good! My parents may move to VA here soon and my younger brother is looking at a lot of colleges in VA, so this is something I'm not at all opposed to. While I wouldn't wanna live in VA forever, it wouldn't hurt to be close to family for a few more years.
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Take a good look at the schools on your list and strike any that require a thesis for graduation unless that floats your boat. No sense getting yourself neck deep in research unless you love it.
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It's a cool job. It wouldn't be a negative, committee members would probably ask questions about it out of curiosity.
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It is not possible to determine for which schools that would matter.
