WAMC - Advice First Time Applicant (3.7/511)

[Azaesal]

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Hello all. I am 23M applying for the first time this upcoming 25'-26' cycle. I am hoping to get advice from any advice. I've run into a situation where I've tried getting my application reviewed by consultant companies and the 'free sessions' have been pretty mundane.

Demographics:
Asian
URM (I come from low SES, so I think that's URM? Some have said being Asian makes you ORM...thoughts?)
Residence: CA
First-gen American w/ immigrant parents
State School (Didn't know how long COVID was going to be around and I couldn't afford going to a UC since I was paying for school myself)

Here's my stats:
MCAT: 511 --- 127/126/130/128 (Studied after I graduated from undergrad last spring for 3 months... low score relative to other Asians... I know I'm a disappointment...)
cGPA: 3.70
sGPA: 3.72

EC/Activities: Paid Clinical
- 2023-Current: ER Scribe (3200 hrs) -- 1.5 years in this role (junior-senior year undergrad + after graduating... was working 40hrs/wk while in undergrad and while studying for my MCAT) -- Most memorable
- 2024-Current: ER Tech (1100 hrs) -- 6 months in this role (currently in this role as of now... 40hrs/week) -- Most memorable
- 2021: Immunization Technician (360 hrs) -- 6 months in this role...CVS trained us to start giving vaccines... I did mobile clinics with a few pharmacists around care facilities in our area)
- 2020-2021: Caregiver (1000 hrs) -- took care of my grandfather while he was sick...he's my 'how I got interested in medicine'... I'm hesitant to put this as a clinical experience, AAMC says so but I'm not sure it is/what else to list it as...Most memorable

EC/Activities: Paid Non-clinical
- 2018-2020: Starbucks barista (from 16y-19y w/ 2500 hrs... worth mentioning? first job and how I funded my business that I talk about below this)
- 2020-2024: Sneaker Reseller (1000 hrs) -- 4 years in this role...started my own business and it's how I paid off my undergraduate degree
- 2020-2023: Pharmacy Technician (2750 hrs) -- 3 years in this role (fresh-junior year in undergrad)


EC/Activities: Volunteer Non-clinical
- 2022-2024: Summer Camp Basketball Coach (3 summers ~ 300 hrs) -- wanted to help give back to my school/community and build ties with upcoming players in my local town/area
- 2024-2025: High School Basketball Assistant Coach (350 hrs) -- wanted to take part in rebuilding a powerhouse program here in NorCal so kids can start playing for scholarships again (a lot of kids still depend on them to attend college)...NCAA transfer portal has made it hard so that's why I'm so passionate about it.
- 2024-2025: Fundraising with Muslim Student Association (100 hrs) -- raised money to send a student back to Afghanistan to see his family... I was inspired to do this because he is an immigrant like my Dad... I'm super happy I did this because it helped me become more interest in learning from other cultures...

EC/Activities: Volunteer Clinical
- 2025: Volunteer at addiction clinic (120 hrs by end of May) -- free buprenorphine clinic...needle exchange...fentanyl testing...etc -- did this because of how much I saw addiction in the ER (which we couldn't treat)... wanted to help out in this way because I saw so much opiate withdrawal and OD's in the ER
- 2025: Potential Opportunity - Street Medicine Clinic with FM attending at UC Davis Medical Center (pending approval) -- very passionate about street medicine... inspired by encountering so many unhoused patients in the ER

EC/Activities: Teaching/Tutoring/Teaching Assistant
- 2022-2024: Organic Chemistry Tutoring through Peer Assisted Learning (180 hrs) -- Program offered at my undergrad to tutor our peers in STEM classes using integrative team methods instead of 1-on-1.
- 2023-2025: Human Physiology Teaching Assistant (400 hrs) -- I did so much because my school does not have a lot of free resources for students to learn, this is my way of giving back to my school.

EC/Activities: Research
- 2024-2025: Systematic Review of RSV bronchiolitis and bacterial pneumonia co-infection using SQL (100 hrs) -- (I learned SQL so I could build the database...my undergrad was in Bio...my PI is an EM physician at the ED I work at... was inspired to do this because exposure to peds EM at my ER)

EC/Activities: Hobbies
- Basketball, reading, traveling

EC/Activities: Other
- 2025: Consultant company -- Helping one of the EM physicians I work with to create his own consulting company by helping him grow a social media following on TikTok, Meta, X, FB, etc. (He helps me some with my application, but would like to get more eyes)

In Summary:
I don't have a ton of unique experiences that I think will knock anyone's socks off, but I am extremely proud of these experiences, and I was passionate about pursuing each of them. I didn't do an experience if I didn't have a purpose in pursuing it. I hope to get some good feedback, or any feedback really. I appreciate anyone who took their time to read and comment! Thank you!

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Welcome to the forums?

What advice did you get? Have you gone to any recruitment events at schools close to you? I'm guessing you're close to Sacramento, but did you grow up there? How about prehealth advisors? Did you use any resources available to you at your university?

I appreciate you putting potential opportunities down, but if you submit your application before you start, the projected hours won't mean anything.

 

[Azaesal]

Welcome to the forums?

What advice did you get? Have you gone to any recruitment events at schools close to you? I'm guessing you're close to Sacramento, but did you grow up there? How about prehealth advisors? Did you use any resources available to you at your university?

I appreciate you putting potential opportunities down, but if you submit your application before you start, the projected hours won't mean anything.

Thanks for responding. I got general advice about writing my personal statement and EC/activities, but nothing that I haven't discovered on my own using the internet and resources available to me. I haven't gone to any recruitment events. If I were to, it would be at UC Davis. It's my dream school because it's so close to home. I've been in Sacramento since middle school but Utah before that. My school didn't have any prehealth advisors and I discovered mostly everything about the application process myself.

I agree about the potential hours. I hope it goes through.

 

[Faha]

I suggest these schools with your stats:
UC Davis
UC Irvine
UCSD
UCLA
UCSF
California University
Kaiser
USC Keck
Roseman
Arizona (Phoenix)
Creighton
TCU
St. Louis
Rosalind Franklin
Medical College Wisconsin
Oakland Beaumont
Wayne State
Alice Walton
Belmont
NOVA MD
Methodist (when it opens)
Wake Forest
Eastern Virginia
Virginia Commonwealth
George Washington
Georgetown
Penn State
Drexel
Temple
Jefferson
Hackensack
New York Medical College
Albany
Vermont
Quinnipiac
UMass
You should assign 50 hours of your physician scribing to physician shadowing. Apply in June and submit all your secondaries by July.

 

[Azaesal]

I suggest these schools with your stats:
UC Davis
UC Irvine
UCSD
UCLA
UCSF
California University
Kaiser
USC Keck
Roseman
Arizona (Phoenix)
Creighton
TCU
St. Louis
Rosalind Franklin
Medical College Wisconsin
Oakland Beaumont
Wayne State
Alice Walton
Belmont
NOVA MD
Methodist (when it opens)
Wake Forest
Eastern Virginia
Virginia Commonwealth
George Washington
Georgetown
Penn State
Drexel
Temple
Jefferson
Hackensack
New York Medical College
Albany
Vermont
Quinnipiac
UMass
You should assign 50 hours of your physician scribing to physician shadowing. Apply in June and submit all your secondaries by July.

Thank you for the reply. I appreciate it a lot. A lot of those schools are on my list! I am glad to see that.

I have only scribed in the ER, will it be redundant to list it as physician shadowing? What do you think?

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Thank you for the reply. I appreciate it a lot. A lot of those schools are on my list! I am glad to see that.

I have only scribed in the ER, will it be redundant to list it as physician shadowing? What do you think?

You can count some of your scribing experience as shadowing. Scribing is not such a brand-new thing; most adcoms know what it's about.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Thanks for responding. I got general advice about writing my personal statement and EC/activities, but nothing that I haven't discovered on my own using the internet and resources available to me. I haven't gone to any recruitment events. If I were to, it would be at UC Davis. It's my dream school because it's so close to home. I've been in Sacramento since middle school but Utah before that. My school didn't have any prehealth advisors and I discovered mostly everything about the application process myself.

It's typical advice to hook you to using their services for PS/application writing. If you were looking for a list, we have your back as you can see. So what are you worried about? UC Davis likes the "home team" so how many of your activities are involved with the communities they serve? Do any of the PRIME programs they host interest you?

The AAMC will have its virtual fair coming up in April, so it's a good time to do some homework about the non-California schools on your list. Why do you want to apply to each of those schools to convince them you're not just another California applicant trying to get into medical school?

 

[Faha]

Thank you for the reply. I appreciate it a lot. A lot of those schools are on my list! I am glad to see that.

I have only scribed in the ER, will it be redundant to list it as physician shadowing? What do you think?

No. Assign 50 hours of your scribing as shadowing an ER doctor and subtract those 50 hours from your total scribing hours.

 

[Azaesal]

Hello,

Exactly as the title says. I took a Philosophy class at a community college while concurrently enrolled at my 4-year university. It was my first semester of college, and I bombed it and got an F. Had some family issues going on and trouble transitioning from HS to college. I improved the rest of the way through college w/ upward trend. I referenced this briefly in the “other impactful experience section” of my app.

This summer I am retaking the class so I listed it as a “future course” on my course work. I’m taking the same course at a different community college because the one I originally took it at was full, but it is an equivalent course number.

My question is:

1) Did I wait too long to retake it? Is that a red flag?

2) How much does this affect my chances?

3) Why is this process so stressful?

 

[LunaOri]

No need to retake it; it is not a prerequisite.

 

[Azaesal]

Oh okay. Even though it’s like… bad…

 

[wysdoc]

Oh okay. Even though it’s like… bad…

Even if you retake it, the F will be averaged in to your GPA. F + A >>>becomes a C average, IF you could get an A.

Is this the best use of your time right now? (the answer is no....)
You have an active personal thread asking about your upcoming application, please keep all your questions in that thread.
I'm going to move this bunch of questions over there, now.

 

[Azaesal]

Even if you retake it, the F will be averaged in to your GPA. F + A >>>becomes a C average, IF you could get an A.

Is this the best use of your time right now? (the answer is no....)
You have an active personal thread asking about your upcoming application, please keep all your questions in that thread.
I'm going to move this bunch of questions over there, now.

Thank you for the reply, doc! I appreciate you. Sorry for posting so many threads.