WAMC/Advice on re-applying?

[happyleo]

1. cGPA: 3.97 and sGPA: 3.94
2. 504, all sections 127 except 123 CARS
3. Arizona
4. Caucasian woman, born to Serbian-immigrant parents that completed their Bachelors degrees in Belgrade.
5. University of Arizona
6. Clinical experience (volunteer and non-volunteer):
   1. Elder Rehab is an Alzheimer's rehabilitation program that pairs students with cognitively impaired individuals to improve their physical and mental abilities.
   2. Patient Experience (PX) Ambassador and Volunteer at hospital
   3. In the midst of submitting my secondaries, I began working as a clinical research coordinator at a neurology clinic in 07/10/2023
   4. I became phlebotomy certified in October.
7. Research experience and productivity
   1. Co-Authored Article on Cerebral Dysfunction in Menopause
   2. Research Technician in Vascular Alzheimer's Lab
   3. Undergraduate Biology Research Program (UBRP) that resulted in a poster presentation at the annual conference.
8. Shadowing experience and specialties represented
   1. Dermatology Shadowing
   2. Neurology shadowing
9. Non-clinical volunteering
   1. Group Leader for PSIO 101 course for freshman pre-meds
   2. Arizona RETINA Project: outreach program that aims to inform the public about light adaptation and its role in the retina
   3. Began volunteering as a course facilitator in September at a non-profit organization that aims to reintegrate formerly incarcerated women into society. I lead classes every Saturday.
10. Other extracurricular activities (including athletics, military service, gap year activities, leadership, teaching, etc)
    1. Developed an Experiential Bioethics Course with my professor
    2. TA for Scientific Methods and Professional Ethics course
    3. Sales associate at interior design store
    4. Sorority Director of Funds and VP Foundation
11. Relevant honors or awards
    1. Selected for an oral presentation at the 15th Annual AZPS meeting at ASU, and received the award for best undergrad presentation.
    2. Graduated with honors and wrote my honors thesis regarding my Alzheimer’s research which I presented as a poster.
12. Anything else not listed you think might be important
    1. I submitted my primary application by 06/03/2023 and all of my secondaries were completed by mid-August. I applied to 25 MD schools and 2 DO schoools. I have not received any interview invites yet and would like to have some insight on the idea of me re-applying and my chances now. I’ve received mixed reviews regarding my MCAT score but would like to know if that could be supplemented by additional experiences. Please be brutally honest…if I have to retake it, I will. Thank you in advance!

Also this was my school list: PS I applied to a few reach schools (i.e. NYU and Cornell) because it was a dream, it was not realistic.

Albany Medical College
Central Michigan University
Rosalind Franklin
East Tennessee
Florida International University
Frank H. Netter
George Washington
Loyola
NYU Grossman and Long Island
Penn State
Rush
Rutgers
SUNY Downstate
SUNY Upstate
Tulane
UA Phoenix
University of Illinois
University of Kentucky
University of Maryland
UMiami
USC-Greenville
VA Tech
Weill Cornell
Wright State
Midwestern Chicago and Arizona

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[Faha]

What are your hours for each of your clinical, shadowing and non clinical volunteering activities ?
Your school list was unrealistic. You have a dozen OOS public schools that admit very few (if any) non residents with a MCAT of 504 and no connection to the state.

 

[happyleo]

What are your hours for each of your clinical, shadowing and non clinical volunteering activities ?
Your school list was unrealistic. You have a dozen OOS public schools that admit very few (if any) non residents with a MCAT of 504 and no connection to the state.

1. Clinical experience (volunteer and non-volunteer):
   1. Elder Rehab is an Alzheimer's rehabilitation program that pairs students with cognitively impaired individuals to improve their physical and mental abilities. (50 hours)
   2. Patient Experience (PX) Ambassador and Volunteer at hospital (130 hours)
   3. In the midst of submitting my secondaries, I began working as a clinical research coordinator at a neurology clinic in 07/10/2023 (960 hours and counting)
   4. I became phlebotomy certified in October. (I practice this skill on the job as a clinical research coordinator)
2. Research experience and productivity
   1. Co-Authored Article on Cerebral Dysfunction in Menopause
   2. Research Technician in Vascular Alzheimer's Lab (2080 hours)
   3. Undergraduate Biology Research Program (UBRP) that resulted in a poster presentation at the annual conference. (580 hours)
3. Shadowing experience and specialties represented
   1. Dermatology Shadowing (50 hours)
   2. Neurology shadowing (this is lumped with my current job as a clinical research coordinator)
4. Non-clinical volunteering
   1. Group Leader for PSIO 101 course for freshman pre-meds (120 hours)
   2. Arizona RETINA Project: outreach program that aims to inform the public about light adaptation and its role in the retina (200 hours)
   3. Began volunteering as a course facilitator in September at a non-profit organization that aims to reintegrate formerly incarcerated women into society. I lead classes every Saturday. (so far I have 16 hours)
5. Other extracurricular activities (including athletics, military service, gap year activities, leadership, teaching, etc)
   1. Developed an Experiential Bioethics Course with my professor (80 hours)
   2. TA for Scientific Methods and Professional Ethics course (120 hours)
   3. Sales associate at interior design store (1,200 hours)
   4. Sorority Director of Funds and VP Foundation (400 hours)

 

[happyleo]

What are your hours for each of your clinical, shadowing and non clinical volunteering activities ?
Your school list was unrealistic. You have a dozen OOS public schools that admit very few (if any) non residents with a MCAT of 504 and no connection to the state.

I see, thank you for your feedback. When picking my school list, I used MSAR but may not have done enough research. This is why I'm hoping to get into my state school, UA Phoenix.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Who helped you come up with this list? U of A has a strong prehealth advising office. They also organize and promote community service opportunities that can help an applicant show a desire to work with communities that comprise the state population, specifically the rural/migrant/Native American communities.

You have included activities that I presume started after you submitted your primary application. You need at least 150 hours of service orientation community service activities (see opps on the UA Prehealth Advising page). The one activity that fits this category is your work re-introducing the formerly incarcerated back into society. I presume we're not teaching classes in biology in that course. I don't really consider your activity significant until you reach 50 hours, so you have a way to go.

Your choice to shadow physicians also is a mismatch with UA-Phoenix which has special tracks for primary care and rural health. You need primary or community health shadowing to balance your work with neurology (almost 1000 hours). If you had nearer to 100 hours with Elder Rehab, I could see a stronger attraction to serving the elderly community that could help your application's message to adcoms.

 

[happyleo]

Who helped you come up with this list? U of A has a strong prehealth advising office. They also organize and promote community service opportunities that can help an applicant show a desire to work with communities that comprise the state population, specifically the rural/migrant/Native American communities.

You have included activities that I presume started after you submitted your primary application. You need at least 150 hours of service orientation community service activities (see opps on the UA Prehealth Advising page). The one activity that fits this category is your work re-introducing the formerly incarcerated back into society. I presume we're not teaching classes in biology in that course. I don't really consider your activity significant until you reach 50 hours, so you have a way to go.

Your choice to shadow physicians also is a mismatch with UA-Phoenix which has special tracks for primary care and rural health. You need primary or community health shadowing to balance your work with neurology (almost 1000 hours). If you had nearer to 100 hours with Elder Rehab, I could see a stronger attraction to serving the elderly community that could help your application's message to adcoms.

Thank you for your feedback! I used MSAR to guide me in creating my list of schools. I have a lot to think about/tweak. Do you recommend any OOS schools that would be more forgiving to an applicant with my stats?

 

[Faha]

You are competitive for most DO schools with your stats so if you reapply I suggest these schools:
AZCOM
ATSU-KCOM
TUNCOM
KCU-COM
DMU-COM
MU-COM
UIWSOM
ACOM
WCU-COM
CUSOM
PCOM (all schools)
LECOM (all schools)
NYITCOM
Touro-NY
WVSOM
You could receive MD interviews and I suggest these:
Arizona (Tucson and Phoenix)
Arizona State (if it opens for 2025)
Creighton
TCU
Rosalind Franklin
Medical College Wisconsin
Oakland Beaumont
NOVA MD
Belmont
Drexel
Temple
Albany
Vermont
Quinnipiac
Any new schools that open for 2025 (Alice Walton, Roseman, Methodist, American University)

 

[Goro]

Also this was my school list: PS I applied to a few reach schools (i.e. NYU and Cornell) because it was a dream, it was not realistic.

Albany Medical College
Central Michigan University
Rosalind Franklin
East Tennessee
Florida International University
Frank H. Netter
George Washington
Loyola
NYU Grossman and Long Island
Penn State
Rush
Rutgers
SUNY Downstate
SUNY Upstate
Tulane
UA Phoenix
University of Illinois
University of Kentucky
University of Maryland
UMiami
USC-Greenville
VA Tech
Weill Cornell
Wright State
Midwestern Chicago and Arizona

“Dream schools are like dream girls: better in the abstract than reality”. –The exceptionally wise gyngyn
Almost every one of those MD schools was a donation. They need the money.

Here is a more realistic list:

Loma Linda (only if you are SDA or a very devout Christian)
MCW
Rosy Franklin
Tulane
Your state schools
AZCOM
UIW
TUNCOM
both Westerns
Touro-CA
KCOM
DMU
CCOM
MUCOM
PCOM
ACOM
CUSOM
Nova
KYCOM
WCU
VCOM (all except LA)
all LECOMs
Touro-NY
ARCOM
both NYITCOMs