MD WAMC and School List - 523/3.98/NY ORM

[beptune]

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[Mr.Smile12]

Welcome to the forums. Describe your non-clinical community service since you graduated. Is it just the 100 hours of service with your church?

 

[beptune]

Yes, just the 100 hrs. I give out food and clothes to the impoverished and homeless in my community. The two churches operate their services a bit differently, but I feel they were similar enough to combine into one activity (also since my hours are pretty low, with them split roughly 50/50 between the two). I received a (likely) good LOR from one of them too.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Yes, just the 100 hrs. I give out food and clothes to the impoverished and homeless in my community. The two churches operate their services a bit differently, but I feel they were similar enough to combine into one activity (also since my hours are pretty low, with them split roughly 50/50 between the two). I received a (likely) good LOR from one of them too.

I appreciate the clarification.

You should get 150 hours of food pantry work before submitting your application to fulfill "service orientation" expectations and avoid getting screened out at most schools. I presume with your metrics, you want a more recognizable name brand; you should have 250 hours before submitting to stay on pace with your peers in the high-metrics pool. Mission fit will also be very important, and you have not provided enough information for me to make that call.

 

[beptune]

I appreciate the clarification.

You should get 150 hours of food pantry work before submitting your application to fulfill "service orientation" expectations and avoid getting screened out at most schools. I presume with your metrics, you want a more recognizable name brand; you should have 250 hours before submitting to stay on pace with your peers in the high-metrics pool. Mission fit will also be very important, and you have not provided enough information for me to make that call.

If I wait until I have 150 hrs I’ll be submitting late, which is just as bad as applying with 100 isn’t it? My volunteering is ongoing so I’ll get there eventually, but I work full time so my ability to increase it faster is very limited.

As for mission fit, I don’t know. I don’t think I’m a mission fit for any school since I seemingly lack in all categories but clinical experience and my stats.

I don’t want to take a second gap year though. It will be a waste of time unless I am incapable of getting in somewhere as I currently stand.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

If I wait until I have 150 hrs I’ll be submitting late, which is just as bad as applying with 100 isn’t it? My volunteering is ongoing so I’ll get there eventually, but I work full time so my ability to increase it faster is very limited.

As for mission fit, I don’t know. I don’t think I’m a mission fit for any school since I seemingly lack in all categories but clinical experience and my stats.

I don’t want to take a second gap year though. It will be a waste of time unless I am incapable of getting in somewhere as I currently stand.

Since I am not privy to your application, don't just take my advice. I hope you have a good relationship with your references and your prehealth advisors to clarify how you could move forward and articulate your mission fit to the schools on your list. No one thing kicks you out of the process, but not meeting a number of expectations can put your application back when it comes to priority consideration for interviews. I just can't predict that for every single school, and not without all the information privy to admissions committees where you submit your file.

This process requires a high amount of self-reflection and confidence in your alignment with the schools on your list. If you don't know what that is, you must figure that out before applying. You're investing over 300K in debt for "the right decision" plus every year's worth of application costs.