WAMC and school list help (3.89/520)

[AbdominalSepsis178]

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Hi everyone! I am looking to apply in the upcoming 2025-2026 cycle (graduating in 2025, taking one gap year), and I was looking for some guidance with my school list. I don’t really want to apply to more than ~25 schools (but I will if it is necessary), and I would like to be restricted primarily to the east coast and the midwest (but I will change if it is necessary). I would love to know if I’m being a bit too optimistic, if I need more safeties and matches, if I need more/less schools, and any other general thoughts. Thanks in advance!!!!!!!

1. MCAT: 520 (130/129/129/132), just got my score a couple days ago 😳
2. cGPA is 3.88 and sGPA is 3.89, upward trend (last four semesters have been 4.0s), projected to be 3.89 and 3.90 respectively when I graduate
   1. LizzyM score is 75.90 if y'all gaf
3. State of residency: MN
4. Ethnicity and/or race: ORM (Indian)
5. Undergraduate institution or category:
   1. T30 liberal arts college in MN and my major is Neuroscience with honors, and minors in Chemistry, English, Psychology, and Biology; graduating magna cum laude in May 2025
6. Clinical experience (700 hours + 1000-1700 projected):
   1. ED/PACU volunteer for 300 hours
   2. Surgical Services volunteer for 100 hours
   3. On campus EMT for 150-ish hours (+150 for training; would that count as clinical hours or nah?)
   4. Will work as an ER technician/clinic assistant/something of that caliber during my gap year, which is the projected 1000-1700 hours
7. Research Experience; 700 hours + 700 projected:
   1. Around 700 hours of neuroscience research (wet lab, mouse, and human) across 3 labs across 3 years (simultaneously, so I wasn’t shopping around labs)
   2. Presented 2 posters at 3 conferences (6 presentations I guess but it was the same posters so)
   3. Around 700 hours of research on independent honors thesis (in neurobiology)
      1. Researching stroke recovery in a mouse model (behavioral tests, stereotaxic surgery, IHC)
      2. I don’t really know what to say here, I can get more detailed if you want
   4. Publications from two of the 3 labs in the works but it’s going to take time (like a year or more after I apply)
8. Shadowing Experience:
   1. 10 hours shadowing a colon & rectal surgeon (in clinic and hospital)
   2. 10 hours shadowing a spine neurosurgeon (in hospital)
   3. 15 hours shadowing a family care provider (in clinic) <- haven't done this one yet but I will soon
   4. 15 hours shadowing a pediatric critical care physician (in hospital) <- haven't done this one yet but I will soon I swear
9. Non-clinical volunteering:
   1. Crisis Text Line volunteer for 650 hours
10. Other extracurricular activities:
    1. Combined total of about 200 hours; don’t really know what category and I can get into more detail:
       1. Elected student representative for the chemistry department, reworked general chemistry curriculum to make it more accessible without decreasing rigor
       2. Founded a neuroscience community org to acquire funding to send researchers to conferences, for community building, and various departmental events (weekly, semesterly, annually)
       3. Elected student representative for the neuroscience program, reworked the neuroscience major to be more feasible to complete without decreasing rigor
    2. EMT Course Director for our collegiate emergency medical service; about 50-70 hours, with major involvement beyond my role (can get into this if you want)
11. Honors and awards:
    1. Dean’s list for 8 semesters I guess
    2. Likely gonna win a neuroscience department award, not confirmed doe
12. Anything else not listed:
    1. LORs:
       1. science professor 1 is a neuroscience professor i took two classes with
       2. science professor 2 is a neuroscience professor who is also on my honors defense committee and is our school’s former pre-med advisor
       3. non science professor is my english professor whom i took 3 classes with
       4. PI 1 is a neuroscience professor who is my academic advisor, director of neuroscience at my school, and primary mentor figure
       5. PI 2 is a neuroscience professor who is my primary thesis advisor, on my honors committee, took a few classes with them
    2. I was an international student in undergrad and just got my green card (yippee) but i will be talking about it in my essay(s)
    3. I’m not super interested in family med as a specialty (I know that would matter significantly for school list) but could consider it; very interested in surgery, critical care, and a lot of medical specialties, which is kind of everything I guess my b ☠️

School List (the ones bolded are my top choices):


University of Minnesota Medical School
University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Medicine and Public Health
University of Vermont Larner COM
Stony Brook University Renaissance SOM
University of Illinois COM
Boston University SOM
Tufts University SOM
Emory University SOM
Geisel SOM at Dartmouth
University of Rochester SOM and Dentistry
Icahn SOM at Mount Sinai
Sidney Kimmel Medical College at Thomas Jefferson University
Ohio State University COM
Medical College of Wisconsin
University of Chicago Pritzker SOM
Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons
Case Western Reserve University SOM
The Warren Alpert SOM of Brown University
Mayo Clinic Alix SOM
University of Michigan Medical School
University of Pittsburgh SOM
University of Colorado SOM
Hofstra University SOM
Northwestern University Feinburg SOM
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill SOM
Harvard University SOM
Chicago Medical School at Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science

 

[Faha]

You should receive interview from your list. You could add these schools:
Washington University (in St. Louis-almost a guaranteed interview with your stats)
Vanderbilt
Iowa
Western Michigan
USF Morsani
UMass

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Welcome to the forums.

What support have you received from your prehealth advisors?

My only concern is your lack of non-clinical volunteering that isn't otherwise health-adjacent. Crisis text line (600+ hours) does not involve you being face-to-face, but you can leverage those skills as a volunteer working in shelters (homeless, veterans, etc.). Make those hours count and build your in-person skills. We want to see you are truly comfortable immersed in an uncomfortable environment.

On-campus EMT consequently doesn't bear as much credibility as community EMT. Yes, that would also give us a sense you could be comfortable working in an uncomfortable environment as a health professional doing a necessary job.

Overall, I agree that you are in a good position with your in-state options and some of the schools surrounding Minnesota. But you need to follow the above advice about UChicago. They are fully invested in the social justice charge of healthcare and the role physicians play to that end. I'm not certain you have the mission fit because I don't see any signal you have this match.

 

[AbdominalSepsis178]

Welcome to the forums.

What support have you received from your prehealth advisors?

My only concern is your lack of non-clinical volunteering that isn't otherwise health-adjacent. Crisis text line (600+ hours) does not involve you being face-to-face, but you can leverage those skills as a volunteer working in shelters (homeless, veterans, etc.). Make those hours count and build your in-person skills. We want to see you are truly comfortable immersed in an uncomfortable environment.

On-campus EMT consequently doesn't bear as much credibility as community EMT. Yes, that would also give us a sense you could be comfortable working in an uncomfortable environment as a health professional doing a necessary job.

Overall, I agree that you are in a good position with your in-state options and some of the schools surrounding Minnesota. But you need to follow the above advice about UChicago. They are fully invested in the social justice charge of healthcare and the role physicians play to that end. I'm not certain you have the mission fit because I don't see any signal you have this match.

Thanks for your detailed response!! To be frank, our pre-health advisor hasn't been terribly useful; they are retiring, and in general they push for "do what your heart desires" than "these are the realities of navigating the application process." They are super good at affirming what you are already doing, which is great, but that also means that we don't get a ton of actual support in terms of information.

Your advice regarding UChicago is much appreciated!! I would love to be a community EMT but unfortunately I don't have a driver's license so I can't work for transporting agencies, and likely need to work more in the hospital. But our school does community education and outreach to the neighborhoods around our college, and I've been semi-involved in that. It seems that I should take a more active role in that! Thanks again for all your advice!

 

[AbdominalSepsis178]

You should receive interview from your list. You could add these schools:
Washington University (in St. Louis-almost a guaranteed interview with your stats)
Vanderbilt
Iowa
Western Michigan
USF Morsani
UMass

Oh yes, will do!