WAMC and School List Help (4.00/514) - Feeling really lost!

[lululuna_]

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Hi everyone! I'm a first-time applicant who’s unsure about my application and where to apply this cycle with my stats and ECs. I'm also concerned about bias against TX residents from OOS schools. Sorry this is such a long post, I would really appreciate any feedback on my application and thoughts on my current school list. Thank you!!

1. cGPA/sGPA: 4.00/4.00
2. MCAT: 514 (128/127/130/129)
3. TX resident
4. ORM (mixed race)
5. T20
6. Clinical Experience (Paid and Volunteering):

• Hospital medical intern (540 hrs): medical coordination, marketing, researching treatments, presented ideas for new medical programs, and medical translator
• EMT-B (150 hrs + 50 projected)
• Volunteering in hospital oncology unit (100 hrs + 120 projected)
• Volunteer medical assistant at rural clinic serving underserved communities (200 hrs)

7. Research:

• Plant bio lab (400 hrs) - 1 poster presentation at international conference (first author)
• clinical research (200 hrs + 170 projected): developing sustainable waste management protocols in hospitals, interviewing providers and patients

8. Shadowing:

• Infectious Diseases (25 hrs)
• Bariatric Surgery (250 hrs), attended a conference with a cadaver workshop
• Orthopedic Surgery (25 hrs)
• Radiology (10hrs + 10 projected)

9. Non-clinical volunteering:

• Volunteer connecting underserved communities with discounted internet services (300 hrs + 150 projected)
• Environmental advocacy (250 hrs + 40 projected)
• College peer health advisor (250 hrs + 30 projected)
• On-campus women’s center volunteer (80 hrs + 15 projected)

10. Other extracurricular activities (including athletics, military service, gap year activities, leadership, teaching, etc)

Teaching/Tutoring

• Course instructor (100 hrs) for official student-taught university course, wrote syllabus and designed curriculum
• Peer tutor, various subjects (80 hrs + 25 projected)
• Sociology TA (100 hrs)
• Scientific writing coach (150 hrs)

Leadership

• Founder of cultural student club, involved in cultural presentations/performances
• President of undergraduate biology club
• Vice president of neurodegenerative disorder advocacy and volunteer-focused student club
• Activities chair of pre-health student organization

Hobbies

• Crocheting: Student crochet club treasurer
• Competitive and intramural Badminton since 6th grade: Team captain at local sports club in home country
• Making skincare routines for others (not in activities section)
• Healthy Cooking, working on cookbook with healthy versions of traditional cultural recipes (not in activities section)

11. Dean's List every semester
12. Other

• First gen in medicine
• Born and grew up abroad until college (not international)
• Strong LORs (PI, science prof/mentor/club advisor, soci prof, physician I shadowed)
• Strong writing? Clear themes throughout app (cultural awareness/diversity in medicine, social justice, working with underserved communities)

Preliminary School List (excluding TX as already applied):

Reach: UCSF, Duke, Stanford, Northwestern, Mayo, Icahn, UVA, Case Western, Brown, Colorado, BU, Rochester, Hofstra, UIowa, UCincinnati, UA-Phoenix, NYU Long Island
Target: UPitt, Emory, UMiami, Einstein, Jefferson, Georgetown, Dartmouth, Tufts, Creighton, Saint Louis, NY Med College
Baseline: Wake Forest, Wayne State, Medical College of Wisconsin, Temple, Tulane, Drexel, Albany, Penn State, George Washington

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Welcome to the forums.

Bariatric Surgery (250 hrs), attended a conference with a cadaver workshop

This must have been a really long conference to "shadow" for 250 hours. Typo I hope.

Non-clinical volunteering:

• Volunteer connecting underserved communities with discounted internet services (300 hrs + 150 projected)
• Environmental advocacy (250 hrs + 40 projected)
• College peer health advisor (250 hrs + 30 projected)
• On-campus women’s center volunteer (80 hrs + 15 projected)

Service orientation: I'll give you the 80 hours for women's center volunteer. I need more information about college peer health advisor, but it's not really a stretch out of your comfort zone, and most students you are addressing are relatively healthy. Environmental advocacy... I would need more information about this (if it's about making sure you remove lead paint from homes or provide access to clean water, that would be more impressive than beach cleanup). Now the internet services volunteering... are you physically connecting people to an internet supplier? I need ammo if I'm going to convince others that this is service orientation.

Clear themes throughout app (cultural awareness/diversity in medicine, social justice, working with underserved communities)

These are also common themes in every PS, so where's the proof? Is your social justice work referring to your environmental advocacy? Is your work with underserved communities only about the internet services? What classes have you taken to back up your interest in advocacy that would make your PS thesis more than just words?

 

[lululuna_]

Welcome to the forums.



This must have been a really long conference to "shadow" for 250 hours. Typo I hope.



Service orientation: I'll give you the 80 hours for women's center volunteer. I need more information about college peer health advisor, but it's not really a stretch out of your comfort zone, and most students you are addressing are relatively healthy. Environmental advocacy... I would need more information about this (if it's about making sure you remove lead paint from homes or provide access to clean water, that would be more impressive than beach cleanup). Now the internet services volunteering... are you physically connecting people to an internet supplier? I need ammo if I'm going to convince others that this is service orientation.



These are also common themes in every PS, so where's the proof? Is your social justice work referring to your environmental advocacy? Is your work with underserved communities only about the internet services? What classes have you taken to back up your interest in advocacy that would make your PS thesis more than just words?

Hi! Thank you so much for your input and help.
Sorry, I didn't provide more details initially as I was trying not to make my post too long.

The shadowing was not a typo; I shadowed fellows all day (8-5 pm) in the obesity clinic for almost 2 months during one summer, alongside attending the conference.

For the college health advisor, I was trained in mental health first aid to provide mental health support to peers. I also maintain access to medical supplies and resources across campus and hold wellness events for peers. I agree this isn't very impactful, but it meant a lot to me to give back to my community.

My environmental activism has been a consistent leadership role on campus, where I am involved in implementing and maintaining sustainable practices and advocating for systemic change. I am also involved in research related to sustainability in hospital systems.

My work with underserved communities is as an MA in a rural hospital and an EMT working with underserved communities. The internet services volunteering is with an organization where we go to clinics to sign up eligible, low-income populations for programs that provide discounted internet services to help them access telehealth resources. The hospital I volunteer at is also a safety-net hospital serving patients from underserved populations.

I should have mentioned that I am a sociology major and humanities minor, so that has been a significant part of my story, and many of my classes are related to these fields; so my classes encompass a wide range of disciplines, and many are related to socioeconomic inequalities.

My PS is largely focused on cultural awareness and respect in medicine, as well as ensuring equitable access to healthcare, based on my experiences growing up in a rural area abroad and through some of my ECs. The other themes I mentioned are largely threads throughout my activities.

Maybe social justice was not the right word. What I meant by that was largely environmental advocacy and the related research, as well as working with patients to advocate for financial support while I was an MA, which made me very aware of the socioeconomic disparities in healthcare. So I guess, generally talking about combatting disparities in healthcare, I hope that makes sense!

Thank you so much again for your help. Please let me know if there is anything else I can clarify! Sorry for another very long response.

 

[Faha]

OOS MD schools admit few Texas applicants with a MCAT of 514 since they know from years of experience that a Texas applicant will attend a Texas school. You could try TCU and Tulane.