WAMC as a re-applicant in 2025-26 Cycle?

[RexThornman]

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I am a first generation (family did not go to med school and did not go to school in the US) re-applicant. I am South Asian (unsure if ORM or URM) NY resident and have applied to MD school (AMCAS only) the past two application cycles (2023-24 and 2024-25); I could not go past secondaries. These are my stats across the different cycles:

2023-24 Cycle:
20 hours of Genetics Research (anticipated 304 hours)
55 hours as a Genetics Tutor (anticipated 28 hours)
24 hours as a Intro Bio TA
3 publications to my university literary magazine across 2 issues

School List for this cycle:
Albany (withdrew)
Albert Einstein
BU
Cal Northstate (did not complete II)
Columbia
Hofstra
Drexel (withdrew)
Duke (did not complete II)
Quillen (pre-II R)
Harvard
NYULI
Stony Brook
Stanford (did not complete II)
Tufts

2024-25 Cycle:
120 hours as a Medical Scribe (later updated to 316 hours)
241 hours of volunteer EMS with EMT-B state cert (later updated to 389 hours with both state and national cert)
189 hours as a Behavior Therapist (working with children with autism, later updated to 346 hours)
92 hours of Genetics Research (undergrad)
105 hours of Cell Biology Research (undergrad)
1 research poster presentation (from genetics)
5 publications to my university literary magazine across 3 issues

School List for this cycle:
Albert Einstein
BU
Cooper
Hofstra
Geisel
Harvard
Kaiser Permanente
NYULI
Penn Perelman
Stony Brook
Rutgers NJMS
SUNY Upstate
UMass
Yale

Current Stats:
3.70 overall GPA (3.64 science GPA)
508, 510, and 512 on the MCAT
518 hours from scribing
472 hours of volunteer EMS (I am an EMT-B both state and national)
106 hours as a Behavior Therapist
92 hours of Genetics Research (undergrad)
105 hours of Cell Biology Research (undergrad)

I was interested in a primary-care specialty before, which I mentioned in my previous applications, but now I am interested in a more competitive specialty.

I understand that my past lists were extremely top heavy, but I am unsure of how to better adjust my list for a future application.

At this point, I am not sure if I should try again in the 2025-26 cycle (as I was told re-applying lowers my chances), complete a post-bac program (to strengthen my GPA), or improve some other aspect of my application before trying again. As the title states, WAMC in the 2025-26 cycle?

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Where is your community service? State residency? You must apply DO. Properly fill out a WAMC template.

 

[RexThornman]

Where is your community service? State residency? You must apply DO. Properly fill out a WAMC template.

NY resident

I have included state residency in my post. Also, what constitutes "community service"?

 

[Faha]

Most of the schools you applied to this cycle were unrealistic with your MCAT scores of 508, 510 and 512. Stony Brook and SUNY Upstate were the only realistic schools you applied to. You should accumulate 150+ hours of non clinical volunteering (food bank, homeless shelter, etc.) before you reapply this June and you are fine to reapply in June if you have those hours. You do need a much better school list and I suggest these:
ALL 4 SUNYs
New York Medical College
Albany
Hackensack
Vermont
Quinnipiac
Penn State
Drexel
Temple
Jefferson
George Washington
Virginia Commonwealth
Eastern Virginia
Wake Forest
Belmont
NOVA MD
TCU
Rosalind Franklin
Medical College Wisconsin
Oakland Beaumont
Wayne State
Alice Walton
Methodist (when it opens)
Roseman (when it opens)
Also apply to DO schools and I suggest these:
Touro-NY
NYITCOM
UNECOM
LECOM
PCOM
CUSOM
MU-COM
DMU-COM
KCU-COM
ATSU-KCOM
AZCOM
CCOM
Apply in June and submit ALL your secondaries by July

 

[RexThornman]

Most of the schools you applied to this cycle were unrealistic with your MCAT scores of 508, 510 and 512. Stony Brook and SUNY Upstate were the only realistic schools you applied to. You should accumulate 150+ hours of non clinical volunteering (food bank, homeless shelter, etc.) before you reapply this June and you are fine to reapply in June if you have those hours. You do need a much better school list and I suggest these:
ALL 4 SUNYs
New York Medical College
Albany
Hackensack
Vermont
Quinnipiac
Penn State
Drexel
Temple
Jefferson
George Washington
Virginia Commonwealth
Eastern Virginia
Wake Forest
Belmont
NOVA MD
TCU
Rosalind Franklin
Medical College Wisconsin
Oakland Beaumont
Wayne State
Alice Walton
Methodist (when it opens)
Roseman (when it opens)
Also apply to DO schools and I suggest these:
Touro-NY
NYITCOM
UNECOM
LECOM
PCOM
CUSOM
MU-COM
DMU-COM
KCU-COM
ATSU-KCOM
AZCOM
CCOM
Apply in June and submit ALL your secondaries by July

@Faha

Thank you for the information! Your response has helped me out greatly! I have a few follow up questions:
1) In my second application, I received a Pre-Health Committee Letter from my school, despite having already graduated. Do I need a committee letter for the 2025-26 cycle as well?
2) Besides community service hours, do I also need to include extracurricular hours? If so, how many?
3) If the school offers it, would it be worth it to complete an MD/MS program?

 

[candbgirl]

Fill in this grid. With more information the people on this forum might be able to help you out.

Thread '*~*~*~*IMPORTANT: How to Format Your WAMC Thread for Optimal Results and More!!*~*~*~*'

Nov 19, 2015

Hello, and welcome to the What Are My Chances (WAMC) forum.

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• Post threads about your chances of acceptance to MD and/or DO schools
• Have your school list critiqued and modified by other members of SDN
• Determine how to strengthen your current application

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• WedgeDawg
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• Forum: What Are My Chances? WAMC Medical

• 

 

[Faha]

@Faha

Thank you for the information! Your response has helped me out greatly! I have a few follow up questions:
1) In my second application, I received a Pre-Health Committee Letter from my school, despite having already graduated. Do I need a committee letter for the 2025-26 cycle as well?
2) Besides community service hours, do I also need to include extracurricular hours? If so, how many?
3) If the school offers it, would it be worth it to complete an MD/MS program?

You do not need more extracurricular hours but you do need the non clinical hours. You can always do a MS at some other time in your career. I do not know if you need a committee letter for the next cycle.