WAMC? CA ORM 513/3.88 reapplicant

[en66290]

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Hi yall, I'm a 23 y/o CA resident reapplicant. Needed some advice this cycle, as I submitted last cycle with very weak extracurriculars. Thank you for your help!

1. cGPA and sGPA as calculated by AMCAS or AACOMAS
   • 3.88 cGPA upward Trend (community college transfer, GPA was higher at post-transfer institution)
   • sGPA 3.92, AO 3.82
2. MCAT score(s) and breakdown. Include all (non-voided) attempts:
   • 513 (129/126/130/128)
3. State of residence or country of citizenship (if non-US):
   • CA
4. Ethnicity and/or race:
   • Asian/White ORM
5. Undergraduate institution or category
   • One of the UCs
6. Clinical experience (volunteer and non-volunteer)
   • 800 hrs as a pharmacy technician (Retail, I do realize this is kinda difficult to classify as a clinical experience)
   • 1200 hrs as an EMT at a mobile urgent care (Administrative duties, EKGs, swabs, blood draws, assisting nebulizer treatments, helping with IVs, other POC tests)
   • 200 hrs as a hospital volunteer (I visit all PCUs and provide amenities and comfort, I also train volunteers going into my position, but only around 20 ish hrs of volunteering have been training shifts)
7. Research experience and productivity
   1. 50 hrs general science academic research (Drosophila lab, quit when I was studying for the MCAT, and never really returned since my position had essentially been filled and I didn't really feel needed)
   2. 800 hrs research and development for a hydroponics farm start-up -> this one I feel like will be a bit odd to adcoms, but I'm essentially doing basic science research here (dessication/death curves of plants, light intensity experiments, experiments with their unique growth media). I also do development projects such as designing systems for both experiments and operations (programming a weigh system for longitudinal study of media with treatment and its dessication patterns, designing and programming an irrigation system controller)
8. Shadowing experience and specialties represented
   • will have at minimum ~40 hrs (5 w/ DPM Podiatric surgeon, 5 w/ DO Orthopedic Surg, 30 projected with MD Emergency Med) -> I also assisted in a code during one of my observation days with the EM doc, which was both interesting and a little sad.
9. Non-clinical volunteering
   • 20 hrs at a food bank -> I'm aware of how weak this is, and I plan to accumulate 80+ hrs more here, but I also realize how bad it looks that I've had this really long gap, and I'll be volunteering at a different food bank as well.

Current list: many CA schools (CUSM, UCD, UCR, UCI, UCLA, UCSD, CNUCM), Albany, RFU, EVMS, Drexel, Quinnipiac, Indiana, Temple, MCW, OUWB, Robert Larner, Toledo, Tulane, Georgia, Wayne State, UMass, Kentucky, Kansas, Illinois, SUNY, OSU, Thomas Jefferson, Miami

Thank you again for all your help!

 

[Faha]

Did you receive any interviews this past cycle? You should accumulate 150+ hours at the food bank before you submit your application since some schools screen at 150 hours.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Welcome to the forums. It is too bad you didn't find us before you applied the first time, but here we are. Are you applying to podiatry (seeing your 5 hours of shadowing DPM experience would practically guarantee an interview). Why not PharmD?

Have you connected with any schools about your application profile, especially any sessions targeting reapplicants? I know UCLA offers a limited number of virtual appointments. Did you attend any recruitment sessions or meet with current or recently graduated students before you applied the last time? What is your networking plan this time?

Why did you apply with practically no service orientation experience?

Why did you choose hydroponics R&D... or was it a choice, seeing that you are at a UC school? Honestly, no one cares what your area of research is, but I would want to know what you did with R&D as that's not usually "hypothesis driven research" in the scientific sense. Your research component description doesn't sound anchored to a hypothesis.

You haven't listed any campus activities or involvement either.

 

[en66290]

Thank you for the follow-up questions. I have not recieved any interview invites this cycle. I think it would be a good idea to clarify what is different between my new and old application:

All shadowing hours are new. My 1200 EMT hours are new. Approximately 100 additional clinical volunteering hours are new. The 800 hours of R&D work are also new. (These hours are estimated for the time of submission)

Given these weaknesses and my late submission in the cycle, I'm working to rectify the weaknesses and timing in the next cycle. I've strengthed my clinical experiences but I also realize that I have not been actively engaging in non-clinical service which is hurting me. I've been signing up for a lot more volunteering sessions and I've been trying to make more time to help out at the soup kitchen I'm volunteering at. Regarding Podiatry and PharmD, I was previously a pre-pharmacy student. During my time as a pharmacy technician and growing student I became a bit more drawn to the medical education and scope of practice of a physician. As an EMT I've really become drawn to the clinical reasoning and treatment planning that I have been learning through observing the mid-level practitioners I work alongside. Yet, I want the deeper and more complex clinical education that medicine provides and I want to be closer and more involved with the wellbeing of my patients.

I was not involved in campus activites during undergraduate as my plans as a pre-pharmacy student were to become a pharmacy technician, work in a retail pharmacy, then apply for pharmtech jobs in the hospital. My pivot to medicine came late as I wasn't really sure what I was doing as a student for most of my early years in college (I used to struggle a lot with self-doubt in my education). I originally planned on getting into physical therapy. I started enjoying my stem classes and eventually wanted to do more for the people around me.

As for the hydroponics R&D, I joined after learning their startup needed someone to assist in making their experimental process more robust as the owners with a background in STEM didn't have time for it and they had no staff with a scientific background. Most of the literature in the field is informal, and many problems that they experience with their media has very limited research. Most of the experimentation I do involves issues with operations and designing studies to test environmental variables and their relation to effects on the media.

As for the reapplicant advising, I was not aware of this at all. I will take some time to research if there is still anything like this available at my alma mater or if any other schools offer advising sessions as well. Thank you very much!

 

[Faha]

You have several state public schools on your list that admit few non residents with no connection to the state. I suggest these schools with your stats:
Vermont
Quinnipiac
UMass
Tufts
Albany
New York Medical College
Hackensack
Drexel
Temple
Jefferson
Penn State
George Washington
Virginia Commonwealth
Eastern Virginia
Wake Forest
Methodist
NOVA MD
Belmont
Alice Walton
TCU
Ponce (St. Louis)
Rosalind Franklin
Medical College Wisconsin
Western Michigan
Oakland Beaumont
Wayne State
Roseman
California University
Kaiser
Loma Linda (if you fit their mission)
California Northstate
UC Davis
UC Riverside (if you are from that region)

 

[Med Ed]

Current list: many CA schools (CUSM, UCD, UCR, UCI, UCLA, UCSD, CNUCM), Albany, RFU, EVMS, Drexel, Quinnipiac, Indiana, Temple, MCW, OUWB, Robert Larner, Toledo, Tulane, Georgia, Wayne State, UMass, Kentucky, Kansas, Illinois, SUNY, OSU, Thomas Jefferson, Miami

May I ask how you made this list? As noted above, Indiana, Toledo, Georgia, Kentucky, Kansas, Illinois, and SUNY are poor choices for a CA resident.