WAMC: cGPA: 3.45, sGPA: 3.57, MCAT: 512 (nontrad, no research)

[Mad_MD]

• AMCAS GPA chart:

• MCAT: 512
• State of residence: Georgia, USA
• Ethnicity: White
• Undergrad institution:
  • 1 year of dual enrollment (at community college)
  • 1 year of freshman credits (at same community college)
    • Associate degree in Healthcare and General Science
    • Certified Nurses Aid certificate
    • Health Science certificate
    • Technical Specialist certificate
    • Healthcare Assistant Certificate
    • CPR/ BLS certificate
  • 1 year at a private school in Texas (this is where my Ws are)- Southwestern University (transferred from SU to GSU)
  • BS in Biology at Georgia State University
• Clinical experience (volunteer and non-volunteer)
  • Clinical Experience
    • Care Host (family medicine/ PCP office): 1500 hours
      • • Provides administrative support to the Center by achieving the following duties: patient registration, patient intake, scheduling follow-up appointments with patients, processing patient referrals to specialists, processing and verifying insurance eligibility performing payment transactions by collecting appropriate insurance copayment amounts. • Utilizing electronic medical record and practice management systems to complete tasks
    • Unit security (level 2 trauma center): 2000 hours
      • • Strong customer service and interpersonal skills • Ability to collaborate with other health care providers in the provision of patient care • Ability to multi-task and function in stressful and emergency situations • Strong detail orientation, and personal time management skills • Catalog and maintain department supply stock consistent with department demand
    • ED Tech (Same level 2 trauma center): 2000 hours
      • • Provides safe, age-appropriate care to patients: Obtain and document vitals. Perform 12-lead EKG, BBG • testing, oral suctioning, and superficial wound care. Measure and apply extremity splints, and instruct • patients regarding safe crutch ambulation • Performs procedures using the aseptic technique: urethral catheterization, sterile tray preparation, dressing • application, and phlebotomy, and Tele-sitter facility liaison • Transport (patients, unit supplies, equipment, and medications), using good body mechanics as • appropriate. • Observe cardiac monitors to ensure recognition of arrhythmias
    • Direct Care Coordinator (Biologics facility)
      • • Responsible for sterilizing and decontaminating equipment, machines, and monitors • Locate and help maintain all portable equipment and if not functioning • Schedules the Care Partners and ensure full coverage of all shifts and reducing and/or eliminating overtime • Aids with scheduling meetings with families, healthcare providers, home health, etc. • Performs duties as Care Partner and Med Tech, as well as stocking drug carts, machines, and cabinets with supplies • Monitor and maintain records reflecting resident’s physical and mental condition. Report significant changes in condition to the Health & Wellness Director
    • Patient Care Tech on a surgical floor (Emory University Hospital): current position
  • Non-Clinical Experience
    • Biology Lab Assistant (volunteer): 50 hours
    • Chemistry Lab TA: 80 hours- Current
    • Red Cross Donation Ambasitor (volunteer): 200 hrs- Current
  • Shadowing experience
    • Anesthesiology/ CAA: 40 hours
    • ER Physician: 25 hours
    • PCP MD and PA: 25 hours
• Extracurricular activities:
  • Regional axe-throwing competitor (singles and teams)
  • Video games
  • Reading
• Research: 0

Current MD school list (no particular order):

1. Morehouse
2. Mercer
3. Nova Southeastern
4. Florida State
5. Meharry
6. U of NC at Chapel Hill
7. U of SC, Greenville
8. Tulane
9. Louisiana, New Orleans
10. Howard
11. Drexel
12. Virginia Tech Carilion
13. Eastern Virginia
14. Robert Larner, VermontWright
15. Jacobs, U at Buffalo
16. NY Medical
17. Duke

Haven't even started on DO list yet and not even sure if my MD list makes any sense. I would prefer to stay on the east coast. I have paid and looked over MSAR 100+ times and have 6 different spreadsheets to help make a rough list. I am thinking about a solid 30 schools (including DO) to apply to.
I was planning on applying for the 24-25 cycle but I am unsure if I will be competitive enough, at least compared to some of these younger kids with all of these extracurriculars and research hours!

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[theoceanman]

Remove Morehouse, Florida State, MeHarry, U of NC at Chapel Hill, Howard, and Duke from your school list as Morehouse/MeHarry/Howard do not fit you as an ORM/White applicant, FSU/UNC only take in-state so GA residents are unlikely to get an II at all, and Duke is unrealistic with your stats and overall application.

What do you feel is your mission-fit? Red Cross ambassador is vague and does not mean much if you’re only a coordinator or just put up education panels at schools, you should be focused on direct community service experiences towards specific populations that you feel you want to serve as a physician. Excluding Red Cross, there is no other community service experience that would make you more mission-fit for certain schools.

You can add all Georgia schools except Emory, such as Medical College or Georgia, as well as Temple and Oakland Beaumont. I’m sure others will chip in with further school selections such as chilly_md and Faha.

 

[Mad_MD]

Remove Morehouse, Florida State, MeHarry, U of NC at Chapel Hill, Howard, and Duke from your school list as Morehouse/MeHarry/Howard do not fit you as an ORM/White applicant, FSU/UNC only take in-state so GA residents are unlikely to get an II at all, and Duke is unrealistic with your stats and overall application.

What do you feel is your mission-fit? Red Cross ambassador is vague and does not mean much if you’re only a coordinator or just put up education panels at schools, you should be focused on direct community service experiences towards specific populations that you feel you want to serve as a physician. Excluding Red Cross, there is no other community service experience that would make you more mission-fit for certain schools.

You can add all Georgia schools except Emory, such as Medical College or Georgia, as well as Temple and Oakland Beaumont. I’m sure others will chip in with further school selections such as chilly_md and Faha.

Hey, I really appreciate your input, being a non-trad 1st gen, I feel like I am tackling this alone!

My mission-fit would be: to be able to attend a facility that helps nature, future doctors, into being able to provide holistic care to all communities, including those underserved or under-represented. I value a school that builds a student's abilities and confidence through fine-tuning coursework and skills labs. My goals are to be able to practice with some of the greatest healthcare minds in order to provide the best medical interventions for individuals who are in the most need.

My volunteering with the red cross includes providing support to biomedical services. I travel all over north Georgia to participate in the life-saving collection of blood and plasma from all types of communities for all types of communities. My day starts by helping set up the blood drives, and as people from throughout the area where my team and I are stationed at, start to trickle in I do a wide variety of assisting. I manage the check-in process, greet donors, engage with the individuals and help to provide comfort during their donation. I manage a wide range of tasks and patients within a small window of time in order to provide a fast, yet efficient experience for all.

I have also got some volunteer experiences in other forms that I didn't think were as important:
- hospice care (I go to different group homes/ hospice communities to provide daily living activities for those individuals who are unable and are facing end-of-life care)
- ER volunteer (helping to manage patient flow and assisting in a variety of clerical tasks. I also have used this opportunity to actively participate in interpersonal connections, where I provide comfort to the best of my abilities to individuals who are facing the hardest day(s) of their life.)

That is pretty much all I have though. I guess it doesn't look too good if trauma/ traumatic events are the themes (and communities) I am building my application on, is it?

 

[chilly_md]

I suggest:

MCG
Mercer
Oakland
Wayne State
Drexel
Temple
Penn State
Nova MD
MCW
Vermont
Wake
Hackensack
Quinnipiac
TCU
Rosalind Franklin
Albany
NYMC
George Washington
Belmont (when it opens)

For DO:
PCOM (all campuses)
LECOM
Campbell
DMU
KCU
VCOM
Marian
NYIT
Touro NY

 

[Mad_MD]

I suggest:

MCG
Mercer
Oakland
Wayne State
Drexel
Temple
Penn State
Nova MD
MCW
Vermont
Wake
Hackensack
Quinnipiac
TCU
Rosalind Franklin
Albany
NYMC
George Washington
Belmont (when it opens)

For DO:
PCOM (all campuses)
LECOM
Campbell
DMU
KCU
VCOM
Marian
NYIT
Touro NY

Holy crap I do not know how to thank you enough for this extensive list. I will start looking into these immediately!

 

[chilly_md]

Be sure to include hospice care as an activity on the application. It is a powerful experience to be involved with end of life care.

 

[Mad_MD]

Be sure to include hospice care as an activity on the application. It is a powerful experience to be involved with end of life care.

I am not sure how SDN works per se but is there any way I can private message you in regards to a few more questions that may piggyback on this, and other, topics?

 

[theoceanman]

Hey, I really appreciate your input, being a non-trad 1st gen, I feel like I am tackling this alone!

My mission-fit would be: to be able to attend a facility that helps nature, future doctors, into being able to provide holistic care to all communities, including those underserved or under-represented. I value a school that builds a student's abilities and confidence through fine-tuning coursework and skills labs. My goals are to be able to practice with some of the greatest healthcare minds in order to provide the best medical interventions for individuals who are in the most need.

My volunteering with the red cross includes providing support to biomedical services. I travel all over north Georgia to participate in the life-saving collection of blood and plasma from all types of communities for all types of communities. My day starts by helping set up the blood drives, and as people from throughout the area where my team and I are stationed at, start to trickle in I do a wide variety of assisting. I manage the check-in process, greet donors, engage with the individuals and help to provide comfort during their donation. I manage a wide range of tasks and patients within a small window of time in order to provide a fast, yet efficient experience for all.

I have also got some volunteer experiences in other forms that I didn't think were as important:
- hospice care (I go to different group homes/ hospice communities to provide daily living activities for those individuals who are unable and are facing end-of-life care)
- ER volunteer (helping to manage patient flow and assisting in a variety of clerical tasks. I also have used this opportunity to actively participate in interpersonal connections, where I provide comfort to the best of my abilities to individuals who are facing the hardest day(s) of their life.)

That is pretty much all I have though. I guess it doesn't look too good if trauma/ traumatic events are the themes (and communities) I am building my application on, is it?

If you could get some community service hours in before you apply, that would strongly tailor you towards the application process. Since you expressed your mission fit as underserved, perhaps Salvation Army or Food Bank would be two good places to get some hours in before you submit your primary at the end of May.

Hospice care is very nice, you should be able to tailor your secondaries to that experience for certain.

 

[Mad_MD]

If you could get some community service hours in before you apply, that would strongly tailor you towards the application process. Since you expressed your mission fit as underserved, perhaps Salvation Army or Food Bank would be two good places to get some hours in before you submit your primary at the end of May.

Hospice care is very nice, you should be able to tailor your secondaries to that experience for certain.

I am definitely going to wait until the 2024-25 cycle to apply. I feel like that will give me some time to gather some more of those things I need, such as community service hours. Those seem like great ideas. I will do some searching right now to find some food banks/ salvation army near me.

How concerned should I be about not having any research? I am very interested in doing it in medical school; however while working full time and finishing my senior year, applying for med school, etc. it is going to be rather difficult to find and obtain MEANINGFUL research.

 

[theoceanman]

I am definitely going to wait until the 2024-25 cycle to apply. I feel like that will give me some time to gather some more of those things I need, such as community service hours. Those seem like great ideas. I will do some searching right now to find some food banks/ salvation army near me.

How concerned should I be about not having any research? I am very interested in doing it in medical school; however while working full time and finishing my senior year, applying for med school, etc. it is going to be rather difficult to find and obtain MEANINGFUL research.

I would be relatively concerned if you want to absolutely MAXIMIZE your chances of your application process. From personal experience, summer positions in research labs at local universities or colleges are relatively easier to find compared to the fall or spring semesters (August to early May) so you could definitely look into that. Plus, if it’s unpaid research, I’m sure the professors would be more willing to take you over a paid position undergraduate at times.

 

[Mad_MD]

I would be relatively concerned if you want to absolutely MAXIMIZE your chances of your application process. From personal experience, summer positions in research labs at local universities or colleges are relatively easier to find compared to the fall or spring semesters (August to early May) so you could definitely look into that. Plus, if it’s unpaid research, I’m sure the professors would be more willing to take you over a paid position undergraduate at times.

I can't be the only person who has struggled while trying to obtain some sort of research through their own college!
You are not the only one I have heard this from, though. I will just have to press the matter harder on my end.

 

[theoceanman]

I can't be the only person who has struggled while trying to obtain some sort of research through their own college!
You are not the only one I have heard this from, though. I will just have to press the matter harder on my end.

I think a friend of mine who was also a non-trad had to email around 30+ professors for one position. It’s quite a tedious process for sure

 

[Mad_MD]

I think a friend of mine who was also a non-trad had to email around 30+ professors for one position. It’s quite a tedious process for sure

Yeah, that is crazy. But if that is what I have to do, then that's what I will do!
It is not like my ego will be ruined if I have to re-apply, I (just like everyone else in the premed world) would like to do this one-and-done style. In doing so I am trying to understand every aspect of the application process. I guess the problem I am running into is how vague some of the process is.
It only complicated things being non-trad and having no one medically inclined in my circle to be a soundboard for ANY of this.

follow up questions:
1) who am I supposed to get to read my personal statement?
2) Is there one good way over the other to prep for MMI's?
3) What is considered a "theme" for a medical school application?
4) how cautious should I be of SDN forums- I have heard to stay away from this site.

 

[theoceanman]

Yeah, that is crazy. But if that is what I have to do, then that's what I will do!
It is not like my ego will be ruined if I have to re-apply, I (just like everyone else in the premed world) would like to do this one-and-done style. In doing so I am trying to understand every aspect of the application process. I guess the problem I am running into is how vague some of the process is.
It only complicated things being non-trad and having no one medically inclined in my circle to be a soundboard for ANY of this.

follow up questions:
1) who am I supposed to get to read my personal statement?
2) Is there one good way over the other to prep for MMI's?
3) What is considered a "theme" for a medical school application?
4) how cautious should I be of SDN forums- I have heard to stay away from this site.

1. Advisors usually, such as verified (badged) advisors here on SDN, pre-health advisors from your alumni school potentially, paid services such as Med School Insiders or Ryan Gray, or have mentors in the medical field or recent successful applicants for MD/DO that could give feedback/tips. There’s a lot of people that can contribute to an overall “good” PS!

2. It’s all how you get comfortable with the MMI format. I just did practice interviews with friends.

3. I tend to tie in theme with mission-fit where you are expressing your motivations, passions, and drive to commit to medicine and what kind of population you see yourself serving through medicine. Basically, who do you want to work with and why, and does it match up to your application/CV.

4. My personal success this cycle can contributed to SDN to be quite frank, where I may have not been successful this cycle without SDN’s help. People warn to stay away from SDN, at least from personal experience, due to the fact that there are overly optimistic individuals in the world that expect that the world will revolve around them and they’re guaranteed to have an “amazing cycle” despite being overall extremely mediocre. Those people tend to ask SDN for WAMC, get honest feedback and constructive criticism, then get personally offended by such feedback (I had multiple friends experience this due to their ego trip with their 515+ MCAT scores). SDN can be quite unrealistic or overtly optimistic at times such as “AMA Way Below Average 4x Re-Applicant but got into Harvard Med lolol” or something like that, but when you receive advice from people who can give constructive feedback or advice without resorting to insults, shaming, or trolling, I would argue that’s when you could consider those opinions when applying. Of course, it’s not a given that you have to follow anything any of us say and still have good results, but many of us genuinely are taking the time to help you since I know that people such as myself struggled with my own application process and had to have SDN’ers, such as Faha and Mr.Smile12 contribute to my WAMC and improvements.