WAMC cGPA 3.90, sGPA 3.88, MCAT 520

[Squarenucleus]

Hey everyone!

Current junior looking to apply for fall 2022 admission without a gap year.

GPA: 3.90 cGPA, 3.88 sGPA

Major: Biomedical Engineering

MCAT: 520 (129/127/132/132)

Residence: IL Resident, US Citizen

Race/Gender: White Male

Undergrad: BIG10 School

Clinical Experience:
-150 hrs of volunteering at local hospital, ~100 in the emergency room and ~50 in the operating room. Lots of hands on experiences with patients, as well as plenty of time shadowing healthcare providers.
~80 hrs at a T20 medical school Children's Hospital. Specifically in the GI/Hepatology department. Lots of patient interaction in both inpatient and outpatient setting.
~40 hrs in a transplant surgery internship at a T20 medical school. Would be more hours with a research focus, but with COVID we had all of our experiences online.


Research Experience:
~900 hrs in a tissue engineering lab I joined in my freshman year (ongoing). I have received an undergraduate grant from my institution, and will have an abstract, presentation and possibly a pub by the time of applications. I also have leadership experience in lab as I have mentored an undergraduate.
~(unknown hrs) I will be doing the Mayo Clinic SURF this summer on the clinical and translational research track.

Non-clinical volunteering:
- 30 hours of meal distribution through my local YMCA (started during COVID and worked until I returned to school)
- 25 hours of local volunteering in my school and local community through ASB
- 40 hours (ongoing) co-founder of a Project Sunshine chapter at my school, we have been doing telehealth visits because of COVID
- 20 hours other misc. volunteering through my campus honors program as well as my engineering honors society.


Other extracurricular activities (including athletics, military service, gap year activities, leadership, teaching, etc):
- 800+ hrs President of a Musical Theatre organization at my school, and I will likely be in the role again next year. We produce a large scale musical once per semester, which has given me a lot of leadership experience that I can write about. I also served as Treasurer for a year, and have done the lighting design for most productions since I have joined. Also, since the org is a 501c3 charity, we do community service work as well.

Relevant honors or awards
- Honors student
- Tau Beta Pi
- Deans list most semesters
-Undergraduate research grant recipient

Other Misc info:
I have lived with a pretty severe congenital liver illness throughout my life (nothing that would impact my ability to be a doctor) and I will be rooting my personal statement in my growth through that particular challenge and how it seeded my interest in medicine.

Tentative school list. My goal is to work in academic medicine (I fell like this list is top heavy, but I am not entirely sure. The list is in order of median GPA)
-Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
-New York University Grossman School of Medicine
-Harvard Medical School
-University of Chicago The Pritzker School of Medicine
-Northwestern University The Feinberg School of Medicine
-Vanderbilt University School of Medicine
-Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania
-Mayo Clinic Alix School of Medicine
-Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons
-Yale School of Medicine
-Weill Cornell Medicine
-Stanford University School of Medicine
-Duke University School of Medicine
-University of Michigan Medical School
-Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine
-University of California, San Diego School of Medicine
-University of California, Los Angeles David Geffen School of Medicine
-Boston University School of Medicine
-The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University
-University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry
-Emory University School of Medicine
-Albert Einstein College of Medicine
-Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California
-University of Wisonsin School of Medicine and Public Health
-Georgetown University School of Medicine
-Tufts University School of Medicine
-University of Illinois College of Medicine
-Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine
-Chicago Medical School at Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine & Sciences

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[biff_webster16]

Maybe add WUSTL, Cincinnati, Ohio State, Iowa, Mount Sinai, Hofstra.

 

[Faha]

Add Washington University.

 

[fullofbeanz]

Your list seems a little top heavy. I think you should shoot your shot at all those school, I would just add a few more mid-lower tier schools to your list. I have a 3.86/522 and applied this cycle and did not get an II to any “top tier” schools. You have more research and shadowing than I do, but still, you can never be too careful. There really are no guarantees in the process. I’m sure you’ll do great and get many interviews, but I just want to warn you against making your list super top heavy with mostly low yield schools as your “safeties”

 

[Squarenucleus]

Your list seems a little top heavy. I think you should shoot your shot at all those school, I would just add a few more mid-lower tier schools to your list. I have a 3.86/522 and applied this cycle and did not get an II to any “top tier” schools. You have more research and shadowing than I do, but still, you can never be too careful. There really are no guarantees in the process. I’m sure you’ll do great and get many interviews, but I just want to warn you against making your list super top heavy with mostly low yield schools as your “safeties”

Thank you for the suggestion! Do you have any suggestions for other school I could add for my mid-lower tier? I am trying to be mindful of mission and it has been a little difficult to find some that align with my prior experiences. My biggest shortcoming there, I believe, is my non-clinical volunteering hours are a little low for some of those schools (I.e. Rush).

 

[Banco]

You're fine to apply top heavy but make sure you have all your state schools and a few more mid tiers.

Cincinnati, OSU, MCW, SLU, Hofstra are some suggestions.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

My question is how much engineering do you want in your journey to academic medicine? You should filter some of the schools on the above list if you have any interest in maintaining a strong connection between medical school and engineering programs. Check out what the engineering schools are doing in collaboration with medical school or academic research peers.

 

[Squarenucleus]

My question is how much engineering do you want in your journey to academic medicine? You should filter some of the schools on the above list if you have any interest in maintaining a strong connection between medical school and engineering programs. Check out what the engineering schools are doing in collaboration with medical school or academic research peers.

Hey! I am actually not all that terribly interested in keeping engineering relevant in my education. All of the work I have done in bioengineering, including my research in the tissue engineering lab, has been highly focused on the biology side and that is what I have enjoyed; more-so than the engineering/math aspect.