WAMC: cGPA 4.0, 525 MCAT

[17throwaway13579]

Hi all,
I'm 2 years out of undergrad. I wasn't really premed till late during my senior year so I really really lack a lot of undergrad activities (except research). Basically all of my stuff has been concentrated in the past 2-2.5 years. I work full-time so have had to be strategic about what I did, but maybe it has led to some average ECs.

GPA: 4.0
MCAT: 525
State: PA
Ethnicity: Asian male
College: T-10, bio and econ double major

Clinical Experience:

• ~200 hours low-income clinic (6 months but ongoing so around 8-10 months by time of application)- help screen patients, schedule appointments etc.,
• 120 hours essentially patient transport/patient ambassador at hospital (7 months),
• 70 hours volunteer on orthopedics floor of different hospital (7 months)

Research:

• global health research - 800+ hours (12 months but ongoing) - 5 pubs + 1 poster at international conference - all in review though some are close to being accepted (2 first author, 2 second author, 2 middle author). Mix of low, medium, and potentially high impact journals
• Undergrad c.elegans developmental bio focused lab - 1500 hours (3 years). Potential co-author publication would likely be in review during app cycle

Shadowing: ~10 hours (family medicine). Was going to get more then the pandemic hit. Have some additional shadowing (Infectious Disease and Emergency - both maybe 5-10 hours each) lined up hopefully soon but it all depends on when things open up. I don't know how big a weakness this is. If things truly open up, will definitely aim to get a lot more in the next several months

Non-clinical volunteering: A lot of it is oriented around food/hunger which isn't that unique, but I guess I could spin it. Could potentially be a weakness

• Medically tailored meal prep: ~150 hours over 1.5 years and ongoing
• Homeless shelter/soup kitchen: ~80 hours over 1.5 years and ongoing
• Meals on wheels: ~70 hours over 5 months

Other extracurricular activities:

• Currently work for global health-focused NGO, working on projects related to Malaria. Been here for a year and will likely continue on through the app cycle (so at least 1000 hours+ over 18 months or so). Was originally supposed to be based in Zimbabwe but with COVID that was scrapped so now work from home. Trying to be based abroad sometime in the next several months. I work on a lot of high-impact work, and work directly with ministry of health and other national stakeholders on improving their malaria program. It's pretty lean staffing and so I have a decent amount of leadership and responsibility
• Before this worked in healthcare consulting in New York (at least 1000 hours+) at decently notable firm. Was only there 7 months or so but worked on a few different projects. Can definitely write positively about it and at times it was interesting, but didn't really like it and that's why I left.
• Previous internship at a different healthcare consulting company also in New York (may or may not include on my app)
• On-campus religious-oriented club - vice president for 3 years

Awards/Honors: Econ department award, just some other institutional awards/research grants, deans list, etc.

LORs: 1 good, 2 very good to great, 3 great

I think my strengths are in research and a pretty interesting/high-impact job. Overall, I'm a pretty good writer. My major flags that I'm worried about are the lack of undergrad activities and activities basically came from the past 2 years, the fact that some of my volunteering was over a shortish span of 7-8 months and potentially just average, and limited shadowing to date. How big a limitation do you think these are?

I would like to work in areas related to global health, would obviously dream of going to a T-5, but will likely apply to T-20 plus some other state/local schools

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[Banco]

Bruh, come on...you have a great app, apply to wherever you want + all your in-state schools.

 

[456432]

Pack that sunscreen

/s

 

[candbgirl]

Your app looks great. Do not worry about your ECs. I can’t imagine why you are worried about them. You’ve done a very nice job of building your application. Now do,a good job on your applications/secondaries. ,

 

[itsmeskidsy]

This post is basically satire. Not gonna stroke your ego

 

[17throwaway13579]

I appreciate the replies here. I am aware that parts of my app are strong. I guess I was generally shooting for T10 schools and so I was thinking that for those caliber of schools, maybe my app is weak in some areas (where you really can't afford to be weak anywhere). I see tons of posts here all the time with people with similar stats but way better ECs

 

[17throwaway13579]

This post is basically satire. Not gonna stroke your ego

Didn't mean for it to come off that way! Was really thinking about this in comparison to T10 applicants so was worried but by no means was trying to say my app was average when I know it isn't

 

[17throwaway13579]

So nobody thinks that the lack of undergrad activities and some of the shorter stint volunteer stuff is a barrier. I thought it might come across as opportunism

 

[itsmeskidsy]

Didn't mean for it to come off that way! Was really thinking about this in comparison to T10 applicants so was worried but by no means was trying to say my app was average when I know it isn't

T10 admissions is a crapshoot. Your app is obviously great but there's still many like it. You could get into all of them, you could get into none. Nobody can actually give you realistic t10 odds and they do theyre just guessing

 

[candbgirl]

So nobody thinks that the lack of undergrad activities and some of the shorter stint volunteer stuff is a barrier. I thought it might come across as opportunism

Lots of people decide after college to switch career paths and decide on medicine. So, like you, they start exploring the field and building an application.
T10 is a crap shoot. Develop a broad list focusing on your goals, interests, where you live and where you’d like to live.

 

[deleted314957]

Just get into a good medical school asap.