WAMC for 25-26 cycle

[LambAndWolf]

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[toastedbutter]

My personal thoughts are that your time would be best spent building up more hours in the activities you already have instead of adding something new, especially because the volunteer abroad opportunity while interesting doesn't much fit with your interests and who you want to portray yourself as to schools.

Your stats are really high, and you're in line with top schools. Those schools are generally also pretty research focused. So your time is best spent there. Your research doesn't have to be clinical. The bird thing is cool especially because it fits your computer image and theme. Do the most you can with that, project tons of (realistic) hours out for all your activities throughout your application year, and get more shadowing in (especially primary care). You'll get some slack on the lower hours because you're traditional, but still try to juice it up as much as possible, especially in the research, the hospice, and free clinic.

You are at about 13 activity entries right now. Add in a hobby or two and you're at 15 anyways, so again would not personally recommend the extra volunteer thing that will draw time away from other things. There will be plenty of time at most schools you may be accepted to for global experiences; plus, that is also when you can further specialise in your computational stuff by pursuing that kind of clinical research, a dual degree in informatics etc, and/or clubs and groups with that focus.

 

[LambAndWolf]

There will be plenty of time at most schools you may be accepted to for global experiences; plus, that is also when you can further specialise in your computational stuff by pursuing that kind of clinical research, a dual degree in informatics etc, and/or clubs and groups with that focus.

Super cool, thank you for your help!

 

[Faha]

In addition to your state public schools I suggest these:
Washington University (in St. Louis-almost a guaranteed interview with your stats)
Northwestern
U Chicago
U Michigan
Case Western
Cincinnati
Pittsburgh
U Penn
Johns Hopkins
Hofstra
Einstein
Mount Sinai
NYU
Columbia
Cornell
Rochester
Harvard
Yale
Boston University
U Virginia
Duke
Emory
Vanderbilt
Mayo
UCSF

 

[Mr.Smile12]

I concur with @toastedbutter. Your metrics justify a shot at the top schools, but, comparing to that pool, you don't have enough hours working with doctors (get to 50 hours of shadowing before applying, especially in primary care). Build the clinical hours to at least 250 hours by the time you apply, but know that you may be up against candidates with much more especially since many took gap years. You have some choices to make when it comes to prioritizing your activities, but frankly, that's a great decision you have to make (re: opportunity abroad).

Read

Finding Your Greatest Common Factors with Successful Students | SDN

The Greatest Common Factor (GCF) between two numbers is the largest positive integer that can divide both numbers evenly (without remainders). Prime

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Do you need the bandwidth to take on a research project? That depends on your narrative. What I can tell from your narrative is that you do a lot in a clinical or clinic-adjacent context, but it's not clear how far you stretch outside your comfort zone. I think you'll get to 150 non-clinical community service hours, but nothing directly with a community/social need (food distribution, shelter volunteer, job/tax preparation, transportation services, or housing rehabilitation).

I'm interested in the intersection between medicine and technology, and really being able to leverage computational techniques, but I feel like I haven't really done much to show that.

I agree your description doesn't point in that direction. Do you have a capstone? Are you involved in any competitions or hackathons?

Be aware of how you state this interest. You want to go into medicine to become a doctor, and you won't have a lot of coverage that will give you a chance to look at computational innovation in medicine while in medical school (though there are a few exceptions). The top schools that you will apply to will have those opportunities, so it doesn't help you stand out unless you are drawn to specific innovation opportunities or programs.

Read

How to Engineer a Health Professional Career | SDN

NOTE: In this article, “engineering” can refer to quantitative analytical subjects like physics, mathematics, computer science, or finance/economics, but

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Q&A with Carle Illinois College of Medicine: Developing Innovation and Entrepreneurship as Health Professionals | SDN

In a previous article, I discussed the advantages engineering-trained applicants bring to the health professions. For this article, we asked the

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[LambAndWolf]

I'd definitely be super happy to land at one of those programs that have pretty dedicated computational-type programs in medical school -- I also just feel a lot of them are definitely reaches (ie Stanford Healthcare Innovation Lab, Harvard HST). With Carle Illinois, do you know if it was okay if I finished the one of the "competencies"/pre-reqs before matriculation rather than before applying?

 

[LambAndWolf]

In addition to your state public schools I suggest these:
Washington University (in St. Louis-almost a guaranteed interview with your stats)
Northwestern
U Chicago
U Michigan
Case Western
Cincinnati
Pittsburgh
U Penn
Johns Hopkins
Hofstra
Einstein
Mount Sinai
NYU
Columbia
Cornell
Rochester
Harvard
Yale
Boston University
U Virginia
Duke
Emory
Vanderbilt
Mayo
UCSF

Thank you! Do you think schools like Temple/Drexel/OSU will yield protect? I'm a bit worried about applying too top-heavy.

 

[Faha]

Thank you! Do you think schools like Temple/Drexel/OSU will yield protect? I'm a bit worried about applying too top-heavy.

Temple and Drexel will yield protect.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Do you also agree with @toastedbutter that prioritizing research over the summer would be better? If I continued my current research with the birds, do you think that could somewhat support my narrative of being interested in this sort of quantitative/interdisciplinary research applied to medicine?

Again, you have some great choices. Your pending research is unusual that people may want to ask you about it as it can make you stand out there. (I won't doxx you but there are few researchers in this area on songbird communication.) Most people cannot or do not continue their undergraduate research in medical school so don't put too much weight on it.

In "Finding Your Greatest Common Factors with Successful Students", international service opportunities that are a year are listed as meaningful experiences. If it's just for 8 weeks, is it still regarded as that meaningful.

Without more info, it's hard for me to generalize. You have to make the argument.

I was hoping the free clinic and the VA hospice would help show being outside my comfort zone in terms of dealing with populations I normally don't interact with, but I definitely see how there's nothing with a direct community/social need. Do you think taking the abroad opportunity (even though it'd be after submitting primaries) could help with that? It's not something you listed, but I see it as more of a direct community need, though it would be in a foreign community. If not, is this point about lack of going outside your comfort zone a deal-breaker?

Since I presume you are going to compete in the top tier of students and schools, I am hesitant to call anything a deal-breaker.

But since this is an anticipated activity, it could be enough to separate you from other candidates in terms of the step on the priority ladder for an offer. I am punting on positive or negative since I don't know this activity.

I'm planning on competing at a school Hackathon, and potentially doing a capstone project senior year (need to discuss with my lab, which is cross-listed in ECE). Your point about making sure I want to ultimately be a doctor is acknowledged. Do you think if I can't make a lot of progress with building my application towards this computational innovation theme (maybe by pursuing more research this summer?) that I should just drop it altogether? It's definitely something I've had in my mind as I was looking for research opportunities and selecting classes, but I see how it's not the strongest, and could even be dangerous if I'm not careful. Without it though, I feel like my motivation for pursuing research (and particularly the research projects I did), is less strong.

This is your dilemma. You are competing against graduates who have capstone or competition experience that they can better articulate (sell) their experience towards being an entrepreneur. It's not that you can't do it, but you should have an explanation why this is your purpose. That's where I hope the articles help you.

I'd definitely be super happy to land at one of those programs that have pretty dedicated computational-type programs in medical school -- I also just feel a lot of them are definitely reaches (ie Stanford Healthcare Innovation Lab, Harvard HST). With Carle Illinois, do you know if it was okay if I finished the one of the "competencies"/pre-reqs before matriculation rather than before applying?

You would have to ask them but read their webpage carefully. Youn don't need all the competencies fulfilled before applying IIRC.

 

[LambAndWolf]

Again, you have some great choices. Your pending research is unusual that people may want to ask you about it as it can make you stand out there. (I won't doxx you but there are few researchers in this area on songbird communication.) Most people cannot or do not continue their undergraduate research in medical school so don't put too much weight on it.



Without more info, it's hard for me to generalize. You have to make the argument.


Since I presume you are going to compete in the top tier of students and schools, I am hesitant to call anything a deal-breaker.

But since this is an anticipated activity, it could be enough to separate you from other candidates in terms of the step on the priority ladder for an offer. I am punting on positive or negative since I don't know this activity.


This is your dilemma. You are competing against graduates who have capstone or competition experience that they can better articulate (sell) their experience towards being an entrepreneur. It's not that you can't do it, but you should have an explanation why this is your purpose. That's where I hope the articles help you.

You would have to ask them but read their webpage carefully. Youn don't need all the competencies fulfilled before applying IIRC.

Sounds good, thank you for all your help!

 

[LambAndWolf]

Temple and Drexel will yield protect.

Thank you for the school list and the info!

 

[Goro]

PLEASE DO NOT QUOTE THIS MESSAGE

Hi,.

Once again, thanks for any help!

Get in more service to others less fortunate than yourself, outside of a hospital.

The teaching English jig seems to be good as long as it is more than a week

 

[LambAndWolf]

Get in more service to others less fortunate than yourself, outside of a hospital.

The teaching English jig seems to be good as long as it is more than a week

They made it sound like it’d be like the commitment of a full time job for like 8 weeks — is it okay that it’s abroad?

It would also start after primaries are submitted, so is it okay if it’s just listed as anticipated?

 

[Goro]

They made it sound like it’d be like the commitment of a full time job for like 8 weeks — is it okay that it’s abroad?

It would also start after primaries are submitted, so is it okay if it’s just listed as anticipated?

"Anticipated" means nothing to Adcoms.

8 weeks is a good time commitment.

 

[LambAndWolf]

"Anticipated" means nothing to Adcoms.

8 weeks is a good time commitment.

Sounds good, figured what I did this summer didn't matter too much for primaries. Thank you!