WAMC for Big-City Schools (3.95, 525)

[Vulpes11111]

---

Members don't see this ad.

Hello all, have been watching these forums for a while and making my decisions about activities based on the advice I’ve seen here, so I am excited to be able to post. Thank you to those who donate your time, it has been pivotal in my understanding of the process.

I will graduate this spring and plan on applying this upcoming cycle. These hour totals are projected to application time, but I am deep into all of the activities that are ongoing and so I am sure I will be able to reach these totals. I have been wondering if I should shift focus from EMT/interpreting to acquire some more hours at the shelter before application time comes.

1. cGPA: 3.95, sGPA 3.95
2. 525 (132/132/130/131)
3. Georgia
4. White male (LGBT)
5. Georgia Tech
6. Clinical experience
   1. Emergency Department scribe (1200 hours)
   2. 911 EMT for service based in busy downtown safety net hospital (1000 hours)
   3. Registration volunteer at free clinic in homeless shelter (80 hours)
   4. Volunteer medical interpreter at charitable community clinic (mostly primary care with some neuro, derm, and peds specialists occasionally): Spanish and English language pair (450 hours)
7. Research experience and productivity
   1. (Nonbiomedical) engineering lab (350 hours)
   2. Biomedical engineering lab: paid position (600 hours)
      1. Research award (mentioned below)
      2. Two posters
      3. Hopefully a second author publication by application time
8. Shadowing experience: 110 hours
   1. Outpatient primary care
   2. Outpatient pediatrics
   3. Inpatient internal medicine
   4. Inpatient hospice
   5. Emergency medicine
   6. Forensic pathology
9. Non-clinical volunteering
   1. Front desk volunteer at combination homelessness resource center and shelter (300 hours)
10. Other extracurricular activities
    1. President of wellness related club and on a board with the recreation center (250 hours)
    2. Outdoor trip leader for university: planned and led both short- and long-term trips sometimes to remote locations and abroad (500 hours)
    3. Chemistry teaching assistant (400 hours)
    4. Outdoor themed summer camp counselor (600 hours)
11. Relevant honors or awards
    1. University research award that came with a few thousand-dollar personal stipend
12. Anything else not listed you think might be important
    1. (Nonbiomedical) engineering and Spanish double major
    2. Fluent in Spanish which I learned to be able to communicate with patients, not spoken at home. Went through formal medical interpreter training.

For my school list, I am passionate about the issues people face in big cities and want to continue my work with immigrant and unhoused communities, and so my list is mostly made up of schools in populous cities. New York would be my #1 choice.

My premed advisor says I have a good list, but I have a feeling some of you on here will say some of these schools will yield protect and that I am lacking in non-clinical community service for some others. I am not applying to my state schools because I do not think that their locations suit my goals, although I am open to arguments for applying to them. I would love to hear opinions on schools I should drop from this list and others I should add.

Schools I want to apply to

Columbia

Cornell

Icahn

NYU

Albert Einstein

Keck

UCLA

Northwestern

Upenn

Kimmel

Drexel

Temple

Stanford

UCSF

Boston university

Tufts

Hopkins

WashU

George Washington

Georgetown

Miami

Emory

Tulane

University of Pittsburgh

UA Phoenix

Uchicago

Harvard (unsure)– Strict letter requirement that I think would cause me to have to submit weak letters

University of Colorado (unsure) – Borderline OOS unfriendly as I understand

 

[Faha]

Drexel and Temple may yield protect with your stats.

 

[Vulpes11111]

Thanks Faha, I will take those off. Are there any that you think I should add? Do you think I have a good shot at interviews with these schools?

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Getting interviews depends on your reflective writing and answers to secondary questions. Have you been pre-writing secondaries?

Your metrics should grab attention at any school on your list, but if you are looking for places with expertise and opportunities in urban health, you should put your focus there. Maximize your effort; if the letters requirement pushes you away from a Harvard application, don't send them your money... they don't need it. That said, Boston hospitals do a lot with refugee and undocumented communities.

I'm not sure you're lacking non-clinical community service. What are you doing in that shelter for 300 hours?

What I am wondering is how you got to being interested in urban health? Nothing wrong with 600 hours in outdoor athletic activities, but you have worked as an EMT and with a community health center. Point out the activities where you have dug more deeply into the issues... courses that you've taken, advocacy groups you have volunteered or organized with, your own personal/family history with the topic.

I promote the resources of the Physicians for Human Rights. Their student conference is next week at Harvard. I hope you have signed up. If not, find a med student chapter near you.

Student Advisory Board - 2025 Student Conference

Please note registration is required for admission to the conference. Registration closes on March 7th for all attendees coming from outside Harvard. All persons accepted for abstract presentation must register for the conference by March 7th. We hope to see you there, and please explore our

www.phrstudents.org

 

[Vulpes11111]

Mr. Smile, thank you for the in-depth response. This is really helpful for organizing my thoughts and seeing my story from the perspective of an ADCOM.

I have been pre-writing secondaries and feel I have a strong narrative that relates my personal life story and problems I have seen in the queer community with my interest in urban health. As for the outdoor activities, I think that getting people into nature is a really good way to help address some of the problems inherent with city living, and I hope that my presidency of the outdoor wellness club reflects that.

In terms of the non-clinical community service, I worked at the front desk of a large homelessness resource center, personally providing individuals experiencing homelessness with direct support in the form of food and clothing, as well as helping them to find resources in the community. I also managed the lobby, and during the winter, managed the warming shelter we run.

I am open to any other feedback people may have about school mission fit or school list, and thanks again to those who donate their time here.