WAMC for next cycle? (3.79/51x/URM)

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Undergrad cGPA: 3.79, sGPA: 3.63
MCAT: 51x
State of Residence: Pennsylvania
Undergrad Type: Public
Background: URM (Black, non-Hispanic)
Graduation: Spring 2022
Major: Public Health

Clinical experience:
-General hospital volunteer
-PACU telehealth volunteer
-Retirement community rehab unit volunteer (so physicians and all kinds of therapists around)

Other paid (non-clinical) experience:
-R&D summer internship at a large pharmaceutical company (think Pfizer, J&J, Bayer, AstraZeneca, Merck)

Research:
-Quantitative data collection and NIH grant writing in an biomechanics lab
-Observational data collection, literature review, and data reporting in a public health lab:

Shadowing: inpatient anesthesiology, inpatient bariatric surgery, outpatient PM&R, outpatient orthopedic surgery

Non-clinical volunteering:
-Red Cross Blood Donor Screener and Blood Drive Ambassador

Leadership:
-President of a club sports team
-Student mentor within my college/major

Other ECs: Intermediate fluency in a foreign language (not Spanish though)

Honors/awards: National placements/ranking in aforementioned club sport

Notes:
-I am planning on working in clinical research + doing more non-clinical volunteering during the rest of the school year and my gap year. I know I could use more non-clinical hours.
-I am currently in the onboarding process for a part-time job in a hospital clinical research lab, so I’ll have opportunities to get more shadowing and patient-facing experience here.


I want to at least apply to all of the PA MD schools, so as of now my list is:
Pitt
Penn
Temple
Drexel
Jefferson/Sidney Kimmel
Penn State
Geisinger

Could I have some help with building a school list? Also, are there any other glaring deficiencies in my app that I should work on between now and May 2022? The goal is to just go through this process once, so I am also willing to take off an additional year and apply in 2023 if necessary. Thank you!

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You’ve done a good job with your applications. Try to find a primary care doc and get some hours with that speciality. And as you said, increase and diversify your nonclinical volunteering. Maybe try a homeless shelter, soup kitchen, food bank, coaching a sports team for underprivileged kids or disabled kid. Good luck next cycle. ( I don’t do lists but someone will along to help there. But I think you can apply wherever you want to apply.)
 
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You’ve done a good job with your applications. Try to find a primary care doc and get some hours with that speciality. And as you said, increase and diversify your nonclinical volunteering. Maybe try a homeless shelter, soup kitchen, food bank, coaching a sports team for underprivileged kids or disabled kid. Good luck next cycle. ( I don’t do lists but someone will along to help there. But I think you can apply wherever you want to apply.)
Great, thank you for the ideas!
 
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You can add any of these schools to your application:
Harvard
Dartmouth
Brown
Boston University
Yale
Mount Sinai
NYU
Columbia
Cornell
Georgetown
U Virginia
Duke
Emory
Miami
Vanderbilt
Tulane
Washington University
Northwestern
U Chicago
U Michigan
Case Western
Ohio State
Cincinnati
UCSF
USC Keck
Kaiser
 
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You can add any of these schools to your application:
Harvard
Dartmouth
Brown
Boston University
Yale
Mount Sinai
NYU
Columbia
Cornell
Georgetown
U Virginia
Duke
Emory
Miami
Vanderbilt
Tulane
Washington University
Northwestern
U Chicago
U Michigan
Case Western
Ohio State
Cincinnati
UCSF
USC Keck
Kaiser
Thank you! I’ve heard that Jesuit schools like Georgetown ask for extensive community service, something I’m still working on. Would you still recommend applying?
 
Undergrad cGPA: 3.79, sGPA: 3.63
MCAT: 517 (129/129/129/130)
State of Residence: Pennsylvania
Undergrad Type: Public
Background: URM (Black, non-Hispanic)
Graduation: Spring 2022
Major: Public Health

Clinical experience:
-General hospital volunteer
-PACU telehealth volunteer
-Retirement community rehab unit volunteer (so physicians and all kinds of therapists around)

Other paid (non-clinical) experience:
-R&D summer internship at a large pharmaceutical company (think Pfizer, J&J, Bayer, AstraZeneca, Merck)

Research:
-Quantitative data collection and NIH grant writing in an biomechanics lab
-Observational data collection, literature review, and data reporting in a public health lab:

Shadowing: inpatient anesthesiology, inpatient bariatric surgery, outpatient PM&R, outpatient orthopedic surgery

Non-clinical volunteering:
-Red Cross Blood Donor Screener and Blood Drive Ambassador

Leadership:
-President of a club sports team
-Student mentor within my college/major

Other ECs: Intermediate fluency in a foreign language (not Spanish though)

Honors/awards: National placements/ranking in aforementioned club sport

Notes:
-I am planning on working in clinical research + doing more non-clinical volunteering during the rest of the school year and my gap year. I know I could use more non-clinical hours.
-I am currently in the onboarding process for a part-time job in a hospital clinical research lab, so I’ll have opportunities to get more shadowing and patient-facing experience here.


I want to at least apply to all of the PA MD schools, so as of now my list is:
Pitt
Penn
Temple
Drexel
Jefferson/Sidney Kimmel
Penn State
Geisinger

Could I have some help with building a school list? Also, are there any other glaring deficiencies in my app that I should work on between now and May 2022? The goal is to just go through this process once, so I am also willing to take off an additional year and apply in 2023 if necessary. Thank you!
Update: I submitted my primary a few weeks ago- here are some things that have changed since my initial post:

-AMCAS verified GPA including final semester grades: 3.84c/3.66s

-Started working as a clinical research assistant in November 2021
(recruiting/consenting patients for research studies + some wet lab stuff). Planning to do this for the rest of my gap year

-Started volunteering at a local soup kitchen

-Some more shadowing (pediatrics)

I sent a primary to these programs but I’m getting cold feet about the number. Should I add some more schools?

(in alphabetical order):
  1. Albert Einstein
  2. BU
  3. Case Western
  4. Columbia
  5. Drexel
  6. Emory
  7. Geisinger
  8. Harvard
  9. Howard
  10. Icahn
  11. Hopkins
  12. Kaiser
  13. Northwestern
  14. NYU
  15. Ohio State
  16. Penn State
  17. Sidney Kimmel
  18. Temple
  19. UCSF
  20. UCLA
  21. U Chicago
  22. U Cincinnati
  23. Penn Perelman
  24. Pitt
  25. WUSTL
  26. Yale
 
Update: I received 15 II from this list (did not attend them all). Thanks again!
 
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