WAMC for next cycle/school list (3.99/525)

[premed1760]

---

Members don't see this ad.

Hi everyone! I will be applying next cycle and would appreciate any feedback you guys could offer on ways to improve by the time applications open, as well as on my school list. I will post all my stats below as well as the schools I’m trying to narrow down. Thanks in advance!

- Will be taking one gap year (Age at applying: 22)
- Female, ORM, PA resident
- cGPA: 3.99 sGPA: 3.98 MCAT: 525
- Graduated from a PA school in the honors college with a Biology degree and minors in Chemistry and Computer Science
- Experiences:
1. 700 hours as a CNA at a large trauma center ICU
2. 600 hours as a 911 EMT
3. 60 hours as a nursing home assistant
4. 200 hours hospital volunteer
5. 70 hours medical volunteer in Guatemala
6. 80 hours food pantry volunteer
7. 800 hours in a neuro lab; undergrad thesis, 2 publications (one first author, one second author), 4 poster presentations (all first author, 2 national conferences), 2 oral presentations
8. 900 hours in a chemistry lab; 2 publications, one third and one fourth author, 4 presentations (third author on all)
9. Gap year doing research, 1500 hours expected
10. Medical fraternity president
11. Bio organization treasurer
12. Chemistry TA (200 hours)
13. Gymnastics coach (Hobby, 200 hours)
14. Shadowing (10+ specialties, 200 hours)

Also considering MD/PhD if anyone has advice on my chances there!

Schools:
Penn State
Thomas Jefferson
Temple
Drexel
Pitt
UPenn
Geisinger
BU
UMass
Tufts
UMiami
UCF
Mayo Clinic
Albert Einstein
Mount Sinai
NYU
NYMC
Johns Hopkins
UMaryland
Georgetown
George Washington
Brown
Ohio State
Case Western
Cleveland Clinic Lerner
IU
UMich
Duke
Wake Forest
UVA
UCLA
USC
Tulane
Colorado
WashU
Northwestern

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Welcome to the forums.

You can also ask the Research Scientist forums where our MD/PhD/MSTP folks hang out. I think you're okay for the research side of things.

Service orientation though is light. You only have 80 hours working with your food bank; ideally you need 150 hours of service orientation activities to avoid getting screened out at most schools, including shelter volunteer, job/tax preparation, legal support, transportation services, and housing rehabilitation. As a high-metrics applicant, you should get to 250 hours to keep pace with your peers. Keep going and adding those hours at the food pantry.

 

[premed1760]

Welcome to the forums.

You can also ask the Research Scientist forums where our MD/PhD/MSTP folks hang out. I think you're okay for the research side of things.

Service orientation though is light. You only have 80 hours working with your food bank; ideally you need 150 hours of service orientation activities to avoid getting screened out at most schools, including shelter volunteer, job/tax preparation, legal support, transportation services, and housing rehabilitation. As a high-metrics applicant, you should get to 250 hours to keep pace with your peers. Keep going and adding those hours at the food pantry.

Does having more clinical volunteering make up for the lack of non-clinical? I have ~260 hours of clinical volunteering currently that was a lot more meaningful to me at the time. Also, if I were to add other non-clinical volunteering positions could I combine it with the food pantry on AMCAS? I left that position so I most likely couldn’t add more hours with the same organization. Thanks!!

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Does having more clinical volunteering make up for the lack of non-clinical? I have ~260 hours of clinical volunteering currently that was a lot more meaningful to me at the time. Also, if I were to add other non-clinical volunteering positions could I combine it with the food pantry on AMCAS? I left that position so I most likely couldn’t add more hours with the same organization. Thanks!!

It doesn't work like that. Most schools want a sufficient number of both. You could combine hours if your non-clinical responsibilities were service-oriented activities directly working with those in need for food distribution, shelter volunteer, job/tax preparation, legal support, transportation services, or housing rehabilitation for this criterion.