- Joined
- Jul 29, 2020
- Messages
- 25
- Reaction score
- 11
For context, I’m applying next cycle. I’m about to begin my senior year as of Fall 2020, and will apply during my gap year. At this point I’m trying to get organized and maximize my chances. What can I do to improve my application in the time I have left? What would my chances be if I were applying this cycle, and how do I compare to top 20 matriculants?
School List:
- State of residence: Florida resident born & raised but hoping to leave if possible. Strong family connections in Washington State and Connecticut.
- Year in school: senior, graduating in May 2021.
- Undergraduate major: Microbiology
- GPA: During my first two years of college I had mostly A’s and a handful of B’s which are dragging me down more than I’d like (calc and orgo). I made straight A’s my junior year and with my senior course load I’ll likely finish strong.
- cGPA: 3.85 (projected, currently 3.82)
- BCPM: 3.74 (projected, currently 3.71)
- MCAT score(s) and breakdown: 515 (130/128/129/128) - this was a diagnostic. I’m planning to test in October (or later) so I still have time to prepare. Shooting for 537+ but would settle for 518
---- (EDIT: when I say diagnostic I mean full length, my bad. This was my NS1 after two months of full time studying. Unfortunately my first ever true diagnostic with no prep was in fact not a 515. I'd sleep a lot better at night if that were the case). - Ethnicity and/or race: White
- Undergraduate institution or category: transferred from a four-year Florida public to another Florida four-year public after the end of my freshman year
- Clinical experience
- Campus emergency medical response team 200 hours, 400 projected if COVID hadn’t happened
- Summer internship at a community paramedicine program (85 hours)
- Research experience and productivity: Microbiology research (non-medical) - volunteered in a lab which focused on the biochemistry of extremophile microbes. Projected 1200+ hours over three years
- Published 4th author in a low impact journal for contributing to a project
- Projected to complete my own honors thesis on the project I’ve led (for summa cum laude). Could potentially lead to first author publication in a very low impact journal
- Presented poster at multiple institution-level symposiums and one state conference
- Potential co-author on my graduate student’s thesis
- Shadowing experience and specialties represented: Right now - nothing, unless you count ten hours of shadowing in high school. I had 50 hours lined up with an ER doctor for this summer, but COVID put a stop to that. I have no idea what I’m going to do about this but I have a year to come up with something. I believe this is my largest red flag.
- Non-clinical volunteering
- Youth advisory council member for a charity which supports schools in Africa and provides mentorship for orphans in Kenya and Uganda (150 hours projected)
- Teaching assistant for microbiology course lab component (160 hours)
- Teaching assistant for extracurricular (student-led) emergency first responder course (130 hours)
- Elected residence hall council member (300 hours)
- Sustainable campus volunteer - worked on community gardens in high-risk areas (60 hours)
- Work Experiences :
- Peer health educator at campus public health service (8-15 hours per week for two years, about 700 hours projected)
- Paid tutor (30 hours, projected)
- Other extracurricular activities (including athletics, military service, gap year activities, leadership, teaching, etc)
- Treasurer and lab coordinator for student organization which facilitates emergency first responder course (see ‘non-clinical volunteering’)
- Shift leader for campus emergency medical response unit
- Emergency medical responder certification + CPR/BLS for healthcare providers (was supposed to attend EMT school this summer, COVID ruined that too)
- Women in Math, Science, and Engineering (WIMSE) Living Learning Community - member
- Law Enforcement Bicycle Association (LEBA) - Class B Certification
- Violinist in university’s symphony orchestra - one year, would have been two (once again COVID). We were supposed to do Beethoven 9 this fall
- Cycling
- Relevant honors or awards
- Summa Cum Laude (projected, as long as I finish my senior project and maintain my GPA)
- Dean’s list/Presidents list most semesters
- Anything else not listed you think might be important
- Gap year: I’m hoping I’ll be able to continue volunteering in EMS. Ideally I’d like to get a job in clinical research using my Microbiology degree, but I also have connections within the extremophile research circle - if it comes to it I’ll likely be able to find a paid position continuing work similar to my undergraduate project. If COVID clears up, I’m planning to backpack through Italy and spend another six weeks in Kenya doing work with my non-profit.
- My primary interest is Emergency Medicine. I enjoy fast-paced environments, and I’d rather go “a mile wide over a mile deep” as they say. I’ve had the opportunity to interact with emergency medicine residents through my work with the campus emergency medical response unit, and their mentorship has led me to become excited about the field. I am particularly interested in critical care but I’m trying to keep an open mind. I have a lesser interest in genetics and infectious diseases and would like to explore areas of medicine which overlap with these interests.
School List:
- Drexel
- George Washington University
- Oregon health and sciences
- Florida International University
- University of Central Florida
- University of Miami
- University of Florida
- Florida Atlantic
- University of South Florida
- Thomas Jefferson
- Temple
- University of Washington
- SUNY downstate
- Boston University
- Albert Einstein
- Tufts
- UConn
- Vanderbilt
- Yale
- Harvard
- NYU
- Weill Cornell
- Columbia
- UPenn
- Johns Hopkins
- U Colorado
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