WAMC: GPA 3.8, MCAT 520, academic IA

[raspberry-blue]

ORM, MA resident, Ivy undergrad
cGPA: 3.81
sGPA: 3.8
MCAT: 520 (128/132/130/130)

Volunteer clinical: 450 hr
- clinical research intern, virtual aphasia center volunteer, medical advocate for sexual assault survivors

Paid clinical (clinical research): ~1500 hr
- presented abstract, 2nd author paper submitted, more in the works

Other volunteer: 90
Bench research: 120 hr
Shadowing: 125 hr

1,300 hours of other leadership between two positions (one paid, one unpaid). Also teaching assistant, club sport, musical theater, art, lots of mental health and disability justice advocacy.

Connections to IL, MI, MA, New England.

Currently taking a gap year working in clinical research and doing some volunteering/shadowing while applying. Also LGBTQIA+ and including in some secondary diversity questions. Very interested in schools that are a mission fit -- I hope to get an MD/MPH, practice and do research related to SDOH, and become a physician advocate.

CONCERN: Have an IA for having too few courses complete for 2 semesters - my undergrad puts you on academic warning even if you have a good GPA. I took a few incompletes in courses mid-COVID due to multiple deaths of people close to me and some long COVID symptoms after getting it, and finished them later (before graduating). I explained this on AMCAS, but worried schools (esp. top schools) will screen me out.

School list:

• BU
• Brown
• Dartmouth
• Drexel
• GW
• Georgetown
• Harvard
• Kaiser
• Northwestern
• NYU
• Stanford
• Tufts
• UMass
• UCSD
• UCSF
• UChicago
• UColorado
• UConn
• UIllinois
• UMich
• UPenn
• URochester
• UVT
• WashU
• Yale

Would appreciate any thoughts or advice!

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[Mr.Smile12]

Did you list your nonclinical community service that shows service orientation? I'm sorry if it is not obvious in the original post. How does it tie into SDOH?

Just list your IA. I am not concerned with it from a quick scan.

 

[raspberry-blue]

Did you list your nonclinical community service that shows service orientation? I'm sorry if it is not obvious in the original post. How does it tie into SDOH?

Just list your IA. I am not concerned with it from a quick scan.

Sorry wasn’t super clear! Nonclinical volunteering was mainly being a peer mental health advocate (was trained then worked with a few peers/semester to help them access support resources for mental health and/or disability). Many couldn’t access traditional support due to cultural/financial/etc issues, so SDOH impacted their ‘illness’ experience as well as resource access. Also tutored for a year in math/science at a HS 99% below poverty line but didn’t include on app because had too many activities. One of my leadership roles was essentially the student health chair during COVID, during which I also did a lot of work advocating for students disproportionally impacted by the pandemic.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Sorry wasn’t super clear! Nonclinical volunteering was mainly being a peer mental health advocate (was trained then worked with a few peers/semester to help them access support resources for mental health and/or disability). Many couldn’t access traditional support due to cultural/financial/etc issues, so SDOH impacted their ‘illness’ experience as well as resource access. Also tutored for a year in math/science at a HS 99% below poverty line but didn’t include on app because had too many activities. One of my leadership roles was essentially the student health chair during COVID, during which I also did a lot of work advocating for students disproportionally impacted by the pandemic.

How many hours? Who trained you? Are we talking peers of similar age? Mental health crisis counseling is great but still health-related.

Do any of your activities involve you deeply in issues related to SDOH, like housing rehabilitation or food insecurity? How many hours?

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Continuing advice:
Check out the Medical Student Pride Alliance and schools with chapters.

Your geographic best bets are in the Northeast, but I'm interested in what your connections are with Illinois. It shouldn't stop you from applying to the Chicago schools.

What do you want to do with an MPH?

 

[raspberry-blue]

How many hours? Who trained you? Are we talking peers of similar age? Mental health crisis counseling is great but still health-related.

Do any of your activities involve you deeply in issues related to SDOH, like housing rehabilitation or food insecurity? How many hours?

90 hours, trained by student leaders and organization founders (variety of qualifications/main job is running it but some also social workers), peers of similar age.

Have some housing rehabilitation and food insecurity work but unfortunately mostly in the context of other activities i.e. food banks and access on undergrad campus for students. Some work supporting people experiencing homelessness and food insecurity in hometown but under 50 hours and not on app, did build housing (in the US) on a service trip but didn't include because was a while ago and now unsure about the ethics of it. Didn't really discover interest in public health until senior year and haven't had time to add more relevant experiences amidst MCAT studying and working. Trying to find research opps. at my job related to my specific interests but tough.

Attempting to balance building on my past experiences in my secondaries with some of my future goals... maybe more difficult than I had anticipated.

I was born in IL and have family in IL/MI that I've spent a lot of time with, familiar w the area, they still live there. Grew up in MA. Writing in some secondaries about extended family being homophobic/bigoted and my experience reckoning with this, net takeaway being able to find common ground with a variety of people's lived experiences even if we're very different or disagree.

I'm most interested in EM at the moment but definitely could change, see myself in academic medicine doing weeks/days on service vs. on research. Very interested in social epidemiology and would love to do research in the field, using it to advocate for my pt populations.

 

[LeaveNoTrace]

The IA shouldn't matter. Taking too many incompletes isn't usually the kind of issue that people are concerned with...you've explained them well and have a solid pattern of performance. The academic IAs people worry about are things like cheating.