WAMC/ Help with School List(NJ ORM 3.95/520)

This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.
Joined
Mar 22, 2022
Messages
4
Reaction score
7
Hi y’all! I’m planning on applying soon but I’m still confused about how this process really works— my biggest concerns are which schools to apply to based on fit. If y’all could take a look at this profile and provide feedback/ schools to look at, I’d really appreciate the tips.


1.CGPA and GPA as calculated by AMCAS or
AACOMAS

CGPA:3.95
SGPA:3.94

2. MCAT score: 520 (131/127/130/132)

3. State of residence or country of citizenship: NJ (college in MA, parents work in NY)

4. Ethnicity and/or race:ORM (Asian)

5. Undergraduate institution: went to a good private university, not T20. Major in human anatomy and physiology, minor in anthropology

6. Clinical experience (volunteer and non-volunteer):
-525 hours as a 911 volunteer emt
-200 hours medical transport work (underserved area)
-200 hours covid testing (underserved area)
-50 Hours PCT

7. Research experience:
-600 hours remote lit review research
~100 hours medical anthropological research (gonna add 200-300 hours working on this maybe over summer, and maybe complete a thesis in the fall based on related work— I do want to keep doing anthropology research into med school)

8. Shadowing experience and specialties
represented:
none, trying to find some experience

9. Non-clinical volunteering
-30 hours volunteering with childrens mentoring org (can talk about this)
-50 hours in a hospital (did sometimes discharge patients but b/c most of my work was not pt.facing and I wasn’t involved in care I think of it as non clinical although it could be seen as more clinical)

10. Other extracurricular activities (including
athletics, military service, gap year activities,
leadership, teaching, etc)

-500 hours club sports(captain junior year)
-600 hours, Editor at political writing club (wrote two articles, with one being a full “white paper” type report on rural health care)
-350 hours as a TA
-50 hours paid tutoring

11. Relevant honors or awards
-Eagle Scout (in high school but will prob mention during secondary/ interview)
-Deans list all sems

12. Anything else not listed you think might be
important
-Graduating early so would have ~6 months to do something else if taking one gap year

-Have a possible x-factor which was a lifelong dream of mine and quite rare, especially for an undergraduate (saying what it was would probably dox me because it was public and visible on a national level). 300 hours committed to it, so it’s def not as impressive as a phd or being an Olympian. If it helps, y'all can leave this out entirely when weighing everything up or PM me I guess.

Interested in primary care?:Y
Interested in rural healthcare?: kinda? (def interested but not 100%)

School list so far:
Rutgers NB, Rutgers Newark, Harvard, JHU, NYU,BU, Brown, UVA,USF, Penn, Tufts, UNC, NYULI, Cincinnati, case western, SUNY Downstate, Maryland, Rochester, Emory, UMass, UCSD

For the summer, I want to get back into non clinical volunteering stuff over the summer (Covid/school/ work has made that very difficult) and maybe get 30-40hrs shadowing at local hospitals. I'm also probably going to do an internship and continue working as a PCT

For schools, I’m mostly interested in places that are good for primary care/ pediatric care, and have a history of focusing on community health research and advocacy. If anyone is also an anthropology person, schools with good programs or researchers would be appreciated (I’d like to keep doing anthropological research over bench research bc it’s way more interesting to me). I also reckon my list is top heavy but I don't know what schools I should add that are more in my strike zone.

Thanks for any advice y’all have!

Members don't see this ad.
 
Last edited:
I would recommend more non-clinical volunteering, especially to the underserved and those less fortunate. Usually helping at places like a homeless shelter, soup kitchen, food bank, with foster care youth etc as these are outside your comfort zone. Mentoring children for 30 hours is not really showing an altruistic side, which is what medicine is all about. Also, you must get shadowing experience before applying.

Of your current list, take out Brown as they take their own or other Ivy League graduates usually. SUNY Downstate probably doesn’t take many OOS students and your parents working in NY doesn’t help much in having a tie to the state.

Consider adding:
Hofstra
WMed
Saint Louis
WUSTL
Vanderbilt
Mayo
Ohio State
Jefferson
USC Keck
Einstein
Mt Sinai
University of Chicago
Dartmouth
 
Last edited:
I would recommend more non-clinical volunteering, especially to the underserved and those less fortunate. Usually helping at places like a homeless shelter, soup kitchen, food bank, with foster care youth etc as these are outside your comfort zone. Mentoring children for 30 hours is not really showing an altruistic side, which is what medicine is all about. Also, you must get shadowing experience before applying.

Of your current list, take out Brown as they take their own or other Ivy League graduates usually. SUNY Downstate probably doesn’t take many OOS students and your parents working in NY doesn’t help much in having a tie to the state.

Consider adding:
Hofstra
WMed
Saint Louis
WUSTL
Vanderbilt
Mayo
Ohio State
Jefferson
USC Keck
Einstein
Mt Sinai
University of Chicago
Dartmouth
Thanks for the affirmation -- the mentoring is BBBS, so it is with an underserved population, but that would be my focus for volunteering in the summer (especially orgs that I know do good work/areas I'm interested in)
For shadowing, does it really matter which specialty I shadow? I'd prefer peds or FM since it's what I'm planning on doing but I'll honestly take what I can get at this point.

Thanks again!
 
Members don't see this ad :)
I applied this cycle as a NJ ORM with similar stats. I would highly recommend you add Cooper and Hackensack Meridian to your school list, as well as several NY schools: Albert Einstein, Hofstra, etc. I also recommend Jefferson, Temple, and Drexel.

Don't waste your time with Brown or UNC. Maryland, Downstate, UMass, UCSD are questionable choices too.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
Thanks for the affirmation -- the mentoring is BBBS, so it is with an underserved population, but that would be my focus for volunteering in the summer (especially orgs that I know do good work/areas I'm interested in)
For shadowing, does it really matter which specialty I shadow? I'd prefer peds or FM since it's what I'm planning on doing but I'll honestly take what I can get at this point.

Thanks again!
BBBS is great! That’s a good plan to focus on that during the summer.

Shadowing wise, it is usually advisable to do at least one primary care. So peds and FM would be good choices. You can add whatever else you find on top of that.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
I applied this cycle as a NJ ORM with similar stats. I would highly recommend you add Cooper and Hackensack Meridian to your school list, as well as several NY schools: Albert Einstein, Hofstra, etc. I also recommend Jefferson, Temple, and Drexel.

Don't waste your time with Brown or UNC. Maryland, Downstate, UMass, UCSD are questionable choices too.
Remove Harvard as well. As others have noted, you have weaknesses in your potential application, consider taking the extra 6 months to address them as a gap year is looked on more favorably anyway. This process is expensive. Go in with the most stacked deck you can. Good luck.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
Top