WAMC MD/PHD at t30 school as a reapplicant

[earthychinchillas22345]

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Hello everyone,


Thanks in advance for your time. I plan on applying for the next cycle in 2026. I applied to programs in the 2024 cycle under the advisement of my mentors; however, I definitely did not have the hours or experience required. I decided to take some time and apply again in 2026 after talking with others. I want to know your opinions on my application—specifically, what areas could reasonably be improved over the next year, and whether T30 schools are a realistic target.

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cGPA and sGPA: 3.98 and 3.98
MCAT: 524 (132/128/132/132)
State of residence: NC
Ethnicity/Race: Asian Male
Undergraduate institution: T30 school

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Clinical Experience (volunteer and non-volunteer)

• EMT, 1500 hours
• Medical assistant at a private primary care and geriatrics practice, 300 hours (unpaid internship)
• Volunteer at a program mentoring and leading exercise classes for cancer patients undergoing or post-treatment – 50 hours
  (Unsure if this counts as clinical experience or leadership/teaching)

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Research Experience and Productivity

• Paid position at a cancer research lab for 4+ years – 3500 hours
• 1 first-author publication in a journal with IF >10
• 1 first co-author publication in a journal with IF >10
• 8 total conferences/presentations:
  
  • 1 international poster
  • 2 national posters
  • 2 oral presentations at the university level (non-undergrad)
  • 1 poster at the university level (non-undergrad)
  • 1 poster at a university undergraduate conference

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Shadowing Experience

• ENT/Head and Neck Surgeon – 100 hours
• Radiation Oncology – 40 hours
• Primary Care – 30 hours

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Non-Clinical Volunteering

• Red Cross: helped establish and support new college-level clubs, organized outreach events (e.g., disaster relief aid, blood drives), facilitated communication between clubs in my state – 150 hours
• Harm reduction program: educated homeless and low-income individuals on safe drug use and first aid (e.g., injection safety, overdose response, fentanyl testing, CPR), and distributed resources (e.g., Narcan, test strips, CPR masks, clean needles, alcohol wipes) – 30 hours
• GED and literacy tutor for low-income individuals – 60 hours
• Tutor at a program providing free after-school tutoring and meals for children facing food insecurity and literacy challenges – 40 hours

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Relevant Honors/Awards

• 2 university-funded research grants

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Anything else not listed you think might be important
As mentioned earlier, this will be my second application cycle. In hindsight, I realize that applying the first time was premature, especially given my limited experience at the time. My mentors heavily pushed me toward applying regardless, so what’s done is done. I’m wondering how reapplying may affect adcom perceptions. My ECs and clinical experience have definitely improved a lot since then, but I’m interested in hearing your thoughts.


My top school choices are Duke and Yale, so I would really appreciate your opinions on these programs in particular and whether they are realistic. I'd also love help crafting a school list.

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TL;DR:
What parts of my app need improvement?
What are my chances (WAMC) for getting into a T30 MD/PhD program, especially Duke or Yale?

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Welcome to the forums.

Did you get any interviews (MD or MSTP) in your past cycle? What were those results? What feedback did you get to help you this cycle?

We also have our Research Scientists forum where most of our MSTP folks hang out.

 

[morak]

Did you have any interviews in your first cycle (and if so, where)? How many of these hours are new? Some folks here will tell you that your non-clinical hours are low from a service orientation perspective (which they are, tutoring and club leadership don't count for service orientation), but MSTP directors and students have told me that they care less about those hours for MD/PhD programs. Also, there's an MSTP section on SDN where you can also post your profile for feedback from MSTP directors.

Otherwise, your profile seems like a near-perfect fit for MD/PhDs now, so I'm just curious why you didn't have any success your first cycle. That said, I'm sure this cycle will go very well for you! Just remember to apply broadly since most MD/PhD programs have cut spots by 50%+, and some places I'm familiar with have gone from 20+ new matriculants last cycle to 8 or less anticipated this cycle.

 

[morak]

Welcome to the forums.

Did you get any interviews (MD or MSTP) in your past cycle? What were those results? What feedback did you get to help you this cycle?

We also have our Research Scientists forum where most of our MSTP folks hang out.

I posted a few seconds after you--I think I've learned your patterns and the types of things you ask for lol

 

[Mr.Smile12]

I posted a few seconds after you--I think I've learned your patterns and the types of things you ask for lol

Sometimes I appreciate being predictable. 🙂 🙂

 

[earthychinchillas22345]

Welcome to the forums.

Did you get any interviews (MD or MSTP) in your past cycle? What were those results? What feedback did you get to help you this cycle?

We also have our Research Scientists forum where most of our MSTP folks hang out.

thanks for the info, will post there aswell

As for last cycle, I didn’t get any interviews. After talking to others, I realized my application lacked a lot of clinical experience and direct patient interaction. On top of that, although I had presentations, I didn’t have any publications at the time, which definitely didn’t help. I was basically told that my extracurriculars were the biggest issue—not enough time or variety. This was mostly because I applied during my sophomore year of college (I was graduating a year early), and I now realize how little time that is compared to when most applicants apply.

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What's new since last cycle

• All of my clinical experiences (EMT and medical assistant) are new
• Both of my publications and 3 of the posters are new
• The harm reduction volunteer work and both tutoring experiences are new
• One of the research grants is new
• Shadowing in radiation oncology is new
• My total research hours have also increased (I applied with ~1500 hours the first time)

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I also wanted to ask about something you mentioned earlier—that club leadership and tutoring were considered “low” in terms of service orientation. Does this mean they don’t really count as volunteer hours? Should I focus my time elsewhere?


If so, I’d really appreciate some examples of what kinds of activities are considered strong for service orientation or meaningful community involvement. I'm happy to add things if there's still time to make a difference before I apply next year.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Service orientation activities include food distribution, shelter volunteer, job and tax preparation, legal support, transportation services, or housing rehabilitation.

Practically speaking, every competitive prehealth applicant has done some teaching or tutoring, whether teaching peers, underserved students, or marginalized populations (such as English). These are nice to have, but they won't help you stand out.

Club leadership isn't really "volunteering." You can establish clubs and do fundraising, but that's not "service orientation."

 

[earthychinchillas22345]

Service orientation activities include food distribution, shelter volunteer, job and tax preparation, legal support, transportation services, or housing rehabilitation.

Practically speaking, every competitive prehealth applicant has done some teaching or tutoring, whether teaching peers, underserved students, or marginalized populations (such as English). These are nice to have, but they won't help you stand out.

Club leadership isn't really "volunteering." You can establish clubs and do fundraising, but that's not "service orientation."

Ok that makes more sense. Do you think it would be worth spending less time tutuoring then and focus more on that?

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Ok that makes more sense. Do you think it would be worth spending less time tutuoring then and focus more on that?

It's your schedule. I would see if those organizing your tutoring assignments can add on some opportunities where you can more directly provide meals with those students. However, the goal is to get 150 hours in food distribution; you are already doing literacy tutoring for GED.

 

[earthychinchillas22345]

It's your schedule. I would see if those organizing your tutoring assignments can add on some opportunities where you can more directly provide meals with those students. However, the goal is to get 150 hours in food distribution; you are already doing literacy tutoring for GED.

Ok, will reachout and ask. Thanks for all the advice!