WAMC? Mid/Low Stat Fulbrighter

[potatoilikepotato]

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PLEASE DO NOT QUOTE THIS THREAD 🙂

Background Info
M URM
NY Resident, CA Ties
T30 East Coast University: Biochem + Niche Hobby double major
2 Gap years

Stats
cGPA: 3.74
sGPA: 3.53
MCAT: 509

Awards
Fulbright: US Study/Research
Multiple school awards for research
Dean's list every semester

Hours
Shadowing: 60hrs across various specialties
Clinical Paid: 300 hrs
Clinical Volunteer: 150 hrs
Non-Clinical Volunteer: 150 hours over three years
Research: 1800hrs, first-author pub + poster presentation

Misc.
Paid job: part time special ed teacher for 4 years, not sure on hours but prob a couple hundred
Hobby hours: over 10k at this point lol (started as a little kid -> majoring in it now)
Clubs: 7 total. Some hobby related, some not. Large commitment in 1 (president), leadership in 2 others.
Gap Year 1: Currently on Fulbright
Gap Year 2: Planning to bump up clinical / volunteer hours once back in US

School List
- All NY schools minus NYU and Columbia
- Rutgers
- BU
- Tufts
- Quinnipac
- Temple
- Drexel (service oriented = probable problem)
- SLU
- MCW
- OSU
- Virginia Tech
- U Vermont
- Wayne St
- Harvard (yolo)
- Penn st
- Dartmouth
- Colorado
- Arizona Phoenix
- Case Western
- UCLA
- UCSD (Ties to SD but lol)
- UCSF (I like the Bay)
- Stanford (yolo)

Questions:
1. Is this list reasonable? I made it mostly with admit and have what they consider an even mix of reach target baseline, but I feel like it's too top heavy
2. Does Fulbright actually make up for a not great MCAT/GPA? I've heard differing opinions from "you're competitive for T20s" to "you shouldn't mention you did it"

 

[Faha]

What does your 150 hours of non clinical volunteering involve ?

 

[potatoilikepotato]

I started an after school program to teach k-2nd graders at a T1 school how to read/ read better. 1x a week for 3 academic years

 

[Faha]

Which URM community are you from? If you are Hispanic, are you fluent in Spanish?

 

[potatoilikepotato]

Yep, hispanic. I'm not fluent, but I understand everything and can respond at a decent level

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Obviously you can't tell us what you are doing for your Fulbright here, but keep in mind the details you redact here are very important to your chances. Admission is not dependent on the transactional nature of experience hours without context.

To answer your question, an "X-factor" like a Fulbright doesn't supersede typical GPA/MCAT metrics, but we're missing our overall GPA trend (year by year) and can't see your transcript. If you are doing more teaching like your described non-clinical volunteering (afterschool program), you may not have enough service orientation activities. Teaching, tutoring, and mentoring are academic competencies that highlight your expertise as a learner. Service orientation activities include food distribution, shelter volunteer, job/tax preparation, legal services, transportation services, and housing rehabilitation; you should have 150 hours when you submit your application or you risk getting screened out at most schools.

Research is also a reflection of academic competency. But Fulbright research is very broad and could involve service. Without a full description, it's too hard to know whether this helps you as much as you think it would.

You also should apply to DO schools as your GPA/MCAT is competitive. They may be a bit more impressed with the "Fulbright," but service orientation is still important.

However, you are well-suited for research careers (PhD), and they will be impressed with your Fulbright (in all likelihood). Your above description doesn't give me an impression you are passionate about medicine due to your lack of details on your clinical experience. The transactional description tells me you're confirming a checklist of activities for a strong application, and your hours and accomplishments are more weighted to research milestones than serving your community.

 

[Faha]

You should accumulate 150+ hours of non clinical volunteering (besides teaching) such as food bank, homeless shelter, etc. before you submit your application. Otherwise, you could be screened out at some schools. Many of the schools on your list are unrealistic with a MCAT of 509.
I suggest these schools with your stats:
All 4 SUNYs
Einstein
New York Medical College
Albany
Vermont
Quinnipiac
Dartmouth
Brown
Tufts
UMass
Hackensack
Drexel
Temple
Jefferson
Penn State
George Washington
Georgetown
Virginia Commonwealth
Eastern Virginia
Wake Forest
NOVA MD
Miami
Belmont
Alice Walton
TCU
Creighton
Ponce (St. Louis)
Colorado
Arizona (Tucson and Phoenix)
Rosalind Franklin
Medical College Wisconsin
Oakland Beaumont
Wayne State
Roseman
Kaiser

 

[AJS59]

Hey Johnny from the MAYO here, can you go more in depth about the "niche hobby major" it would help johnny properly assess your resume,
i would say to get your hours up ASAP and shadow more often. but if you want my true advice i would say to extend the two gap years for about another 2-4 years and reapply then, I noticed you applied at Harvard as a "YOLO" I can have my friends at Harvard "YOLO" and take a look at your app. you may only lived once but you've messed up pretty bad in your life. your MCAT is most people baseline practice exam so i doubt you even studied and it shows that you really don't care much about your future and just hope to be a random pick in one of these cycles. I remember my first 509, senior year of highschool. had to take the practice exam as a punishment for losing in my fantasy cricket league. feel free to message me privately and I will help out more when I get the time off from all the work im doing at the MAYO

Smells like a troll

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Also read

Finding Your Greatest Common Factors with Successful Students | SDN

The Greatest Common Factor (GCF) between two numbers is the largest positive integer that can divide both numbers evenly (without remainders). Prime

www.studentdoctor.net