WAMC - Non-trad w/ Lowercase "x" Factor and Mid Academics

[theChimp]

Academics:

cGPA: 3.4 /sGPA: 3.6 (First 3 years of my GPA was 3.25 in an unrelated field, 3.66 DIY post-bacc, and 3.7 master's degree)

MCAT: 510 average across 3 FL practice exams (will take first time this fall and once more in the spring if necessary)

Demographics: OH Native, MA Resident with ties to North Carolina and Virginia. White. Veteran

Undergrad: Associates Degree @ D1 (3.25 GPA), Bachelors at the lowest-tier undergrad possible (B.S. earned online while in the Navy, 3.35)

Activities:

Clinical experience

• 2000 hr, Medical Assistant, Surgical Specialties - Exceptionally hands-on work across six surgical subspecialties. (2 MD, 1 DO LOR)
• 650 hr, Behavior Technician - ABA Therapy for children with autism
• 120 hr, Mental Health Worker, Psychiatric Hospital

Pain, nonclinical experience

• 3000 hr, Founder of an art and collectibles retail business doing ~$250k in sales annually. Donate a portion of profits as well as trading cards and concert/event tickets to low-income families with children.
• 7000 hr, Cryptologist, US Navy - Leadership role. Conducted intelligence operations and presented findings to national commanders. Supervised and trained newer cryptologists. Led watch floor team to fleet-wide awards for intelligence excellence during deployment to 5th/6th fleet AORs. Advanced Security Reaction Force, responded to two suspected terror attacks on Naval bases.
• 600 hr, Navy SEAL BUD/S Training - Went through all of the hard stuff everyone knows about BUD/S (drown proofing, log pt, surf torture, etc). I didn't ultimately become a SEAL, but it seems worth bringing up as a lowercase "x" factor, given the high-profile nature of the training. Focus on mental toughness, resilience, and attention to detail required for inspections.

Research experience

• 850 hr, Graduate Research Assistant, Addiction Research, Mass General/ Harvard Medical - 1 First Author, 1 Second Author, 2 other pubs + a poster presentation (LOR)
• ??? hr Master's Thesis - Will be published prior to application submission (LOR)

Shadowing experience

• ~100 hr, 7 Md, 1 DO, 2 NPs, and 1 PA-C across eight specialties (psych, pulmonology, critical care, surgery, urology...)

Non-clinical volunteering

• 1000 hr, 501c3 Nonprofit centered around improving housing accessibility for low-income families. When I joined (shortly after its founding), I expanded operations to include veteran support and have secured almost $2.5M in funding for veterans across their various benefits (Voc Rehab, Education Benefits, Disability, VA Loans). Additional lobbying for suicide prevention legislation and research into non-tradition treatment methods for combat PTSD and depression.
• 100 hr, Psychology Club - Organized and led a handful of events centered around public mental health awareness, research webinars, mini-lectures, etc. Served as a formal liaison between the Psych and Veteran Societies, providing support to both simultaneously and organized collaborative events.
• 50 hr, Assisted with the founding of a Veteran Student Society and the organization of the first Veteran Affinity Graduation Celebration at Harvard. Set groundwork for future executive board and helped organize monthly events informing veterans of their benefits and other related resources.
• 50 hr, Student tutor for chem, bio, psych, and algebra. Left this off my activities for now as it's much less impactful than my other experiences

Other extracurricular activities

• Harvard Horntails - D1 Quadball (AKA Quidditch) - 2024 D1 National Champs Let's go babyyyyy
• Freelance Graphic Design (don't have this anywhere on my app but I have room for an extra activity if it is worth mentioning to flesh out my whole person)

Other Stuff:

Letters of recommendation

• 2 MDs (can get 1-2 more if recommended), 1 DO, 2 Professors, 2 PhDs (Research PI and Thesis Director) - All Harvard Faculty (if that even matters)

Anything else not listed you think might be important

• Strong writer; confident in the strength of my personal statement and secondary essays.
• I have a decent set of military courses that might look decent to add as an extra activity section (since I got no college credits for these, they're not on my courses list)
  • SSEE Increment E, Honor Graduate
  • Cryptologic Fleet Operator, Honor Graduate
  • Communication Signals Collection and Processing, Honor Graduate
  • Cryptologic Signal Analysis And Reporting
  • Maritime Security Intelligence Operations
  • Security Reaction Force - Advanced
  • Basic Underwater Demolition / SEAL Training, Attrite
  • Naval Special Warfare Preparatory School

Schools List:

This is a bit tricky, as my partner and I are balancing separate admissions (she is not pre-med but is going into a similarly selective program). We tried to optimize the overlap between her schools and mine. I have no intentions of pursuing competitive specialties, so I am not picky.

MD: Ohio State, Cincinnati, MSU, UNC, Duke, Wake Forrest, ECU, Indiana, Harvard, BU, UMass, Tufts, VA Tech

DO: LUCOM, VUCOM, OU-HCOM, MSU, CAMPBELL, LINCOLN MEMORIAL, MARIAN

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[Faha]

Without an actual MCAT score it is not possible to devise an accurate school list. Post your score here when available. On your list ECU admits zero non residents.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Thank you for your service.

Being military/veteran gives you some flexibility where you can apply, but I suppose if your list reflects the constraints for you and your partner, I would like to know what insights you want with a school list? Some of the schools may not take you with a 510 (Harvard, Duke) so try for a high score if they are really where you want to go.

 

[theChimp]

Thank you for your service.

Being military/veteran gives you some flexibility where you can apply, but I suppose if your list reflects the constraints for you and your partner, I would like to know what insights you want with a school list? Some of the schools may not take you with a 510 (Harvard, Duke) so try for a high score if they are really where you want to go.

Thank you for your support. I will spend the next six to nine months or so working and studying for the MCAT. So I will certainly able to raise my score to a more respectable value.

RE: School List
While I am hopeful that we can work within our geographic limitations, it may still be wise for me to build a more robust school list, as it is most important for at least one of us to get in somewhere.

I suppose I am more looking for validation that I am not entirely out of my depth with the schools list I have thus far. I found my Lizzy and MSC Scores to both reflect poorly on the MD side of the list since they don't seem to tailor to less traditional academic paths (and the scores essentially just matched the GPA/MCAT acceptance rate chart, so I didn't get much out of them). While I recognize the importance of academics, I would love recommendations for other MD programs to add that are more likely to consider some of the less tangible aspects of my application.

 

[candbgirl]

Thank you for your support. I will spend the next six to nine months or so working and studying for the MCAT. So I will certainly able to raise my score to a more respectable value.

RE: School List
While I am hopeful that we can work within our geographic limitations, it may still be wise for me to build a more robust school list, as it is most important for at least one of us to get in somewhere.

I suppose I am more looking for validation that I am not entirely out of my depth with the schools list I have thus far. I found my Lizzy and MSC Scores to both reflect poorly on the MD side of the list since they don't seem to tailor to less traditional academic paths (and the scores essentially just matched the GPA/MCAT acceptance rate chart, so I didn't get much out of them). While I recognize the importance of academics, I would love recommendations for other MD programs to add that are more likely to consider some of the less tangible aspects of my application.

Without a real MCAT it is impossible to build a school list. It’s also frustrating to say if this happens then that can/could happen. So keep studying. Come back here when you get your score and people will be glad to help you out. In the mean time build your own list based on metrics you know, like your GPAS, your state residence, where you’d like to live etc. , in state/out of state acceptance etc.