WAMC? PA 21M ORM, about to enter third cycle, 515 MCAT 3.76 GPA

[calcuttaho]

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1. 3.76 GPA, 3.7 BCPM
2. MCAT
   1. 1st attempt: August 2022 (possibly expired for most schools), 510 (125/130/129/126).
   2. 2nd attempt: January 2023 (hoping to God that it’s valid for this cycle), 515 (128/129/131/127)
3. Pennsylvania (also Canadian citizen, but i have literally never been to Canada in my life)
4. Middle-Eastern
5. Top 100 state school
6. Clinical Experience
   1. Ophthalmic Technician in Nursing Homes with Optometrists ~ 3000 hours
   2. Ophthalmic Technician in Eye Hospital with retinal specialists ~ 300 hours (current job, not on previous application)
   3. Free clinic volunteering ~ 60 hours
7. Research experience and productivity
   1. Meta analysis project, did data extraction, only 60 hours, one publication.
   2. Literature review, 200 hours, no publication.
   3. Unsure if putting on application, wet lab research, 200-300 hours, discontinued due to NIH funding freezes. (Not on previous application)
8. Approx 250 hours, shadowed family medicine, weight loss, oral surgery, ophthalmology, dermatology, neuroimmunology, cardiovascular surgery, addiction medicine, and nephrology
9. Non-clinical volunteering
   1. Harm reduction work - 400 hours (not on previous application)
   2. Sunday School volunteering - 200 hours
   3. Food bank volunteering - 150 hours
   4. Hospital non-clinical rounding (school specifically instructed to list as non-clinical) - 100 hours (not on previous application)
   5. Not sure if putting on application, but assorted volunteering at my local mosque during Ramadan, random food banks, etc. Approx 200-300 hours if I had to guess.
10. Muslim Students Association Executive Board - 400 hours
11. N/A
12. Dual enrolled high school student. One bad semester in “senior year”. Two interviews in first cycle, three interviews in second cycle. All waitlisted, have been working on my interview skills. Interviewed by Alma Mater both times.

MD School List: Temple, Jefferson, Drexel, Geisinger, Pitt, Penn State, Wake Forest, RFU, UVM, George Washington, Albany, MCW, Quinnipiac, Loyola, Rush, Tulane, uMiami, Wayne, Creighton, WMed, EVMS, Virginia Tech, VCU, Georgetown, Tufts, Texas Christian University, NYMC, Boston University, Emory, uIA, Geisel, UCLA, uFL, uMI, Brown, uAZ, uCO, uMA, Cooper, OSU

DO school list: ??? Need help on this one. Looking to ideally match procedure heavy speciality, so looking for schools in urban areas with lots of research/networking opportunities. PCOM, NYITCOM, TouroCOM???

 

[Faha]

Where are your 3 waitlist schools?

 

[calcuttaho]

Where are your 3 waitlist schools?

Temple, uMiami, Geisinger.

Edit: cycle before was Temple, Drexel.

 

[Faha]

There is a lot of waitlist movement in May and Temple and Geisinger are your best chances.
I suggest these DO schools if you reapply:
PCOM (all schools)
Touro-NY
LECOM (all schools)
NYITCOM
WVSOM
CUSOM
UIWSOM
AZCOM
TUNCOM
CCOM
MU-COM
DMU-COM
KCU-COM
ATSU-KCOM
WESTERN
TUCOM-CA
For MD schools I suggest these:
Drexel
Temple
Jefferson
Penn State
Geisinger
Hackensack
NYMC
Albany
Vermont
Quinnipiac
Virginia Commonwealth
Eastern Virginia
George Washington
Wake Forest
Methodist (when it opens)
NOVA MD
Belmont
Alice Walton
Roseman
TCU
St. Louis
Ponce (St. Louis)
Creighton
Rosalind Franklin
Medical College Wisconsin
Western Michigan
Oakland Beaumont
Wayne State
Iowa

 

[calcuttaho]

There is a lot of waitlist movement in May and Temple and Geisinger are your best chances.
I suggest these DO schools if you reapply:
PCOM (all schools)
Touro-NY
LECOM (all schools)
NYITCOM
WVSOM
CUSOM
UIWSOM
AZCOM
TUNCOM
CCOM
MU-COM
DMU-COM
KCU-COM
ATSU-KCOM
WESTERN
TUCOM-CA
For MD schools I suggest these:
Drexel
Temple
Jefferson
Penn State
Geisinger
Hackensack
NYMC
Albany
Vermont
Quinnipiac
Virginia Commonwealth
Eastern Virginia
George Washington
Wake Forest
Methodist (when it opens)
NOVA MD
Belmont
Alice Walton
Roseman
TCU
St. Louis
Ponce (St. Louis)
Creighton
Rosalind Franklin
Medical College Wisconsin
Western Michigan
Oakland Beaumont
Wayne State
Iowa

Got it! Lot of schools, going to have to make sure to get one-two schools written every day from here on out. Quick question - Belmont. Is it worth applying as a non-Christian?

 

[Faha]

Got it! Lot of schools, going to have to make sure to get one-two schools written every day from here on out. Quick question - Belmont. Is it worth applying as a non-Christian?

Yes.

 

[calcuttaho]

There is a lot of waitlist movement in May and Temple and Geisinger are your best chances.
I suggest these DO schools if you reapply:
PCOM (all schools)
Touro-NY
LECOM (all schools)
NYITCOM
WVSOM
CUSOM
UIWSOM
AZCOM
TUNCOM
CCOM
MU-COM
DMU-COM
KCU-COM
ATSU-KCOM
WESTERN
TUCOM-CA
For MD schools I suggest these:
Drexel
Temple
Jefferson
Penn State
Geisinger
Hackensack
NYMC
Albany
Vermont
Quinnipiac
Virginia Commonwealth
Eastern Virginia
George Washington
Wake Forest
Methodist (when it opens)
NOVA MD
Belmont
Alice Walton
Roseman
TCU
St. Louis
Ponce (St. Louis)
Creighton
Rosalind Franklin
Medical College Wisconsin
Western Michigan
Oakland Beaumont
Wayne State
Iowa

Also, was wondering if this is an encompassing MD list. Like I saw you didn’t recommend Miami on here, but I feel like I’ve got better chances at that school than the other schools you recommended, purely because they gave me an interview this year, no?

 

[Faha]

Also, was wondering if this is an encompassing MD list. Like I saw you didn’t recommend Miami on here, but I feel like I’ve got better chances at that school than the other schools you recommended, purely because they gave me an interview this year, no?

Include Miami since you were interviewed there. These are schools where you have the best chances for interviews based on your stats.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Make sure you complete the Spring 2025 Applicant Experience Survey (link in signature).

You must include DO schools now. If you applied to some schools 2x before, unless there is strong mission fit, there's no guarantee those schools will look at you again (if you didn't get an interview from them by now).

 

[Faha]

You could also try West Virginia and Marshall.

 

[calcuttaho]

You could also try West Virginia and Marshall.

Will do. Another question. I know the DO cycle goes longer and that timing matters quite a bit more for MD schools. Am I fine with focusing on just my MD secondaries until they’re done, then pivoting to my DO application as soon as I’m done with my MD apps (ideally early July)?

Also, TMDSAS. Only connection is that my sister lives with her husband who is a physician at UTSW. Am I correct in thinking that I have approximately a 0% chance at Texas and therefore shouldn’t even waste time/money on the app? Would love to move to family, would not like to throw money in garbage.

 

[wysdoc]

Will do. Another question. I know the DO cycle goes longer and that timing matters quite a bit more for MD schools. Am I fine with focusing on just my MD secondaries until they’re done, then pivoting to my DO application as soon as I’m done with my MD apps (ideally early July)?

Also, TMDSAS. Only connection is that my sister lives with her husband who is a physician at UTSW. Am I correct in thinking that I have approximately a 0% chance at Texas and therefore shouldn’t even waste time/money on the app? Would love to move to family, would not like to throw money in garbage.

I don't think it's worth your time to apply on TMDSAS. If your sister is still in Texas by the time you are looking for residencies, you can try to apply to residencies in Texas.

 

[Faha]

Will do. Another question. I know the DO cycle goes longer and that timing matters quite a bit more for MD schools. Am I fine with focusing on just my MD secondaries until they’re done, then pivoting to my DO application as soon as I’m done with my MD apps (ideally early July)?

Also, TMDSAS. Only connection is that my sister lives with her husband who is a physician at UTSW. Am I correct in thinking that I have approximately a 0% chance at Texas and therefore shouldn’t even waste time/money on the app? Would love to move to family, would not like to throw money in garbage.

Yes, complete your MD secondaries first and then work on your DO secondaries.

 

[mike-sheree]

Procedure heavy specialties are largely going to be determined by your fellowship and not your residency. For example, G.I. versus internal medicine, invasive cards versus cards, IR versus diagnostic, rads, etc. therefore you don’t have to obsess over the residency quite as much.