WAMC Possible Reapplicant

[Throwaway4WAMC]

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Deleted, thank you!

 

[Mr.Smile12]

[Reposted]

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Hey everyone, obvious throwaway here, so I may have to reapply. I ended up getting 3 IIs as annotated in my school list below. I don’t believe I interviewed poorly as I’ve had numerous people tell me I interview well – my PIs, my undergrad’s prehealth committee, and even two of my interviewers. I’m just wondering what I should do differently this time around if I end up having to reapply and if there are any weakness in my application I should address.

• cGPA and sGPA as calculated by AMCAS or AACOMAS: 3.76 cumulative, 3.68 science
• MCAT score(s) and breakdown: 513 (128/128/129/128)
• State of residence or country of citizenship (if non-US): NJ, strong ties to NYC and Philadelphia
• Ethnicity and/or race: South Asian male
• Undergraduate institution or category: NYU
• Clinical experience (volunteer and non-volunteer):
  • ER Medical Scribe (1000 hours completed, 500 more projected, continued as projected). This was one of my most meaningful, and I talked about this a lot as well. I got a ton of exposure to tons of different specialties, patient populations etc.
  • Crisis Text Line Counselor: 100 hours completed
• Research experience and productivity:
  • Research Specialist: (800 hours, continued as projected as my full-time gap year job, at time of writing well over 2000). This was also one of my most meaningful, and I talked about this a lot and asked about it in all my interviews. No publications yet, but I did present our work in a formal presentation that I listed on AMCAS.
  • Undergraduate Research Assistant: 100 hours completed
  • Independent Research Project In-Class: 40 hours completed
• Shadowing experience and specialties represented:
  • Shadowed my PI: (GI, 0 hours at time of submission of AMCAS, 40 hours projected and completed in July 2023)
• Non-clinical volunteering:
  • Assistant Event Coordinator: (20 hours completed, 240 more projected, I completed about 150 total before walking away)
  • Home Rebuilding: 48 hours completed
  • Handing out Hot Meals to Unhoused Individuals: 50 hours completed
• Other extracurricular activities (including athletics, military service, gap year activities, leadership, teaching, etc):
  • Major leadership activity where I led a big project: 3000 hours – this seems like a lot of hours, and this came up in my committee interview, but this was over the span of 2+ years and the daily average, if anything, is on the more conservative side.
  • Sales Associate: 150 hours completed
• Relevant honors or awards:
  • Nothing huge, just standard: Cum laude graduation honors, University Honors Scholar, Dean’s List
• School List for Current Cycle – looking back I do think it was a little top heavy, but I thought I had the research experience to be competitive:
• Spoiler: School List

  Mayo Clinic Alix School of Medicine
  Kaiser Permanente Bernard J. Tyson School of Medicine
  Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California
  Stanford University School of Medicine
  University of California, Los Angeles David Geffen School of Medicine
  University of California, San Francisco, School of Medicine
  University of Colorado School of Medicine - Interviewed here, already got the post-II R
  Frank H. Netter MD School of Medicine at Quinnipiac University
  George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences
  Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine at Florida Atlantic University
  University of Central Florida College of Medicine
  University of Miami Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine
  USF Health Morsani College of Medicine
  Emory University School of Medicine
  Northwestern University The Feinberg School of Medicine
  Indiana University School of Medicine
  Tufts University School of Medicine
  University of Massachusetts T.H. Chan School of Medicine
  University of Michigan Medical School
  Wayne State University School of Medicine
  Cooper Medical School of Rowan University
  Hackensack Meridian Medical School - Interviewed here, recently waitlisted
  Rutgers New Jersey Medical School - Interviewed here, still waiting to hear back, its been 3 months
  Rutgers RWJ Medical School
  Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell
  Icahn School of Medicine at Mt. Sinai
  New York Medical College
  NYU Long Island School of Medicine
  Renaissance School of Medicine at Stony Brook University
  SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University College of Medicine
  University of Cincinnati College of Medicine
  Drexel University College of Medicine
  Sidney Kimmel Medical College at Thomas Jefferson University
  Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University
  University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine

Thank you in advance for the advice everyone! I'll probably delete this post in the next few days btw, since there's a lot of stuff that could make it easy to trace to me.

When did you interview? Virtual or on campus? When did you attend their meet and greet information sessions?

What is your mission fit?

Service orientation hours was nearer 100 hours. You need to be at 150 hours to avoid getting screened out. You got three interviews, but this number could still be the anchor that keeps you on a waitlist depending on how the rest of the list goes. Crisis text line doesn't help you as much since it is not in-person.

Your reapp is likely better since you have more documented hours (notably your shadowing hours though i can credit your scribing a little). I'm guessing you have sent updates.

 

[Throwaway4WAMC]

When did you interview? Virtual or on campus? When did you attend their meet and greet information sessions?

What is your mission fit?

Service orientation hours was nearer 100 hours. You need to be at 150 hours to avoid getting screened out. You got three interviews, but this number could still be the anchor that keeps you on a waitlist depending on how the rest of the list goes. Crisis text line doesn't help you as much since it is not in-person.

Your reapp is likely better since you have more documented hours (notably your shadowing hours though i can credit your scribing a little). I'm guessing you have sent updates.

Hackensack was mid-November, NJMS on Nov 30, Colorado on Dec 1. All were virtual. Hackensack had their info sessions the same week, whereas NJMS had a Dean's Info Session about a month later in December. Colorado only had one interview day where they also gave info, and I got their rejection just before Christmas.

Mission fit wise, I talked a lot about of inequality in health outcomes, especially amount the South Asian community. I did talk a lot about my research as well. I don't want to be a full-blown physician-scientist but I talked about how it is something important to me and I want to pursue as a medical student, and possibly collaborate as a physician. I did connect the two and talked about potentially exploring new ways to change cultural mindsets when it comes to healthcare.

I should be over the 150 service hours if I have to reapply. Do you suggest to get involved in further non-clinical volunteering to boost that up still?

I didn’t send any updates besides a letter of intent to Hackensack. I felt like I didn’t have anything to update given pretty much everything continued as projected in terms of my activities. I still have about 10-12 schools who haven’t given a pre-II rejection, is that something worth sending them?

 

[chilly_md]

Too many schools were unrealistic with your stats or have strong preference for in-state residents. It would benefit you to get another 100-150 hours serving meals to the homeless. If you do not hear back with positive news from the 2 remaining schools you interviewed at, I suggest applying to:
Colorado
Quinnipiac
Tufts
Cooper
Hackensack
RWJ
NJMS
NYMC
Albany
Drexel
Sidney Kimmel
Temple
Penn State
Vermont
VCU
EVMS
Belmont
Nova MD
Tulane
TCU
Wayne State
Oakland
MCW
Creighton
Rosalind Franklin

You may want to submit a few DO apps to Rowan and PCOM since they are local and well-regarded.