WAMC- Potential Reapp Advice

[eg123]

Hi everyone,

I applied for the first time this cycle and have received 1 II (Still waiting to hear back on a final decision). I wanted to get advice on what I could improve in case I need to reapply. Here are the stats + ECs I applied with:

Submitted primary June 1st. Secondaries were completed from July to Mid-August.

1. 4.0 cGPA, 4.0 sGPA
2. 516 MCAT (131/127/128/130) ----> 521 (132/127/130/132)
3. Residence - CA
4. ORM Male
5. Undergraduate - t20
6. Clinical Experience - 250 hours as an EMT (Paid) ; 80 hours in an underserved country (Volunteer)
7. Research - 200 hours (No pubs or posters)
8. Shadowing - 32 hours (Mohs surgeon + family medicine PCP)
9. Non-clinical volunteering - 50 hours at campus food distributions
10. Leadership - 360 hours holding a leadership position at a sustainability club over 3 years
11. Scholarship/Awards - Summa Cum Laude
12. Miscellaneous - 350 hours as a physics TA ; 460 hours working at a grocery store ; 400 hours tutoring ; Intramural sports (hobby)

School list (MD only):

• Wake Forest
• University of Michigan
• Albert Einstein
• Albany
• Tufts
• Icahn
• MYMC
• Rosalind Franklin
• UCSD
• Rochester
• Vermont
• Hofstra
• Geisel Dartmouth
• Wash U
• Cornell
• Drexel
• UC Davis
• Kaiser
• Virginia Commonwealth
• UA - Phoenix
• Stanford
• Brown
• Ohio State
• Vanderbilt
• Emory
• UCLA
• UCA
• George Washington
• BU
• Penn State
• UCR
• University of Colorado
• Temple
• Case Western
• Pittsburg
• CUSM
• USC
• UCSF

Thoughts on my cycle:

• I felt like I had a pretty decent school list, but maybe spreading out and adding some lower schools in the mix
• I know that my main limiting factor was my volunteering, and likely flagged my automatically from many of the schools I applied to
• Submitted everything in a very timely manner, and my writing was vetted by many people and felt like it was fairly strong

What I’ve added to my application:

• 150 hours volunteering at a food bank
• 50 hours creating educational materials for a professor of mine to be used in the curriculum
• 10 hours shadowing a cardiologist
• 475 hours working as an EMT
• 1200 hours working as healthcare partner at a hospital
• 50 hours tutoring
• 20 hours volunteering at habitat restoration events
• 100 hours working for an MCAT test prep company

Any and all forms of advice + support are welcome, and I thank you for taking the time to read my post.

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[Faha]

Your low shadowing and non clinical volunteering hours were a major factor in your poor application cycle. You appear to have corrected that problem with additional hours. Where was your interview ?

 

[Mr.Smile12]

If you want the brand name schools, you should get to 250 minimum with your food bank hours (off campus!) before submitting your application. I'm still concerned you have more tutoring hours than service orientation hours.

With only 1 late interview, I'm skeptical of your writing. If you articulated your purpose clearly, I suspect you would get more attention. Your profile does not stand out to me for the brand name schools. Where have you immersed yourself with uncomfortable, sick people to address their nonmedical needs?

 

[eg123]

Your low shadowing and non clinical volunteering hours were a major factor in your poor application cycle. You appear to have corrected that problem with additional hours. Where was your interview ?

At Einstein. I agree that was definitely my main issue.

 

[eg123]

If you want the brand name schools, you should get to 250 minimum with your food bank hours (off campus!) before submitting your application. I'm still concerned you have more tutoring hours than service orientation hours.

With only 1 late interview, I'm skeptical of your writing. If you articulated your purpose clearly, I suspect you would get more attention. Your profile does not stand out to me for the brand name schools. Where have you immersed yourself with uncomfortable, sick people to address their nonmedical needs?

Yea I totally understand. I have just tutored for much longer and had to as a job to make money during school. Definitely doing food distribution and at the food bank would be the only place I really was immersed with those people in a non-medical situation. What else could I do to make sure my app is ready come this cycle?

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Yea I totally understand. I have just tutored for much longer and had to as a job to make money during school. Definitely doing food distribution and at the food bank would be the only place I really was immersed with those people in a non-medical situation. What else could I do to make sure my app is ready come this cycle?

Nothing wrong with tutoring, and your record including test prep is very common. But I mention tutoring/teaching/mentoring is so common, it doesn't help you stand out, especially in the high-metrics pool.

As a reapplicant, you must show significant improvement from your last application. This means a significant re-write of your PS and some of your secondary essays wherever you can. What did you say was your purpose as a physician, and what experiences support your assertion? How did you include your habitat restoration/sustainability activities to this vision?

 

[ophthoaspirant]

Hi everyone,

I applied for the first time this cycle and have received 1 II (Still waiting to hear back on a final decision). I wanted to get advice on what I could improve in case I need to reapply. Here are the stats + ECs I applied with:

Submitted primary June 1st. Secondaries were completed from July to Mid-August.

1. 4.0 cGPA, 4.0 sGPA
2. 516 MCAT (131/127/128/130) ----> 521 (132/127/130/132)
3. Residence - CA
4. ORM Male
5. Undergraduate - t20
6. Clinical Experience - 250 hours as an EMT (Paid) ; 80 hours in an underserved country (Volunteer)
7. Research - 200 hours (No pubs or posters)
8. Shadowing - 32 hours (Mohs surgeon + family medicine PCP)
9. Non-clinical volunteering - 50 hours at campus food distributions
10. Leadership - 360 hours holding a leadership position at a sustainability club over 3 years
11. Scholarship/Awards - Summa Cum Laude
12. Miscellaneous - 350 hours as a physics TA ; 460 hours working at a grocery store ; 400 hours tutoring ; Intramural sports (hobby)

School list (MD only):

• Wake Forest
• University of Michigan
• Albert Einstein
• Albany
• Tufts
• Icahn
• MYMC
• Rosalind Franklin
• UCSD
• Rochester
• Vermont
• Hofstra
• Geisel Dartmouth
• Wash U
• Cornell
• Drexel
• UC Davis
• Kaiser
• Virginia Commonwealth
• UA - Phoenix
• Stanford
• Brown
• Ohio State
• Vanderbilt
• Emory
• UCLA
• UCA
• George Washington
• BU
• Penn State
• UCR
• University of Colorado
• Temple
• Case Western
• Pittsburg
• CUSM
• USC
• UCSF

Thoughts on my cycle:

• I felt like I had a pretty decent school list, but maybe spreading out and adding some lower schools in the mix
• I know that my main limiting factor was my volunteering, and likely flagged my automatically from many of the schools I applied to
• Submitted everything in a very timely manner, and my writing was vetted by many people and felt like it was fairly strong

What I’ve added to my application:

• 150 hours volunteering at a food bank
• 50 hours creating educational materials for a professor of mine to be used in the curriculum
• 10 hours shadowing a cardiologist
• 475 hours working as an EMT
• 1200 hours working as healthcare partner at a hospital
• 50 hours tutoring
• 20 hours volunteering at habitat restoration events
• 100 hours working for an MCAT test prep company

Any and all forms of advice + support are welcome, and I thank you for taking the time to read my post.

The bar to scale is much higher for a CA ORM, probably the highest bar in all of US. All the advice being given are good but I would not apply to so many Tier 1 schools. Apply to more Tier 2s and also include schools such as MCW, Miami, Alice Walton and Belmont. Another one would be VCU but it is already on your list.

 

[Faha]

If you reapply I suggest these schools with your stats and improved ECs:
Vermont
Quinnipiac
Tufts
UMass
Albany
Rochester
Hofstra
Einstein
New York Medical College
Hackensack
Drexel
Temple
Jefferson
Penn State
Pittsburgh
George Washington
Virginia Commonwealth
Eastern Virginia
Wake Forest
NOVA MD
USF Morsani
Belmont
Alice Walton
TCU
St. Louis
Rosalind Franklin
Iowa
Illinois
Medical College Wisconsin
Western Michigan
Oakland Beaumont
Roseman
Kaiser
California University
The UCs (except Riverside unless you are from that region)

 

[eg123]

Nothing wrong with tutoring, and your record including test prep is very common. But I mention tutoring/teaching/mentoring is so common, it doesn't help you stand out, especially in the high-metrics pool.

As a reapplicant, you must show significant improvement from your last application. This means a significant re-write of your PS and some of your secondary essays wherever you can. What did you say was your purpose as a physician, and what experiences support your assertion? How did you include your habitat restoration/sustainability activities to this vision?

I talked about it a bit during my secondaries, as my club that I held a leadership position at was related to this. In terms of improvement, I do really feel I was lacking a lot of clinical hours and experience, which working full time in clinical positions during my gap year has helped with drastically.

 

[Faha]

With your newer higher MCAT of 521 you could also add some higher tier schools including:
Washington University (almost a guaranteed interview with your stats)
Vanderbilt
U Virginia
Mount Sinai
Johns Hopkins (free tuition)
NYU (free tuition)
Northwestern

 

[ophthoaspirant]

With your newer higher MCAT of 521 you could also add some higher tier schools including:
Washington University (almost a guaranteed interview with your stats)
Vanderbilt
U Virginia
Mount Sinai
Johns Hopkins (free tuition)
NYU (free tuition)
Northwestern

They could have applied with the higher 521 MCAT in the first cycle itself? In that case, they did not get an interview from Washington University. The only interview reported was from Einstein.

If they are not constrained by money to spend on application fees, then they can apply to several Tier 1s. If that is not the case, then the bulk of the target schools should be Tier 2, imo.

 

[eg123]

They could have applied with the higher 521 MCAT in the first cycle itself? In that case, they did not get an interview from Washington University. The only interview reported was from Einstein.

If they are not constrained by money to spend on application fees, then they can apply to several Tier 1s. If that is not the case, then the bulk of the target schools should be Tier 2, imo.

I had the 521 for the first cycle. Really my main improvements are a gain of both clinical and volunteer hours.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

So when the OP wrote 516 -> 521, you took the 516 say in January, then 521 in April? I'm a little less impressed; most schools will average attempts for screening. They may notice the higher score as work with that information as they see fit. You get a bit more credit if your jump up were by 10 points (3x the 3 point change usually observed among repeaters).