WAMC potential reapplicant, application/school list advice CA ORM

[bagel3000]

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State/Country of Residence: CA
Ties to other States/Regions: N/A
URM? (Y/N): N
Year in School: Graduated from UC school c/o 2020
Undergraduate Major(s)/Minor(s): Human Biology and Psychology
Graduate Degrees (if applicable): N/A
Cumulative GPA: 3.4 --> 3.51 (30 post-bacc credits)
Science GPA: 3.2 --> 3.41
MCAT Score(s): 512 (taken April 2021)

Research Experience:
-Three years in an undergraduate research position on campus, genetic research: roughly 1,100 hours

Publications/Abstracts/Posters (include how you were credited e.g. first author, second author, etc.):
- 1 poster presentation, no publications

Clinical Experience (paid or volunteer):
- COPE Health Scholar: 300 hours
- Volunteer in an emergency room and post-anesthesia care unit: 270 hours
- Intern/Dementia Screener in a neurology clinic: 54 hours
- CNA: 1,900 hours
- Covid-19 screener: 1,400 hours
- ABA therapist (not sure if this counts as clinical): 520 hours
- recently got hired as an EEG technician: have yet to begin

Physician Shadowing:
- Neurologist: 54 hours
- Hospitalist: 80 hours

Non-Clinical Volunteering:
- Foodbank volunteer: 300 hours
- Grocery delivery driver for the elderly: 50 hours
- Animal shelter volunteer: 50 hours

Other Extracurricular Activities:
- Badminton team health officer & member of the badminton team: 1,200 hours
- American Medical Woman's Association Treasurer/ Founding member of the chapter at my school: 300 hours

School List:
MD - California Uni of Science an Medicine, Drexel, EVMS, Keck, MCW, NYMC, Larner Vermont, Rush, Tulane, UA - Tuscon (interview hold), UCI, UCR (interview waitlist)
DO - AT Kirksville & Arizona, CHSUCOM, CCOM, NYITCOM, PCOM, Touro Cali & Nevada, AzCOM, Western

I applied for this cycle and was waitlisted to Western COMP (February), Rush (November), and CHSUCOM (October). My GPA was my main weakness in my application this cycle and I have been doing a DIY post-bacc to address it. I have maintained a 4.0 so far and will maintain it until this next app cycle. I have also begun working as an ABA therapist and an EEG technician since the last app cycle. I don't think my MCAT is a problem and it is well distributed. If I don't get anywhere this year, what would be a recommended school list given my updates?/Schools that reward reinvention? I would like to reapply this year. Are there any other improvements I could make to my application? I was also placed on a lot of interview waitlists/holds. I am fine with both MD and DO.
Thank you in advance!

 

[stinkycheeseperson]

you got 3 interviews and 3 waitlists? what does your interview look like? letters/essays?

 

[Faha]

I would be surprised if you did not receive an acceptance from one of the 2 DO schools where you are waitlisted.

 

[bagel3000]

you got 3 interviews and 3 waitlists? what does your interview look like? letters/essays?

I did 🙁 I thought the interviews went fine! My CHSUCOM one went really well! I am really good at talking about my experiences and motivations and those traditional interviews went well at both Rush and Western. I think where I faltered were situational questions and the MMI-like questions where I had to act out a scenario. I get really nervous.
My letters are ok, one really good one from my PI from research, one really good one from the neurologist (MD), a decent one from the hospitalist (DO), and three letters from science professors (not as good as I didn't make myself as memorable in those courses) and one from a humanities professor (good).
In my essay I touched a lot upon my work as a CNA and how it taught me about the ups and downs of healthcare, also discussed other experiences and motivations.

 

[bagel3000]

I would be surprised if you did not receive an acceptance from one of the 2 DO schools where you are waitlisted.

Thank you, I hope so. In case I do need to reapply, do you have any schools you would recommend?

 

[CrxRust]

State/Country of Residence: CA
Ties to other States/Regions: N/A
URM? (Y/N): N
Year in School: Graduated from UC school c/o 2020
Undergraduate Major(s)/Minor(s): Human Biology and Psychology
Graduate Degrees (if applicable): N/A
Cumulative GPA: 3.4 --> 3.53 (30 post-bacc credits)
Science GPA: 3.2 --> 3.43
MCAT Score(s): 512 (taken April 2020)

Research Experience:
-Three years in an undergraduate research position on campus, genetic research: roughly 1,100 hours

Publications/Abstracts/Posters (include how you were credited e.g. first author, second author, etc.):
- 1 poster presentation, no publications

Clinical Experience (paid or volunteer):
- COPE Health Scholar: 300 hours
- Volunteer in an emergency room and post-anesthesia care unit: 270 hours
- Intern/Dementia Screener in a neurology clinic: 54 hours
- CNA: 1,900 hours
- Covid-19 screener: 1,400 hours
- ABA therapist (not sure if this counts as clinical): 520 hours
- recently got hired as an EEG technician: have yet to begin

Physician Shadowing:
- Neurologist: 54 hours
- Hospitalist: 80 hours

Non-Clinical Volunteering:
- Foodbank volunteer: 300 hours
- Grocery delivery driver for the elderly: 50 hours
- Animal shelter volunteer: 50 hours

Other Extracurricular Activities:
- Badminton team health officer & member of the badminton team: 1,200 hours
- American Medical Woman's Association Treasurer/ Founding member of the chapter at my school: 300 hours

School List:
MD - California Uni of Science an Medicine, Drexel, EVMS, Keck, MCW, NYMC, Larner Vermont, Rush, Tulane, UA - Tuscon (interview hold), UCI, UCR (interview waitlist)
DO - AT Kirksville & Arizona, CHSUCOM, CCOM, NYITCOM, PCOM, Touro Cali & Nevada, AzCOM, Western

I applied for this cycle and was waitlisted to Western COMP (February), Rush (November), and CHSUCOM (October). My GPA was my main weakness in my application this cycle and I have been doing a DIY post-bacc to address it. I have maintained a 4.0 so far and will maintain it until this next app cycle. I have also begun working as an ABA therapist and an EEG technician since the last app cycle. I don't think my MCAT is a problem and it is well distributed. If I don't get anywhere this year, what would be a recommended school list given my updates?/Schools that reward reinvention? I would like to reapply this year. Are there any other improvements I could make to my application? I was also placed on a lot of interview waitlists/holds. I am fine with both MD and DO.
Thank you in advance!

Hey, I was accepted to Rush and during my interview they asked what I thought my biggest weakness was. I said my MCAT could be improved. The interviewer noted that after an interview is given, academics aren’t part of the final process (could have just said that to make me feel better). Anyways, I would try to get a third party resource (your pre med office) to gauge how good you interview. I used this process and noticed I was making a lot of mistakes, although I thought I was doing good.

 

[bagel3000]

Hey, I was accepted to Rush and during my interview they asked what I thought my biggest weakness was. I said my MCAT could be improved. The interviewer noted that after an interview is given, academics aren’t part of the final process (could have just said that to make me feel better). Anyways, I would try to get a third party resource (your pre med office) to gauge how good you interview. I used this process and noticed I was making a lot of mistakes, although I thought I was doing good.

That makes sense, when I was asked something like that I said something along the lines of “my grades could be better but I’m working on improving em” 😕 I unfortunately don’t have a pre med office but I’ll look into some interview help! Thank you!

 

[Faha]

Thank you, I hope so. In case I do need to reapply, do you have any schools you would recommend?

For DO schools I suggest these:
WESTERN
TUCOM-CA
AZCOM
TUNCOM
UIWSOM
ATSU-KCOM
KCU-COM
DMU-COM
CUSOM
PCOM
NYITCOM
Touro-NY
For MD schools you could try these:
TCU-UNT
Creighton
Tulane
Loyola
Rush
Rosalind Franklin
Medical College Wisconsin
Oakland Beaumont
Wayne State
NOVA MD
George Washington
Eastern Virginia
Drexel
Temple
Jefferson
Hackensack
New York Medical College
Albany
Vermont
Quinnipiac

 

[stinkycheeseperson]

That makes sense, when I was asked something like that I said something along the lines of “my grades could be better but I’m working on improving em” 😕 I unfortunately don’t have a pre med office but I’ll look into some interview help! Thank you!

yeah i would definitely work on interview, get someone to look at your new/edited essays (don't reapply with exactly the same ones) and think about whether you want to use the same letters (they could be fine but could they be better?)