WAMC: Reapplicant (3.74 cGPA, 3.70 sGPA, 524 MCAT) looking for advice on school list

[xuylittle]

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Hi everyone. Hopefully things are going well for you during these times. I applied last cycle but received no II, probably due to insufficient clinical experience. Over the past year I’ve added some ECs to strengthen my app and I’d like to get some advice for my school list. Open to any comments and suggestions.

cGPA: 3.74, sGPA: 3.70 (slight upward trend)

MCAT: 524

Major: Biology

Undergrad: T10, Class of 2019

Residence: Maryland

Demographic: Asian male

Research:

1. NCI Summer internship (800 hours) (poster and pub)
2. Independent study for credit (1000 hours) (poster)
3. NCI Post-bac (1900 hours) (poster)

Clinical volunteering:

1. Hospital concierge (140 hours)
2. Urgent care clinic (300 hours) (paused because of COVID-19, but I hope to start again ASAP)

Nonclinical volunteering:

1. Summer camp volunteer (80 hours)
2. Admin leader in tutoring organization (120 hours)
3. Food bank (25 hours)
4. Online biology teacher (90 hours)

Physician shadowing:

1. OB/GYN: 28 hours
2. Nephrology: 20 hours
3. Urgent Care: 50 hours (also paused because of COVID-19)

Other:

• Marching band: 600 hours
• Paid employment (work study):
  • Public policy research assistant: 200 hours
  • Biology lab research assistant: 120 hours

Here is my preliminary school list:

1. University of Maryland
2. Tufts University
3. Albert Einstein College of Medicine
4. Boston University
5. Wake Forest University
6. Weill Cornell
7. Columbia University
8. Case Western Reserve University
9. Emory University
10. University of Virginia
11. Virginia Tech University
12. Georgetown University
13. Geisel School of Medicine
14. University of Michigan
15. Kaiser Permanente SOM
16. Quinnipiac University
17. George Washington University
18. Temple University
19. University of Rochester
20. Icahn SOM at Mount Sinai
21. Penn State College of Medicine
22. Ohio State University

(Schools in bold are new)

 

[Faha]

Schools such as Temple, Penn State and Quinnipiac are likely to "yield protect". You could add these schools:
Washington University
St. Louis
Cincinnati
Pittsburgh
Hofstra
UVA
Duke
Miami
USF Morsani
Vanderbilt

 

[xuylittle]

Hi Faha. Thanks for your suggestions. Are the first two lines supposed to be Washington University at St. Louis? I can't find schools with those separate names on MSAR.

Edit: wait, sorry, I just found St. Louis.

 

[Faha]

Hi Faha. Thanks for your suggestions. Are the first two lines supposed to be Washington University at St. Louis? I can't find schools with those separate names on MSAR.

Edit: wait, sorry, I just found St. Louis.

Washington University and St. Louis are separate schools in the city of St. Louis.

 

[JustTooLit]

You're a re-applicant ??? That means there's no hope for me at all.....

 

[xuylittle]

@JustTooLit I should clarify that some of these experiences are new since May 2019, including my post-bac, urgent care volunteering, and leadership role. I also did the food bank stint and started doing the biology teaching thing because of the pandemic (been teleworking for the past couple of months now, basically just reanalyzing data). I'm guessing that my relative lack of clinical and nonclinical service tanked my last app. As long as you have similarly or more substantial experiences, you might be fine.

 

[JustTooLit]

But a 524 MCAT and no IIs at all ? That's kind of shocking to say the least.

 

[SarahC42]

But a 524 MCAT and no IIs at all ? That's kind of shocking to say the least.

And his previous school list wasn't too horrible either. Maybe adcoms didn't view his hospital concierge position as clinical at all.
At least that's what I'm gonna tell myself cuz it's these stories that make me neutoric lol.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Are you applying MD/PhD or for any research-heavy curricula?

 

[xuylittle]

@Mr.Smile12

Thanks for the question. I'm not applying MD/PhD, but I would like to pursue research opportunities during med school. It's why I was interested in schools like Case Western.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

@Mr.Smile12

Thanks for the question. I'm not applying MD/PhD, but I would like to pursue research opportunities during med school. It's why I was interested in schools like Case Western.

At least someone else suggested Duke because if you did your homework on curriculum you should have added them. But also noteif you want to do research, many programs are set up to introduce medical students to research (HHMI Medical Students Program with NIH). You should check which schools participate (which I will note Case med does, especially CCLCM).

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