WAMC reapplicant + help with school list (3.67 cGPA, 3.5 sGPA, 512)

[foultarnished97]

I'm a likely reapplicant who has received no IIs this cycle, so I'll start with my old app and then I'll list what I've done to improve for the next cycle (2022-2023). Just looking for a better school list and general opinions on the improvements I'm making as a reapplicant. Made a post before but I reorganized the info to make it a bit more readable.

My 2021-2022 App

• Graduated in 2019
• Complete at most schools by mid-September 2021
• 3.67 cGPA, 3.5 sGPA
• 512 (128 CP, 127 CARS, 126 BB, 131 PS)
• New Hampshire
• Asian ORM
• T40 Honors Program
• Clinical experience (volunteer and non-volunteer)
  • None when I applied but I sent an update letter telling schools about a patient transport experience I did from Sep 2021 - Nov 2021. I realize now that it was pretty stupid to apply with just shadowing and no hands-on clinical experience. The update letter was likely too little, too late.
• Research experience and productivity (800 hrs)
  • 300 of these hours came from clinical research on racial and ethnic health disparities (I am credited on a poster presentation but I found out after I submitted my primary app so I'll have to list it on next year's app)
  • 200 hrs from social work research on the social/economic/health outcomes of distributing 7 million solar lamps in rural India
  • 300 hours from biochem lab work on unnatural amino acids
• Shadowing experience and specialties represented
  • Shadowed surgeons for a month in Pakistan (20 hrs)
  • General Surgery US (20 hrs)
• Non-clinical volunteering
  • 240 hrs working with underserved populations as a student mentor in a pre-collegiate enrichment program from 2015-2018
  • Leadership
    • On e-board of global health organization at my college for 3 years (360 hrs)
    • layout editor for undergraduate research journal (95 hrs)
• Leadership
  • E-board of global health organization at my college for 3 years (360 hrs)
  • Layout editor for undergraduate research journal (95 hrs)
• Gap years (2 so far)
  • I worked for a health tech startup researching risk factors for chronic disease and helping to build a platform that works with users to lower their risk (2019-2021)
  • I've also been delivering food for DoorDash just to make some cash on the side and have some more money to put towards school. (2019-2021)
• LORs
  • As far as I know, these were good. I was told by the premed office that I had an "excellent four-year letter on file and will not need a new letter as a reapplicant" which I assume means it is good enough.
• School list

UVM
Tufts
BU
Georgetown
Quinnipiac
Drexel
Loyola Stritch
Creighton
New York Med
Penn State
Dartmouth
Brown
Tulane
Cooper Rowan
Umass
Rutgers RWJS
Temple
Albany
Einstein
Jefferson
Wake Forest
Rush
Wisconsin
George Washington
Central Michigan
Rosalind Franklin
UMiami
UColorado
Hackensack
Eastern Virginia
Virginia Commonwealth
UConn

Improvements for 2022-2023 Cycle

• Medical scribe at Orthopedics clinic (started in December 2021, total 500 hrsby May 2022)
  • I am planning on getting an MD letter for next cycle
• Patient Transporter (September 2021-November 2021, total 150 hrs)
• Crisis Text Line volunteer (started in December 2021, 5-10 hrs/week)
• Global Health advocacy fellow (Started September 2021, 5-10 hrs/week)
  • Advocating for global comprehensive primary care. Working on research projects on frontline health workers to better inform our advocacy. Meeting with legislative staff to set up a virtual forum with a US Senator.
• ESL tutoring (Starting training this month, 2 hrs/week)
  • Interested in this because of my own background as an immigrant and having seen family members struggle with language barriers. May be virtual or in-person
• Shadowing (new experiences)
  • Pediatrics (20 hrs)
  • Radiation oncology (20 hrs)
  • Virtual shadowing (80 hrs)

I'm hoping a substantial increase in clinical experience will get me some interviews next cycle. Just wondering what the experts on here think about this and my school list. Is there anything I'm missing?

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[Faha]

Yes, it was your total lack of clinical experience and only 20 hours of shadowing in the USA that resulted in no interviews.
Remove state public schools including Rutgers, Cooper Rowan, UConn, Central Michigan, U Wisconsin since they admit few non residents with your stats and no connection to the state. Rush is looking for applicants with far more clinical and non clinical hours than you have. Brown is a far reach.
You could add these schools:
TCU-UNT
Medical College Wisconsin
Oakland Beaumont

 

[foultarnished97]

Yes, it was your total lack of clinical experience and only 20 hours of shadowing in the USA that resulted in no interviews.
Remove state public schools including Rutgers, Cooper Rowan, UConn, Central Michigan, U Wisconsin since they admit few non residents with your stats and no connection to the state. Rush is looking for applicants with far more clinical and non clinical hours than you have. Brown is a far reach.
You could add these schools:
TCU-UNT
Medical College Wisconsin
Oakland Beaumont

I actually do have a lot of family that lives in Connecticut that I visit often. Some of my family members are practicing physicians in Connecticut as well. Given that, would it still be good to reapply there?

 

[Faha]

Yes, apply to UConn.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

What's your significant community service? It needs to NOT be related to healthcare, should be client-facing, and does not involve teaching/tutoring. It's good that you started the crisis text line stuff, but is there anything you have that truly has you face-to-face with communities in need?

 

[foultarnished97]

What's your significant community service? It needs to NOT be related to healthcare, should be client-facing, and does not involve teaching/tutoring. It's good that you started the crisis text line stuff, but is there anything you have that truly has you face-to-face with communities in need?

I would say my student mentoring from undergrad and ESL tutoring are activities addressing the needs of underserved communities. Jw what are some examples of the kind of activities you are thinking of?

 

[Mr.Smile12]

I would say my student mentoring from undergrad and ESL tutoring are activities addressing the needs of underserved communities. Jw what are some examples of the kind of activities you are thinking of?

Teaching/peer mentoring/supplemental instruction is overrepresented as an activity, and I can tell you while it is very important, it doesn't carry a lot of weight in deliberations I have observed. Frankly you are EXPECTED to mentor your peers in medical school so it would bother some of us if you never had any mentoring or tutoring experience, or went on trips teaching science and math to underserved children. We do that in medical school routinely (that's the "feel good" pay-it-forward side of being a med student/physician anyway). But it doesn't tell us how you do in truly uncomfortable situations and working with people who are truly in need.

The opportunities are many: soup kitchens, Meals on Wheels, Habitat for Humanity, housing/eviction support, victim shelters... to name a few. Teach for America/City Year where you really get immersed in the public school SYSTEM and the challenges therein would be the level of involvement with teaching/tutoring that would get our attention positively. It's one thing to provide relief to the teachers, but it's a completely different thing to be the teacher working in a truly under-resourced environment.

 

[foultarnished97]

Teaching/peer mentoring/supplemental instruction is overrepresented as an activity, and I can tell you while it is very important, it doesn't carry a lot of weight in deliberations I have observed. Frankly you are EXPECTED to mentor your peers in medical school so it would bother some of us if you never had any mentoring or tutoring experience, or went on trips teaching science and math to underserved children. We do that in medical school routinely (that's the "feel good" pay-it-forward side of being a med student/physician anyway). But it doesn't tell us how you do in truly uncomfortable situations and working with people who are truly in need.

The opportunities are many: soup kitchens, Meals on Wheels, Habitat for Humanity, housing/eviction support, victim shelters... to name a few. Teach for America/City Year where you really get immersed in the public school SYSTEM and the challenges therein would be the level of involvement with teaching/tutoring that would get our attention positively. It's one thing to provide relief to the teachers, but it's a completely different thing to be the teacher working in a truly under-resourced environment.

My only concern with joining another activity is that, due to all my new activities, it will look like I am trying to just do whatever possible to boost my hours. I don’t know if it’s wise to join so many new activities in 1 reapplication year.

Also, If I joined yet another activity, would only 3 months of volunteering before the May 2022 application even be worth it?

 

[foultarnished97]

Teaching/peer mentoring/supplemental instruction is overrepresented as an activity, and I can tell you while it is very important, it doesn't carry a lot of weight in deliberations I have observed. Frankly you are EXPECTED to mentor your peers in medical school so it would bother some of us if you never had any mentoring or tutoring experience, or went on trips teaching science and math to underserved children. We do that in medical school routinely (that's the "feel good" pay-it-forward side of being a med student/physician anyway). But it doesn't tell us how you do in truly uncomfortable situations and working with people who are truly in need.

The opportunities are many: soup kitchens, Meals on Wheels, Habitat for Humanity, housing/eviction support, victim shelters... to name a few. Teach for America/City Year where you really get immersed in the public school SYSTEM and the challenges therein would be the level of involvement with teaching/tutoring that would get our attention positively. It's one thing to provide relief to the teachers, but it's a completely different thing to be the teacher working in a truly under-resourced environment.

I found some Habitat for humanity build opportunities in the next few months and it seems interesting. Would something like this be a good experience although it's not technically "client-facing" in terms of interacting with people who are in need? Thanks for the tips.