WAMC reapplicant Please Help

[deezbaguettes]

---

Members don't see this ad.

1. cGPA = 3.60 (3.13, 3.37, 3.97, 3.98) sGPA = 3.58 (2.7, 3.29, 4.0, 4.0)
2. MCAT = 510 (129, 124, 130, 127) Retake??
3. State of Residence = Utah
4. Male White
5. D1 school in southern Utah
-Submitted application 06/11/24 and verified 07/16/24
-Applied to Creighton (R), Eastern Virginia at Old Dominion, Dartmouth, Indiana, Kaiser, UNLV, Mayo, MCW, Ohio State, Penn State, Vermont, Utah, USF, Arizona-Tuscon, Arizona-Phoenix, UCF Colorado, University of Illinois COM, Iowa, Virginia, Wisconsin, VCU, WashU, Wayne State, UNC, Wake Forest, Baylor, UT Long, UT McGovern, UTMB, Texas A&M, Texas Tech El Paso, UNT HSC (DO), and UT Southwestern
-Interviewed at Texas Tech on Oct 30 and Utah on Dec 2. Still waiting on decisions from both of those schools
6. Clinical Experience:

• Orderly in the operating room -> 3000+ hours over 3 years. Have great experiences and stories that I was able to write about
• Volunteer at Clinic serving the underserved community in my area -> 75 hours. Cut short because I needed to work
• Volunteer for Covid testing -> 47 hours. Received a research internship after
• Volunteer in the Emergency Department -> 83 hours. Was cut short because of the start of COVID
• Clinical Lab Tech at the hospital ->315 Hours

7. Research Experience

• Research internship on L-form bacteria and antibiotic resistance -> 165 hours over 10 months. No presentations or posters. Cut short because I graduated from my undergraduate.
• Research with a professor on B7H3 in melanoma cells ->148 hours. 2 posters and presentations. It was ended because professor moved to a different school. Tied in with my mom being diagnosed with melanoma and my motivation for research in that area.

8. Shadowing

• Total shadowing is around 350 hours over 3 years. Since working in the OR, I have been able to shadow doctors in my free time there and at their clinic. The specialties I've shadowed mainly anesthesiology, urology, general surgery, orthopedic, cardiothoracic, vascular, and neurosurgery. I've gotten to know many of the doctors here quite well who have offered to write me LOR.

9. Nonclinical Volunteering

• 0 Hours. This is by far where I fall short. I started volunteering at the crisis text line. I also am hoping to start volunteering at a soup kitchen and pantry at the homeless shelter in my area. One of the big reasons I never got any non-clinical volunteering is because I had to work to afford things and couldn't afford anything at the time. Where I live has a high cost of living.

10. Extracurricular Activities

• Learning Spanish. I got the idea when I was volunteering at the clinic because a majority of the patients were Spanish-speaking. I wanted to be able to close the gap of language in healthcare. My girlfriend's family only speaks Spanish, so it's the only way I'm able to communicate with them without her translating for me. 150 Hours
• Physiology Lab instructor at my university. I started this just before I graduated. I love teaching and tutoring others. 400+ hours
• Weightlifting. I've been going to the gym for around 5 years and love it. I go 6 days a week for about 1 1/2 hrs. 2000 hrs
• I also played JUCO basketball for a year. I stopped because I tore my meniscus and broke my nose in a single game during a tournament and decided my body couldn't handle it anymore. Because of sports, I've had 13 surgeries. Even with my history of injuries, I continue to play basketball and pickleball very often.

11. Honors or awards

• I was on the president's list for the last two years of undergraduate. I also received a research medal for completing two years' worth of research at my university.

12. Other info

• I didn't apply DO outside of UNT was because I'm interested in neurosurgery or orthopedic surgery. I know that could change in med school but I would be shocked if it changed, especially since working in the OR.
• LOR I believe is great. I have two MD LOR's from doctors I've worked with over the past 3 years and have shadowed. They asked if they would write me one since they knew I was applying for medical school. The other two letters are from my research professor from my melanoma research and my genetics professor who is the assistant dean of my college. (Im pretty close with all of them)
• My first cycle was terrible. I'm not the best writer, so for my second cycle, I had help and editing for my statement, activities, and secondaries from a few of my friends who are at T10 schools (don't know if that matters or not). I feel my statement, activities, and secondaries are good, but I still could be wrong.
• If I don't get into this cycle, my school list will relatively be the same. My first choice school states are Utah and Texas. Will probably change the school list outside of that.

Thank you so much for the help, everyone!

 

[candbgirl]

So this will be your third cycle?
What is your tie to Texas?
Stop shadowing. And no need for physician letters.
There might be a time when you will have to decide if you want to be a doctor or you only want to be a MD.
Have you heard anything from the two schools you interviewed at this cycle? When do you expect to hear from them?
Hopefully you will hear something positive soon.

 

[Faha]

Accumulate 150+ hours at the soup kitchen and homeless shelter in case you need to reapply. Some schools screen at 150 hours. If no acceptance by late May post here and we can advise further. You definitely would need a better school list. If you are interested you can apply to
Roseman for July 2025 admission. They will be accepting applications in March.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

My add:

You could have applied to be a surgical assistant (physician assistant for the OR) with that resume.

I know your enjoyed shadowing for 300 hours but it looks like it's just surgery. No outpatient or more "mundane" office visits? Geriatrics? Internal medicine or interventional medicine? You won't be in the OR the entire time.

 

[deezbaguettes]

So this will be your third cycle?
What is your tie to Texas?
Stop shadowing. And no need for physician letters.
There might be a time when you will have to decide if you want to be a doctor or you only want to be a MD.
Have you heard anything from the two schools you interviewed at this cycle? When do you expect to hear from them?
Hopefully you will hear something positive soon.

If I am unsuccessful this cycle, then it would be my third cycle.
I don't have any ties to Texas. Some of the doctors I work with went to school in Texas and loved it. They were also from Utah and told me to apply.
I don't really shadow anymore. I think the amount I have is well more than what I needed in the first place lol
I haven't heard yet from the schools sadly. I don't know when I'll hear from Texas Tech, but Utah said about mid march is when I would hear from them.
Thank you!

 

[candbgirl]

Are you aware that Texas schools are under a mandate ( maybe even a law) that 90% of each class in each school has to be Texas residents? Your chances are slim, unless there is an unknown agreement that of the 10% nonresidents, preference is given to Utah residents.
You really need to revamp your list. You have lots of OOS public schools on there. Are those schools known to be OOS friendly? You really need DO schools on your list if you want to be a doctor.
Hold a good thought on your two interviews. Let us know when you hear.
Good luck.

 

[deezbaguettes]

Accumulate 150+ hours at the soup kitchen and homeless shelter in case you need to reapply. Some schools screen at 150 hours. If no acceptance by late May post here and we can advise further. You definitely would need a better school list. If you are interested you can apply to
Roseman for July 2025 admission. They will be accepting applications in March.

That is my plan currently. I will definitely reach out in may if that is the case. I'll also look into Roseman. Thanks again for the help!

 

[deezbaguettes]

Are you aware that Texas schools are under a mandate ( matte even a law) that 90% of each class in each school has to be Texas residents? Your chances are slim, unless there is an unknown agreement that of the 10% nonresidents, preference is given to Utah residents.
You really need to revamp your list. You have lots of OOS public schools on there. Are those schools known to be OOS friendly? You really need DO schools on your list if you want to be a doctor.
Hold a good thought on your two interviews. Let us know when you hear.
Good luck.

I am aware of that law. When I talked to some of the admissions people from one of the texas schools, they said they like to pull people from Utah. I don't know the reason behind it. With my school list, I tried to get the most OOS friendly schools on there, since my GPA and MCAT aren't stellar. I agree with the addition of DO schools also. In your opinion, do you think retaking the MCAT and going up a few points, like a 510 to a 515-517 would drastically increase my chances?

 

[deezbaguettes]

My add:

You could have applied to be a surgical assistant (physician assistant for the OR) with that resume.

I know your enjoyed shadowing for 300 hours but it looks like it's just surgery. No outpatient or more "mundane" office visits? Geriatrics? Internal medicine or interventional medicine? You won't be in the OR the entire time.

I actually was thinking about doing that since I've had so much time in the OR. I also should've specified that I have about 80 hours in an ENT clinic and 45 in a neurosurgery clinic setting. Does that change my shadowing a little bit when I state that?

 

[Mr.Smile12]

I actually was thinking about doing that since I've had so much time in the OR. I also should've specified that I have about 80 hours in an ENT clinic and 45 in a neurosurgery clinic setting. Does that change my shadowing a little bit when I state that?

I don't know. If you didn't emphasize this in your application, then it's clear it wasn't that important to you to volunteer this in your WAMC. Adcoms know where your hours are is where your passion lies. Especially over 3000 hours and 300 hours of surgery shadowing.

 

[deezbaguettes]

I don't know. If you didn't emphasize this in your application, then it's clear it wasn't that important to you to volunteer this in your WAMC. Adcoms know where your hours are is where your passion lies. Especially over 3000 hours and 300 hours of surgery shadowing.

I see. Thanks again! I will note that down