WAMC / School List, 3.77 GPA, 515 MCAT (Thank you!!)

[kekall]

Thank you to whoever takes the time to read this!

Note: I am 100% aware that most of the T20 schools I listed are a complete hail-mary for me. Despite the odds being completely stacked against me, I figured it was worth shooting my shot.

cGPA: 3.77
sGPA: 3.76
MCAT: 515 (128/130/127/130)
State of residence: California; extremely significant ties to FL
Ethnicity/race: White ORM
Undergraduate category: HYP
Other Diversity: First-generation college student; FAP recipient; Bisexual

Clinical Work Experience (aka How I Spent My Gap Years):

• Oncology Clinical Research Coordinator at T20 Med School: 1880 hours
• Cardiology Clinical Research Coordinator at T20 Med School: 1850 hours (2400 anticipated hours)

Clinical Volunteer Experience:

• Volunteered at a hospice: 350 hours
• Volunteered giving hypertension screenings at local soup kitchen: 45 hours

Research experience

• Undergraduate Research Basic Science lab (2400 hours)
• One summer spent in a basic science lab at another HYP institution (400 hours)
• Current research in cardiology clinical research (200 hours)

Research productivity:

• One middle-author publication, two campus poster presentations, two campus symposium talks, and senior thesis from undergrad lab.
• At my current job, I've presented two posters (one at a national cardiology conference) and have one published first-author abstract.

Shadowing experience:

• Otolaryngology, Cardiology, Oncology, and Emergency Medicine (130 hours total)
• 30 hours anticipated in cardiology.

Non-clinical volunteering:

• Volunteered teach biology to middle schoolers: 45 hours
• Volunteered at health-related non-profit helping seniors during COVID & had leadership role: 50 hours
• Volunteered to chair Model UN/Model Congress conferences for high schoolers during undergrad: 50 hours

Other extracurricular activities:

• Certified SCUBA diver
• Hiking/Camping/Backpacking

Relevant honors/awards:

• Graduated with honors in my major (MCDB), applied for and received 4 different grants/fellowships to complete research during undergrad.

LOR:

• Six in total: My undergraduate PI (very strong), current MD that I work for (very strong), non-science professor (very strong), science professor/academic advisor for 4 years (very strong); science professor/mentor (strong); MD that I used to work for (strong)

School List:

1. Stanford University School of Medicine
2. University of California, San Francisco, School of Medicine
3. Harvard Medical School
4. University of California, Los Angeles David Geffen School of Medicine
5. University of California, San Diego School of Medicine
6. Weill Cornell Medicine
7. NYU Grossman School of Medicine
8. Yale School of Medicine
9. Vanderbilt University School of Medicine
10. Duke University School of Medicine
11. Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania
12. Washington University in St. Louis School of Medicine
13. Albert Einstein College of Medicine
14. Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California
15. Kaiser Permanente Bernard J. Tyson School of Medicine
16. University of Miami Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine
17. University of Virginia School of Medicine
18. Northwestern University The Feinberg School of Medicine
19. University of California, Davis, School of Medicine
20. USF Health Morsani College of Medicine
21. University of Colorado School of Medicine
22. University of California, Irvine, School of Medicine
23. University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine
24. Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine at Florida Atlantic University
25. Florida International University Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine
26. Mayo Clinic Alix School of Medicine
27. University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health
28. George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences
29. Georgetown University School of Medicine
30. Tufts University School of Medicine
31. Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine
32. Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth
33. Wake Forest University School of Medicine
34. University of Michigan Medical School
35. University of Central Florida College of Medicine
36. The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University
37. University of Florida College of Medicine
38. Rush Medical College of Rush University Medical Center
39. Florida State University College of Medicine
40. University of Connecticut School of Medicine

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[Faha]

What are your ties to Florida ?

 

[kekall]

What are your ties to Florida ?

I was born and raised there. I was a FL resident from age 0 to 24. My family and friends all still live there.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Is there a reason why you don't want a research career? You are very heavy on research experiences and academic activities. In fact, your clinical experience mostly comes in a research context. PhD is very strong with you.

 

[kekall]

Is there a reason why you don't want a research career? You are very heavy on research experiences and academic activities. In fact, your clinical experience mostly comes in a research context. PhD is very strong with you.

Yes. There are a number of reasons why I chose not to pursue a PhD/MD-PhD, here are some of them:

• I really enjoy interacting with and developing relationships with patients. I am an extrovert and found lab work to be too lonely.
• I am not a fan of the publish-or-perish/constant grant writing that comes with having your own lab.
• I loved basic science research, but I LOVE clinical/translational research.
• I would like to go into academic medicine, but I definitely would want ~80% of my time dedicated to seeing patients.
• At my age, pursuing a MD-PhD would interfere with my personal life plans.

I will note that my current clinical research job is heavy on patient-care and interaction. 80% of what I do is see patients, collect ECGs, etc. The clinical research abstracts I've produced have been the result of time spent outside of working hours, meaning it's "extracurricular" if that makes sense.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Yes. There are a number of reasons why I chose not to pursue a PhD/MD-PhD, here are some of them:

• I really enjoy interacting with and developing relationships with patients. I am an extrovert and found lab work to be too lonely.
• I am not a fan of the publish-or-perish/constant grant writing that comes with having your own lab.
• I loved basic science research, but I LOVE clinical/translational research.
• I would like to go into academic medicine, but I definitely would want ~80% of my time dedicated to seeing patients.
• At my age, pursuing a MD-PhD would interfere with my personal life plans.

I will note that my current clinical research job is heavy on patient-care and interaction. 80% of what I do is see patients, collect ECGs, etc. The clinical research abstracts I've produced have been the result of time spent outside of working hours, meaning it's "extracurricular" if that makes sense.

I get that, but not all research is bench research.

PhD in Clinical Research Program | Icahn School of Medicine

Explore the PhD in Clinical Research program at Icahn Mount Sinai. Develop critical skills for a successful career in clinical or translational science.

icahn.mssm.edu

PhD in Epidemiology and Clinical Research

med.stanford.edu

PhD in Clinical Investigation | Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health

publichealth.jhu.edu

Doctor of Philosophy in Applied Clinical Research

The Ph.D. Program in Applied Clinical Research provides rigorous training for health professionals who aim to be independent clinician investigators.

www.utsouthwestern.edu

Clinical and Translational Science - Tracks - Ph.D. Program in Biomedical Science - Mayo Clinic College of Medicine & Science

Learn more about the Clinical and Translational Science (CTS) track within the Ph.D. Program at Mayo Clinic Graduate School of Biomedical Science.

college.mayo.edu

 

[kekall]

I get that, but not all research is bench research.

PhD in Clinical Research Program | Icahn School of Medicine

Explore the PhD in Clinical Research program at Icahn Mount Sinai. Develop critical skills for a successful career in clinical or translational science.

icahn.mssm.edu

PhD in Epidemiology and Clinical Research

med.stanford.edu

PhD in Clinical Investigation | Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health

publichealth.jhu.edu

Doctor of Philosophy in Applied Clinical Research

The Ph.D. Program in Applied Clinical Research provides rigorous training for health professionals who aim to be independent clinician investigators.

www.utsouthwestern.edu

Clinical and Translational Science - Tracks - Ph.D. Program in Biomedical Science - Mayo Clinic College of Medicine & Science

Learn more about the Clinical and Translational Science (CTS) track within the Ph.D. Program at Mayo Clinic Graduate School of Biomedical Science.

college.mayo.edu

I appreciate you sharing these resources with me - I will check them out! That said, I am confident that going into medicine is the path for me. I definitely want to participate in clinical research, but I do not want it to become my entire career.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

I appreciate you sharing these resources with me - I will check them out! That said, I am confident that going into medicine is the path for me. I definitely want to participate in clinical research, but I do not want it to become my entire career.

Sure. I think some of the options target those with MDs. Others are direct tracks. Just helping you with the list and getting a sense of your motivation.

 

[Faha]

Your low non clinical volunteering hours (50 hours outside of tutoring and teaching) will limit your chances for interviews. You should be aware that at top tier schools you will competing with applicants who have 520+ MCAT scores AND hundreds or thousands of hours of non clinical volunteering. I suggest these schools with your stats:
Vermont
Quinnipiac
Tufts
Albany
Hofstra
New York Medical College
Rochester
Hackensack
Drexel
Temple
Jefferson
George Washington
Virginia Commonwealth
Eastern Virginia
Wake Forest
Belmont
NOVA MD
USF Morsani
Miami
Florida Atlantic
Florida International
Central Florida
U Florida
TCU
Rosalind Franklin
Medical College Wisconsin
Western Michigan
Oakland Beaumont
California University
Kaiser
The UCs (except Riverside unless you are from that region)
USC Keck

 

[kekall]

Your low non clinical volunteering hours (50 hours outside of tutoring and teaching) will limit your chances for interviews. You should be aware that at top tier schools you will competing with applicants who have 520+ MCAT scores AND hundreds or thousands of hours of non clinical volunteering. I suggest these schools with your stats:
Vermont
Quinnipiac
Tufts
Albany
Hofstra
New York Medical College
Rochester
Hackensack
Drexel
Temple
Jefferson
George Washington
Virginia Commonwealth
Eastern Virginia
Wake Forest
Belmont
NOVA MD
USF Morsani
Miami
Florida Atlantic
Florida International
Central Florida
U Florida
TCU
Rosalind Franklin
Medical College Wisconsin
Western Michigan
Oakland Beaumont
California University
Kaiser
The UCs (except Riverside unless you are from that region)
USC Keck

Thank you so much for your response. Fortunately, a lot of the schools you suggested are already on my list, but I will definitely be adding a few of your suggestions to my list.