WAMC + School List (3.96/523) ‘26-‘27 Cycle

[DonPetohmi]

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[Deleted]

 

[Faha]

You have a good list and should receive several interviews. You could remove VCU since they will "yield protect".

 

[AsclepiusAdvisingLLC]

Strong on-papers. A candidate like you will receive unique scrutiny with a guiding question - "will this person actually attend our school if admitted?"

They will assume that other schools will be admitting you and you're going to no doubt be applying to the top schools (and they would be right in this). This is a hurdle to start building momentum towards early.

Your candidacy will benefit from early school research in terms of academics, research areas (especially for your interests), and the student body that you want to be around. We've spoken with many candidates like yourself who made their school decisions based off of their conversations with groups at the schools. They reached out through the admissions office about talking with someone to learn more.

They had a chance to talk with people at those schools and it meant something to them that they were willing to take time to do so.

Obviously, you will also be expected to have excellent written materials.

If you have a parent with a graduate professional degree - then you're considered not applicable by AMCAS, on paper. You would benefit from contacting AMCAS and explaining your situation. Go straight to the source 🙂

 

[Mr.Smile12]

You need to be in a position where the schools want to recruit you. You must be picky, and students need to convince you why their program is "perfect" for you. This requires you to have a strong idea of your purpose as a physician, or you might be easily bedazzled by "prestige."

If you have enough money to buy a mansion, be selective because every mansion is going to look impressive. They should.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Okay thank you! This is a very helpful perspective, and I'll definitely try to re-evaluate my list while keeping this in mind. The only difficulty is that, although I would love to be in the position where I take my pick and the schools want to recruit, I'm not sure how realistic this is and at the end of the day I really just want to be a doctor. There are certainly schools I'd love to go to more than others, but I just wanted to be cautious because I might not have the funds for another cycle. I still have a lot of time to revise this list and mull it over though so if you have any other words of wisdom, I would love to hear!

As Asclepius has noted, network with schools that you want to attend. Check with students at the schools or through AMSA or APAMSA chapter officers. You must figure out what you are looking for in a school. Every mansion has a bathroom in it, so you can't just be satisfied with "any" house as an outhouse would also work fine.

 

[Faha]

I wondered about this, but I have both an uncle and Dad who have attended this school so I thought maybe these ties would override yield protection? What do you think?

You could apply there with that connection.

 

[mike-sheree]

I wondered about this, but I have both an uncle and Dad who have attended this school so I thought maybe these ties would override yield protection? What do you think?

If you feel you would like to go there certainly apply. If you don’t want to go there or it’s low on your list don’t apply. It doesn’t appear you will have a difficult time getting in at one of the many other places you listed. You don’t need a real long list. You’re going to get in someplace. Be realistic and stop stressing..

 

[Mr.Smile12]

I wondered about this, but I have both an uncle and Dad who have attended this school so I thought maybe these ties would override yield protection? What do you think?

Your dad? Are you close with him? You said...

Not sure if I should select low SES due to complicated divorced parent situation. I was raised by a single mother with full custody of 3 who constantly had 2-3 jobs to provide for us, however we did receive child support from my father who is a physician and fairly wealthy. The support however was limited and outside of this there was no further assistance. I have qualified each year for Pell Grant and similar state grants and this year received 5K from Pell. Also will quality for FAP. So, in short, I really don’t know what to select because I’ve seen some classifications of low SES focus on qualifications for these grants and others look at education/profession of parent(s).

You want to apply to a program where your father got his medical degree but claim low-SES because he was an absent parent, and your family survived on his child support. How will you describe this situation to that school?

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Yes, it’s a complicated situation and something I know I’ll need to be ready to talk about. My dad and I aren’t super close, but growing up I saw him occasionally, including holidays. He wasn’t a financial support system, but I still heard about his life and his time at the school. We did have a personal relationship, but that’s separate from the reality of our financial situation.

Another commenter mentioned that a parental graduate degree (my mom has a master’s) disqualifies me from “low SES” in AMCAS, so I may not select it. That’s tricky for me because my life was still strongly shaped by these experiences, and combined with being from a very rural area, I faced challenges many peers didn’t. I might just share that in essays rather than the checkbox, since I don’t want to claim anything technically inaccurate. I’ll admit I may have misunderstood the SES definition, it’s surprising to me that a degree can outweigh significant financial hardship and complex family dynamics.

You might not be EO-1, but experienced admissions committees look at more than just the EO score. That's where your own narrative on their secondaries makes a difference.