WAMC/School List - 3.97/524

[gmsagima]

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Hello everyone. Thank you in advance for looking at this thread. Planning to apply only to MD this coming cycle (2026-2027), and I am a first-time applicant. I am looking for feedback and guidance about my application and school list.

Some background info: I am graduating from undergrad in December of this year, so I will have a "gap semester" if I matriculate in 2027. I am planning to obtain an EMT Basic certification during that time. My application is very research-focused, as that has become one of my main passions throughout undergrad. All of my experiences are centered around public/community health, and that is the track I wish to continue pursuing throughout and after medical school. That focus has led me to be with the same organization (my undergrad institution's medical school's emergency department) for over 2 years, where I have held a few different positions.

In terms of medical school preferences, public health and research capability are extremely important for me. I want to pursue an MD/MPH, so a strong community and research presence are things I value, on top of an urban location. I have a preference for midwestern schools, as it would be important to me to be able to visit my family often without needing to fly. I have a list in progress so far, so any feedback/suggestions are highly appreciated.

Stats:

• cGPA: 3.97 (AMCAS)
• sGPA: 3.97 (AMCAS)
• MCAT: 524 (131/129/132/132)

Demographics

• MI resident
• Middle-Eastern/North African (pretty sure this would be ORM?), but I immigrated to the US when I was 11 years old (plays a role in my motivations/experiences)
• State school undergrad (Detroit-located and Detroit-focused mission)

Clinical Volunteer experience

• ~580 hours as an HIV Tester/Counselor in 3 urban ERs

Paid Clinical Experience

• ~1200 hours as a Community Health Research Technician (and HIV Tester/Counselor) in 3 urban ERs

Research Experience/Productivity

• ~150 hours as the first author and investigator for a self-initiated study in the same ERs I was working at (focused on contraception and sexual health)
  • Presented a poster at a national conference
• ~150 hours as a Study Coordinator for an ongoing community health study in the ER (ongoing)
  • 350-400 hours expected in total
• ~60 hours as a current student PI for a self-initiated IRB-approved study at my undergrad institution (focused on student mental health)
  • ~200 hours expected by study completion
  • Study intended for presentation and publication after completion
• ~25 hours as a data entry assistant for a local study on urban neighborhood quality

Shadowing Experience

• ~50 hours accumulated throughout my time at the urban ERs I volunteered/worked at.

Non-Clinical Volunteering

• ~50 hours as a K-12 tutor for underserved urban students (ongoing)
  • Anticipated to be approximately 100 hours total
• ~60 hours split across an honors society's events (senior home game events, world medical relief, local urban garden, and student education/outreach panels)
  • Anticipated to be approximately 100 hours total
• ~30 hours as co-founder of a student mentorship program at my university
  • Anticipated to be approximately 50 hours total

Other Extracurriculars and Honors/Awards

• Board member position for undergrad Nu Rho Psi honors society chapter (ongoing until graduation)
• Honors Student Senate member (ongoing until graduation)
• University funding award for my ongoing research study
• Other university awards (dean's list, chemistry award, and service award)

The school list is below. I used Admit to help make it, and tried to be mindful of places I'd actually want to live. I am trying to stay under 20-25 schools due to financial reasons. Feel free to comment and ask any questions. Also, if possible, please don't quote this post, as I may take it down later on. Thanks again!

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Welcome to the forums.

If you haven't read our article on overrepresented minorities, you should.

So you seem to like the Emergency Department world. It might be a nice change of pace to do a little shadowing in other internal med areas where the pace is not so intense. You won't be working in ER's all four years of medical school.

I'm also not 100% clear about your service orientation that doesn't involve emergency medicine.

I also don't know how admit gave you this list. You should consider all of your in-state options, especially if you understand the urgency of more rural emergency medicine. You seriously won't consider UM, Western Michigan, or Central Michigan?

 

[gmsagima]

Welcome to the forums.

If you haven't read our article on overrepresented minorities, you should.

So you seem to like the Emergency Department world. It might be a nice change of pace to do a little shadowing in other internal med areas where the pace is not so intense. You won't be working in ER's all four years of medical school.

I'm also not 100% clear about your service orientation that doesn't involve emergency medicine.

I also don't know how admit gave you this list. You should consider all of your in-state options, especially if you understand the urgency of more rural emergency medicine. You seriously won't consider UM, Western Michigan, or Central Michigan?

Thank you so much for your response!

Just read the article you linked, and it answered a lot of my questions about the ORM matter.

I have been looking into shadowing other specialties, and I am reaching out to physicians right now to do so. I fell in love with the environment I worked in, so I decided to stay within that urban ER setting (especially as more opportunities for growth opened up there), which is why so much of my experience is centered around that.

In terms of my service orientation, a lot of it is focused on educational advocacy and outreach. Most of it is split between tutoring kids in the surrounding urban area, and my undergrad initiatives (serving on research panels/seminars, student senate, the mentorship program, and science communication at high schools). I'm the first person in my family to attend a US university, so I didn't know my way around or how to access resources; a big part of my service orientation is making that navigation easier for other students.

I appreciate your suggestion of adding more state schools to the app list. I didn't know how many to include (I'm still finding my way around this process), and I will be adding more after doing more research. Do you have any further advice about the list or my application in general? Thank you again!