wamc school list - 3.99/517 orm

[blooshroooms]

---

Members don't see this ad.

Hello everyone!

I've been trying to cut down my school list (please don't let me apply to 50+ schools) and was wondering if my stats would exclude me from any on my list? I joined the pre-med track late so there may be gaps/missing ECs, so any advice on what I can work on is appreciated!

1. cGPA: 3.99, sGPA 4.00
2. MCAT: 517 (129/127/131/130)
3. CA resident
4. ORM female
5. Undergrad: T20 public university
6. Clinical: 400 hours as NICCU (and non-NICCU) cuddler & working with pediatric patients at children's hospital (reading, drawing, talking, getting them resources); 300 hours in patient escort and meal delivery (but not sure if that counts as clinical)
7. Research: 1300 hours (cardiology research with 1 abstract + conference poster; data science lab with 4 conferences/poster presentations)
8. Shadowing: 32 hours (12 peds, 20 ENT)
9. Non-clinical volunteering: 170 hours (120 hours across 2 food banks/meal delivery programs; 20 hours at an emergency distribution center during natural disaster; 30 from reading to elementary school kids as part of club)
10. Leadership: 400 hours as creative director of club that writes and illustrates books on pediatric illnesses; 200 as art assistant at my local studio (this is a weird one because I started in early high early and did most of it then, but I still go back and help during breaks. not sure if should be included since it's from high school + it's not an official program)
11. No scholarship/awards
12. Misc: Have my own print/art store, donate 50% of earnings to local charities (although I don't make that much in the first place); continuing research (unpaid) and working at cafe over gap year (I like baking + working with different people)

LORs
2 science (chem + neuro professors (likely average-strong))
1 psych professor (likely average)
1 MD cardiologist, also my PI (strong)
1 PI (strong)

General
My app is very peds-centered but obviously not going to explicitly say I want to do peds. Cardio is also big since I worked in a cardiology lab + took care of my younger cousin with CHD in the hospital (which is what ended up making me switch to medicine, but that's personal stuff). Also trying to highlight how I love a mix of creativity (art stuff) + science (lots of research) + human connection (personal experiences, volunteering).

School list (I know it's a lot. I bolded ones I want to apply to for sure)
- All the UCs
- Stanford
- Kaiser
- CUSM
- BU
- Tufts
- UMass-Chan
- University of Pittsburgh
- SKMC
- Penn State
- Rochester
- Albany
- Albert Einstein
- Icahn Mount Sinai
- NYMC
- NYU Long Island
- Stony Brook
- SUNY
- Cornell
- Emory
- Dartmouth
- Virginia Tech
- VCU
- UVA
- Vandy
- Duke
- Wake Forest
- UMN
- UA Phoenix
- Case Western
- UCinci
- Ohio State
- Vermont
- MC Wisconsin
- University of Wisconsin
- West Virginia
- Yale
- Drexel
- Quinnipiac-netter
- Loyola
- Northwestern
- UIC
- Wayne State
- Western Michigan Stryker

Any help is appreciated! Please be honest. Many thanks 🙂

 

[Mr.Smile12]

You don't need to apply to 50 schools, but your service orientation (food distribution) is under 150 hours (maybe we could add the 300 hours of clinically-related food distribution??? I need to see the description), so your file may be screened out at most schools. If you intend to apply to brand-name programs, you should have 250 hours before submitting your application. I don't pay attention to activities with fewer than 50 hours (shadowing excepted).

I'm not sure if your artistic endeavors count as leadership. Who did you manage? Otherwise, the descriptions sound more like teaching. Maybe the entrepreneurship of running your own business (employment), but not sure about the other studio work.

Why did you have a strong interest in your bolded schools? How do you intend to leverage your artistic experiences to your medical education?

 

[blooshroooms]

You don't need to apply to 50 schools, but your service orientation (food distribution) is under 150 hours (maybe we could add the 300 hours of clinically-related food distribution??? I need to see the description), so your file may be screened out at most schools. If you intend to apply to brand-name programs, you should have 250 hours before submitting your application. I don't pay attention to activities with fewer than 50 hours (shadowing excepted).

I'm not sure if your artistic endeavors count as leadership. Who did you manage? Otherwise, the descriptions sound more like teaching. Maybe the entrepreneurship of running your own business (employment), but not sure about the other studio work.

Why did you have a strong interest in your bolded schools? How do you intend to leverage your artistic experiences to your medical education?

thanks for the insight! I'll try to get more hours in at the food banks. Do the other activities not count for non-clinical? The clinically related food distribution is still in the hospital (just delivering meals to patients)

I lead a group of 8-10 students and we illustrate a whole book from start to finish so it requires lots of organization and making sure everyone is on top of things to get it done, making sure our illustrations are cohesive and align with the manuscript, settings deadlines and tasks.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

thanks for the insight! I'll try to get more hours in at the food banks. Do the other activities not count for non-clinical? The clinically related food distribution is still in the hospital (just delivering meals to patients). Are there any schools I should definitely cut given my hours are on the lower end?\

If it were just me (instead of trying to act like an admissions committee), I would give you credit for delivering meals and transporting patients in a clinical environment. Not every adcom sees it the same way: you are interacting with patients, though you aren't serving a physician's role. You should classify this as a clinical activity, though some adcoms may also credit you with a non-clinical activity in a clinical setting (like you are maintenance/janitorial in a hospital).

Many service-oriented schools like to see applicants with hundreds of hours of service orientation activities, especially outside a clinical setting.

I lead a group of 8-10 students and we illustrate a whole book from start to finish so it requires lots of organization and making sure everyone is on top of things to get it done, making sure our illustrations are cohesive and align with the manuscript, settings deadlines and tasks. I feel that I very much do a lot of leading and directing in this role.

How is that different from being a music director for a choir or the cast of a high school musical?

 

[Faha]

I suggest these schools from your list:
All the UCs (exclude Riverside unless you are from that region)
- Stanford
- Kaiser
- CUSM
- BU
- Tufts
- UMass-Chan
- University of Pittsburgh
- SKMC
- Rochester
- Albany
- Albert Einstein
- Icahn Mount Sinai
- NYMC
- NYU Long Island
- Cornell
- Emory
- Dartmouth
- VCU
- UVA
- Vandy
- Duke
- Wake Forest
- UA Phoenix
- Case Western
- UCinci
- Ohio State
- Vermont
- MC Wisconsin
- University of Wisconsin
- Yale
- Drexel
- Quinnipiac-netter
- Loyola
- Northwestern
- Wayne State
- Western Michigan Stryker

 

[blooshroooms]

I suggest these schools from your list:
All the UCs (exclude Riverside unless you are from that region)
- Stanford
- Kaiser
- CUSM
- BU
- Tufts
- UMass-Chan
- University of Pittsburgh
- SKMC
- Rochester
- Albany
- Albert Einstein
- Icahn Mount Sinai
- NYMC
- NYU Long Island
- Cornell
- Emory
- Dartmouth
- VCU
- UVA
- Vandy
- Duke
- Wake Forest
- UA Phoenix
- Case Western
- UCinci
- Ohio State
- Vermont
- MC Wisconsin
- University of Wisconsin
- Yale
- Drexel
- Quinnipiac-netter
- Loyola
- Northwestern
- Wayne State
- Western Michigan Stryker

thank you!