WAMC/School List - 3.99/523

[smallbladder]

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First time on this forum, but I am so lost in this process and would really appreciate some grounded advice! :”) Thank you!

*Hours listed are hours I already have + expect to have by the time I submit my primary in early June this year.


STATS/DEMOGRAPHICS

cGPA: 3.99; sGPA: 4.00
MCAT: 523 (130, 132, 130, 131)
CA Resident
Southeast Asian
Public CA State University (non-UC)
Business major, Statistics minor
2 gap years (starting 2nd gap rn)


CLINICAL

• MA at IM-related Clinic (paid) -> 900 hours
• Medical Scribe/MA at Non-Profit Clinic for Uninsured (volunteer) -> 200 hours

RESEARCH (weak :<)

• Bioinformatics Research -> 100 hours, 1 published paper (low contributor)
• NIH-Funded Research Study (more Stats but in public health topic) -> 50 hours, 1 poster presentation (only lasted 1 quarter)
• School-Funded Research Program (Org Behavior Research, more Psych-related) -> 100 hours, 1 poster presentation

SHADOWING (total hours -> 61 hours)

• Primary Care/Family Medicine -> 28 hours
• Plastic Surgery -> 12 hours
• OB/GYN -> 15 hours
• Pediatrics -> 6 hours

NON-CLINICAL VOLUNTEERING (low)

• Food Bank -> 100 hours
• Homeless Shelter/Soup Kitchen -> 65 hours

OTHER EXTRACURRICULAR ACTIVITIES

• Statistics Workshop Leader -> 1000 hours
• Pro-Bono Business Consulting Student-Led Firm -> 200 hours
• Business Fraternity (Finance and Philanthropy Officer) -> 150 hours
• Christian Fellowship (Outreach Leader and Worship) -> 130 hours
• Medical Mission Trip @ Home Country -> 1 week

HOBBY/INTEREST-RELATED

• Dance -> 150 hours
• A Capella -> 100 hours
• Korean Cultural Club (Officer) -> 50 hours + studied abroad in S. Korea for a semester

MISC. WORK EXPERIENCE

• Accounting Internship -> 250 hours
• Food Service Jobs -> 200 hours
• Business Class TA -> 50 hours

CONTEXT/EXTRA INFO

I grew up in a different country and moved to the US a year prior to starting university without my parents (I have US citizenship, they do not), and that came with its whole set of experiences I hope to draw upon in my narrative.

I didn’t decide to pursue pre-med until later into my college career. (I’d initially hit the ground running to pursue business, but realized it was not for me.) By then, I was already plugged into other involvements in my major, and slowly started dipping my toes into pre-med related activities while taking all the pre-req classes to apply to med school.

I’m worried that my quantitative stats (GPA/MCAT) are pushing me towards schools that care a lot about sections in my app I am quite lacking in (research, service). Struggling to curate a school list that casts a wide net, taking into consideration yield-protection and lack of mission fit with the research-heavy and service-heavy schools! ;-; Would greatly appreciate help/school suggestions in this regard!

I plan on applying to lots of the CA schools, just to shoot my shot (except for UC Riverside d/t their regional preference). Other than that, I am open to any state ngl. Ideally want to cut my school list down to 35-40 schools!


QUESTIONS

• What would be a good number of reach/shoot-my-shot schools to include into my finalized school list?
• Is it worth considering another gap year to work on weak spots on my app?

My Way-Too-Long Prelim School List (Would appreciate advice on what schools to definitellyyy take off/ways to trim my list! I don’t want to lean top-heavy but just went off of admit.org lol):

UCSF
UCLA
UCSD
UC Irvine
UC Davis
Kaiser
CUSM
Loma Linda
Stanford

Columbia
NYU Grossman
WashU in St. Louis
UMich
Mayo
Penn
Pitt
Vanderbilt
Cornell
Mt. Sinai
UChicago
Albert Einstein
University of Virginia
Brown
Emory
Rochester
Boston U
Hofstra
USF Morsani
U of Arizona, Phoenix
Dartmouth
UMiami
Tulane
Drexel
Temple
Tufts
U of Cincinnati
Thomas Jefferson
VCU
U of Colorado
Quinnipiac
Ohio State
U of Vermont
Wake Forest
Loyola
Wayne State
St. Louis
Penn State

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Welcome to the forums.

Entering a second gap year, your service orientation hours are much lower than I would expect for someone with your metrics. You should have at least 250 hours, and you'll be competing against other applicants with nearer to 1000+ hours (if they have spent at least one gap year).

900 hours as an MA is the only activity with a high enough number of hours that (I presume) reflects activities during a gap year. (Are you really spending 1000 hours as a stats workshop leader in your gap year???). A full-time job is around 2000 hours, so the numbers don't add up in this profile.

 

[Faha]

Some of the schools on your list will "yield protect" with your stats. I suggest these schools:
UCSF
UCLA
UCSD
UC Irvine
UC Davis
Kaiser
CUSM
Loma Linda (if you fit their mission)
Stanford

Columbia
NYU Grossman
WashU in St. Louis
UMich
Mayo
Penn
Pitt
Vanderbilt
Cornell
Mt. Sinai
UChicago
Albert Einstein
University of Virginia
Brown
Emory
Rochester
Boston U
Hofstra
USF Morsani
U of Arizona, Phoenix
Dartmouth
UMiami
Tulane
Tufts
U of Cincinnati
Thomas Jefferson
U of Colorado
Ohio State
U of Vermont

 

[smallbladder]

Welcome to the forums.

Entering a second gap year, your service orientation hours are much lower than I would expect for someone with your metrics. You should have at least 250 hours, and you'll be competing against other applicants with nearer to 1000+ hours (if they have spent at least one gap year).

900 hours as an MA is the only activity with a high enough number of hours that (I presume) reflects activities during a gap year. (Are you really spending 1000 hours as a stats workshop leader in your gap year???). A full-time job is around 2000 hours, so the numbers don't add up in this profile.

Thanks for pointing that out! I took an extra semester to finish pre-req classes, so I technically just graduated last semester (December) and am wrapping up one last pre-req class this semester (at a different institution from my undergrad). I counted time spent on these as being a part of my first gap year if I were to assume a traditional 4-year undergraduate career. Am I misguided categorizing it as such?

The workshop leader job was something I did throughout undergrad, so those hours were accumulated across 3 years. Hope that clears things up!

 

[smallbladder]

Some of the schools on your list will "yield protect" with your stats. I suggest these schools:
UCSF
UCLA
UCSD
UC Irvine
UC Davis
Kaiser
CUSM
Loma Linda (if you fit their mission)
Stanford

Columbia
NYU Grossman
WashU in St. Louis
UMich
Mayo
Penn
Pitt
Vanderbilt
Cornell
Mt. Sinai
UChicago
Albert Einstein
University of Virginia
Brown
Emory
Rochester
Boston U
Hofstra
USF Morsani
U of Arizona, Phoenix
Dartmouth
UMiami
Tulane
Tufts
U of Cincinnati
Thomas Jefferson
U of Colorado
Ohio State
U of Vermont

Really appreciate it, thank you!