MD WAMC/School List (4.0, 514)

[floridabeach2580]

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Hi everyone, I was wondering if I could get some advice on my school list. My application is very research focused. I know I have like a 0.1% chance at Vanderbilt or Columbia (haha) but at the other schools I am at least at the 10th percentile MCAT. I do have volunteering as well so I tried to add some service-oriented schools with a MCAT median similar to my score. But I have way too many schools on my list right now and was hoping to cut down to 25-30 max. Any help is much appreciated, thank you so much!!!

Current School List:
1. Albany
2. Albert Einstein
3. Boston University
4. Case Western
5. FAU
6. Chicago Rosalind Franklin
7. Columbia (lmao)
8. Creighton
9. Eastern Virginia
10. Emory
11. FIU
12. FSU
13. Dartmouth
14. George Washington
15. Hackensack
16. Indiana
17. Mayo
18. Medical College of Wisconsin
19. New York Medical College
20. NEOMED
21. Nova MD
22. Oakland William Beaumont
23. Ohio State
24. Penn State
25. Thomas Jefferson
26. Stanford
27. Tufts
28. USF
29. UCLA
30. UCSD (would this be a donation?)
31. UCSF (would this be a donation?)
32. UCF
33. Chicago Pritzker
34. Cincinnati
35. UF
36. Miami Miller
37. UMichigan
38. Pitt
39. Vanderbilt (lmao)
40. Virginia Commonwealth
41. Virginia Tech
42. Wake Forest
43. Cornell

 

[Mr.Smile12]

6. Clinical experience (volunteer and non-volunteer)
600 hrs (free clinic, hospice, hospital volunteer) – all volunteering
7. Research experience and productivity
2 years full time in clinical research – 11 pubs; several leadership roles
8. Shadowing experience and specialties represented
120 hrs
9. Non-clinical volunteering
700 hrs (sport coaching, refugee mentoring, food pantry)
10. Other extracurricular activities (including athletics, military service, gap year activities, leadership, teaching, etc)
200 hrs paid tutoring; I have taken 3 gap years

Welcome to the forums.

Can you provide a breakdown of your activities in the above categories?

Also, if you have taken 3 gap years, were you employed in a full-time research position as your primary post-graduation activity? How many of the above hours have you done (clinical and non-clinical) since graduating?

 

[floridabeach2580]

Sure!
For the clinical experience:
1. Free clinic medical assistant volunteer - 250 hrs, did this last year of undergrad and first gap year
2. Hospice volunteer - 70 hrs, did mainly home visits, did during all gap years
3. Hospital volunteer in oncology and radiology departments - 280 hrs, started junior year of undergrad, continued until second gap year

Research:
1. Research internship (during junior year of undergrad) - neurology research, 1 pub
2. Research assistant (second and third gap years) - ortho research, 10 pubs, supervisor and training roles, team lead on multiple projects; 4000ish hrs?

Shadowing:
1. Radiology- 50 hrs
3. Ortho- 70 hrs

Nonclinical volunteering:
1. Sport coaching - 370 hrs, soccer, been doing this since freshman year of undergrad, have done in gap years as well
2. Refugee mentor - 230 hrs, been doing this since sophomore years of undergrad, have done in gap years as well
3. Food pantry - 100 hrs, done primarily during senior year of undergrad and first gap year

Other:
1. Paid tutoring - 200 hrs
2. Retail job (forgot this) - 400 hrs, part-time during first gap year

The full time research position has been during gap years 2 and 3. I would say about half of the volunteering was done in undergrad, and half since graduating, depending on the category (more clinical done post-grad, more nonclinical done during undergrad).

 

[Faha]

I suggest these schools from your list:
1. Albany
2. Albert Einstein
3. Boston University
5. FAU
6. Chicago Rosalind Franklin
8. Creighton
9. Eastern Virginia
10. Emory
11. FIU
12. FSU
13. Dartmouth
14. George Washington
15. Hackensack
16. Indiana
18. Medical College of Wisconsin
19. New York Medical College
21. Nova MD
22. Oakland William Beaumont
24. Penn State
25. Thomas Jefferson
27. Tufts
28. USF
32. UCF
34. Cincinnati
35. UF
36. Miami Miller
37. UMichigan
38. Pitt
40. Virginia Commonwealth
42. Wake Forest

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Keep in mind that you only list 100 hours of service orientation activities (food pantry). You should get this to at least 150 hours by the time you submit your application to avoid getting your application screened out at most schools. Mentoring and teaching is an overrepresented activity among premed applicants and won't help you stand out, even if you are tutoring refugees for free but regular "folk" you are charging. Ideally you should have as many hours with food pantry work as you do with your spots coaching position.

Your clinical experience is heavily weighted on rad and ortho. Boost your hospice hours and get more experience with primary care.

 

[floridabeach2580]

Keep in mind that you only list 100 hours of service orientation activities (food pantry). You should get this to at least 150 hours by the time you submit your application to avoid getting your application screened out at most schools. Mentoring and teaching is an overrepresented activity among premed applicants and won't help you stand out, even if you are tutoring refugees for free but regular "folk" you are charging. Ideally you should have as many hours with food pantry work as you do with your spots coaching position.

Your clinical experience is heavily weighted on rad and ortho. Boost your hospice hours and get more experience with primary care.

Thank you for the advice! I am a little confused - so the other 600 hours would not count? I know the coaching and mentoring isn't anything special but I still thought that I had 700 hours of nonclinical service.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Thank you for the advice! I am a little confused - so the other 600 hours would not count? I know the coaching and mentoring isn't anything special but I still thought that I had 700 hours of nonclinical service.

Teaching/tutoring/mentoring is not a service orientation activity but demonstrates academic competency. You wouldn't be teaching something you had no expertise in. Practically every premed applicant has engaged in teaching, tutoring, or mentoring, so it does not help your application stand out.