MD WAMC/School List: 513 MCAT, 3.96 cGPA, 3.90 sGPA, 22F

[Purple_Circles]

I really appreciate any advice!

FL Resident, White 22F, entering 2nd gap year

cGPA/sGPA: 3.96/3.90

MCAT: 513

CP/CARS/BB/PS: 129/125/128/131

1. Clinical experience (volunteer and non-volunteer)

• University medical response unit (40 hrs) (volunteer, inspired me to go to EMT school)
• Hospitals (volunteer, 200hrs): Facility A (Post-Surgery unit), Facility B (front desk), Facility C (neurology in patient unit, neuro outpatient rehab)
• 911 EMT in rural county (1,116 hrs) (Paid, Most Meaningful)
• Internship in Kenya (30hrs) (volunteer, Most Meaningful, inspired non-profit below)
• Community Health Clinic for uninsured pts (volunteer, 5hrs) (current, just started)
• Mammogram Tech Assistant (Paid, 144) (current, just started)

1. Research experience and productivity (620hrs total)

• History non-profit: conducted genealogical research. Presented experience at the undergraduate research symposium at my university.
• Psych Lab: how to assess suicide risk
• Nutrition Lab: mango consumption effect on pre-diabetes, dried plums & bone health
• Poster presentation at a Global Scholars Showcase about my experience at EMT school. The theme was pushing your comfort zone in the pursuit of service and growth.

1. Shadowing experience and specialties represented

• Anesthesiology & Surgery (10hrs)
• Cardiology (10hrs)
• Emergency Medicine (25hrs)
• Kenya: Emergency, OB/GYN, Psych, Surgery (80hrs)

1. Non-clinical volunteering

• Crochet blankets for children (35hrs) for a non-profit that donates them to shelters, CPS, hospitals

1. Other extracurricular activities (including athletics, military service, gap year activities, leadership, teaching, etc)

• Paid tutor through my university, individual & group sessions (Paid, 200 hrs) (biochemistry & metabolism courses)
• Co-Founded a nonprofit after internship in Kenya (volunteer, 300 hrs) (Most Meaningful)
• Social Justice/Advocacy: Worked with my scholarship program on campus to combat food insecurity. We coordinated with multiple organizations to establish new events and positions for sustained change (200 hrs)

1. Relevant honors or awards

President’s list (3 years), Honors Program, Scholarship from my college, Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society, University Housing Award (for high GPA while living on campus), FL Bright Futures Full Ride Scholarship

1. Anything else not listed you think might be important

I plan on writing an OIE essay, but would rather not discuss details of it online. I am also looking for advice on how to write OIE essays. I cannot find examples online.

I have some faith in my PS, as I had an advisor help me with it. It is about having empathy for patients in their most vulnerable, scared moments. I touched on my own medical emergency when I was younger and linked it to patients I had as an EMT.

**Note: I am a FL resident but I have family ties in Michigan and in Connecticut.

Current School List: What should I add/remove? Do I have too many or too few schools?

1. All FL schools: FSU, FIU, Nova, UCF, UM, FAU, UF, USF (8 schools)
2. Pennsylvania State
3. Wake Forest
4. Wayne State
5. Albany Medical College
6. Medical College of Wisconsin
7. Oakland University
8. Drexel
9. Quinnipiac
10. Eastern Virginia
11. Temple
12. Tulane
13. Virginia Tech
14. Western Michigan
15. George Washington
16. Thomas Jefferson
17. Virginia Commonwealth
18. University of Cincinnati
19. University of Maryland
20. Ohio State
21. Augusta
22. University of Vermont
23. Univeristy of South Carolina School of Medicine Greenville
24. University of Michigan
25. University of Colorado
26. University of Iowa
27. Brown
28. Tufts
29. Stony Brook
30. Emory

Thank you!!

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[Faha]

Your lack of non clinical volunteering will limit your chances for interviews. Many schools screen at 150 hours and are looking for activities such as food bank, homeless shelter, etc. . I suggest these schools with your stats:
Your 8 Florida MD schools
Vermont
Quinnipiac
Albany
New York Medical College
Hackensack
Drexel
Temple
Jefferson
Penn State
George Washington
Virginia Commonwealth
Wake Forest
Methodist (when it opens)
Belmont
Alice Walton
Roseman
TCU
Ponce (St. Louis)
Medical College Wisconsin
Western Michigan
Oakland Beaumont

 

[Mr.Smile12]

I plan on writing an OIE essay, but would rather not discuss details of it online. I am also looking for advice on how to write OIE essays. I cannot find examples online.

Welcome to the forums. We discuss OIE in two articles and in our Expert Advice Live recording. Think of it as an extra MME.

First, what is your plan to let go of your nonprofit? Why not pursue MPH or MPP? You spent more time shadowing in Kenya than in the US.

Second, how many hours on the health clinic will you have by the time you submit? 5 hours of course is negligible. Will you wait until you have 100 hours? (I ignore any activity under 50 hours unless it's shadowing.)

3. From your PS description, why not nursing? Patient navigator? CHW? What is your purpose as a physician?

 

[Purple_Circles]

Your lack of non clinical volunteering will limit your chances for interviews. Many schools screen at 150 hours and are looking for activities such as food bank, homeless shelter, etc. . I suggest these schools with your stats:
Your 8 Florida MD schools
Vermont
Quinnipiac
Albany
New York Medical College
Hackensack
Drexel
Temple
Jefferson
Penn State
George Washington
Virginia Commonwealth
Wake Forest
Methodist (when it opens)
Belmont
Alice Walton
Roseman
TCU
Ponce (St. Louis)
Medical College Wisconsin
Western Michigan
Oakland Beaumont

What if I change my work with food insecurity to non-medical volunteer hours instead of social justice? Would this improve my chances?

 

[Faha]

What if I change my work with food insecurity to non-medical volunteer hours instead of social justice? Would this improve my chances?

What was your actual in person connection with people with food insecurity?

 

[Purple_Circles]

Welcome to the forums. We discuss OIE in two articles and in our Expert Advice Live recording. Think of it as an extra MME.

First, what is your plan to let go of your nonprofit? Why not pursue MPH or MPP? You spent more time shadowing in Kenya than in the US.

Second, how many hours on the health clinic will you have by the time you submit? 5 hours of course is negligible. Will you wait until you have 100 hours? (I ignore any activity under 50 hours unless it's shadowing.)

3. From your PS description, why not nursing? Patient navigator? CHW? What is your purpose as a physician?

1) I do not have a current plan to let go of the nonprofit, but we have volunteers who may be able to take over and I have a contact at my university that could potentially give reliable connections. I am open to pursuing a dual MD/MPH or MD/MPP program but truthfully I've been so worried about getting into med school that it is hard to think about getting into another program. I'm also aware that I don't necessarily need an MPH in order to work/volunteer in areas that really need physicians.

2) I will have 5 hours at the community health clinic. I have only been there twice. I acknowledged in the experience description that this is a new opportunity. I explained why I am doing it and what I hope to gain from it. I plan on being able to talk about it in secondaries and interviews.

3) I want to be in a position where I can diagnose patients and have in-depth conversations about their condition and treatment plan. I also really value the level of expertise as a physician and I want to rise to that level. I know that if I did anything else in healthcare I would have long-term regrets of not applying to medical school.

 

[Purple_Circles]

What was your actual in person connection with people with food insecurity?

We had a focus on food insecurity experienced by college students. I volunteered in the university's food pantry to restock it (we frequently had very large influxes of food). I also helped run events to get rid of extra veggies in the pantry (we would hand them out because otherwise they would go bad). I collected and sorted food drive donations. I wrote a cost-friendly recipe for the pantry's website. Overall, my cohort was able to expand the food pantry while keeping students' perspectives in mind. We would conduct surveys to gage understanding of food insecurity and resources offered on campus. One of my jobs was to present our findings to the cohort and suggest ways to incorporate them into our initiatives. Lots of different tasks.

 

[Faha]

We had a focus on food insecurity experienced by college students. I volunteered in the university's food pantry to restock it (we frequently had very large influxes of food). I also helped run events to get rid of extra veggies in the pantry (we would hand them out because otherwise they would go bad). I collected and sorted food drive donations. I wrote a cost-friendly recipe for the pantry's website. Overall, my cohort was able to expand the food pantry while keeping students' perspectives in mind. We would conduct surveys to gage understanding of food insecurity and resources offered on campus. One of my jobs was to present our findings to the cohort and suggest ways to incorporate them into our initiatives. Lots of different tasks.

You can include it on your application but schools are looking for activities where you have direct contact with homeless or food insecure people in the general population (food bank, homeless shelter).

 

[Mr.Smile12]

We had a focus on food insecurity experienced by college students. I volunteered in the university's food pantry to restock it (we frequently had very large influxes of food). I also helped run events to get rid of extra veggies in the pantry (we would hand them out because otherwise they would go bad). I collected and sorted food drive donations. I wrote a cost-friendly recipe for the pantry's website. Overall, my cohort was able to expand the food pantry while keeping students' perspectives in mind. We would conduct surveys to gage understanding of food insecurity and resources offered on campus. One of my jobs was to present our findings to the cohort and suggest ways to incorporate them into our initiatives. Lots of different tasks.

I'll be more accommodating than Faha suggests about viewing your food pantry work (though it does have merit). Just write about it; some adcoms will give you credit in service orientation. But we hope once you are off-campus, you can continue within your community, even if it is run through a faith-based organization. You are entering a second gap year, after all.