WAMC + school list advice

[operationalamalgamat]

Hello, first time poster here! (I'm scared)

Demographics: 20 M ORM
State school, live in midwest
Stats: 520 MCAT, 3.96 cGPA, 3.99 sGPA
ECs
Research: 2000 hrs 2 posters, 1 published abstract 3 publications pending(two first author), one student grant award
Clinical: 850 hrs scribing, 250 ED, volunteering
Non-clinical Volunteering: 500 hrs (nothing crazy, things I'm passionate about)
Leadership: founded a small NPO, not really related to medicine
Shadowing: 300 hrs 7 specialties
Fairly competent musician, played at a couple events/venues

Here's my school list(I would like to cut this down a little)

Harvard Medical School
UCSF
Johns Hopkins
Columbia University
Duke University
UPenn (Perelman)
NYU Grossman
Stanford University
WashU St. Louis
University of Michigan
Yale School of Medicine
Mayo Clinic
Vanderbilt University
Northwestern University
University of Pittsburgh
Icahn at Mount Sinai
Weill Cornell Medicine
Case Western Reserve
University of Virginia
University of Rochester
USF (Morsani)
Hofstra
UChicago (Pritzker)
Emory University
UCLA
University of Minnesota
Colorado
University of Iowa
Albert Einstein
Dartmouth (Geisel)
University of Cincinnati
Boston University
Tufts University
Jefferson (Kimmel)
USC (Keck)
Brown University

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[Mr.Smile12]

Welcome to the forums.

No need to be scared of us. We're a bunch of people having fun.

We need to know what 500 hours of non-clinical volunteering is and that nothing overlaps with your NPO work.

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"Overrepresented Minorities": A Brief History - SDN

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Why did you shadow 7 specialties for 300 hours? It also looks like you have no campus leadership or membership; is this true?

Why do you think it's your purpose to be a physician? Is it related to your NPO, and what are you doing to transition away from it? Have you talked with medical students at the schools on your list who share your background?

 

[operationalamalgamat]

Thanks for your response!

Volunteering includes sports coaching for underserved populations, and educational programming at a museum.

NPO work is totally separate. I have around 3-4k hours on this. I would say it's not really related to my desire to pursue medicine. It's fairly small scale so I should be able to transition out of it during my gap year (graduating college 2 years early)

I am part of a couple campus clubs, I don't think that's super central to my app, though. No leadership with these roles.

I just really enjoyed my time shadowing, so I kept doing it!

I think with regards to my personal purpose in medicine, a lot of it has to do with pediatrics. This is a pretty central theme in my clinical and research experiences, and I weaved this through most of my writing.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

You need service orientation activities. What you are doing with coaching and museum programming doesn't address social needs of the people you are helping. Examples focus on food distribution, shelter volunteering, job/tax preparation, legal support, transportation services, or housing rehabilitation. With zero hours in this category, your application is at risk of getting screened out at most schools.

Furthermore, if you intend to apply as a high-metrics applicant, you should have 250 hours by submission to stay on pace with your peers in those applicant pools.

Pediatrics as a purpose isn't helpful. Every medical school will give you opportunities to get insight as a future pediatrician, so you aren't helping yourself stand out with just this description. You might as well be a peds nurse and save yourself the money and time.

 

[operationalamalgamat]

This is very insightful. Thanks for this advice! If I were to get about 250 hours by submission, are there any other bottlenecks to my app? Any advice on school list?

 

[Mr.Smile12]

This is very insightful. Thanks for this advice! If I were to get about 250 hours by submission, are there any other bottlenecks to my app? Any advice on school list?

Uh, mission fit? Purpose? Why not pediatric nursing?