WAMC + school list: Current applicant looking for weak spots to improve on for next cycle

[baristawarista]

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I posted a thread earlier today regarding my situation, and people advised me to post a WAMC. Some background information: I am in my gap year, applying to medical school. I started submitting secondaries to my schools starting from early August, and submitted all of them before Labor Day weekend. Currently, I have received 3 rejections, 1 ghost, and 0 interviews. I am looking for gap year opportunities in the next year to help improve my application for the next cycle. Which of my stats are the most glaring and needs improvement?

*deleted for privacy concerns* 😛 thank you to everyone's feedback

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Which of my stats are the most glaring and needs improvement?

More experience hours. Your metrics are solid, so you need to show service orientation, purpose, and mission fit.

You need more clinical exposure, preferably with more primary care. Sure, oncology can cover all physiology systems, but that seems to be your theme which can also be covered with a strong cancer biology program (MS/PhD). You may have some patient exposure, but it seems too low compared to other applicants you are competing against.

Non-clinical: You have an Eagle Scout commendation which could help, but you need similar impact during your college or post-college phase. Certainly something with Peace Corps or Americorps would help you. Fundraising is nice, but it doesn't really fit "service orientation" like traditional activities like food distribution, shelter volunteer, job/tax preparation, transportation services, or housing rehabilitation. Hope Lodge/hospice... probably need more experience.

Obviously everything is my opinion. I don't know about your application (essays, work/activities, letters) to see if you didn't resonate with mission fit or any sense of working with underserved populations or stretching yourself beyond your comfort zone.

 

[LunaOri]

Get a clinical job for your gap year, and keep up the volunteering. Do a little primary care shadowing if possible.

 

[LindaAccepted]

I posted a thread earlier today regarding my situation, and people advised me to post a WAMC. Some background information: I am in my gap year, applying to medical school. I started submitting secondaries to my schools starting from early August, and submitted all of them before Labor Day weekend. Currently, I have received 3 rejections, 1 ghost, and 0 interviews. I am looking for gap year opportunities in the next year to help improve my application for the next cycle. Which of my stats are the most glaring and needs improvement?

1. cGPA: 3.94 and sGPA: 3.92
2. MCAT: 515 and breakdown: 129 126 130 130
3. State of residence: CA
4. Ethnicity: Asian male
5. Undergraduate institution: Tier 2 in the South
6. Clinical experience: 90 at cancer treatment center and 100 in hospital (only volunteering)
7. Research experience and productivity: 670 hours at time of primary submission. Working at environmental science lab. Currently working full-time at same lab. Completed an honors thesis and currently working for publication (sometime in March)
8. Shadowing experience and specialties represented: 98 shadowing hours for medical oncologists and radiation oncologists
9. Non-clinical volunteering: 312 total. Volunteered at HOPE lodge, hospice, and with medical fraternity to raise money for treatments at Children's Hospital.
10. Other extracurricular activities
    1. Leadership: 270 hours at culture club (Finance chair, VP External, Senior Advisor)
    2. Tutoring/TA: 65 hours as health TA
11. Relevant honors or awards: Eagle scout, magna cum laude (honors thesis), poster presentation in previous lab (cancer bio lab)

School list:
UCLA
UC Irvine
UC San Diego
UCSF
UC Davis
Kaiser
USC
CUSM
Einstein
Temple
NYMC
Thomas Jefferson
EVMS
VCU
Colorado
Iowa
Oakland Beaumont
Miami
Emory
Pitt
Quinnipiac
Case Western
MCW
Brown
Tufts
Drexel
Northwestern
Rosalind Franklin

As the others have said. You need more clinical exposure. And you should get it in specialties unrelated to cancer and also in some primary care specialties.

 

[JimKimSlim]

I think your list should be expanded to include more safety schools. Very solid GPA, but the MCAT score seems a bit weak. Also the golden number is 200 for clinical. IMO, the fastest ways to get clinical hours is going to your local Resident clinic or doing scrub tech in the OR.