WAMC/School List Feedback - 3.71sGPA/521 California URM

[oolongtealover]

---

Members don't see this ad.

Hello 🙂

Hoping to get some feedback on my school list, especially about whether I'm applying too top heavy.

I'd like to stay in CA if possible, since thats where most of my family/loved ones are. I do feel like my non-clinical hours are lacking, though I hope that my focus in working with underserved populations through my other work shines past that!

First Gen/URM (Latina/Asian mixed) woman, born and raised in CA

T5 undergrad

Stats - 3.84 cGPA, 3.71sGPA, 521 MCAT (129/131/130/131)

Research
- 1300 hours in health equity/public health field, lead a few my own projects and supported numerous other ones
- 1 poster for a school research symposium (project relating to youth engagement in health equity work)
- 1 presentation for my senior capstone (different project also related to youth engagement in health equity work)
- maybe 1 book chapter authorship credit? depending on when it gets published
- 60 hours at a housing equity program doing research on substance use mitigation

Clinical Volunteering
- 280 hours volunteering at a free clinic, mostly creating/presenting health education materials and doing some health coaching (ongoing, more projected)
- 35 hours volunteering at free flu/covid vaccine events registering patients and giving vaccine education

Non Clinical Volunteering
- 30 hours teaching a class about health equity/social determinants of health to local high school students
- 25 hours as a near peer mentor for underrepresented high school students interested in medicine

Clinical Work
- 1240 hours as a oncology clinical research coordinator (ongoing, more projected) i split my time 50/50 in the clinical setting working directly with patients (following up on adverse events, taking vitals/ECGs, coordinating their care etc) vs administrative work. the administrative work doesnt speak to loudly to my "why medicine" so im just lumping it all together unless people suggest it should be split up!

Other extracurriculars
- 45 hours as codirector for a program under my undergrad major dept where we organized events for students to meet faculty/other peers
- 25 hours: selected for a program at my college for students doing community engaged capstone projects
- plan to talk about my hobby which is baking!

Miscellaneous:
Basic conversational fluency in two asian languages

School list (no particular preferential order)

UCSF

UCSD

Kaiser

Keck @ USC

Stanford

UCI

UCLA

UCD

UCR

Albany Medical College

Albert Einstein College of Medicine

Boston Univesrity SoM

Drexel

George Washington SoM

Georgetown

Harvard

Mount Sinai

John Hopkins

University of Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania State

Oregon Health and Science University

NYU Grossman

Northwestern

Tufts

Brown

Thomas Jefferson University

University of Chicago

University of Rochester

Yale

Cornell

Mayo

New York Medical College

Dartmouth

I apologize if there are any formatting issues! This is all copied from my notes app.

Thank you so much 🙂

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Your non-clinical volunteering does not appear to include service orientation activities. Tutoring and teaching are academic competency activities, and every prehealth student has some, so it won't help you stand out. You must have 150 hours (when you submit your application) of service orientation activities: food distribution, shelter volunteer, job/tax preparation, legal support, transportation services, or housing rehabilitation. Otherwise you may get screened out at most schools. If you are looking for brand-name schools, you should have 250 hours minimum at submission.

You have a lot of didactic activities related to health equity, but it's not obvious that your experiences reflect this unless it's in a clinical environment. There's a world outside a clinical where social determinants of health are important, and you need more direct exposure to those issues. Maybe you have lived experiences that could help offset some of it, but showing you can work with communities unlike your own is important.

Otherwise, look up the UC PRIME programs and check if any of them appeal to you. It doesn't preclude my suggestion of having in-person service orientation non-clinical activities, but it can give you a target for your application. You have a lot going for you under a "public health" direction, but you need to show me why you couldn't pursue an MPH/DPH and be happy with your community impact.

Have you connected with LMSA chapters at the schools on your list?

 

[oolongtealover]

Your non-clinical volunteering does not appear to include service orientation activities. Tutoring and teaching are academic competency activities, and every prehealth student has some, so it won't help you stand out. You must have 150 hours (when you submit your application) of service orientation activities: food distribution, shelter volunteer, job/tax preparation, legal support, transportation services, or housing rehabilitation. Otherwise you may get screened out at most schools. If you are looking for brand-name schools, you should have 250 hours minimum at submission.

You have a lot of didactic activities related to health equity, but it's not obvious that your experiences reflect this unless it's in a clinical environment. There's a world outside a clinical where social determinants of health are important, and you need more direct exposure to those issues. Maybe you have lived experiences that could help offset some of it, but showing you can work with communities unlike your own is important.

Otherwise, look up the UC PRIME programs and check if any of them appeal to you. It doesn't preclude my suggestion of having in-person service orientation non-clinical activities, but it can give you a target for your application. You have a lot going for you under a "public health" direction, but you need to show me why you couldn't pursue an MPH/DPH and be happy with your community impact.

Have you connected with LMSA chapters at the schools on your list?

Hello! Thank you for your reply.
Regarding your comment on my didactic work related to health equity, I didn't expand on this in my original post but the vast majority of my research work has brought me in-person into communities (many unlike my own), where I work directly with community leaders/members. I can't speak about it much more because it's pretty specific work, but it has given a grasp of the importance of social determinants of health in various settings (aside from what I know from personal experiences) along with the importance of listening to/learning from from community members.

This idea of learning from community members directly ties with my "why medicine", because I have learned the value of listening to patients and learning to support their health within the context of their own lives. This has carried over into my work with the free/safety net clinic that I volunteer at, where many of the patients are underinsured, non-English speaking, or experience housing insecurity. Not sure if I mentioned it originally, but I do want to pursure an MD/MPH.

I don't plan on delaying my application to get more non-clinical hours since I'm already finishing up my first gap year. To a certain extent, I feel that it's disingenuous to pursue volunteering at places like a shelter/foodback just for the hours, though I understand your reasoning about being screened out!

I have looked into the UC Prime programs, and I am definitely interested in them! I also have a mentor from a LMSA chapter who has been giving me advice as well.

Thank you again for your feedback!