WAMC / School List / Gap year help 3.99/523

[astroworld1234]

Hi all! Currently in my gap year and am trying to make a decent school list for myself.

NC Resident, State School, ORM

Would like any advice on what I can do with my app in the coming few months to push my application over the hump for my top choices (Duke, Northwestern, UNC-CH, etc). Would prefer to stay in NC / IL due to family, but open to any suburban/urban area MD. I have been trying to add schools that are stat-heavy and research-oriented, but any advice from you guys would be greatly appreciated
Looking to apply to 25-35 schools, but willing to adjust based on advice.

cGPA: 3.98 sGPA: 3.99 (kind of an upward trend cGPA, had a bruh moment freshman year)

MCAT: 523 (132/129/131/131)

Research: ~ 850 hours in Cardiology, with 2 high impact publications and submitted 3 more, and currently writing an article which is aimed for high impact journal as well.

Paid Clinical: ~750 hours as Cardio scribe in an underserved area, will have around 1.1K around app time

Unpaid Clinical: 250 hours as COVID testing volunteer for the homeless population of NC,
120 hours Access to Care internship (helping uninsured patients get enrolled in free clinic, unsure if this is clinical)

Shadowing: 100 hours neurology, currently shadowing in a cardiac cath lab (will be ~50 hours)

Letters of Rec: 5 total: 3 professors (Biochemistry, Org Chem, History), my scribe doctor, and research preceptor

Non-clinical: 120 hours as a peer tutor (Bio, Chem, Phys), 150 hours as a biochem TA
~100 hours as a service/outreach chair for the Muslim Student Association, involved in organizing charity events and coordinating,
Currently serving as a general volunteer for my local mosque.
Also working with the Lighthouse Project - an initiative created in the name of 3 students who were murdered in NC - I serve as a general volunteer and plan to initiate some projects for the local community
Others:
~250 hours as Pakistani Student Association club President, organized cultural events
~100 hours as STEM Journal Club treasurer

School List (so far):
1. Northwestern
2. Duke
3. UNC-CH
4. UChicago
5. East Carolina
6. Wake Forest
7. Rosalind Franklin

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[Faha]

Accumulate 150+ hours of non clinical volunteering such as food bank, homeless shelter, etc. before you submit your application in June.
Remove Rosalind Franklin since they will "yield protect" with your stats. You could add these schools:
Washington University (in St. Louis-almost a guaranteed interview with your stats)
Vanderbilt
Emory
USF Morsani
U Michigan
Case Western
Cincinnati
U Virginia
Jefferson
Hofstra
Einstein
Mount Sinai
NYU
Columbia
Cornell
Yale
Brown
Boston University
Harvard
Mayo

 

[astroworld1234]

Thank you so much for your input! I will be sure to add on to my non-clinical volunteering, I've also felt that I can do much better in that aspect and thankfully have enough time before application season to get that done.

Regarding ECU, I understand that they might also yield protect me, but being an NC resident, would I have a decent chance of acceptance ther?

 

[Faha]

ECU should not yield protect for NC residents.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Regarding ECU, I understand that they might also yield protect me, but being an NC resident, would I have a decent chance of acceptance ther?

Without significant background in or volunteering with rural communities, your mission fit would be the primary issue. Your lack of service orientation activities as recommended (food banks, etc.) will put your app on low priority as it stands.

 

[astroworld1234]

Without significant background in or volunteering with rural communities, your mission fit would be the primary issue. Your lack of service orientation activities as recommended (food banks, etc.) will put your app on low priority as it stands.

I see. If I were to work on my application in these areas, would I have a decent shot at ECU? I plan to volunteer at a homeless shelter / food initiative for refugees

 

[Mr.Smile12]

I see. If I were to work on my application in these areas, would I have a decent shot at ECU? I plan to volunteer at a homeless shelter / food initiative for refugees

Mission fit. Rural communities. There may be refugees and undocumented immigrants in rural areas, but you need to show you want to do that over going more on an academic direction that Duke, Wake, and UNC will take you.

 

[astroworld1234]

I see. Thank you for the feedback!

 

[Superchamp14]

Current student at a T5 med school here - you DO NOT need all those hours of non-clinical volunteering. Your stats and clinical experiences are more than enough to place you in contention for the top academic schools and the so called "rural" medical schools. For reference, my college friend recently started at ECU, and he did not have any of what people on this thread are saying you need. I also keep seeing Mr.Smile12 on this site passing out bad admissions advice like candy. Remember, your best references are going to be the medical students/residents who have most recently gone through this process.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Current student at a T5 med school here - you DO NOT need all those hours of non-clinical volunteering. Your stats and clinical experiences are more than enough to place you in contention for the top academic schools and the so called "rural" medical schools. For reference, my college friend recently started at ECU, and he did not have any of what people on this thread are saying you need. I also keep seeing Mr.Smile12 on this site passing out bad admissions advice like candy. Remember, your best references are going to be the medical students/residents who have most recently gone through this process.

I will agree that you need to be networking with actual students and residents at the schools on your list. I only worked with multiple admissions committees who tell me what I know when screening and eliminating applicants. With those stats, you will have an audience that should help tailor your application towards their programs.

 

[astroworld1234]

Current student at a T5 med school here - you DO NOT need all those hours of non-clinical volunteering. Your stats and clinical experiences are more than enough to place you in contention for the top academic schools and the so called "rural" medical schools. For reference, my college friend recently started at ECU, and he did not have any of what people on this thread are saying you need. I also keep seeing Mr.Smile12 on this site passing out bad admissions advice like candy. Remember, your best references are going to be the medical students/residents who have most recently gone through this process.

I don’t know man, his advice seems pretty decent. But thank you for your input. I will be working on my non-clinicals regardless, bc I have a lot of free time these days

 

[astroworld1234]

I will agree that you need to be networking with actual students and residents at the schools on your list. I only worked with multiple admissions committees who tell me what I know when screening and eliminating applicants. With those stats, you will have an audience that should help tailor your application towards their programs.

Do you have advice on how to build these connections? I have some connections in a few medical school admission boards, but no students or residents.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Do you have advice on how to build these connections? I have some connections in a few medical school admission boards, but no students or residents.

Aside from reaching on through SDN (school-specific forums)

AMSA, AMMSA, and/or APAMSA/SAMSA chapters should list officer information on the national or school specific websites. Social media accounts also help.

Check LinkedIn.

 

[LunaOri]

Many schools have student ambassadors to whom you can reach out with questions. Once you receive interviews, there will be question sessions, social hours, etc. where you can interact with students from that school.

 

[astroworld1234]

Accumulate 150+ hours of non clinical volunteering such as food bank, homeless shelter, etc. before you submit your application in June.
Remove Rosalind Franklin since they will "yield protect" with your stats. You could add these schools:
Washington University (in St. Louis-almost a guaranteed interview with your stats)
Vanderbilt
Emory
USF Morsani
U Michigan
Case Western
Cincinnati
U Virginia
Jefferson
Hofstra
Einstein
Mount Sinai
NYU
Columbia
Cornell
Yale
Brown
Boston University
Harvard
Mayo

@Faha, could you please suggest any mid-tier OOS, stat-loving, research-focused schools? Thank you for the current list, but have decided on applying to ~ 40 schools and would like some suggestions!
Have come up with: Colorado, Rochester, Tufts, U Miami, UA Phx, Dartmouth, Hackensack
Also, I have completed 100 hours of service at a homeless shelter, and recalled some service hours from previous board positions during my undergrad, totaling 250 nonclinical service hours now.
I was also wondering why you don't recommend Pitt/Mich/Penn?

 

[Faha]

@Faha, could you please suggest any mid-tier OOS, stat-loving, research-focused schools? Thank you for the current list, but have decided on applying to ~ 40 schools and would like some suggestions!
Have come up with: Colorado, Rochester, Tufts, U Miami, UA Phx, Dartmouth, Hackensack
Also, I have completed 100 hours of service at a homeless shelter, and recalled some service hours from previous board positions during my undergrad, totaling 250 nonclinical service hours now.
I was also wondering why you don't recommend Pitt/Mich/Penn?

I included U Michigan. You could try Pitt but U Penn is not mid tier. You could try those other schools you are considering except UA Phoenix (will "yield protect" with your stats)

 

[astroworld1234]

Apologies for the confusion. I meant to say, out of all the top schools, how come you did not mention JHU, Stanford, Penn, UCSF, etc? Just trying to get a better understanding, not saying I think my application is good enough for all these schools.

Another thing, I see UA's avg. stats are ~ 518, 3.9. At what range should I consider yield protection?

Will add the others per your advice. If there is any other specific ones you would suggest, please mention them as well!
I appreciate you taking the time to advise me.

 

[Alejandro]

Regarding the activities aspect, when someone asks about whether or not you have the activities, the truth is that there will be matriculants who will have not had those activities. If you just crush your interview, nobody will care if you had non clinical extracirriculars. That said, the goal is that you will have gained some additional insight by being outside of the ivory tower of academia. But, that also implies that the hours will give you that insight, which isn't always the case.

Yeah, i've sat on the adcom of a T5 school, and well...sometimes its discussed, sometimes its not. just like if you did research and got pubs vs not. We just don't know what will happen on interview day and on ranklist day so we're all about maximization, as much as possible.