WAMC/School List Help. 3.75/512->522 (reapplicant)

[premedaloo]

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1. 3.75 cGPA, 3.69 sGPA
2. 512 -> 522 (131/130/131/130)
3. VA resident
4. ORM (south asian)
5. Public state school, biochemistry major
6. Clinical experience (volunteer and non-volunteer)
   1. ~1300 hours orthopedic medical scribe.
   2. 90 hours ED volunteer
   3. 120 family practice volunteer
7. Research experience and productivity
   1. 310 hours undergraduate thesis (awarded high distinction on my diploma)
   2. 400 hours research assistant in an immunology lab (no pubs)
   3. 150 hour research project with poster presentation
8. Shadowing experience and specialties represented
   1. 90 hours - cardiology
9. Non-clinical volunteering
   1. 40 hours volunteer tutoring in chemistry, 200 projected hours total)
10. Other extracurricular activities (including athletics, military service, gap year activities, leadership, teaching, etc)
    1. RA for 2 years in college (500 hours)
    2. TA for chemistry lab for 1.5 years (600 hours)
    3. Hobbies (conlanging - this is one of my most meaningful activities actually, and distance running)
11. Relevant honors or awards
    1. None really, I was awarded a couple scholarships that I applied for during college, but I don't know if it's worth putting them here or not.
12. Anything else not listed you think might be important

Hello SDN!
I apologize for what may seem like a bit of a repost as I asked for help with a school list a few months prior. However, I recently got my MCAT retake score back, and I'm happy to say I performed well. I wanted a bit more help when adding schools to my list. I'm going to shoot my shot at the top programs, but I don't want to fall into the trap of only applying to top programs and then not getting in. I'd appreciate some insight on schools I could add that are mid or lower tier to not have a too top-heavy list. I used admit.org to make the list, but many lower tier schools I wanted to apply to said that I would be rejected for yield protection. How true is that? Also, would it be worthwhile to list scholarships I received under awards if they were for both merit and aid? Thank you all for your help!

Here's my current school list:
Reach:
Johns Hopkins
Duke
NYU
NYU LI
UCSF
UPenn
WashU
Yale
Mayo
Vanderbilt
Northwestern
Cornell
Icahn Mt. Sinai
UChicago
Cast Wester/CCLCM
Albert Einstein
University of Arizona
UMich
Pitt

Target/Baseline
Ohio State
UVA
Brown
Hofstra
Maryland
UMiami
Jefferson (SKMC)
Dartmouth
VCU
EVMS
VT Carillon
NYMC
Temple
Vermont
Penn state

 

[Faha]

You should not be concerned about "yield protection" since some schools average MCAT scores. Your biggest weakness is lack of non clinical volunteering and some schools screen at 150 hours. I suggest these schools with your stats:
Eastern Virginia
Virginia Commonwealth
UVA
Virginia Tech
West Virginia
Wake Forest
George Washington
Penn State
Geisinger
Drexel
Temple
Jefferson
Pittsburgh
Hackensack
Hofstra
Mount Sinai
New York Medical College
Albany
Vermont
Quinnipiac
Tufts
UMass
NOVA MD
USF Morsani
Miami
Tulane
TCU
Cincinnati
Washington University
Western Michigan
Iowa
Colorado

 

[premedaloo]

You should not be concerned about "yield protection" since some schools average MCAT scores. Your biggest weakness is lack of non clinical volunteering and some schools screen at 150 hours. I suggest these schools with your stats:
Eastern Virginia
Virginia Commonwealth
UVA
Virginia Tech
West Virginia
Wake Forest
George Washington
Penn State
Geisinger
Drexel
Temple
Jefferson
Pittsburgh
Hackensack
Hofstra
Mount Sinai
New York Medical College
Albany
Vermont
Quinnipiac
Tufts
UMass
NOVA MD
USF Morsani
Miami
Tulane
TCU
Cincinnati
Washington University
Western Michigan
Iowa
Colorado

Thank you for the help! I'll look more into these schools.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Previously,

So I interviewed at Geisinger, Penn State, VCU, and EVMS. Currently, I have holds (which I'm pretty sure are automatic waitlists) for Geisinger and Penn state. VCU sends their last round of acceptances tomorrow, so I may be accepted or waitlisted then. Currently waiting to hear back from EVMS.

I see your point, and I definitely do see now how my activities are all around the place. The scribing job and shadowing were opportunities that I was lucky to get and ran with as I was struggling to get any other clinical experience/shadowing at the time. In all honestly, I did not really think much of how they would relate to my theme and purpose. I just wanted some experience to list. I don't have any experience with free clinics unfortunately. However, the family practice and the scribing job did expose me the care of some under-resourced patients, and it was these experiences that I wrote about in my activity descriptions/secondaries. I think going forward based on your feedback, my plan is to find some clinic work in a primary care/underserved care facility or at the very least shadow these physician so I have something to back up my words. How does this sound?

As for Penn State and Geisinger, I'd say my interviews were "good" but not "outstanding". I did prep, but after talking to some friends, I've realized that I should have prepped significantly more to obtain that "outstanding" interview that I would have liked. I think an okay interview combined with activities that seem a bit all over the place are what led to those alternate decisions, and I'm going to make sure I prep extra hard for any future interviews! Thank you so much for the in-depth advice, and currently keeping my fingers crossed for EVMS and VCU (they're my top choices)!

I recently got my MCAT retake score back, and I'm happy to say I performed well. I wanted a bit more help when adding schools to my list. I'm going to shoot my shot at the top programs, but I don't want to fall into the trap of only applying to top programs and then not getting in.

Don't blow your shot. It does open some more upper-tier brand-name schools (like UVirginia for an in-state). You must work on your interviewing.

As for service orientation hours, keep pushing that number up. You should have at least 250 hours to keep pace with other high-metrics applicants.

 

[premedaloo]

Previously,






Don't blow your shot. It does open some more upper-tier brand-name schools (like UVirginia for an in-state). You must work on your interviewing.

As for service orientation hours, keep pushing that number up. You should have at least 250 hours to keep pace with other high-metrics applicants.

'll make sure to give it a shot and prep extra hard. And of course, get that volunteering up! Thank you for your help @Faha and @Mr.Smile12!

 

[LunaOri]

'll make sure to give it a shot and prep extra hard. And of course, get that volunteering up! Thank you for your help @Faha and @Mr.Smile12!

Chem tutoring is NOT the kind of volunteering to which Mr. Smile is referring.

 

[premedaloo]

Chem tutoring is NOT the kind of volunteering to which Mr. Smile is referring.

Got it, I’ll look for some more non clinical volunteering to participate in