WAMC + School List Help: 3.9/520

[ThunderBerry7]

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Hello! As stated in the title, I am looking for suggestions on the school list I've currently constructed. I intend on applying to no more than 40 schools, so if any school on the list stands out as needing to be replaced, please let me know! I am also open to cutting some schools to get the list to ~35 to make secondaries more manageable. Thanks!

1. cGPA: 3.90; sGPA: 3.90
2. MCAT: 520 (130, 131, 128, 131)
3. State of Residence: CA
4. Ethnicity and/or race: ORM
5. Undergraduate institution: UC
6. Clinical experience: 260 hrs paid MA/scribe; 430 hrs paid MA (different specialty, MME); 120 hrs volunteer at hospital (frequent patient interaction, MME; will add ~175 hrs before matriculation)
7. Research experience: 520 hrs w 3 posters/abstracts as second author (non-presenter); will add ~750 hrs b4 matriculation
8. Shadowing experience: 60 hrs pediatrics; 14 hrs PCP; 11 hrs derm; 6 hrs nephrology
9. Non-clinical volunteering: 200 hrs at resource center for unhoused (MME; will add ~210 hrs before matriculation); 170 hrs at food pantry (will add ~175 hrs b4 matriculation)
10. Other extracurricular activities: intramural sports (I didn't know how to calculate hrs so I have it ~150 hrs); I started a book club as part of a class during COVID that I kept up for months after the class ended (~150 hrs)
11. Relevant honors or awards: nothing other than Provost Honors every quarter and Cum Laude
12. Anything else not listed you think might be important: Even though research is my most hrs, my narrative is geared towards my work with the underserved as it is more meaningful to me and I felt I could talk about it better in terms of why I want to pursue medicine.
13. LORs: 7 total (6 strong: 1 science prof, 1 non-sci prof, 1 MD, 1 PI, 1 clinical volunteer supervisor, 1 non-clinical volunteer supervisor). The 1 weak letter is my other science prof.

School List:
Stanford, UCSF, Wash U, Vanderbilt, UMich, Mayo, Cornell, Northwestern, UChicago
UCLA, UCSD, USC, Kaiser, UVA, Case Western, Sinai, Pitt, Emory, Rochester, Boston U, UMass, Einstein, Stony Brook, Maryland, Tufts, Cincinnati, Iowa, Colorado, Ohio State
UCI, UCD, UCR, Indiana, Creighton, Jefferson, VCU, Drexel, Wayne State, SLU, Geisinger

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Good job. Where in California did you grow up? What is your purpose as a physician? If it is to address the health of underserved communities, which ones would you be interested in learning about first? Have you looked at PRIME programs among the UC schools, or similar tracks at the other schools on your list? Are you applying HPSP or NHSC?

 

[chilly_md]

7 letters is excessive. MD letters tend to be of little value unless you worked closely with the physician over a long period of time. Clinical volunteer letters are similar.

You can aim high. Adding schools like Drexel will be a waste as they do not expect you to attend even if they offer an interview (resource stewardship). I suggest:

Stanford
UCSF
Wash U
Vanderbilt
Michigan
Mayo
Cornell
Northwestern
Chicago
UCLA
UCSD
USC
UCD
UCI
Kaiser
UVA
Case Western
Sinai
Pitt
Emory
Rochester
Hofstra
Dartmouth
Brown
Boston U
UMass
Einstein
Tufts
Cincinnati
Iowa
Colorado
Ohio State
Jefferson
SLU
USF
Miami