WAMC/School List Help (3.92/514)

[loxbagel]

Hi everyone! I'd really appreciate some help creating my school list. I'm a senior hoping to apply this cycle. I want to go into primary care (Family Med/Peds/Internal) and work in public health.

Here are my stats:
cGPA: 3.92, sGPA 3.88 (AMCAS) at UCLA (Psychobiology major, Global Health minor)
MCAT: 514 (127/127/129/131)
California resident from SF Bay Area
White, privileged background
Clinical activities: 400+ hrs
1. EMT: 300 hrs and counting (adding 10-20 hrs/week) all in LA
2. 2 service trips: 100 hrs
3. Starting clinical volunteering at UCLA affiliated free-clinic in February
Volunteering (non-clinical): 100+ hrs
1. Ronald McDonald House: 100 hrs
Shadowing: 130 hrs
1. Family medicine: 80 hrs
2. Surgical (Ortho, gastro, general): 50 hrs
Research: 100+ hrs
1. Just started (50 hrs) with a public health research group at UCLA's DGSOM (Current project will have poster presentation, possible publication)
2. Mini-internship with community-oriented non-profit in LA doing qualitative data collection (focus groups) & analysis: 50 hrs
Other extracurriculars:
1. University club lacrosse: 400 hrs, Captain
2. Youth lacrosse coach: 200 hrs
Gap year (in LA):
1. Transition from EMT to part-time ER tech
2. Continue working part-time with new research group
3. Continue volunteering at free-clinic

I would prefer to attend a medical schools in an urban area OR on either coast. Otherwise, I'm not picky. I'm also interested in medical schools with primary care programs OR those that offer MPHs.

If anyone has any suggestions about things that I should be adding/strengthening during the rest of the school year or during my gap year I'd appreciate that as well!

Thanks so much!

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[chilly_md]

Service trips usually are voluntourism. Up to you if you wish to list it on your app. Students going through a long-standing program at their undergrad in Southern California to a border town in Mexico might be one of the few exceptions to this.

Aside from that, you have low time commitments overall to your ECs. The EMT job as you covered for clinical experience, but you spent little time towards non-clinical volunteering or research (research is less essential but often where most applicants put a lot of time into). There are around 5 months to go. How many total hours do you think you could add to the Ronald McDonald House?

 

[Faha]

You should accumulate another 100+ hours of non clinical volunteering. I suggest these schools with your stats:
Vermont
Quinnipiac
Tufts
Albany
New York Medical College
Hofstra
Einstein
Hackensack
Penn State
Drexel
Temple
Jefferson
George Washington
Virginia Commonwealth
Eastern Virginia
Wake Forest
NOVA MD
Belmont
TCU
Creighton
St. Louis
Rosalind Franklin
Medical College Wisconsin
Western Michigan
Oakland Beaumont
Wayne State
California University
Kaiser
Loma Linda (if you fit their mission)
Any new schools that open for 2025 (American University in CA, Alice Walton, Methodist, Roseman)
USC Keck
The UCs (except Riverside unless you are from that region)

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Volunteering (non-clinical): 100+ hrs
1. Ronald McDonald House: 100 hrs

You should try to add another volunteering position that is not clinical-adjacent. Food distribution, job/tax preparation, transportation services, shelter volunteer (women/children/homeless), or housing rehabilitation are ideal. 150 hours when you submit to avoid getting screened out.