WAMC/School List Help - 511 MCAT 3.5cGPA/3.4sGPA, SMP 3.97 GPA

[dau1]

Advertisement - Members don't see this ad

Looking for some help with my school list. I know my undergrad gpa is on the lower side and I'm trying to make sure I'm being realistic. Any feedback or anything you notice would be super helpful, thanks!"

CA resident, Asian

Started in engineering, switched to premed (biochem and data science) during undergrad (liberal arts college)


Undergrad GPA
cGPA: 3.50, sGPA: 3.42
Finished an SMP program with a 3.97
MCAT: 511 (127/127/128/129)

Clinical (paid)~850 hours in a Cath Lab as an MA, assisted with 350+ procedures and 700+ patient clinic visits.

Research~1,200 hours bench/lab research across 3 institutions (during summers other than one at my undergrad)

Also~1100 hours engineering and medical device design/research across another 3 companies (not sure how medical schools will look at this)

Named an inventor on a patent for a medical device (neurovascular flow diverter to treat aneurysms), Publication in submission for a FIM study on a cardiovascular device (3rd author), 3 conference/symposium presentations

Shadowing~160 hours across 4+ specialties (family medicine, sports medicine, nephrology, neurology, cardiovascular)

Non-clinical volunteering~180 hours across multiple organizations over several years (food outreach, after-school programs, adult education)

4-year varsity athlete at undergrad, Club president during SMP

In this coming year I'm going to be also working on a medical device's clinical trials. I think a big theme in my application is the combination of engineering and medicine which is something I'm passionate about. Also most of my stuff is related to stents/catheters/cardio/neurovascular stuff

 

[Faha]

I suggest these schools with your stats:
Carle Illinois (you fit their profile)
Arizona State School of Medicine and Engineering (you fit their profile)
Vermont
Quinnipiac
Dartmouth
Albany
Drexel
Temple
Jefferson
Penn State
Eastern Virginia
George Washington
Wake Forest
Methodist
NOVA MD
Belmont
Alice Walton
TCU
Ponce (St. Louis)
Rosalind Franklin
Medical College Wisconsin
Oakland Beaumont
Wayne State
Roseman
California University
California Northstate
Loma Linda (if you fit their mission)
Kaiser
The UCs (except Riverside unless you are from that region)
Brigham Young (when it opens)

 

[Mr.Smile12]

I'm curious that you decided against an engineering major, but you still show accomplishments as if you were one. Could you better explain your final choice of major and how you are involved with these various projects?

 

[dau1]

I'm curious that you decided against an engineering major, but you still show accomplishments as if you were one. Could you better explain your final choice of major and how you are involved with these various projects?

I went to a small liberal arts school where the engineering department wasn't even accredited and you couldn't realistically finish the degree alongside all the premed requirements without staying an extra year or two, so I ended up just switching to Biochem as I also do like chemistry.

So most of my device work was through internships in R&D, so basically I was hands on building and testing the devices. At one company I was making flow diverters, at another I was manufacturing valvuloplasty balloons, and my current role I'm working on an aortic stent graft and I'm responsible for designing the protocol for the clinical trials. For the research side I was at a few different labs, one doing gene therapy in animal models, one looking at atrophy in MS patients using MRI, and one looking at hormones in social behavior.

For the volunteering I worked in a food kitchen, and also teaching Chinese immigrants English as well as volunteering at the local daycare.