WAMC/School list help: 522, 3.88, ORM, Shoe size 11.5 on a good day

[Ricktatosplice]

Hey yall, how's it going? I'm applyin for the 2024 cycle but I'm not really sure how to go about building a proper school list instead of just using MSAR. I'd love to be in the Chicago Area because I love the Midwest and my support system Plz don't dox me hombres

GPA: 3.88 -> went to a state school that's top 50 I think. Ohio Home State.
MCAT: 522
ORM (Brown dude)

Research
Lab 1
-3 years and probably 1500 hours roughly though probably 850-950 of the hours were in the last year due to COVID making it really difficult for my lab to let me get involved.
-Middle author pub in Mucosal Immunology
-Did 5 posters with the same lab (though I'm a credited middle author on 1 of those so only 4 of them are me being 1st author). These were regional conferences
-Submitting 1st author review to Frontiers this month and expecting credit on one more middle author paper in Infection

Senior Thesis
-Infant Mortality research for senior thesis. Ended up doing podium presentation and winning award from my university for this.

Current
-Trying to get involved with IMR or ID research atm but it's kinda tricky.

Clinical experience (paid)
- ~2k hours as a medical scribe at Level 1 Trauma Center rotating across 6 departments mainly but sometimes worked with 3 other ones that I usually didn't. Did it from the onset of the pandemic for about 1 year and 9 months

Clinical experience (volunteer)
-Hospice Volunteer for about 80 hours across a year
-Set up vaccine clinics across my county for 4 months -> 70 hours?
-Currently doing a service term with National Health Corps (Americorps) serving with prenatal pts in underserved areas

Nonclinical volunteering
- Crisis Text Line - 260 hours across 3 years

Shadowing
- Shadowed with pediatric infectious disease, and hematology/oncology for about 40 hours total. Honestly, didn't shadow a lot since I worked with so many specialties during scribing

Interesting activities
- Created a public health based case competition that's attracted a few hundred participants in the past 2 years. Baton was passed and it's still ongoing - we just got funded for the 3rd year actually. Got 15k in funding for it in total which was given out all as scholarship money for winners.
-Sponsor agreed to provide grant to implement 2nd year competition's solution IRL.
-Got featured in the news, and won an award from the university for this
-Probably 500 hours across 2 years and probably an extra 40-50 for the 3rd year (though my involvement in the 3rd year is considerably lower since I've mostly aided in finding a sponsor and providing general counsel as we passed over the baton).

-Won a 5k grant and 1.6k in additional scholarship to study abroad for 3 months discussing how to bridge the gap between medicine and the humanities.
-University is currently considering creating a minor or at least a certificate about this intersection due to my proposal. Idk if this will happen but I thought it was pretty cool it went that far

Miscellaneous
-University Presidential scholar and Distinguished honors scholar awards
- I love reading translated East Asian novels (strongly recommend Renegade Immortal, I shall seal the heavens, Trash of the Count's family
- One of my favorite hobbies is writing letters to political figures of all level (Local - county - state - national) about issues I'm concerned about or want their perspective on and I've gotten a surprising amount of responses from cool people.
-Tiny bits of fundraising for Alzheimer's through a club ~1200. Had exec position for 2 years and I enjoyed my involvement here. The people were dope, and I had fun

Questions
1. What's a good school list beyond just using MSAR?
2. How would I go about crafting an appropriate school list based on what I've accomplished?

Thank you very much for any and all help, I sincerely appreciate it. Happy to answer any questions.

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[Mr.Smile12]

So what exactly are you asking? It would help us if you disclosed your state of legal residence. Nothing wrong with applying to all the Chicago schools if you qualify, and you know which schools you want to apply to in Michigan and Ohio, it seems. Take the fact your support system is close to you very seriously.

You have a ton of checkboxes, so at the very least, you are cannon fodder at the brand schools. You are double-listing Americorps/NHC so I feel you are puffing up this to mask deficiencies pre-Americorps when you were a student. (We don't have your actual application so you may be hiding it to prevent getting identified.)

You do not need to take a vow of poverty as an applicant to medical school. No one judges you if you took even a few years away as a consultant to make money for medical school, though you have a clock with the MCAT.

 

[Faha]

Where is your state of residence ?

 

[Ricktatosplice]

So what exactly are you asking? It would help us if you disclosed your state of legal residence. Nothing wrong with applying to all the Chicago schools if you qualify, and you know which schools you want to apply to in Michigan and Ohio, it seems. Take the fact your support system is close to you very seriously.

You have a ton of checkboxes, so at the very least, you are cannon fodder at the brand schools. You are double-listing Americorps/NHC so I feel you are puffing up this to mask deficiencies pre-Americorps when you were a student. (We don't have your actual application so you may be hiding it to prevent getting identified.)

You do not need to take a vow of poverty as an applicant to medical school. No one judges you if you took even a few years away as a consultant to make money for medical school, though you have a clock with the MCAT.

Hi,

1. My state of residence is Ohio.
2. I mentioned it twice since I do some non-clinical volunteering stuff but mostly clinical volunteering stuff. But yeah, you're probably right that I didn't need to mention it twice. I'll fix that, thanks.
3. I'm sorry, I don't really get what you mean here, are you saying I don't have a shot or I do with this, "You have a ton of checkboxes, so at the very least, you are cannon fodder at the brand schools?"

4. My question is, what would you recommend for an appropriate school list.

 

[Ricktatosplice]

Where is your state of residence ?

Ohio

 

[Faha]

I suggest these schools with your stats and geographical preference:
Case Western
Ohio State
Cincinnati
Toledo
Wright State
NEOMED
Pittsburgh
U Michigan
Western Michigan
Northwestern
U Chicago
Loyola
Rosalind Franklin
Rush
Iowa
U Wisconsin
Washington University (in St. Louis-almost a guaranteed interview with your stats)
St. Louis

 

[Mr.Smile12]

I'm sorry, I don't really get what you mean here, are you saying I don't have a shot or I do with this, "You have a ton of checkboxes, so at the very least, you are cannon fodder at the brand schools?"

Looks to me, you have all the minimums covered so you shouldn't be eliminated for not having any of your bases covered. However, if you are trying to get into a brand name school, it's not clear you have enough to stand out from the majority of applicants with similar metrics, experiences, or stated motivations as you have declared (i.e., "cannon fodder"). Why should a school want to interview you or think you would be a valued member of their learning community? More importantly, how do you we know you have an interest in taking care of the patients associated with that medical school and affiliated hospitals? Are you willing to give up the main thrust of your organization/case competition to succeed in your preclinicals or USMLE's? (Give appropriate leeway because you don't want to be identified so consider many of these questions as philosophical.)

Mission Fit: Key to Your Success - SDN

The Student Doctor Network provides free tools, resources, and advising services to help students become health professionals.

www.studentdoctor.net

 

[LeaveNoTrace]

Yeah. "Cannon fodder" basically means that OP is in the pack of applicants. If this was a footrace...he's solidly in the middle of the pack, not off the back, not leading the race. As such, it's a crapshoot whether they'll get interviews or acceptances at top schools...but it can definitely happen and it's anyone's game.

 

[Ricktatosplice]

I suggest these schools with your stats and geographical preference:
Case Western
Ohio State
Cincinnati
Toledo
Wright State
NEOMED
Pittsburgh
U Michigan
Western Michigan
Northwestern
U Chicago
Loyola
Rosalind Franklin
Rush
Iowa
U Wisconsin
Washington University (in St. Louis-almost a guaranteed interview with your stats)
St. Louis

Got it, thank you very much

 

[Ricktatosplice]

Looks to me, you have all the minimums covered so you shouldn't be eliminated for not having any of your bases covered. However, if you are trying to get into a brand name school, it's not clear you have enough to stand out from the majority of applicants with similar metrics, experiences, or stated motivations as you have declared (i.e., "cannon fodder"). Why should a school want to interview you or think you would be a valued member of their learning community? More importantly, how do you we know you have an interest in taking care of the patients associated with that medical school and affiliated hospitals? Are you willing to give up the main thrust of your organization/case competition to succeed in your preclinicals or USMLE's? (Give appropriate leeway because you don't want to be identified so consider many of these questions as philosophical.)

Mission Fit: Key to Your Success - SDN

The Student Doctor Network provides free tools, resources, and advising services to help students become health professionals.

www.studentdoctor.net

Understood, while that's disheartening, it's a necessary reality check so thank you for your help. Maybe I can come up with some way to distinguish myself in this year/the following year though it may be unlikely. I guess worst case scenario is that I play my odds and see what happens.

 

[Ricktatosplice]

Yeah. "Cannon fodder" basically means that OP is in the pack of applicants. If this was a footrace...he's solidly in the middle of the pack, not off the back, not leading the race. As such, it's a crapshoot whether they'll get interviews or acceptances at top schools...but it can definitely happen and it's anyone's game.

Understood, while that's disheartening I suppose it's a necessary reality check. I should try to figure out if there's anything I can do with this last year/two to see if I can accomplish something that might distinguish myself. I guess worst case scenario is that I play my odds and see what happens.
Competition seems ridiculous nowadays...

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Understood, while that's disheartening I suppose it's a necessary reality check. I should try to figure out if there's anything I can do with this last year/two to see if I can accomplish something that might distinguish myself. I guess worst case scenario is that I play my odds and see what happens.
Competition seems ridiculous nowadays...

Finish off your Americorps and do some homework with schools you want to attend. It's not over, and I still contend your school list dictates your competition and your success. We don't have your entire application to know better.

 

[LeaveNoTrace]

Another way of talking about the "cannon fodder" term is that you are pack fodder for top schools and a solid, even strong applicant anywhere else. You'd need something special in order to be a strong applicant at those top schools; very few people on SDN manage that. Peace Corps, military service, impressive research, impressive athletic skill, having overcome lots of adversity in life...things like that can do it. You don't have that, but this DOES NOT MEAN that you aren't in the running. You are, you're just not their first choice and they're not snickering or shrugging and chucking your app in the trash either. A big chunk of even Harvard's class is pack fodder!

It's saying that it is a crapshoot whether you will get in or not but you have a real shot and should apply.

You should get several interviews to US MD schools; if your interview performance is up to snuff, you have excellent chances at an acceptance.