WAMC + school list help / cGPA=3.97, sGPA=3.93, MCAT=518

[secretiveplotter1863]

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Hey all, thanks so much for taking the time to read this! I'm planning to apply in the 2026/27 cycle and would love some school list help + insight on gaps in my application -- I'd ideally like ~30-40 schools for the final list, so I need to cut some from my rough list of 49 haha. Thank you for your feedback! 🙂

21F (ORM, MI Resident)
1 gap year: plan to work full time in public health policy or research
UMich '26, B.S. in Public Health w/ Writing Minor
cGPA: 3.97, sGPA: 3.93
MCAT (2 attempts): 509 (130/125/127/127) - Sep '24 -> 518 (130/127/129/132) - May '25
Research: ~2200 hrs at 1 cancer lab, 1 middle author pub, a few presentations
Tutoring: ~400 hrs (+leadership role for course facilitators)
Shadowing: 110 hrs (many specialties)
Clinical volunteering: ~1000 hrs (mix of birth doula at hospital, free clinic for unhoused, pacu at hospital)
Clinical paid: ~600 hrs (600 = MA at urgent care clinic
Nonclinical volunteering: ~250 hrs (therapeutic horse riding for participants w/ disabilities)
Nonclinical paid: ~600 hrs (support group facilitator for sexual assault survivors)
Leadership: project lead in global health innovation initiative for women's health, senior editor of school newspaper, assistant editor of feminism magazine, advisory council member for adolescent clinical care, TA for a public health class right now!
Hobby: creative craft arts (mix of crocheting, beadwork, clay 🙂)
Honors/Awards: honors for consecutive terms of all As / 3.5+ GPA, nonfiction finalist for writing award
Potential narrative: passion for public health and structural factors at play, writing about parent who experienced chronic illness + alcoholism -> it motivated me to be someone who understands social determinants of health in my practice + be a pillar for others + meet them where they are

Preliminary school list: Admit.org + input from friends + MSAR initial digging

Basically a donation (< mcat 10th percentile): NYU Grossman, UPenn
Reaches: Johns Hopkins, Columbia, Harvard, Stanford, Yale, Mayo Clinic, WashU at St. Louis, Northwestern, Duke, Icahn at Mt. Sinai
Lower reaches/high targets: Cornell, UChicago, UMich, UPitt, Emory, UVA, Boston U
Targets: Case Western, UCSF, URochester, Hofstra, Brown, Albert Einstein, Dartmouth, UColorado, Tufts, UCLA, Ohio State, UMiami, Georgetown
Baseline: Creighton, Thomas Jefferson, VCU, SLU, Western Michigan, George Washington, Temple, Tulane, Drexel, Wake Forest, Wayne State, Rosalind Franklin, UToledo, Oakland University, Michigan State, Central Michigan

Thank you again for your time and help! It means the world to me.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Welcome to the forums.

I'm curious how your activities outside of your major give us insight about your motivation to understand social determinants of health. I see you have cancer research on your profile, but can you point out your public health capstone?

I also think you could pick 30 schools where you have stronger mission alignment. Is an MD/MPH a goal? Which programs allow you to do this? For example, you have Jefferson in your baseline group. UMiami is a target. Emory is a "reach". You could earn an MPH at Hopkins without attending as a medical student ("Students in the MD/MPH dual degree program are from medical schools across the U.S., including Georgetown University, VCU, University of Iowa, Mayo Clinic, UCLA, UCSD and OHSU, and many more."). If that is the case, you will need to dig deeper than just admit or MSAR to find a program or flexibility that fits your goals.

 

[secretiveplotter1863]

Welcome to the forums.

I'm curious how your activities outside of your major give us insight about your motivation to understand social determinants of health. I see you have cancer research on your profile, but can you point out your public health capstone?

I also think you could pick 30 schools where you have stronger mission alignment. Is an MD/MPH a goal? Which programs allow you to do this? For example, you have Jefferson in your baseline group. UMiami is a target. Emory is a "reach". You could earn an MPH at Hopkins without attending as a medical student ("Students in the MD/MPH dual degree program are from medical schools across the U.S., including Georgetown University, VCU, University of Iowa, Mayo Clinic, UCLA, UCSD and OHSU, and many more."). If that is the case, you will need to dig deeper than just admit or MSAR to find a program or flexibility that fits your goals.

Hello, thank you for your response! My public health major doesn’t have a capstone, but my writing minor does, and I plan to do mine on investigative journalism concerning housing insecurity in my city and how it’s affected resident health and wellbeing. Also, my other activities aren’t super pub health but some do concern underserved populations or global health. 🙂
Furthermore, I am hoping to do just the MD! Finally, I added arbitrary labels (Kimmel is more of a target - oops!) for categorization but will fix more accurately as I work towards my final list. Thank you once again!!

 

[Faha]

I suggest these schools with your stats:
U Michigan
Michigan State
Wayne State
Central Michigan
Western Michigan
Oakland Beaumont
Toledo
Rosalind Franklin
Northwestern
St. Louis
Washington University
Creighton
Tulane
Emory
Miami
Georgetown
George Washington
Pittsburgh
Jefferson
Rochester
New York Medical College
Hofstra
Einstein
Mount Sinai
Case Western
Ohio State
Dartrmouth
Tufts
Boston University
UMass

 

[secretiveplotter1863]

I suggest these schools with your stats:
U Michigan
Michigan State
Wayne State
Central Michigan
Western Michigan
Oakland Beaumont
Toledo
Rosalind Franklin
Northwestern
St. Louis
Washington University
Creighton
Tulane
Emory
Miami
Georgetown
George Washington
Pittsburgh
Jefferson
Rochester
New York Medical College
Hofstra
Einstein
Mount Sinai
Case Western
Ohio State
Dartrmouth
Tufts
Boston University
UMass

Hello Faha, thank you so much for your thoughtful, balanced list you provided! This is super helpful, as I see most of the schools you’ve chosen are excellent ones that align with stats + my interests as well — I definitely plan to incorporate most of this!

On that note, do you see any gaps or things on my app I should be aware of? Also, do you have any advice as I go into the cycle and write about my stuff? Thank you so much! 😊

 

[Faha]

Hello Faha, thank you so much for your thoughtful, balanced list you provided! This is super helpful, as I see most of the schools you’ve chosen are excellent ones that align with stats + my interests as well — I definitely plan to incorporate most of this!

On that note, do you see any gaps or things on my app I should be aware of? Also, do you have any advice as I go into the cycle and write about my stuff? Thank you so much! 😊

I do not see any gaps. You have good ECs.

 

[secretiveplotter1863]

@Goro @gyngyn @LizzyM @chilly_md Hi, if you all happen to have any other suggestions or things to look out for in my application, I would love to hear about it. Thank you so much for your time! 🙂

 

[LizzyM]

Some of those on Faha's list are likely donations but you do you if you can afford those reaches (mean MCAT over two attempts < 10th percentile per MSAR).

 

[secretiveplotter1863]

Hi, thank you for your response! I thought most of these schools don't average MCAT but do look at all score and consider other facets. In my case, I took my second MCAT almost a year after the first and believe both the time and significant improvement would help and place the 518 score more into consideration. I plan on applying to most of the schools on Faha's list + other potential reaches for that reason. Thank you again. 🙂

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Hi, thank you for your response! I thought most of these schools don't average MCAT but do look at all score and consider other facets. In my case, I took my second MCAT almost a year after the first and believe both the time and significant improvement would help and place the 518 score more into consideration. I plan on applying to most of the schools on Faha's list + other potential reaches for that reason. Thank you again. 🙂

Schools must tell you how they handle multiple MCATs, but on initial screening, many will average all (valid?) scores. That said, +9 is a significant jump up.

 

[chilly_md]

Faha's list is good. You may get more mileage with Colorado, Wake, Temple, Cincinnati as opposed to Sinai, WUSTL and Case.

 

[Goro]

My suggestions:


Mayo Clinic, WashU, Icahn at Mt. Sinai
UMich, and all other MI schools, UPitt, Emory, UVA, Boston U, Case Western, UCSF, URochester, Hofstra, Brown, Dartmouth, U IA, Tufts, UCSF Ohio State, UMiami, Georgetown, U Cincy,
Creighton,, SLU, George Washington, Tulane, Wake Forest, Jefferson, USF/MORSANI