WAMC/School List Help: cGPA 4.0, ORM

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200+ hours crisis text line volunteering
This activity is discounted. While useful, you need to complement face-to-face interactions with patients. If you did more of this in your soup kitchen volunteering, let us know. Usually being a shelter volunteer could involve these skills in-person.

450 hours international volunteering (combination of in person and virtual - many in-person interactions with tribal children, helped them to get access to basic necessities - for virtual did tutoring online to help students, especially those who had to miss school days)
Please split the hours between in-person and virtual activities as in-person will always count more. A description of what you did in-person other than "interactions" is insufficient for a proper review of your service orientation.

  • currently on 2 waitlists this cycle and still waiting to hear back from one February interview. All three are in-state (Michigan) schools.
  • If there’s anyone open to taking a look at essays I would love to get some feedback, I can’t tell if my writing is holding me back or something else in my application.
With three interviews noted, your writing didn't hold you back. You could get an offer from any of your in-state programs, but prepare a reapplication just in case. I point out possible reasons why your priority on the waitlist may not be as high as you would like.
 
PLEASE DO NOT QUOTE THIS MESSAGE

Looking for advice on schools as well as areas for improvement.
  1. cGPA/sGPA: 4.0/4.0
  2. MCAT: 510 (124/130/125/131)
  3. Michigan resident
  4. ORM Female
  5. Undergraduate: mid-tier university/state university
  6. Clinical experience:
    • 200+ hours crisis text line volunteering
    • 100 hours hospital volunteering
    • 400+ hours MA (+ LOR from physician)
  7. Research
    • 200 hours in research lab (+ LOR from professor)
      • 1 poster presentation as lead presenter
    • 100 hours research different lab with same professor
  8. Shadowing experience and specialties represented
    • 20 hours shadowing Internal Medicine (+ LOR from physician)
    • 30 hours shadowing online (during COVID)
  9. Non-clinical volunteering
    • 200 hours soup kitchen volunteer
    • 30 hours peer mentoring (international/first gen college students)
    • 450 hours international volunteering (combination of in person and virtual - many in-person interactions with tribal children, helped them to get access to basic necessities - for virtual did tutoring online to help students, especially those who had to miss school days)
    • 300+ hours volunteering for the Smithsonian, transcribing documents for accessibility (during COVID, I wasn’t sure about putting this but it was something that I really enjoyed and like talking about)
  10. Other extracurricular activities (including athletics, military service, gap year activities, leadership, teaching, etc)
    • 800 hours as Resident Assistant (paid + LOR from boss)
    • 500 hours as an intern in a well known health insurance company - drafted policy to increase screening rates for medically underserved populations (+LOR from medical director)
    • 100+ hours caregiving (not putting as clinical because it was for a family member)
    • 200+ hours tutoring (unpaid, peers and high school students in the area)
    • 600+ hours SAT/ACT instructor (paid + LOR)
  11. Relevant honors or awards
    • University award/scholarship for 4.0 GPA
    • Honors college scholarship
    • Deans list throughout undergrad
  12. Other:
    • I feel that my MCAT is unbalanced, and I was scoring slightly better in FLs but I do get testing anxiety. I would rather not take the MCAT again, but please be honest if it is something I should be working on.
    • Would be a reapplicant next cycle
      • currently on 2 waitlists this cycle and still waiting to hear back from one February interview. All three are in-state (Michigan) schools.
    • If there’s anyone open to taking a look at essays I would love to get some feedback, I can’t tell if my writing is holding me back or something else in my application.
What schools did you apply to this cycle?

I think with further clarification on the hours you should be okay in most aspects, other than the MCAT. Anything below a 125 isn't ideal and you had 2 sections at or below those numbers. If possible, a stronger MCAT in addition to more hours could shore up your application. That being said, I get testing anxiety and if you want to avoid re-testing, you could work on reframing your school list a bit (adding DO schools?).
 
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