WAMC/School list help (GPA 3.97, MCAT 519) - 7 "gap" years

[timothia17]

Hello everyone! I will be applying in the 2022-2023 cycle, and would love some advice on my school list and what I should focus on between now and May. Nontraditional, as explained below.

cGPA - 3.97
sGPA - 4.0
MCAT : 519 (129/130/129/131) - taken May 2021

CT resident, but will become a NC resident in August 2022 (will have resided in NC for one year at that point). Undergrad was at a small private university.

Research

• ~1000 hours completed between now and next May - employed as a research tech in a medical school physiology lab
• ~500 hours from three research experiences during undergrad back in 2011-2014.

Clinical Exposure/Volunteering

• ~300 hours as a hospital volunteer (to be completed between now and May; details TBD)
• ~70 hours volunteer at the Red Cross (same as above)

Shadowing

• Planning to get 60% in-person and 40% virtual shadowing in various specialties, for a total of ~100 hours (between now and May)

Other Volunteering (to be completed between now and May)

• ~50 hours teaching piano to children from low-income homes
• ~ 70 hours as a hospice volunteer
• ~80 hours volunteering at a therapeutic riding center for disabled children

Other achievements

• Associate of the Royal College of Organists
• Four years working as a professional concert organist, cathedral organist, choral director, and involved in music outreach to low-income children
• Dean's List every year of undergrad, received a number of research and academic awards, won several music competitions/scholarships

Nontraditional path: Bachelor's degrees in science and music. I took all the standard med school prereqs, graduating in 2015, then went to a prestigious music school for a Master's degree straight out of college, followed by four years of full-time work as a performer, including two years in Europe. Just came back to the US and now working in a lab, volunteering, and taking one undergrad class (biostatistics) at a local university.

Any help will be much appreciated!!

School List:

Category 1 (7)

Harvard

Stanford

UC San Francisco

Duke

Chicago

Mayo Clinic

Pittsburgh

Category 2 (6)

Icahn/Mount Sinai

UC San Diego

UCLA (Geffen)

Michigan

Ohio State

U of Virginia

Category 3 (3)

Albert Einstein

Renaissance at Stony Brook

Dartmouth

Category 4-5 (6)

Cincinnati

Wake Forest (NC)

Augusta (GA)

Brody (NC)

Albany

Tufts

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[deleted314957]

The chances are excellent that you will get into a US allopathic medical school, even ones that magazine editors and parents like.

 

[timothia17]

The chances are excellent that you will get into a US allopathic medical school, even ones that magazine editors and parents like.

Thanks for your reply! Do you think my school list is too top heavy?

 

[timothia17]

@Faha @LizzyM @Goro

I would so appreciate your opinion! Do you think my school list is too top heavy, particularly given my weaker EC's and being an older applicant?

 

[Goro]

You're golden.
Delete MCG, Albany and UCSD.

Replace with either U CT, Rochester, Keck, UTxSW, Miami, Hofstra, U CO, U WI, UVM, WESTERN Michigan, or SLU.

 

[LizzyM]

Interesting path. Your essays will be the key that either makes you look sharp or falls flat. Pull out all the stops, develop a rhythm, and wow them with your passion.

 

[timothia17]

You're golden.
Delete MCG, Albany and UCSD.

Replace with either U CT, Rochester, Keck, UTxSW, Miami, Hofstra, U CO, U WI, UVM, WESTERN Michigan, or SLU.

Thanks!

 

[timothia17]

Interesting path. Your essays will be the key that either makes you look sharp or falls flat. Pull out all the stops, develop a rhythm, and wow them with your passion.

Thank you!

 

[Goro]

Interesting path. Your essays will be the key that either makes you look sharp or falls flat. Pull out all the stops, develop a rhythm, and wow them with your passion.

Trying for the title of Princess of Punnery?? I don't know if you can orchestrate that. You will have conduct yourself very carefully, lest there be a crescendo of groans, if not a symphony of complaints and a chorus of naysayers!