WAMC/school list help: high stats, low-ish research; 525 MCAT, 3.85 cGPA, 3.81 sGPA, ORM

[misosoop]

Background: I was pursuing work in K-12 education for underserved communities before transitioning to medicine in my junior year; I talk about this experience in my personal statement. By time of matriculation, I will have had 2 gap years.

1. 3.85 cGPA, 3.81 sGPA
2. MCAT: 525 (131/131/131/132)
3. State of residence: FL
4. Ethnicity and/or race: Asian
5. Undergraduate institution or category: public state university, biochemistry B.S.
6. Clinical experience (volunteer and non-volunteer)
   • emergency medicine scribe (paid): 1420 hrs
   • hospice volunteer: 150 hrs
7. Research experience and productivity
   • research assistant in biology lab (paid): 350 hrs
     • hopefully we will submit a paper soon, probably not by time of primary submission though, and I'll be like sixth author or something LOL
   • clinical research: 50 hrs
     • this is very recent, I'm working on literature review/meta-analysis but by July we should be moving on to a prospective study. Again, not by time of primary submission :/
8. Shadowing experience and specialties represented
   • EM: 40 hrs
   • Rheumatology: 20 hrs
   • Cardiovascular surgery: 20 hrs
9. Non-clinical volunteering
   • Americorps: 330 hrs
     • 2 month summer program for underserved middle schoolers in a big city. I made my own curriculum and led my own classroom, in addition to helping with other typical summer camp activities.
   • Online tutoring (through a nonprofit organization): 100 hrs
     • The organization serves specifically low-income/disadvantaged students. I volunteered for 1 hour a week and helped kids with STEM homework.
     • IDK if this should go under "teaching" or "volunteering".
   • Online tutoring for local refugees (student org): 90 hrs
     • I tutored/mentored one student throughout 2 semesters, again, IDK if this counts as "volunteering".
   • Homeless shelter: 200 hrs
     • GED tutoring: I designed and conducted my own GED RLA class for residents of the homeless shelter's addiction program.
     • Serving dinner: After class I stuck around to help serve dinner.
   • Rape crisis center: 300 hrs
     • Answered hotline calls to provide information about services or to help with crisis management.
     • Met with survivors to accompany/advocate for them during forensic exams. Often I would also provide support when/if survivors reported to law enforcement.
10. Other extracurricular activities (including athletics, military service, gap year activities, leadership, teaching, etc)
    • Leadership: I was on the executive board for a Christian medical mission student organization and helped plan/execute a medical mission trip to Honduras. (We are connected to a network of long-term missionaries who hosted us, although I still feel slightly icky about the voluntourism vibe).
    • Biochemistry TA for two semesters.
    • Library assistant job for the first 1.5 years of college.
11. Relevant honors or awards
    • does the Americorps Segal education award count 😅

I'm planning on applying to ~27 schools but I only have:

UF
USF
UCF
FIA
FAU
FSU
Nova
UMiami
Boston
Tufts
Georgetown
George Washington
Mount Sinai
Loyola*
Rush*

*IDK if I have enough (or impressive enough) service to be competitive to these schools.

I feel like my stats might indicate "top" schools but I don't want to apply to too many of those because I think they'll mostly be donations since my app is not very research-oriented at all.

Thank you so much for your help!!

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[Mr.Smile12]

Welcome to the forums.

does the Americorps Segal education award count 😅

How to use your Segal Education Award - City Year

Did you know that one of the key benefits AmeriCorps members receive is access to the Segal Education Award to pay off loans or help pay for future study?

www.cityyear.org

I would say so.

I think your non-clinical service orientation activities and hours are appropriate to go for Rush and the other Jesuit schools.

 

[misosoop]

Welcome to the forums.

How to use your Segal Education Award - City Year

Did you know that one of the key benefits AmeriCorps members receive is access to the Segal Education Award to pay off loans or help pay for future study?

www.cityyear.org

I would say so.

I think your non-clinical service orientation activities and hours are appropriate to go for Rush and the other Jesuit schools.

Great, thanks! Do you have any advice for what other schools I should apply to?

 

[Faha]

I suggest these schools with your stats:
UF
USF
UCF
FIA
FAU
FSU
Nova
UMiami
Boston University
Tufts
Georgetown
George Washington
Mount Sinai
Harvard
Dartmouth
Brown
Hofstra
Einstein (free tuition)
NYU (free tuition)
Columbia
Cornell
Pittsburgh
Johns Hopkins (free tuition)
U Virginia
Duke
Emory
Vanderbilt
Washington University (in St. Louis-almost a guaranteed interview with your stats)
Northwestern
U Chicago
U Michigan
Case Western
Mayo

 

[misosoop]

I suggest these schools with your stats:

Thanks for your help! How's this for a start?

1. UF
2. USF
3. UCF
4. FIA
5. FAU
6. FSU
7. Nova
8. UMiami
9. Boston University
10. Tufts
11. Georgetown
12. George Washington
13. Mount Sinai
14. loyola
15. rush
16. dartmouth
17. brown
18. einstein OR nyu OR hopkins
19. washu
20. columbia
21. chicago
22. emory

Do you have any more recommendations for "safety" schools? Maybe along the lines of Pittsburgh, UVA, Drexel, Tulane, Wake Forest maybe? I'm really wary of making a list that is too top-heavy. Thanks again!

 

[Faha]

Loyola and Rush may "yield protect" with your stats as would Drexel and Wake Forest.

 

[misosoop]

Loyola and Rush may "yield protect" with your stats as would Drexel and Wake Forest.

Do you have any recommendations of "safer" schools that are less likely to yield protect? I don't think I have a good mission-fit for a lot of those top research-heavy schools. Thanks in advance!

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Do you have any recommendations of "safer" schools that are less likely to yield protect? I don't think I have a good mission-fit for a lot of those top research-heavy schools. Thanks in advance!

What are your arguments for mission fit with Rush, Drexel, and Loyola?

If serving immigrant/refugees is a critical part of your purpose, consider the list of PHR Student-Run Asylum Clinics (list is down so search the rest of the website). So far, I don't know if you have a focus on "underserved." If you don't...

Student Advisory Board - Chapter & Clinic List

We are updating our list... stay tuned! If you need immediate information on our chapters and clinics list, please email [email protected] If you are an attorney seeking to submit an evaluation request, click here

www.phrstudents.org

 

[Faha]

Do you have any recommendations of "safer" schools that are less likely to yield protect? I don't think I have a good mission-fit for a lot of those top research-heavy schools. Thanks in advance!

All your Florida schools are "safer" schools. Hofstra, Tufts, Georgetown, George Washington and Washington University would like your high stats.

 

[misosoop]

All your Florida schools are "safer" schools. Hofstra, Tufts, Georgetown, George Washington and Washington University would like your high stats.

Alright, thanks so much for your help!

 

[misosoop]

What are your arguments for mission fit with Rush, Drexel, and Loyola?

If serving immigrant/refugees is a critical part of your purpose, consider the list of PHR Student-Run Asylum Clinics (list is down so search the rest of the website). So far, I don't know if you have a focus on "underserved." If you don't...

Student Advisory Board - Chapter & Clinic List

We are updating our list... stay tuned! If you need immediate information on our chapters and clinics list, please email [email protected] If you are an attorney seeking to submit an evaluation request, click here

www.phrstudents.org

I believe my PS will make it clear how serving the underserved is a through-line in my app - I started out in education with the specific goal to teach STEM in low-income/marginalized communities because I believed that education is one of the best vehicles for social mobility (I still believe this), hence all of my education-based volunteering including Americorps. During my Americorps service, an incident with a student opened my eyes to health and wellness as a fundamental gap in equity that precludes people from being able to pursue opportunities like education. My work in the emergency room, homeless shelter, and rape crisis center helped me further explore these themes.

 

[misosoop]

Hi, coming back to ask about my school list. Unfortunately my family just barely exceeds eligibility for FAP, so I'm looking to cut some schools to lower my application costs. Bolded are the ones I'm considering for the cut (just based on whether or not I would realistically attend them over my in-state FL schools). Are there any other schools you would cut based on my WAMC? Any of the schools on the preliminary chopping block that you would recommend keeping? Thank you in advance.

1. UF
2. USF
3. UCF
4. FIA
5. FAU
6. FSU
7. Nova
8. UMiami
9. Boston
10. Tufts
11. Georgetown
12. George Washington
13. Mount Sinai
14. Loyola
15. Rochester
16. Dartmouth
17. Brown
18. NYU
19. Hopkins
20. Harvard
21. Einstein
22. WashU
23. Emory
24. Vanderbilt
25. Michigan
26. Mayo
27. Chicago
28. UVA
29. Columbia

 

[misosoop]

paging @Faha and @Mr.Smile12 since you helped with my original list! Thanks!

 

[Faha]

paging @Faha and @Mr.Smile12 since you helped with my original list! Thanks!

Looks good. You should receive several interviews.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

During my Americorps service, an incident with a student opened my eyes to health and wellness as a fundamental gap in equity that precludes people from being able to pursue opportunities like education. My work in the emergency room, homeless shelter, and rape crisis center helped me further explore these themes.

So did all your work with ER, homeless, and rape crisis center occur after your Americorps and teaching service were completed? I don't have a sense of the chronology because of the WAMC format. Is that what you will focus on in your application?

To that end, how will you find a school that will resonate with what you are looking for? Most schools will be glad to discuss social determinants of health, but how do you want to learn about it? That will help narrow your list. You must not be afraid to make some tough choices, but I assure you the schools won't have any trouble screening you out if you sound like cannon fodder.

 

[misosoop]

So did all your work with ER, homeless, and rape crisis center occur after your Americorps and teaching service were completed? I don't have a sense of the chronology because of the WAMC format. Is that what you will focus on in your application?

To that end, how will you find a school that will resonate with what you are looking for? Most schools will be glad to discuss social determinants of health, but how do you want to learn about it? That will help narrow your list. You must not be afraid to make some tough choices, but I assure you the schools won't have any trouble screening you out if you sound like cannon fodder.

Yes, they all occurred afterward. Thanks for the insight! I used MSAR but I'll look deeper into mission fit on their websites.

 

[YodaPineapple]

I think your interviews are most likely to come from USF(salivates over a 525)UVA(likes high stats for their OOS contingent), WashU(same reasoning)Case, UF(if you did undergrad there), and then maybe UMiami and Vanderbilt. Curious if I end up being right.
Keep us posted

 

[MD_Maker]

Even research heavy schools need some students who are not research focused. I've known students who had zero research go to Stanford and students who have no math background go to Carle. I wouldn't restrict yourself too much because your overall app seems pretty strong especially if you have strong teaching/education experiences.

I'd add:
Stanford
UCSD
UCSF
Rush
RFU
Temple
Oakland Beaumont
Carver/Iowa
Tulane
Indiana