WAMC/School list help: MA, URM, Non-trad (cGPA 3.56/sGPA 3.54/ MCAT 520)

[AnnMarieLastrassi]

Hey,

I am a non-trad applicant and I'm struggling with building a school list. I'm open to suggestions I am not sure what I should do or how competitive I am in general. I have a heavy research background and I've gotten a lot of clinical experience over the last year. I also have a lot of international experience. My undergrad GPA is lower. I hadn't figured out the optimal way of studying for me back then and I had a death in the family my freshman year that derailed me a bit. I'm open to any advice.

1. cGPA and sGPA: AMCAS

Graduated from undergrad in 2014 with a degree in biochemistry: cGPA 3.46 sGPA 3.46

Completed 24 credits in a diy postbac between 2022 and 2023: 4.0

After diy post bac: cGPA 3.56 sGPA 3.54

I have a foreign masters that I got in a foreign country in a hard science. I know it doesn’t count towards my stats but I did graduate top of my class in 2017.


2. MCAT score(s) and breakdown. Include all (non-voided) attempts.

2017: 507 (126/128/128/125)

2023: 520 (128/130/131/131)


3. State of residence: MA

4. Ethnicity and/or race: Black

5. Undergraduate institution or category: T-10 Ivy

6. Clinical experience (volunteer and non-volunteer)

- 2000 hours (ongoing) as a paid medical assistant
- 100 hours (2014) as a volunteer medical assistant overseas (not voluntourism. I grew up in this country and decided to volunteer during my gap year between undergrad and grad school. It’s this experience that made me consider medicine)

7. Research experience and productivity

- 2013: had a research internship in Japan over the summer during study abroad. I presented my research to the entire institution at the end of my stint and attended a conference.
- 2015: summer job as a research technician for a US governmental agency
- 2016: 3 month research internship at a prestigious intitution in France. My thesis was used as part of a published paper.
- 2017: 6 month research internship in Germany.
- 2017 to 2022: job as a research fellow for US governmental agency. Only one paper published but we frequently wrote reports and presented data that afected national policy.

8. Shadowing experience and specialties represented

- 40 hours: general surgeon in a foreign country
- 100 hours: as a volunteer medical assistant, one of my tasks was scribing for a primary care physician
- 2000 hours: currently as a medical assistant, one of my tasks is scribing for a dermatologist

9. Non-clinical volunteering (none recent)

- none recent but I used to teach art afterschool to children at a local school in my college town
- I was part of a mentoring program in undergrad for new students in the sciences

10. Other extracurricular activities (including athletics, military service, gap year activities, leadership, teaching, etc)

- i received a masters in europe in 2017 in a hard science.
- I worked for a governmental agency for 5 years as a researcher
- during the pandemic, I was caretaking for a sick family member while taking postbac classes and going to work full time.

11. Relevant honors or awards

- my lab received an award from the gov agency I worked for for our work during the pandemic.

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[AJS59]

Your application is a rock star (and has a strong research backing) with 1 exception - you're going to need a bit more in the realm of non-clinical volunteering, ideally working in something like a food pantry, soup kitchen, transport services, etc. I'd recommend trying to start that soon and accumulate some hours there.

As for a school list: MA schools (specifically: UMass, Tufts, Boston University, and Harvard — should you so choose) should be on your list at a minimum. Otherwise, I'll leave the list building to people like Faha

 

[Faha]

I suggest these schools with your stats:
UMass
Tufts
Boston University
Harvard
Yale
Dartmouth
Brown
Einstein
Mount Sinai
NYU
Columbia
Cornell
Pittsburgh
Georgetown
Duke
Miami
Emory
Vanderbilt
Washington University (in St. Louis)
Northwestern
U Chicago
U Michigan
Case Western
Cincinnati

 

[AnnMarieLastrassi]

Your application is a rock star (and has a strong research backing) with 1 exception - you're going to need a bit more in the realm of non-clinical volunteering, ideally working in something like a food pantry, soup kitchen, transport services, etc. I'd recommend trying to start that soon and accumulate some hours there.

As for a school list: MA schools (specifically: UMass, Tufts, Boston University, and Harvard — should you so choose) should be on your list at a minimum. Otherwise, I'll leave the list building to people like Faha

Thank you! I was really worried because my gpa is out of range for a lot of schools. I'll try and see if I can find any non-clinical volunteering opportunities.

 

[AnnMarieLastrassi]

I suggest these schools with your stats:
UMass
Tufts
Boston University
Harvard
Yale
Dartmouth
Brown
Einstein
Mount Sinai
NYU
Columbia
Cornell
Pittsburgh
Georgetown
Duke
Miami
Emory
Vanderbilt
Washington University (in St. Louis)
Northwestern
U Chicago
U Michigan
Case Western
Cincinnati

Thank you for taking the time to make a list. My GPA is way out of range for some of these schools so that's why I wasn't considering T20 schools.

 

[Faha]

Thank you for taking the time to make a list. My GPA is way out of range for some of these schools so that's why I wasn't considering T20 schools.

You will have no difficulty receiving interviews at some top 20 schools

 

[BarrBodyGuy]

you may shoot high sir, any T20-T1 that accept OOS applicants as long as money is not too much of an issue, also sprinkle in some T30-T50s in there. GPA meh, but is MCAT very good and you seem to have a wide variety of experiences and possibly maturity. good luck

 

[Mr.Smile12]

I'll agree that a little community service will boost your application a bit, but from the description, your academic accomplishments after undergrad will draw eyes. Be ready to discuss your journey and why medicine is your next destination.

Clarify if you were born and raised in the US/have citizenship status. Where did you go to high school?

 

[AnnMarieLastrassi]

I'll agree that a little community service will boost your application a bit, but from the description, your academic accomplishments after undergrad will draw eyes. Be ready to discuss your journey and why medicine is your next destination.

Clarify if you were born and raised in the US/have citizenship status. Where did you go to high school?

Thank you! I'll work on getting more volunteer hours.

I am a US citizen and went to high school in the US although I was born overseas and didn't move back until middle school.

 

[jvquarterback]

I know it’s late but add Penn and Hopkins for sure.

Stanford, UCLA, and UCSF are options too if you’d consider coming west.

Contact some snma members to see what they say. Practice for interviews. You should do well.

 

[LeaveNoTrace]

Your URM status and more importantly your upward trend means you're pack fodder at top 20 schools, maybe towards the top end of pack fodder depending on what that upward trend looks like.