WAMC/School List (high stats, no research)

[TheCasualAce]

Hello everyone! Going into junior year, I was confident about my decision not to do research, but browsing Reddit is starting to really freak me out, so I'm hoping the people here will be able to give me a more realistic perspective on my chances. I put all my info into admit.org and built my school list based largely on what it told me with a few exceptions, but if anyone has any suggestions for changes I'm definitely open to it!

cGPA/sGPA: 3.94/3.92

MCAT: 521 (130/132/130/129)

Florida Resident (Though that's only on paper, it's kind of complicated. I only moved back to the US as an undergrad. My family used my grandmother's address in Florida as a legal address while we were gone.) I was born in New York, and a good portion of my extended family still lives there, so I'd love to go back there for medical school if I could.

Ethnicity: Irish American female

Attends an Ohio state school. Traditional applicant (rising senior).

Clinical Experience: 1100 hours as a PCA. I worked my first year as a float in the Med/Surg pool, and my second year in the ED. This is one of my most meaningful experiences, and I loved it so much that I gave up a research opportunity to continue into my junior year.

Research: None. Like at all. Outside of lab classes, which I'm pretty sure don't count.

Shadowing: 20 hours total. 15 hours following rounds with an inpatient family medicine team, and 5 hours at an outpatient orthopedic clinic. The shadowing with the family medicine team was listed as a most meaningful experience because of several eye-opening conversations I had with the attending I was with. It made me realize that I'm more interested in specialties that treat the whole person, rather than just a part (e.g., internal, family, emergency, etc).

Volunteering:
- 150 hours in the Medical Symphony Orchestra as the first chair clarinetist. We use our performances to raise money for various charities. I was elected to the executive board as the Recruitment Chair for next year, and I put that on my application as an anticipated activity. This was listed as the second most meaningful experience, as music is a really important part of my life.
- 40 hours as a member of a club that hand-makes winter clothes and sleeping mats for the homeless in our neighborhood.

Other Extracurricular Activities: I've served as a peer mentor for other students in my program for the past year. I listed this as 15 hours, but it's not a super discrete activity, so that's probably an underestimation.

Scholarships: Two academic merit scholarships that knock about 50% off my tuition. No big national awards, though.

Other Important Information: I grew up abroad because of my parents' jobs, so though I'm technically not an international student, a lot of my experiences in undergrad are similar. I lived and traveled to a lot of third-world countries growing up, so global health became a big part of my "why" for medicine. It's also why my hours are on the lower end. I can only see my family during breaks, and it's very expensive to travel to them, so I can only justify the expense if it's for a long period of time. All my ECs were conducted during the semester, and I spent breaks with them.

School List: (Out of State)
- Duke
- Vanderbilt
- NYU
- Mayo
- Feinberg
- Mount Sinai
- Pritzker
- Emory
- University of Colorado
- University of Virginia
- Boston University
- University of Rochester
- Brown
- University of Cincinnati
- Einstein
- Dartmouth
- Georgetown
- Tufts
- Jefferson-Kimmel
- Virginia Commonwealth
- Hofstra
- Hackensack Meridian
- New York Medical College
- Creighton
- University of Arizona (Phoenix)
- Rosalind Franklin
- Quinnipiac-Netter

School List: (In-State)
- University of Florida
- University of Miami
- University of South Florida
- Florida State
- University of Central Florida
- Nova Southeastern

Total: 33 schools

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[Mr.Smile12]

Welcome to the forums.

While research is not required, I would like to know why you did not prioritize research as an activity. Is it access or availability? Was working as an PCA getting in the way? Your record shows you have strong academic competencies including mentoring/teaching, but what mark have you made with campus organizations? You're in a charity/community music ensemble (that's cool), but you need to bump up your service orientation community service to 150 hours to avoid getting screened out at most schools (right now I see just 40 hours). I don't get a sense of your presence on campus including other leadership positions so I'm not sure what your purpose as a healthcare provider is going to be, or how it could be any different from being a nurse or a medical assistant.

 

[Faha]

When are you planning to apply ?

 

[TheCasualAce]

Welcome to the forums.

While research is not required, I would like to know why you did not prioritize research as an activity. Is it access or availability? Was working as an PCA getting in the way? Your record shows you have strong academic competencies including mentoring/teaching, but what mark have you made with campus organizations? You're in a charity/community music ensemble (that's cool), but you need to bump up your service orientation community service to 150 hours to avoid getting screened out at most schools (right now I see just 40 hours). I don't get a sense of your presence on campus including other leadership positions so I'm not sure what your purpose as a healthcare provider is going to be, or how it could be any different from being a nurse or a medical assistant.

Thank you!

I went into undergrad planning on doing everything on the standard checklist, so that I could be as well-rounded as possible. But the more I talked to my professors and my classmates who were doing research, the more I realized it really wasn't for me. I'm more of a macro- level person. I prefer to look at problems from a big-picture perspective, and most research I had the opportunity to participate in was just too narrow for me. If that makes sense?

I'm doing a big service project as part of my senior capstone this year, but as far as I know, that's not something I can include in my application yet. Maybe as part of an update letter? I'm planning on working with the Parks service in the city to clean up the local parks and bike trails and encourage a more active lifestyle in the community. The details aren't all hammered out yet, so sorry if that explanation doesn't make a lot of sense. I figured it would make a good interview topic when I got there.

I've worked with a lot of different healthcare providers and gotten the chance to see all their roles up close working in the hospital, so I know for sure I want to be a doctor because of the independence the role offers. The prospect of being completely in charge of someone's care like that is scary, but I've seen too many professionals not be able to help their patients like they want to because of the constraints of their role. Not wanting to feel helpless anymore is my whole reason for going into medicine, so I want to have as much freedom as possible once I finally get there.

 

[TheCasualAce]

When are you planning to apply ?

This cycle! I submitted my primary application on 6/5, but only with a few of the schools on my list that I was sure about like BU, NYU, and UF. I'm trying to finalize the list before the application gets sent out on 6/30.

 

[Faha]

This cycle! I submitted my primary application on 6/5, but only with a few of the schools on my list that I was sure about like BU, NYU, and UF. I'm trying to finalize the list before the application gets sent out on 6/30.

You have a good list and should receive several interviews. Add Washington University (in St. Louis-they like high stat applicants), Florida Atlantic and Florida International.

 

[TheCasualAce]

You have a good list and should receive several interviews. Add Washington University (in St. Louis-they like high stat applicants), Florida Atlantic and Florida International.

Thank you! Are you sure it's worth it to apply to Washington with no research? I've heard they're a pretty research-focused school.

 

[Faha]

Thank you! Are you sure it's worth it to apply to Washington with no research? I've heard they're a pretty research-focused school.

Yes, they like high stats and they offer interviews to almost 30% of applicants who complete secondaries.

 

[YodaPineapple]

I hope that I am proven wrong by the results of your cycle, but I fear you may run into the problem of not having the research that the schools your stats put you in range for want, while also having stats that put you at risk for yield protection at schools that may have given you a pass for no research. Even your instate florida schools like USF, UCF, UF, and FAU nearly require research(UCF has a slideshow during their white coat ceremony of each student that lists each students research experience, and FAU recently did a webinar in which the dean said she’s only accepted 1 student in 9 years with 0 research). USF and UF consider themselves preeminent research institutions.

As Mr. Smile said, I wish you would have had more non clinical volunteering at the time of application but we’ll see what happens.

Good luck!

 

[TheCasualAce]

I hope that I am proven wrong by the results of your cycle, but I fear you may run into the problem of not having the research that the schools your stats put you in range for want, while also having stats that put you at risk for yield protection at schools that may have given you a pass for no research. Even your instate florida schools like USF, UCF, UF, and FAU nearly require research(UCF has a slideshow during their white coat ceremony of each student that lists each students research experience, and FAU recently did a webinar in which the dean said she’s only accepted 1 student in 9 years with 0 research). USF and UF consider themselves preeminent research institutions.

As Mr. Smile said, I wish you would have had more non clinical volunteering at the time of application but we’ll see what happens.

Good luck!

Thank you for responding! That's, unfortunately, exactly what I was worried about. Worse comes to worst, I guess I can take a gap year and do some research, but I'd really prefer not to do that. I'm hoping that my story is enough to make up for it. I've been told I'm a pretty good writer, so I guess we'll see.

I just didn't have time to do both research and work as a PCA, and I couldn't stand the thought of giving up a job I loved just to do something I knew I would hate for the sake of a "pre-med checklist".

 

[Mr.Smile12]

What is involved with your capstone? What output or outcomes must you submit to get credit for the capstone?

Previously

Capstone Considered Research?

I couldn't find another thread with my question so..... on MSAR some schools (e.g. University of Colorado: Aurora) require research. I was just wondering if what I have done is acceptable? In a BIOL 270 class, I researched the effects of prenatal vitamins on men's hair growth. In my capstone...

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