MD WAMC + School List: ORM, 3.81/527

[beepbeep1999]

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[beepbeep1999]

@Faha and @Goro would greatly appreciate your input! Thank you in advance 🙂

 

[Faha]

You have a good list and should receive several interviews. UNC admits few non residents with no connection to the state. You could add any of these schools:
Vanderbilt
Cincinnati
Hofstra

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Get those food bank or other community service hours banked by the time you apply (not projected). Where have you visited other medical schools on your list?

 

[beepbeep1999]

Get those food bank or other community service hours banked by the time you apply (not projected). Where have you visited other medical schools on your list?

I'll try my hardest to! It's a little tough since the food bank operates during business hours (aka the hours I work), but I'm sure I can squeeze another 30-50 hours before the application opens. And I'm not entirely sure whether I understand your question - in person, I really haven't visited any med schools other than UVM.

 

[candbgirl]

I’d drop UChicago because they really value service and you only have about 70 hours. But do keep working on your nonclinical volunteering. Homeless shelters open in the late afternoon. So they might be open to your services after your work day.

 

[Goro]

Hi all, thank you in advance for any advice you might have to offer! I am preparing to apply this cycle and am having a tough time figuring out a good school list for my stats and experiences. Information below:

1. cGPA and sGPA: 3.81 cGPA, 3.67 sGPA
2. MCAT score(s) and breakdown: 527 (132/131/132/132)
3. State of residence or country of citizenship (if non-US): NH, ties to MD
4. Ethnicity and/or race: ORM (Asian Female)
5. Undergraduate institution or category: Ivy (non-HYP)
6. Clinical experience (volunteer and non-volunteer): 1000 (projected 2000) hours paid scribing within a specialty clinic since graduation (in 2021), working directly with three specific providers with whom I have established good and close relationships with. No other volunteer, etc. because I decided on medicine about 6 months before COVID started 🙁.
7. Research experience and productivity: 1000 (projected 2000) hours paid research in the same specialty. Three abstracts (one 1st author, two mid-author) accepted at conferences, will be presenting a poster at a national specialty-specific conference this year. One article submitted to specialty-specific journal, likely to be accepted. Two oral presentations done, one within the clinic and one for the specialty's Grand Rounds. Will likely have a couple other things (second/mid-author on book chapter, some other presentations, etc.) coming up soon. ~300 hours paid research in my college major (non-STEM), presented abstract (third author) at national, but niche, conference. ~100 hours of bench wet lab research in my college's biology department. 480 hours paid research at a pharmaceutical company one summer.
8. Shadowing experience and specialties represented: 15 in-person pre-COVID (Peds EM, Anesthesia), 28 virtual, and can extract some from current job (e.g., watching surgeries and stuff); total 43+ hours
9. Non-clinical volunteering: 70 (projected ~200) hours at local food bank. ~50 hours with an online organization coordinating donations to essential workers during the height of the pandemic; total 250 (projected) hours
10. Other extracurricular activities: 540 hours as a sort of TA for non-major, non-STEM department during college, where I independently led small group sessions with students. 50 hours as a TA for class within my major. 480 hours as part of a 9-person team running a hotel/lodge for one summer. 50 hours tutoring for class within major. 50 hours as a member of one-term program dedicated to learning about social determinants of health. 100 hours as a pre-health mentor at my college (paired with underclassmen interested in pre-med, attended events to give advice about the pre-med journey at my college, etc.). ~200-300 (hard to estimate) hours as part of a college community dedicated to fostering open conversations, so we would have weekly discussions between members/with teachers about a variety of topics (some controversial); I was also treasurer of the community for one term.
11. Relevant honors or awards: One of my research experiences was funded by a program at my college that funds one year of undergraduate research for people with a high enough GPA; Second Honors Group (top 15%); graduated cum laude.
12. Anything else not listed you think might be important: Hobbies that I was thinking about including are cooking/baking, weightlifting, and learning languages (currently speak three fluently).

I really apologize if this post comes off as super neurotic - I recognize that my stats alone give me a good shot of at least getting in the door for a decent number of schools. My concerns with my app as it stands are: low volunteering, low(er) sGPA, and just a lack of a good WOW factor, you know?

I would really appreciate any input on school list/what I should work on as submission date approaches. In particular, I realize that my list as it stands is stupidly top-heavy (went off of WARS score of 89), so I would like any advice to mid/low-tier schools that I should thrown in instead. In terms of mission/fit, I'd most prefer schools that have an academic medicine track/support, since I want to end up at a teaching hospital, but I'm honestly open to anything! I was also wondering whether I should apply to any DO schools. Currently, my rough list stands as such (aiming to apply to about 25 schools):

1. Harvard
2. Stanford
3. JHU
4. USCF
5. Perelman
6. WashU
7. Yale
8. Columbia
9. Duke
10. UChicago
11. NYU
12. Pitt
13. Cornell
14. Northwestern
15. Mt. Sinai
16. Emory
17. Case Western
18. UVA
19. USC-Keck
20. Dartmouth
21. UNC
22. UVM
23. UMD
24. BU
25. Kaiser

I agree with Faha's additions. Delete UNC, Kaiser and U MD unless you lived in the state or went to school/college there. Your grandparents living there are not a tie, for example.

Definitely get in more service to others less fortunate than yourself.

Invest in MSAR and delete those schools where your sGPA is < their 10th %ile for acceptees
ADD:
U MI
U WI
U CO
USF/Morsani
Miami
Tufts
Hofstra
NYU.LI
SLU
Rochester
U Cinci
U MA
Keck/USC
SUNY.Upstate
SUNY.SB