WAMC & School List (reapplicant)

[Mad_22]

Hispanic/white Female, Reapplicant
(First cycle 4 interviews, 3 waitlists)
CT resident, ties in North Carolina/South Carolina
Interested in Surgical specialties/ interventional radiology

Undergrad: UConn
MCAT: 517
GPA: 3.7
Preview: 8
Caspar: 4th quartile

Work/Activities
Medical assistant: 1000+ hrs current full time job
EMT: 200 hrs
ED volunteer: 180 hrs
Covid-19 vaccine administrator: 80hrs
Shadowing: 200 hrs
Teaching mentoring: ~500 (bio lab TA and student mentor for peers on academic probation)
Non clinical volunteering: 230hrs
Research: undergrad neuroscience lab 500hrs, IRTA developmental neuroscience postbac at NIH 4000hrs. (2 years) no pubs unfortunately not a productive lab-
I was the only non permanent member, one poster presentation with summer intern who I mentored. Led my own project

Additionally have some Social justice ECs and scholarships/awards but nothing crazy.

Also included hobby as gardening and artistic pursuit- created a website to showcase my art/photography.

School list:

Albany
Boston U
Case western
Chicago at Rosalind Franklin
Hofstra
Duke
Quinnipiac
Dartmouth
George Washington
Kaiser
Lewis Katz
Medical college of Wisconsin
MUSC
northwestern
NYU Long Island
Oakland William Beaumont
Oregon health and science
Penn state
Stony brook renaissance
UVM
Rush
Brown
Tufts
UConn
UMD
Umichigan
Umass
UNC
Wake forest
Cornell
Western Michigan
Yale


Looking for advice on school list- I am looking for mission fit, location, and schools with good research/surgery programs. Also wasn’t sure if I should apply DO to cover all bases. As a reapplicant I’m hyper aware of the numbers game and do not want to have to apply a third time lol.

Ask me any questions!

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[Mr.Smile12]

Welcome to the forums.

You did great with 4 interviews. Where were they, and what were their decisions?

Did you ever reach out to SNMA or LMSA officers at the schools where you interviewed and others where you have a strong interest? What was the nature of your non-clinical volunteering (230 hours)?

My opinion: Oregon sticks out as an odd choice on your list. Western Michigan, UNC, Maryland, and MCW also. Rush likes applicants with 500+ (should I dare say much more) non-clinical service orientation than you describe.

 

[Faha]

Are you currently on the waitlist at 3 schools? Which ones?

 

[Mad_22]

I applied in the 2024 cycle (not this most recent one) and this school list is relatively the same but I added a bunch.
My interviews were at Duke, UNC, UVM, and UConn- waitlisted everywhere except Duke.

I reached out to a few of the schools and the only feedback I got was possibly low non clinical volunteering and lower Mcat- had a 509 at the time.

This cycle non clinical volunteering has been a mix of things, in college I volunteered at a local thrift shop as part of a church community program, did a couple of days of random volunteer opportunities (landscaping, reading day, etc)
More recently I volunteered at local children’s museum, elementary school, and helped out with the theatre club at my old elementary school)

In highschool I did a few mission trips with my church but can’t really put that on the app.
Majority of volunteering has been clinical (ED, club that did health literacy surverys at a hospital, EMT volunteer, etc)

 

[Mad_22]

Are you currently on the waitlist at 3 schools? Which ones?

No that was from the previous cycle. It was UNC, UVM, and UConn

 

[LunaOri]

It would be nice to see some volunteering with the underserved—children’s museum and theater don’t really show that commitment to service.

 

[Mad_22]

Totally get that, my response would be that my commitment to service manifests more in a clinical volunteering setting because I genuinely enjoy working in those types of environments. I have combined 200 hours from emergency department and EMT volunteering which felt more authentic to me in pursuing a career in medicine. I could take up more hours this year at food pantries and things like that but I chose to volunteer at children’s museum and theatre club because I love working with kids and have been in various performing arts programs- drama, choir, band etc so it felt nice to be giving back to the community and program I started out in. Hope that all makes sense I don’t want to volunteer at a soup kitchen or something similar just to check the box- would rather do something meaningful to me but I understand a lot of schools look for those specific experiences. Will probably look into getting more hours with that in mind just wanted to explain my situation a bit more!

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Totally get that, my response would be that my commitment to service manifests more in a clinical volunteering setting because I genuinely enjoy working in those types of environments. I have combined 200 hours from emergency department and EMT volunteering which felt more authentic to me in pursuing a career in medicine. I could take up more hours this year at food pantries and things like that but I chose to volunteer at children’s museum and theatre club because I love working with kids and have been in various performing arts programs- drama, choir, band etc so it felt nice to be giving back to the community and program I started out in. Hope that all makes sense I don’t want to volunteer at a soup kitchen or something similar just to check the box- would rather do something meaningful to me but I understand a lot of schools look for those specific experiences. Will probably look into getting more hours with that in mind just wanted to explain my situation a bit more!

You have to show you can be comfortable with uncomfortable people. Med students and residents get "voluntold" to do many things that are not pleasant or comfortable. You don't always get to do meaningful things at the bottom of the totem pole. You don't get to choose your patients early in your training. I totally get it, but sometimes you have to do your job even if you have no passion for doing it. That's "professionalism." Or maybe more crassly, that's what the paycheck is about.

You already have feedback that suggests your strategy is insufficient for getting an offer. Believe me, I hope I'm wrong in your n=1, but my experience requires me to turn down more applications than accepting them.