monkey.d.luffy
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- Apr 28, 2025
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~ I am a TX resident, but I am really trying to go out of state. The issue is, the only way to justify (to myself and to my parents) not paying that texas tuition is to go to a T20 medical school. Also my longtime girlfriend will be in dental school in NYC, so I would really like to be closer to her. I love Texas, but I want to get out of here for a bit. How can I market my application to tell adcoms: hey, if you extend me an offer, I will not pick Texas over you!
Demographics: TX ORM 21M, trad applicant, no gap year, no IAs/red flags, BS Neuroscience/BA Asian Studies, T20 undergrad
Stats: 3.92 GPA / 3.88 sGPA, 520 MCAT
Research: (1300 hours)
This and my stats [yes, I know they are high but I am ORM trying to apply T20, I am obnoxious yes] are definitely the weakest part of my application, hoping my strong leadership experiences can carry me. Struggled to get publications because I had so many interests and switched labs, should have stuck with one lab the whole time.
Clinical: (1050 hours)
Nonclinical Volunteering: (600 hours)
LORs: I have 8 lol, I know too many, but my premed committee let's me submit 6, and I'll submit the other 2 to schools. But I have 8 because I genuinely have built very strong relationships with all these people. Here are my letters in submission. I
1) Will get an INSANE letter from the faculty advisor for my undergrad volunteering club, HMS grad and director of a major medical team
2) Will get an INSANE letter from the family med doctor I worked for, I also shadowed him in ED (he's lowkey letting me write it)
3) Will get a VERY STRONG letter from my PI, we are super tight, I have deadass gone on bike rides with him because we love biking
4) Will get a GOOD letter from my *university president. We aren't tight, but he's come to my run club and knows that I'm super involved in my undergrad community
5) Will get a VERY STRONG letter from my science prof, I took 3 of her classes (all A's) and TA'd for her 3 semesteres
6) Will get a GOOD letter from my neuro department chair, I took his research course 3 times and have worked with him to promote my undergrad volunteer club
7) Will get a VERY STRONG letter from a science prof I TA'd for, we are super tight, I deadass go to happy hour with him sometimes
8) Will get a VERY STRONG letter from my Arabic professor, his classes are super small and we spend a lot of time together and I will spend the summer with him, too
*Should I include this in my letter packet (which only takes top 6 letters?) I think at the very least his letter for me will be good, it could be very strong as he rarely writes letters of rec, but not sure. However, he is the damn university president, so at what point does prestige lose out to a personalized letter?
Other: (1400 hours)
School List:
TMDSAS: UTSW, Baylor, Dell, UTMB, Texas A&M, UT San Antonio, McGovern, TT El Paso
AMCAS: Harvard, Hopkins, Stanford, Penn, Duke, UCSF, Columbia, Yale, WashU, NYU, Vanderbilt, Mayo Clinic, Michigan, Cornell, Northwestern, UPitt, Emory, Mt Sinai, UChicago, UCLA, CWRU/Cleveland Clinic, UCSD, USC, UVA, Brown, Boston, Albert Einstein, Dartmouth, Hofstra
Demographics: TX ORM 21M, trad applicant, no gap year, no IAs/red flags, BS Neuroscience/BA Asian Studies, T20 undergrad
Stats: 3.92 GPA / 3.88 sGPA, 520 MCAT
Research: (1300 hours)
- 100 hours on a side project presented at a small conference
- 200 hours in a neurology lab, 2 manuscripts in submission for publication soon
- 500 hours in a psych research lab, 1 poster at small undergrad, 1 poster at national conference
- 500 hours in a wet lab, just 2 small posters at my undergrad
This and my stats [yes, I know they are high but I am ORM trying to apply T20, I am obnoxious yes] are definitely the weakest part of my application, hoping my strong leadership experiences can carry me. Struggled to get publications because I had so many interests and switched labs, should have stuck with one lab the whole time.
Clinical: (1050 hours)
- 350 hours EMT during summer job after freshman year
- 400 hours scribing at family med clinic, predominantly Vietnamese and Spanish speaking patients, summer job while studying for MCAT
- 150 hours shadowing (EM, Psychiatry, Family Med, Vascular neurology, Radiology)
- 50 hours clinical volunteering at healthcare for unhoused
- 100 hours clinical volunteering at a hospital
Nonclinical Volunteering: (600 hours)
- 50 hours at a small nonprofit that works with aphasia patients
- 50 hours for a club teaching neuroscience to youth
- 500 hours as a camp counselor for week long summer camp (24/7 x 3 years in a row)
- 20 hours organizing exercise classes in local neighborhood with my run club
- 300 hours as a founder and president of an undergrad volunteering club, probably my proudest achievement 🙂
- 200 hours as a committee coordinator for the same summer camp club^^
- 200 hours as a founder and president of a university run club, received funding to introduce running/fitness to underserved neighborhoods
- 250 hours as a TA for lab course (3 semesters), became head TA this Spring
- 200 hours as a leader for an undergrad summer program
- 500 hours as an orientation leader for my university's orientation week program (24/7 x 3 years in a row)
- 200 hours in various roles at my residential dorm
- Class representative, student government parliamentarian, coordinator for "events week", captain of my college's team
- 50 hours as a caregiver at university sanctioned parties
LORs: I have 8 lol, I know too many, but my premed committee let's me submit 6, and I'll submit the other 2 to schools. But I have 8 because I genuinely have built very strong relationships with all these people. Here are my letters in submission. I
1) Will get an INSANE letter from the faculty advisor for my undergrad volunteering club, HMS grad and director of a major medical team
2) Will get an INSANE letter from the family med doctor I worked for, I also shadowed him in ED (he's lowkey letting me write it)
3) Will get a VERY STRONG letter from my PI, we are super tight, I have deadass gone on bike rides with him because we love biking
4) Will get a GOOD letter from my *university president. We aren't tight, but he's come to my run club and knows that I'm super involved in my undergrad community
5) Will get a VERY STRONG letter from my science prof, I took 3 of her classes (all A's) and TA'd for her 3 semesteres
6) Will get a GOOD letter from my neuro department chair, I took his research course 3 times and have worked with him to promote my undergrad volunteer club
7) Will get a VERY STRONG letter from a science prof I TA'd for, we are super tight, I deadass go to happy hour with him sometimes
8) Will get a VERY STRONG letter from my Arabic professor, his classes are super small and we spend a lot of time together and I will spend the summer with him, too
*Should I include this in my letter packet (which only takes top 6 letters?) I think at the very least his letter for me will be good, it could be very strong as he rarely writes letters of rec, but not sure. However, he is the damn university president, so at what point does prestige lose out to a personalized letter?
Other: (1400 hours)
- 1000 hours learning Arabic, something I am super passionate about, will do a 6-week study abroad this summer
- 150 hours learning Spanish, partially fluent from high school education
- 100 hours as a member of a band, lead singer and guitarist
- 100 hours intramural soccer, might not seem important, but I treat this **** like the world cup
- 50 hours in a cultural club, I did a dance routine!
- Fluent in Vietnamese, partially fluent in Arabic and Spanish (hoping to be fluent in Arabic by the end of summer)
School List:
TMDSAS: UTSW, Baylor, Dell, UTMB, Texas A&M, UT San Antonio, McGovern, TT El Paso
AMCAS: Harvard, Hopkins, Stanford, Penn, Duke, UCSF, Columbia, Yale, WashU, NYU, Vanderbilt, Mayo Clinic, Michigan, Cornell, Northwestern, UPitt, Emory, Mt Sinai, UChicago, UCLA, CWRU/Cleveland Clinic, UCSD, USC, UVA, Brown, Boston, Albert Einstein, Dartmouth, Hofstra
