MD WAMC (T20s) + School List Help - High Stats, Mid ECs

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IWishICouldPhysics

IWishICouldPhysics

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Hey! This is a repost, with the personal info removed, sorry for the barrage. I'd appreciate any advice I can get! I'm really struggling with making a school list.

  1. cGPA/sGPA:
    • cGPA - 3.98
    • sGPA - 3.96
  2. MCAT score:
    • 526 (132/130/132/132)
  3. State of residence + Undergrad:
    • Can claim TX (gainful employment) or IL residency (parents), on the fence about which one would maximize chances
    • Mid/low-tier public school
  4. Ethnicity:
    • ORM
  5. Clinical experience (volunteer and non-volunteer):
    • 550 hours paid MA
  6. Research experience:
    • 930-950 hours in a dry lab (1 poster, could get another soon but unsure)
  7. Publications:
    • None but currently in data analysis phase for my independent project, so unlikely ---> worried about this
  8. Shadowing experience:
    • 115 evenly split between family med, OB-GYN, and sports med/ortho
  9. Non-clinical volunteering:
    • 610 hours at a rape crisis center
  10. Other extracurricular activities:
    • 400 hours as an officer in a large premed org with involvement beyond my role
    • 85” hours as the founder of a widespread educational nonprofit in my area
    • 650-ish hours as a tutor and lead for my subject
    • 300 hours learning music (plus 1000s of hours prior to that, I've been doing it since I was very young)
  11. Relevant honors or awards:
    • Dean's list, National Merit scholar
  12. LORs:
    • PI
    • Biochem prof
    • Tutoring Supervisor
    • Doctor I work for
    • My music teacher
Current School List (Subject to HEAVY revising):

  1. Tufts
  2. Hofstra
  3. Einstein
  4. Icahn Mount Sinai
  5. Rochester
  6. Mayo
  7. Jefferson
  8. U Virginia
  9. Duke
  10. USF Morsani
  11. Miami
  12. Vanderbilt
  13. WashU
  14. Northwestern
  15. University of Chicago Pritzker
  16. U Michigan
  17. Ohio State
  18. Kaiser
  19. USC Keck
  20. Cincinnati
  21. Weill Cornell Medicine
  22. George Washington
  23. Boston University
  24. Johns Hopkins
  25. Case Western
  26. Pittsburgh
  27. Emory University
  28. NYU
  29. Columbia
  30. Geisel Dartmouth
  31. Georgetown University
  32. Yale
  33. Brown University
  34. Harvard
  35. Baylor
  36. UTSW
  37. UCSF
Edit: After some digging and advice, I've compiled the above list. I've been told to apply to all the T20s due to my high stats and yield protection, but I'm concerned about applying to top schools with my lack of pubs and not much research productivity, not having some kind of insane hook, and because I'm from a relatively unknown school. I feel like the list too top heavy and too long, and that I'm missing some more mid-tier/low-tier schools. If anyone has advice, I'd love to hear it! Thank you!

Final Edit: I've decided to claim TX residency and the new school list is below. If anyone happens to see this, I'd love to hear your thoughts!

  1. Baylor College of Medicine
  2. Long School of Medicine at UT Health San Antonio
  3. McGovern Medical School at UT Health Houston
  4. Texas A&M College of Medicine
  5. Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center Paul L. Foster School of Medicine
  6. Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center School of Medicine
  7. University of Houston College of Medicine
  8. University of Texas at Austin Dell Medical School
  9. University of Texas Medical Branch School of Medicine
  10. University of Texas Rio Grande Valley School of Medicine
  11. University of Texas Southwestern Medical School
  12. University of Texas at Tyler School of Medicine
  13. Harvard
  14. Hopkins
  15. UPenn
  16. Columbia
  17. Duke
  18. Vanderbilt
  19. WashU
  20. Cornell
  21. NYU
  22. Yale
  23. Mayo
  24. Northwestern
  25. UPitt
  26. Cincinatti
  27. UMich
  28. Icahn
  29. UChi Pritzker
  30. Emory
  31. UVA
  32. Case Western (CCLCOM)
Members don't see this ad.
 
Last edited:
Members don't see this ad :)
IWishICouldPhysics said:
  1. Tufts
  2. Hofstra
  3. Einstein
  4. Icahn Mount Sinai
  5. Rochester
  6. Mayo
  7. Jefferson
  8. U Virginia
  9. Duke
  10. USF Morsani
  11. Miami
  12. Vanderbilt
  13. WashU
  14. Northwestern
  15. University of Chicago Pritzker
  16. U Michigan
  17. Ohio State
  18. Kaiser
  19. USC Keck
  20. Cincinnati
  21. Weill Cornell Medicine
  22. George Washington
  23. Boston University
  24. Johns Hopkins
  25. Case Western
  26. Pittsburgh
  27. Emory University
  28. NYU
  29. Columbia
  30. Geisel Dartmouth
  31. Georgetown University
  32. Yale
  33. Brown University
  34. Harvard
  35. Baylor
  36. UTSW
  37. UCSF
Click to expand...
Delete GWU, Kaiser, Gtown.

Replace with:
U VT
Any other TX school you like
U IA
U ILL
SIU IF you're from Southern ILL
Vandy

Keep list to around 35; you don't want to burn out when writing secondaries.
Rock stars should aim high
 
Goro said:
Delete GWU, Kaiser, Gtown.

Replace with:
U VT
Any other TX school you like
U IA
U ILL
SIU IF you're from Southern ILL
Vandy

Keep list to around 35; you don't want to burn out when writing secondaries.
Rock stars should aim high
Click to expand...
Thank you so much, I really appreciate it! Do you think the list is too top heavy given my relatively "mid" research? That's honestly my biggest concern and why I wouldn't see myself as a "rockstar," though perhaps I'm being neurotic. Any other top schools on the list you'd recommend cutting out (namely any research w*****, it's why I didn't include Stanford), or is it just subject to my preference (ex. I don't particularly care for Rhode Island, so I can just cut out Brown Alpert)? Ideally, I'd like to have about 25-30, maybe 35 at most, like you said, this list was just a starter - don't have the money or the mental energy for 40 school's worth of secondaries
 
LizzyM said:
Concur with Goro. No point being yield protected. You look like many of the applicants I interview at my T20.
Click to expand...
That's great to hear, thank you! I appreciate it! If I can ask (not sure if this is allowed with these threads), is there anything I can do now to make myself "stand out" so I'm not just pack fodder? I'm almost about to apply, so I don't expect anything special and I'm confident in almost everything I do have, but I figured I'd ask.

Also, as someone from a T20, do y'all have any "bias" against Texas residents or those from lower-tier schools? One of the reasons I'm leaning against claiming TX residency and sticking with IL.
 
I'd say for sure apply to Washington University in St. Louis as they LOOOOVE high MCATs and will offer a nice scholarship to lure you from the bigger name schools.

If a school asks why that school, comb the school's website, describe your learning style and interests and describe how the school is a good fit with your interests. And don't screw up the spelling of the school name, fail to change the name of the school when you re-use an essay you wrote about another school and be sure you know where the school is located (Cornell is not in Ithaca, etc).
 
IWishICouldPhysics said:
Thank you so much, I really appreciate it! Do you think the list is too top heavy given my relatively "mid" research? That's honestly my biggest concern and why I wouldn't see myself as a "rockstar," though perhaps I'm being neurotic. Any other top schools on the list you'd recommend cutting out (namely any research w*****, it's why I didn't include Stanford), or is it just subject to my preference (ex. I don't particularly care for Rhode Island, so I can just cut out Brown Alpert)? Ideally, I'd like to have about 25-30, maybe 35 at most, like you said, this list was just a starter - don't have the money or the mental energy for 40 school's worth of secondaries
Click to expand...
Don't apply to schools that you can't see yourself applying to.
Consider IU and U WI, perhaps and maybe Western MI and/or U Rochester
 
LizzyM said:
I'd say for sure apply to Washington University in St. Louis as they LOOOOVE high MCATs and will offer a nice scholarship to lure you from the bigger name schools.

If a school asks why that school, comb the school's website, describe your learning style and interests and describe how the school is a good fit with your interests. And don't screw up the spelling of the school name, fail to change the name of the school when you re-use an essay you wrote about another school and be sure you know where the school is located (Cornell is not in Ithaca, etc).
Click to expand...
Thank you, that's really helpful!
 
Goro said:
Don't apply to schools that you can't see yourself applying to.
Consider IU and U WI, perhaps and maybe Western MI and/or U Rochester
Click to expand...
Sounds good, I appreciate it! I'll cut out some of those top tiers then!
 
Members don't see this ad :)
if you have strong LORs, apply to top 25 schools and you should get several interviews.
 
LizzyM said:
Concur with Goro. No point being yield protected. You look like many of the applicants I interview at my T20.
Click to expand...
I’m curious, have you ever seen applicants on here that you recognize that you interviewed? Surely at least once
 
Please claim Texas residency, speaking from experience where I claimed it even though I had the option to be an East Coast state resident. I got into all the Texas schools I interviewed at (pre-matched) and still got interviews at and into several T20s. There is a bias against Texas residents but most of the schools that won't interview you because of that bias aren't any better than the Texas schools that will and the tuition at the Texas schools is far better. Also make sure you apply to every single Texas medical school. It is free - there is only one fee to apply to any and all TMDSAS schools. Just because you have high stats and look good on paper - you can never be so sure you will get into schools like UTSW and Baylor. I don't know why you don't have Dell, McGovern, and San Antonio on your school list when they are just as good as a good chunk of the schools you have on your list (Example: Einstein, Rochester, Hofstra, George Washington etc). Last thing, your list is incredibly top-heavy and adding all the Texas schools to it will help balance it out.
 
Last edited:
For comparison and develop questions for schools. Very few have mentioned any inclusion of domestic violence in their curricular topics as far as I can tell... many calls for such inclusion happened about a decade or more ago.

TCU
mdschool.tcu.edu

Fort Worth Medical Students Experience How Domestic Violence Victims Navigate Healthcare System | Burnett School of Medicine at TCU | Fort Worth, Texas

FORT WORTH – For medical students, stepping into a patient’s shoes can be an eye-opening experience. Medical students at Anne Burnett Marion School of Medicine at Texas Christian University were able to experience firsthand what it would be like to be a domestic violence or abuse patient...
mdschool.tcu.edu mdschool.tcu.edu

Boston region/UMass
www.dovepress.com

Curriculum on Intimate Partner violence for medical students | AMEP

Creating the curriculum on IPV that is effective at increasing learner knowledge and skills, while remaining feasible to implement within an EM clerkship
www.dovepress.com www.dovepress.com

George Washington

Intimate Partner Violence Curriculum at GW

Domestic violence is identified as a global epidemic, where 1 in 3 women throughout the world will experience physical and/or sexual violence (WHO 2013). Medical education research around the world has included DV curriculum studies to determine how to most effectively train medical students to...
hsrc.himmelfarb.gwu.edu hsrc.himmelfarb.gwu.edu

University of Maryland
www.umms.org

The Bridge Program: Domestic Violence Awareness

The Violence Prevention Program is determined to reduce the frequency and the severity of recidivism for violent injury and criminal activity among persons living in and around Baltimore City
www.umms.org www.umms.org
 
Last edited:
MercifulCamper said:
Please claim Texas residency, speaking from experience where I claimed it even though I had the option to be an East Coast state resident. I got into all the Texas schools I interviewed at (pre-matched) and still got interviews at and into several T20s. There is a bias against Texas residents but most of the schools that won't interview you because of that bias aren't any better than the Texas schools that will and the tuition at the Texas schools is far better. Also make sure you apply to every single Texas medical school. It is free - there is only one fee to apply to any and all TMDSAS schools. Just because you have high stats and look good on paper - you can never be so sure you will get into schools like UTSW and Baylor. I don't know why you don't have Dell, McGovern, and San Antonio on your school list when they are just as good as a good chunk of the schools you have on your list (Example: Einstein, Rochester, Hofstra, George Washington etc). Last thing, your list is incredibly top-heavy and adding all the Texas schools to it will help balance it out.
Click to expand...
Will do, thank you! I'm likely going to claim TX residency over IL residency (just gotta get the darn license first); this school list was written in the mindset of applying as an IL resident, but I'm going to revise my school list to the TX MD schools, most of the top 20s, and some OOS schools. As a TX resident, did you have any mid/low-tier OOS schools you'd recommend applying to?
 
2023applicantxd said:
I’m curious, have you ever seen applicants on here that you recognize that you interviewed? Surely at least once
Click to expand...
One. Twenty years ago. Active duty military officer asked "should I wear my uniform to my interview this week?" Following day I was randomly assigned to interview someone in the military and the applicant showed up wearing the uniform from the branch matching that of the OP. After the interview, I ended up exchanging PMs with the OP and outed myself deliberately. The applicant was admitted to many schools and did not choose to attend mine. We stayed friends for several years.
 
LizzyM said:
One. Twenty years ago. Active duty military officer asked "should I wear my uniform to my interview this week?" Following day I was randomly assigned to interview someone in the military and the applicant showed up wearing the uniform from the branch matching that of the OP. After the interview, I ended up exchanging PMs with the OP and outed myself deliberately. The applicant was admitted to many schools and did not choose to attend mine. We stayed friends for several years.
Click to expand...
Thats pretty awesome
 
You're a strong applicant for top-20 schools, with stats that are well above average for the likes of Harvard and ECs that are packfodder level at top 20s. I think I heard some rock music come out of my computer speakers: you're a freaking rock star and should apply as such.
 
IWishICouldPhysics said:
Hey! This is a repost, with the personal info removed, sorry for the barrage. I'd appreciate any advice I can get! I'm really struggling with making a school list.

  1. cGPA/sGPA:
    • cGPA - 3.98
    • sGPA - 3.96
  2. MCAT score:
    • 526 (132/130/132/132)
  3. State of residence + Undergrad:
    • Can claim TX (gainful employment) or IL residency (parents), on the fence about which one would maximize chances
    • Mid/low-tier public school
  4. Ethnicity:
    • ORM
  5. Clinical experience (volunteer and non-volunteer):
    • 550 hours paid MA
  6. Research experience:
    • 850 hours in a dry lab (1 poster, could get another soon but unsure)
  7. Publications:
    • None but currently in data analysis phase for my independent project, so potentially but unlikely ---> worried about this
  8. Shadowing experience:
    • 115 evenly split between family med, OB-GYN, and sports med/ortho
  9. Non-clinical volunteering:
    • 575 hours at a rape crisis center
  10. Other extracurricular activities:
    • 400 hours as an officer in a large premed org with involvement beyond my role
    • 800 hours as the founder of a widespread educational nonprofit in my area
    • 650-ish hours as a tutor and lead for my subject
    • 300 hours learning music (plus 1000s of hours prior to that, I've been doing it since I was very young)
  11. Relevant honors or awards:
    • Dean's list, National Merit scholar
  12. LORs:
    • PI
    • Neuro prof
    • Tutoring Supervisor
    • Doctor I work for
    • My music teacher
Current School List (Subject to HEAVY revising):

  1. Tufts
  2. Hofstra
  3. Einstein
  4. Icahn Mount Sinai
  5. Rochester
  6. Mayo
  7. Jefferson
  8. U Virginia
  9. Duke
  10. USF Morsani
  11. Miami
  12. Vanderbilt
  13. WashU
  14. Northwestern
  15. University of Chicago Pritzker
  16. U Michigan
  17. Ohio State
  18. Kaiser
  19. USC Keck
  20. Cincinnati
  21. Weill Cornell Medicine
  22. George Washington
  23. Boston University
  24. Johns Hopkins
  25. Case Western
  26. Pittsburgh
  27. Emory University
  28. NYU
  29. Columbia
  30. Geisel Dartmouth
  31. Georgetown University
  32. Yale
  33. Brown University
  34. Harvard
  35. Baylor
  36. UTSW
  37. UCSF
Edit: After some digging and advice, I've compiled the above list. I've been told to apply to all the T20s due to my high stats and yield protection, but I'm concerned about applying to top schools with my lack of pubs and not much research productivity, not having some kind of insane hook, and because I'm from a relatively unknown school. I feel like the list too top heavy and too long, and that I'm missing some more mid-tier/low-tier schools. If anyone has advice, I'd love to hear it! Thank you!

Final Edit: I've decided to claim TX residency and the new school list is below. If anyone happens to see this, lmk your thoughts.

  1. Baylor College of Medicine
  2. Long School of Medicine at UT Health San Antonio
  3. McGovern Medical School at UT Health Houston
  4. Texas A&M College of Medicine
  5. Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center Paul L. Foster School of Medicine
  6. Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center School of Medicine
  7. University of Houston College of Medicine
  8. University of Texas at Austin Dell Medical School
  9. University of Texas Medical Branch School of Medicine
  10. University of Texas Rio Grande Valley School of Medicine
  11. University of Texas Southwestern Medical School
  12. University of Texas at Tyler School of Medicine
  13. Harvard
  14. Hopkins
  15. UPenn
  16. Columbia
  17. Duke
  18. Vanderbilt
  19. WashU
  20. Cornell
  21. NYU
  22. Yale
  23. Mayo
  24. Northwestern
  25. UPitt
  26. Cincinatti
  27. UMich
  28. Icahn
  29. UChi Pritzker
  30. Emory
  31. UVA
  32. Case Western (CCLCOM)
Click to expand...
Out of curiosity, did you take any gap years? Awesome job btw
 
LeaveNoTrace said:
You're a strong applicant for top-20 schools, with stats that are well above average for the likes of Harvard and ECs that are packfodder level at top 20s. I think I heard some rock music come out of my computer speakers: you're a freaking rock star and should apply as such.
Click to expand...
Thank you, I really appreciate that! Hopefully pack fodder is good enough to get me in somewhere, that's all I want 😭
 
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