WAMC: Texas high stat, low clinical

[scarfishfriend]

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Hi all! I’m planning on applying this cycle and would appreciate advice on any improvements I can make at this point in the semester. My biggest concern is my clinical experience (or lack thereof). If anyone has suggestions on how I can improve this (i.e. hospice volunteering, part time clinical work; I don’t know what will be most valuable), please let me know. Also my school list is very much not set in stone; I do want to end up in California which is why I have included as many California schools as I have.

For context I am in my senior year and will do a gap year as I apply this summer.

1. cGPA and sGPA as calculated by AMCAS or AACOMAS: 3.97 and 3.99 respectively
2. MCAT score(s) and breakdown. Include all (non-voided) attempts: 522 (132/129/130/131)
3. State of residence or country of citizenship (if non-US): Texas
4. Ethnicity and/or race: Asian F
5. Undergraduate institution or category: not a terribly notable school, wish to not disclose out of privacy
6. Clinical experience (volunteer and non-volunteer): EMT certification (unused though), ~650 hrs scribing in an ER
7. Research experience and productivity: 250 hours, will get LOR from my PI, made a poster, received research award from my school
8. Shadowing experience and specialties represented: 100 hr family medicine, 20 hrs peds, 40 hrs infectious disease (I like this specialty and my research revolves around host defense mechanisms)
9. Non-clinical volunteering: 40 hrs math tutoring for underserved children, 150 hours at my campus food pantry, ~30 hrs from various health fairs, ~50 hrs at several different food pantries outside of my campus one
10. Other extracurricular activities (including athletics, military service, gap year activities, leadership, teaching, etc): ochem and biochem tutor at my school (paid), TA’d for a lab class and will get LOR from the professor; my gap year will consist of acquiring an MA certification then applying for an MA position directly afterwards
11. Relevant honors or awards: graduating with magna cum laude, dean’s list for my last 2 years of undergrad
12. Anything else not listed you think might be important: winner of a public health policy hackathon which I did an internship for with the behavioral services department in a county near me over the summer (relevant because I am a psych minor and think mental health is important in healthcare)

School list:

UTSW
UTSA
UT Dell
UTMB
TECOM
McGovern
Texas Tech (El Paso and Lubbock)
Texas A&M
UCLA
USC
UCSF
Northstate
University of Pittsburgh
Case Western
University of Rochester
Albert Einstein
Dartmouth
Brown
Emory
Tufts

 

[Faha]

Your clinical and non clinical hours are adequate. Apply to ALL your TMDSAS MD schools. California Northstate has accreditation issues.
You could add these schools:
Kaiser
USC Keck
Stanford
NYU (free tuition)
Johns Hopkins (free tuition)

 

[Mr.Smile12]

I would recommend boosting your food pantry hours to 250 before submitting your application. 250 at least keeps you on pace with other high metrics applicants applying to brand/"top" schools. Otherwise, what's your purpose as a physician? Choose schools where you will be happy waking up at 4am for rounds.

 

[scarfishfriend]

Your clinical and non clinical hours are adequate. Apply to ALL your TMDSAS MD schools. California Northstate has accreditation issues.
You could add these schools:
Kaiser
USC Keck
Stanford
NYU (free tuition)
Johns Hopkins (free tuition)

Thank you for your feedback.

 

[scarfishfriend]

I would recommend boosting your food pantry hours to 250 before submitting your application. 250 at least keeps you on pace with other high metrics applicants applying to brand/"top" schools. Otherwise, what's your purpose as a physician? Choose schools where you will be happy waking up at 4am for rounds.

Thank you for your response! Your last couple sentences are very insightful and I’ll keep them in mind when I finalize my school list