MD WAMC? Texas Resident / cGPA: 3.76 sGPA: 3.67 / MCAT 501-->512(128/125/128/131) / ORM

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MCoph

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Hi all, I am planning to apply for 2021 cycle which opens this May and I would like some help narrowing down some school choices and seeing WAMC. Thank you in advance for any advice, constructive criticism, and honesty. I really appreciate it.

Recent 2019 graduate. Major: Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Ethnicity and/or race / Gender: ORM-Asian Male

Clinical experience (paid): Strongest EC - 6-7 year experience working as a clinic technician accumulating ~6500-7500 hours (Currently still employed during gap year)
Research experience: Limited to microbiology research project in undergrad (150-200 hours) and senior science research class dealing with breast cancer cells (150-200 hours). No posters/publications. Currently ongoing research during gap year with medical device start up tech company (~50 hours, no wet lab involved, mostly surveying for medical device niche/landscape and potential future prototype testing with hopeful paper publishing)
Volunteering: Volunteer experience aiding the visually impaired, helping with natural disaster relief, food banks throughout undergraduate years (~50-75 total) Weakest EC.
Leadership: Served as historian for cultural club during undergrad (1 year), as secretary (1 year) and president (1 year) for a health profession club, and as a mentor for a first generation college student support organization (all 4 years of undergrad) (Generation 1 myself)

Moderate upward trend in GPA. Tested for MCAT twice.

Will be considered a first time applicant for AMCAS. But applied to around 5 schools (no II's, applied late July / August with low MCAT) within TMDSAS so will be considered a re-applicant for those 5 schools.

WARS: 71 C Level
LizzyM: 69.6

I plan to apply to all MD Texas schools. I feel hopeful that I may be able to possibly matriculate into one of the Texas MD schools with current stats. Any Texas school would be great, but hopeful for a handful:
-Baylor (reach)
-UT McGovern
-Southwestern (reach)
-UTMB
-Long SOM
-Dell? (only questioning due to it being a newer med school)

I wasn't too keen on applying OOS, but in light of the news of STEP 1 transitioning to P/F I feel as if I should widen my horizons because the residency I hope to match to is on the competitive side of the spectrum (ophthalmology) so I would like to attend an OOS with great research opportunities and a good match statistics for more competitive residencies. (Although I know that I can not completely swear off other residency tracks and will keep an open mind during rotations in med school)

I would only considering leaving Texas if I was not able to gain acceptances to the list of schools mentioned above and this is also contingent if I am able to gain acceptance to a good OOS school.

I am aware that my stats are pretty much average, but I would still like to try to apply to some OOS reach schools just to see what happens and to satisfy my "what if?" itch.
A list of OOS reach schools that I would narrow down:
-California Schools (I know how notoriously difficult it is to gain acceptance as OOS and most of the schools will be high reaches for me)
---UCLA
---UCSF
---UCSD
---Keck

-New York Schools (Same high reach problems as California)
---Cornell
---Sinai

-Other reach schools in various states
---Case Western
---Mayo Alix main
---Emory
---Pritzker

-Maybe more reasonable OOS schools of interest
---BU
---Tufts
---Rosalind Franklin
---Rush

I know I listed a lot of reach schools, but I just chose so many because it would be a difficult decision to leave Texas (due to family reasons and finances) if not for a well known school such as these reach schools. I would appreciate any and all advice on how I can narrow down my selection. (because in reality, I probably only have business applying to maybe 1-2 of these reach schools)

Which schools should I delete / add?

Thank you again for taking the time to read my post and for taking the time to offer your advice and input. Good luck to everyone applying!

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If your finances and desire to be close to family are going to be significant factors, I think it can be a complete waste of time applying to the California schools or any schools that are really far away from Texas. Most admissions committees outside of the state know from past history the likelihood of Texas residents attending their schools, and your situation isn't going to inspire confidence to extend you an interview invitation. I would check on the OOS history of any DO schools outside of Texas, but they know from their history too. So are there any schools you have reached out to before your application journey began last time? Have you still been in contact with the admissions recruiters and students at the Texas schools as you are preparing this time?
 
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If your finances and desire to be close to family are going to be significant factors, I think it can be a complete waste of time applying to the California schools or any schools that are really far away from Texas. Most admissions committees outside of the state know from past history the likelihood of Texas residents attending their schools, and your situation isn't going to inspire confidence to extend you an interview invitation. I would check on the OOS history of any DO schools outside of Texas, but they know from their history too. So are there any schools you have reached out to before your application journey began last time? Have you still been in contact with the admissions recruiters and students at the Texas schools as you are preparing this time?

As far as finances are concerned, I plan to take out loans regardless so I will prepare for debt. It's just the debt will be around 2-3 times more for OOS, but I would be willing to weigh the quality of the education of an OOS school compared to a Texas school and future debt would be secondary if the OOS school wins out over the opportunities at a Texas school.

For clarification, when you mentioned for me to check on OOS DO schools does that mean I should disregard OOS MD schools? If so, why? What is it that may be holding me back? Stats? EC? I personally do not have a propensity for DO schools due to my future goals of pursing a surgical specialty. I know it is not impossible to attain that as a DO, but I do know it makes it that much more difficult. Especially with the new change of STEP 1 towards P/F, I know there is no data available to see how that will impact DO students when pursuing a more competitive / surgical residency.

I was naïve when I applied to those 5 Texas schools in the past and looking back, I shouldn't have been so quick to apply without retaking my MCAT first. I really never had any contact with the schools besides sending them my application. I knew that as prospective students we could always reach out to the schools and their admission recruiters, but I was just not sure as to how it would look and I am not sure how I would exactly go about doing that. I don't want to come off too strong. Any advice on how to approach schools of interest? (As far as the contacts with the students, the only contact I have are with upper-classmen that I knew from undergrad who matriculated before me and are currently in their MS years. I do not know any student ambassador from any of the schools)

Thank you!
 
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As far as finances are concerned, I plan to take out loans regardless so I will prepare for debt. It's just the debt will be around 2-3 times more for OOS, but I would be willing to weigh the quality of the education of an OOS school compared to a Texas school and future debt would be secondary if the OOS school wins out over the opportunities at a Texas school. ...

I guess you can open the door on what constitutes "quality medical education", but unless you are really trying to gear up for a career in academic medicine, the reputation of the original medical school isn't that important. What should be important is whether a curriculum is suited to your learning style and provides support for you when you have problems or challenges. I would say if you are willing to take on the debt, I guess that would be great.

That said, if you are really gunning for surgery, I would suggest considering HPSP, and at least AF and Army training sites are located near San Antonio. If anything I would talk to the HPSP recruiters to see if there are any surgeons you can talk to about schools. In my mind that would even make it more feasible for you to pitch to OOS MD's and DO's (yes there are surgeons who have DO degrees).
 
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The AMCAS schools you listed are not realistic with your stats. I suggest these instead:
TCU-UNT
Oakland Beaumont
NOVA MD
Seton Hall
Quinnipiac
Tulane
Loma Linda
 
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You can’t be an ophthalmologist without first getting into medical school and graduating from medical school. I agree with Faha. Waste of money applying to the OOS MD programs you listed. Not a shoe in for Texas schools either, although I’d be shocked if you didn’t get at least a couple interview invites. That being said, shadow a primary care doctor before applying and express an interest in preventative based medicine to increase your odds of success.
 
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I guess you can open the door on what constitutes "quality medical education", but unless you are really trying to gear up for a career in academic medicine, the reputation of the original medical school isn't that important. What should be important is whether a curriculum is suited to your learning style and provides support for you when you have problems or challenges. I would say if you are willing to take on the debt, I guess that would be great.

That said, if you are really gunning for surgery, I would suggest considering HPSP, and at least AF and Army training sites are located near San Antonio. If anything I would talk to the HPSP recruiters to see if there are any surgeons you can talk to about schools. In my mind that would even make it more feasible for you to pitch to OOS MD's and DO's (yes there are surgeons who have DO degrees).

I have never really taken a hard look into HPSP, but I will do more research about it. Thank you again for all your help!
 
The AMCAS schools you listed are not realistic with your stats. I suggest these instead:
TCU-UNT
Oakland Beaumont
NOVA MD
Seton Hall
Quinnipiac
Tulane
Loma Linda

Thank you, I will take a look into those schools and revise my list. I really appreciate your time and insight!
 
You can’t be an ophthalmologist without first getting into medical school and graduating from medical school. I agree with Faha. Waste of money applying to the OOS MD programs you listed. Not a shoe in for Texas schools either, although I’d be shocked if you didn’t get at least a couple interview invites. That being said, shadow a primary care doctor before applying and express an interest in preventative based medicine to increase your odds of success.

Right, I am getting ahead of myself. I will reassess and see what I can do to round out my application some more. Thank you!
 
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