MD & DO WAMC TX: 3.65, 514, 1st reapp

[ssynara]

Edit: I got off waitlist!! I guess I won't be reapplying 😅


Howdy y'all! I had some health issues last year that severely delayed my app and I ended up only finishing 4 secondaries which were submitted in late October. Had one II and currently on WL for that, but reapp'ing while I'm waiting to hear back! Health issues are done with and dealt with, so I'm not going to let that be a barrier to my reapp! I'm pretty sure the weakest portion of my app last year other than my GPA was just how late I had them turned in. Trying to get them in ASAP this time around. Open to any and all feedback!

About me:
Graduating this semester from a public state school, not a big name nor flagship.
"Trad student" per TMDSAS
TX resident, ORM, 1st gen immigrant (us citizen), 1st gen med

cGPA/sGPA (-> GPA projection w/ current grades):
TMDSAS: 3.65/3.61 (-> 3.69/3.64)

AMCAS: 3.64/3.58 (-> 3.67/3.61)
AACOMAS: 3.64/3.62 (-> 3.67/3.65)

Significant upward trend from freshman year (3.36/3.00 TMDSAS)

MCAT:
514, 127/126/130/131, one attempt, 2021.

Clinical:
~2300hrs paid ED Tech (continuous since freshman yr)
~2300hrs volunteer 911 EMS (also cont. since freshman yr)
300hrs volunteer medical staff
200hrs paramedic clinicals (debating on whether to include this or not)
60hrs IFT EMT

Research:
~600hrs (over 2yrs) psych research -> poster presentation, finishing up paper to (hopefully) publish

Shadowing:
26hrs, primarily ICU and ED
I know i'm deficient here, hoping my clin exp including working directly with docs will cover for it

Non-clinical (TX lumps everything into "Community Service"):
~500hrs teaching/TA'ing various EMS/SAR-related courses

Leadership:
~950hrs EMS supervisor
~300hrs various non-clin EMS leadership roles

ECs (Leisure):
Photography, rock climbing, play an instrument.

Honors/Awards:
Dean's list
President's volunteer service award at the gold level x2
Research scholar award

Changes since last app:
Started and completed paramedic school, separate from my degree, in less than a year while still taking full time course loads in college and maintaining mostly A's (two B+'s during the summer). As to why I did medic, I was bored and it seemed like fun I wanted to further my clinical knowledge and understanding past EMT and pre-med courses and be able to fit better into a leadership role in the healthcare team.
Continued to improve my grades while taking challenging courses and doing everything else I'm doing at the same time.
Didn't really have much time to do anything else during the last year, especially with COVID restricting shadowing and other stuff.
Applying a lot earlier, rewriting essays (obviously)
Changed my research sponsor's LOR to a DO that i work more closely with

LORs:
5 letters in committee packet; PhD (sci prof), MD/PhD (sci prof), MD (ED doc), DO (ED doc), paramedic (supervisor)

Projected activities:
Continuing my ED Tech job, except I'll be transitioned into an "Advanced Care Tech" with more responsibilities and liability.
Medical Spanish I and II courses
I'm still figuring out what to do for the next year to improve. I have a job offer on top of my current job, but haven't decided whether to accept the offer so probably won't include it. Will try to get shadowing if I can find any opportunities since things are starting to open back up

Schools I'm applying to:
Everything in TX. TMDSAS (16 schools) + TCU and UIW.
Wake Forest (Top choice for OOS)
U Colorado SOM
Dartmouth
Still figuring out the rest

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[Faha]

OOS MD schools interview few Texas applicants since they know from years of experience that Texas applicants will attend a Texas school. You could try Tulane and TCU-UNT. You should receive interviews from your Texas schools. You are competitive for all DO schools.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

You definitely feel at home with ED and ICU. Maybe get some insight through virtual shadowing with other specialties that are a little less emergent, but you have a lot of clinical experience. In my opinion, your teaching other EMT's could fall under leadership rather than community service. So that leaves the question what other community service activities you have?

 

[ssynara]

Thank you both for your feedback!

OOS MD schools interview few Texas applicants since they know from years of experience that Texas applicants will attend a Texas school. You could try Tulane and TCU-UNT. You should receive interviews from your Texas schools. You are competitive for all DO schools.

That's what I've heard re: OOS schools, just wanting to cast a large net. I do have some connections with faculty at UCSOM and Wake looks pretty OOS friendly which is why I have those. I'm not very familiar with all of the AACOMAS DO schools so I'll look a bit more into that!

You definitely feel at home with ED and ICU. Maybe get some insight through virtual shadowing with other specialties that are a little less emergent, but you have a lot of clinical experience. In my opinion, your teaching other EMT's could fall under leadership rather than community service. So that leaves the question what other community service activities you have?

Funnily enough, I found out that I don't like ICU medicine while shadowing, so I'm writing about the academic medicine perspective instead! About half of my shadowing hours are virtual so there is a little bit of non-critical care in there, but I definitely agree that it's not that much.

My description for teaching was a bit unclear, that's my bad; I taught EMS/SAR courses to middle and high school students, and non-EMS pre-meds which is why I have it under community service, rather than leadership.

I have training other EMTs included in various non-clin EMS leadership since I didn't want to make my post more verbose that necessary. It looks like I accidentally left out about 75hrs of mentoring a freshman at my uni but I recognize that I don't really have much non-clinical community service that's not somehow related to healthcare. Along with shadowing, it's something I'm figuring out what to do and hopefully things will open up a bit more with the COVID situation in my area.

 

[ujsc]

I think you overall bring excellent experience to the table with adequate stats for admission for either MD or DO. I would get some experience volunteering in a ER or hospice to boost nonclinical service volunteer hours for app. I would work with someone who writes well to make your PS and writing samples attention grabbing to Adcom. This is what grants the most II. Best wishes.