SooMed26
Full Member
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Hi everyone, I’m updating my profile from the last WAMC thread I posted. Love to hear your thoughts!
Questions:
- cGPA: ~3.90 AMCAS estimated, not yet verified
- sGPA: ~3.92 AMCAS estimated, not yet verified
- MCAT:510 (128/126/128/128) [first attempt]
- MCAT practice FLs: 511, 508, 508, 513, 514
- State of Residence: CA (SoCal)
- Ethnicity/Race: White/MENA; Palestinian and Syrian
- Undergraduate Institution: UC Riverside, Biology major, currently in my fourth year
- Clinical Experience:
- Paid: EMT — 1,200 hours completed, 300 additional pediatric transport hours completed
Started in 11/2024
First experience was working for an ambulance company responding to IFT calls, obtaining vitals, supporting airway/oxygenation, documenting patient information, and communicating with paramedics, nurses, physicians, and receiving facilities. I also completed a pediatric/neonatal transport role through my company’s CHOC transport program, working with critical care nurses and paramedics to stabilize infants/toddlers and support parents during high-stress transports.
Obtaining LOR from EMT supervisor/paramedic I worked closely with. - Volunteer: Clinic Volunteer — 100 hours completed, 100 more anticipated
Started in 07/2024 for clinical duties; original clinic involvement began in 01/2023
Work in an underserved region of the Inland Empire alongside nurses, PAs, and physicians, documenting vitals and pertinent patient information. Also help train new clinic volunteers with patient assessments/manual blood pressure and working with unhoused/underserved patients.
- Paid: EMT — 1,200 hours completed, 300 additional pediatric transport hours completed
- Research: 700 hours completed
- Started in 06/2023
- First 400 hours were part of a dedicated summer research program, followed by 300 additional hours from 07/2024–05/2026. Atmospheric chemistry/environmental aerosol research related to organic aerosols, air quality, and environmental health.
- Two publications: one second-author publication in Environmental Science & Technology and one mid-author publication in Aerosol Science and Technology.
- Oral presentationat UCR RISE/MARC symposium.
- Campbell Research Award.
- Obtaining LOR from PI.
- Shadowing: 35 hours completed, 50 more anticipated
- Started in 06/2025
- 25 hours gastroenterology
- 10 hours cardiology.
- Planning to continue shadowing, ideally in primary care, pediatrics, emergency medicine, or community-based care.
- Obtaining/using a LOR from the GI physician I shadowed.
- Started in 06/2025
- Non-clinical Volunteering:
- Clinic Volunteering— 60 hours
- This is the same clinic mentioned earlier, but this was time spent when I first joined the clinic preparing hygiene kits, food, clothing, and basic resources for unhoused patients before they were seen by the street medicine team. I classified this as non-clinical volunteering even though I was working in a clinical setting, but I wanted to ask if this was valid.
- Food Bank — 100 hours completed, 100 more anticipated
Started in 11/2024- Primarily assist in food distribution, packing goods in the distribution center, and supporting produce/food access efforts. I initially joined this food bank because food insecurity was personally meaningful to me and because it serves communities I grew up around. Since then, I became involved in their advocacy/community champion work.
- Food Bank Advocacy / Ambassador — 60 hours completed, 120 more anticipated
Started in 05/2025- Joined the food bank’s advocacy/community champion program to raise awareness about food insecurity, participate in outreach/tabling, and support community-facing advocacy.
- Feeding America Fly-In / Policy Advocacy— 24 hours
- Participated in a national advocacy event in Washington, D.C. focused on federal nutrition programs such as SNAP and TEFAP. Worked alongside a broader advocacy cohort involved in congressional meetings and food security advocacy.
- Clinic Volunteering— 60 hours
- Other extracurricular activities:
- Hobbies:Weightlifting
- I’ve been weightlifting throughout college, and it has become one of my most enjoyable and consistent hobbies. I enjoy setting goals for myself throughout the year and having something outside academics/medicine that keeps me disciplined and grounded. I am considering making it one of my most meaningful experiences.
- Hobbies:Weightlifting
- Leadership:
- Vice President of cultural/mental health student organization — 120 hours
- Helped manage executive operations and curate mental health programming/discussions for AAPI students. Focused on validating lived experiences, cultural identity, emotional vulnerability, and peer support.
- Vice President of cultural/mental health student organization — 120 hours
- Teaching:
- Supplemental Instruction Leader for Organic Chemistry — 200 hours
- Started in 06/2025
- Facilitated collaborative organic chemistry sessions through my school’s Supplemental Instruction program. Used active learning, worksheets, practice problems, and peer discussion to help students build confidence and improve conceptual understanding.
- Supplemental Instruction Leader for Organic Chemistry — 200 hours
- Relevant Honors/Awards:
- Dean’s Honor List / Chancellor’s Honor List
- Magna Cum Laude anticipated
- Campbell Research Award as part of the UCR RISE research program
- Community Champion recognition from food bank for food insecurity advocacy/community engagement
- Award anticipated for high GPA w/ registered disability through institution
- Anything else:
- Two additional LORs are from another organic chemistry professor who mentored me and a professor from an ethnic studies class whose class I really enjoyed. A large part of my narrative for applying to medical school is due to my chronic illness diagnosis during my second year. It required me to take time away from normal activities while recovering. I believe being a patient gave me insight into why I want to be a physician, especially in chronic disease management, patient-centered communication, and helping patients navigate fragmented care systems.
- Spent most of my childhood in a Primary Care HPSA. I also have strong ties to Inland Southern California through UCR, clinic service in Riverside/Corona, and interest in serving medically underserved communities.
- Tentative School List:
- Albany
- AWSOM
- TCU
- CUSM
- Rosalind Franklin
- Drexel
- EVMS
- Quinnipiac
- George Washington SMHS
- Kaiser Permanente
- Keck USC
- Temple
- Loma Linda
- Medical College of Wisconsin
- Methodist
- Oakland Beaumont
- Penn State
- Robert Larner MD
- Sidney Kimmel
- Belmont
- UCI SOM
- UCLA DGSOM
- UCR SOM / Haider
- UCSD SOM
- UCSF
- Virginia Commonwealth
- Wake Forest
- DOs:
- WesternU
- Touro CA
Questions:
- Is this MD school list reasonable for a CA applicant with a 510 MCAT but strong service/clinical/research fit?
- Should I add more lower-stat/OOS-friendly MD schools?
- Are there schools on this list that seem unrealistic enough to remove?
- Would additional DO schools be recommended given my profile, and if so, which ones?
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