What part of my application should I be working on the most (rising junior)?

[eagb]

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I'm about 1 year out from applying, so I want to use that time to patch up my weaknesses and build as strong of an app as possible. I haven't sat for the MCAT yet, so I know that's a big factor. Here's some info:

School Info: Top 20 Public, B.A Philosophy, B.Phil. Neuroscience, School State is PA, but I'm IS in CT.

uGPAs: cGPA: 3.85 sGPA:3.77 (if I include dual enrollment grades both are about .06 lower)

Research: One first author pub forthcoming in genomics, extensive lab work in neurophysiology (should get a few pubs in the next year), working on independent Neuroscience thesis that I will defend before faculty committee to receive degree (hopefully can publish work related to this too), also working on a philosophy thesis which rejects some aspects of the American philosophy of health and argues for incorporation of tenets of latin american healthcare philosophy into our system (it's sort of hard to explain in a sentence but involves incorporating social factors into health philosophy). I also was awarded a prestigious research fellowship at Cold Spring Harbor Lab for this summer.

Volunteering (hours approx): VA Hospital (~100hrs), Medical Interpretation at mobile clinic for migrant workers (30hrs), Community Health Fellow - met with patients at free clinic to assess social determinants of health (40 hrs). I'll be continuing these things in some form over the next year.

Shadowing: ~50 hours split between family med, surgery, internal, ER

Leadership/ECs: President of student health services student governance (organize public health campaigns on campus, direct student health policy), undergraduate senate, college democrats (business manager), student rep in faculty assembly,

Other: About 50/50 on MD/PHD (would do something related to neuro), very interested in underserved health issues (especially urban health) - this is a big reason for my philosophy thesis, also considering taking a gap year to work on issues related to my philosophy thesis perhaps trying to implement some of these practices.

Where should I devote most of my energy over the next year? Thanks for the help and good luck to everyone applying now/very soon!

 

[NickNaylor]

The one thing that comes to my mind is that I don't see any type of service involvement outside of medical-related stuff. That would be my only concern. The other obvious thing is to make sure you nail the MCAT. Your app otherwise looks strong.

 

[Catalystik]

I'm about 1 year out from applying, so I want to use that time to patch up my weaknesses and build as strong of an app as possible. I haven't sat for the MCAT yet, so I know that's a big factor. Here's some info:

School Info: Top 20 Public, B.A Philosophy, B.Phil. Neuroscience, School State is PA, but I'm IS in CT.

uGPAs: cGPA: 3.85 sGPA:3.77 (if I include dual enrollment grades both are about .06 lower)

Research: One first author pub forthcoming in genomics, extensive lab work in neurophysiology (should get a few pubs in the next year), working on independent Neuroscience thesis that I will defend before faculty committee to receive degree (hopefully can publish work related to this too), also working on a philosophy thesis which rejects some aspects of the American philosophy of health and argues for incorporation of tenets of latin american healthcare philosophy into our system (it's sort of hard to explain in a sentence but involves incorporating social factors into health philosophy). I also was awarded a prestigious research fellowship at Cold Spring Harbor Lab for this summer.

Volunteering (hours approx): VA Hospital (~100hrs), Medical Interpretation at mobile clinic for migrant workers (30hrs), Community Health Fellow - met with patients at free clinic to assess social determinants of health (40 hrs). I'll be continuing these things in some form over the next year.

Shadowing: ~50 hours split between family med, surgery, internal, ER

Leadership/ECs: President of student health services student governance (organize public health campaigns on campus, direct student health policy), undergraduate senate, college democrats (business manager), student rep in faculty assembly,

Other: About 50/50 on MD/PHD (would do something related to neuro), very interested in underserved health issues (especially urban health) - this is a big reason for my philosophy thesis, also considering taking a gap year to work on issues related to my philosophy thesis perhaps trying to implement some of these practices.

Where should I devote most of my energy over the next year? Thanks for the help and good luck to everyone applying now/very soon!

Do you have any activities you'd characterize as off-campus non-medical community service? Or teaching (coach, mentor, TA, tutor)?

 

[Redpancreas]

I'm about 1 year out from applying, so I want to use that time to patch up my weaknesses and build as strong of an app as possible. I haven't sat for the MCAT yet, so I know that's a big factor. Here's some info:

School Info: Top 20 Public, B.A Philosophy, B.Phil. Neuroscience, School State is PA, but I'm IS in CT.

uGPAs: cGPA: 3.85 sGPA:3.77 (if I include dual enrollment grades both are about .06 lower)

Research: One first author pub forthcoming in genomics, extensive lab work in neurophysiology (should get a few pubs in the next year), working on independent Neuroscience thesis that I will defend before faculty committee to receive degree (hopefully can publish work related to this too), also working on a philosophy thesis which rejects some aspects of the American philosophy of health and argues for incorporation of tenets of latin american healthcare philosophy into our system (it's sort of hard to explain in a sentence but involves incorporating social factors into health philosophy). I also was awarded a prestigious research fellowship at Cold Spring Harbor Lab for this summer.

Volunteering (hours approx): VA Hospital (~100hrs), Medical Interpretation at mobile clinic for migrant workers (30hrs), Community Health Fellow - met with patients at free clinic to assess social determinants of health (40 hrs). I'll be continuing these things in some form over the next year.

Shadowing: ~50 hours split between family med, surgery, internal, ER

Leadership/ECs: President of student health services student governance (organize public health campaigns on campus, direct student health policy), undergraduate senate, college democrats (business manager), student rep in faculty assembly,

Other: About 50/50 on MD/PHD (would do something related to neuro), very interested in underserved health issues (especially urban health) - this is a big reason for my philosophy thesis, also considering taking a gap year to work on issues related to my philosophy thesis perhaps trying to implement some of these practices.

Where should I devote most of my energy over the next year? Thanks for the help and good luck to everyone applying now/very soon!

This looks like a solid application that is pretty much ready besides 2 factors. The MCAT which you've acknowledged and the NON-CLINICAL volunteerism/employment. This is like general volunteering, TAing/teaching, working a salaried job, etc. I mean, maybe you could get by without it (especially as a MD/PhD) because nowhere is it ever listed as a requirement but most students do have some form of it here and there. As a rising junior, I think you've asked this question at the right time and I suggest you maybe dedicate 50 hours or less to a service project you're truly interested in. I don't think you should waste you're time with more because you need to focus on the MCAT which is infinitely more important. Other than that, this is an excellent app but only 50% of the work's been done without an MCAT. Go take that beast and if you're in the 92+ percentile (formerly 34+) you're sitting well for a potential MD/PhD position.

 

[eagb]

Do you have any activities you'd characterize as off-campus non-medical community service? Or teaching (coach, mentor, TA, tutor)?

A bit...I've worked fairly extensively on a few political campaigns which are probably touchy subjects that I shouldn't bring up in an app, I also started volunteering at a soup kitchen once a week for a few hours. I also mentored incoming Honors students (but I guess thats on-campus)

 

[Redpancreas]

the political campaigns are a major plus. I had them as a volunteer activity ( i just did an internship) and it was a major topic at the interview at the school I am currently at. My interviewer loved it because I demonstrated interest in becoming involved in politics at the medical school level (i.e. AMA, etc.). She was an anesthesiologist all about patient safety and ensuring doctors retained their practicing rights. Also, can't go wrong with the soup kitchen.

 

[eagb]

Thanks that's good to know...I had been scaling back my involvement because I was worried about someone reading my app having opposite political views. But I am really interested in health policy side of things. I'm pretty well connected in that scene so I'll have the chance to be pretty involved in just about any democratic campaign