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[deleted1164335]

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[Faha]

Remove U Washington since they admit less than 1% of applicants who are not from states in the Northwest. Your list is top heavy and many of the schools on your list are slight reaches with a MCAT of 516. Add more schools and consider these:
USF Morsani
Miami
St. Louis
Western Michigan
Hofstra
Rochester
Cincinnati

 

[Mr.Smile12]

200 hours robotics team mentoring & curating STEM nights at elementary schools/community colleges; 85 hours SciOly mentoring; 175 hours refugee student mentoring and tutoring

So you have a lot of activities that demonstrate your mastery of science topics as the primary competency. You need activities that demonstrate service orientation that stretch outside your comfort zone and place you in community with those in need, and not from a subject matter expert perspective.

Your application looks great for a Ph.D./research direction or even in a health administration/policy direction. I don't know if you have shown your preparation for the challenges of patient care.

 

[Goro]

Once you get in >150 hrs of service to others less fortunate than yourself, I recommend the following:

Mayo
Northwestern
Case
Hofstra
Stanford
Baylor
BU
Pitt
Sinai
U MI
Brown
Rochester
SUNY-SB
USC/Keck
Albert Einstein
Dartmouth
Emory
NYMC
Ohio State
U Cincy
U IA
U MA
UCSF
Gtown
Hackensack Meridian
Jefferson
Miami
NYU-LI
SLU
Tufts
U CO
U VM
UCF
UCLA
Uniformed Services University/Hebert (just be aware of the military service commitment)
VCU
Western MI
Your state schools
Yes, it's a long list. Your job is to cull it down, based upon your needs/interests.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

My apologies I forgot to list above, I have 195 hours working in a food pantry and COVID meal prep program at a soup kitchen.

More importantly, did you include it in your application?

 

[Goro]

Thanks! Are schools like Harvard/JHU still a reach if one of them is my undergraduate institution?

Maybe

 

[Goro]

But it would still be worth applying to?

Your call

 

[deleted1166273]

Thanks! Are schools like Harvard/JHU still a reach if one of them is my undergraduate institution? I was planning on applying to both but definitely understand including some of the other schools you have on your list.

Please don't take this the wrong way, but on what planet would Harvard or JHU not be a reach, especially considering your MCAT is below/around 10th percentile at these schools lol

T20s are a reach for everyone!

 

[Mr.Smile12]

I had dove deep into community science mentoring & tutoring as that is one of my passions, but used that in my discussion of community involvement and teaching as part of a broader narrative of academic medicine.

Most prehealth applicants are passionate about teaching and giving back to teach or mentor younger students. It's part of the culture of medical education and training: see, do, teach. That's a reason why teaching/tutoring/mentoring doesn't really separate you from other prehealth students; if anything, it just confirms you know this is expected of you.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

But it would still be worth applying to?

If you went to Harvard or Hopkins, you know how hard it is to get noticed favorably in the eyes of their undergraduate faculty, and the medical school takes it for granted that they can probably pick the average Harvard/Hopkins undergrad who can do reasonably well in their curriculum. But they don't fill their entire class with Harvard or Hopkins undergrads, so in fairness, they pick the ones they think can succeed in the curriculum and have desirable metrics.

You know best if you made a big name for yourself at these schools that they would want you in the class.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

I just don’t get it then… I have published multiple papers, done thousands of hours of research/volunteering/clinical work… and none of this even matters then? I have a good personal statement and letters, and nothing then?

As many of us point out: mission match and fit with your school list is the most important determinant. You could have the best application, but if you don't demonstrate why your purpose as a physician aligns with the schools you most want to attend, it doesn't matter. This happens a ton with regular job searches and employment.

You have shown you have the basic qualifications; you need to show why a program wants you as a student. To that end, my impression is that you have shown great value as a future graduate/Ph.D. student because you show activities and accomplishments that align with what a Ph.D. program would look for (which includes multiple papers, thousands of hours of research, posters, conference presentations, science outreach and mentoring, etc.).

We're telling you to make it more apparent you have the preprofessional competencies for medical school, you need to get to 150 hours of nonclinical community service showing service orientation to those less fortunate than yourself in a role where you are not a subject matter expert. If you have a strong interest in health policy, let us know how you show this with your activities. Believe us... we want you to succeed, and we want to give you the honest truth based on years of experience in admissions deliberations and screenings.

 

[deleted1163682]

especially considering your MCAT is below/around 10th percentile at these schools lol

Agree with this sentiment. Considering your overrepresented background, I don't see how you have a chance at any T10. Your research background and productivity really isn't that impressive... there's always a handful of pre-meds who have 3-5 publications (with a >523 MCAT) and from what I've noted your research is clinical, which is even easier to publish. You don't have a Goldwater to show for it either.

You mention interest in health policy, but I don't see any political activism for health equity, didn't start up anything, no Truman, etc. Nothing in your ECs stand out and paired along with a <10th percentile MCAT makes me wonder why you'd even bother applying T10.

I'd say try Pitt, they take lower MCAT applicants and try to tie in your own chronic health experiences in their secondaries, as a majority of their class is disadvantaged.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

That makes sense, and my apologies if my frustration came off as terse or rude.

It seems that this may just come down to effectively conveying this in secondary essays, would that be correct? My interest in health policy was through three year commitment with an opioid policy team, with whom I worked to publish guidance on opioid settlement principles and diligently worked to publish first-author guidance for racial bias in AI Algorithms in Nature Medicine. I have identified some schools who have a strong emphasis on health policy, will it come down to really conveying my passion through secondary essays then, if all is already listed in Work & Activities?

I had almost 200 hours volunteering in the food pantry and a library free meal program at the height of the pandemic and onwards.

It would have helped if you disclosed your non-clinical community service (food distribution) in your original post. Maybe you didn't realize how important it is in your application. Did you include this in your work/activities?

There's not really a magic formula, but your theme (or some theme) needs to be apparent. Your interest in health policy I hope would be something you want all the schools to know about you, so ideally this would fit in your personal statement and work/activities. You could follow that up with "why our school" essays and other secondaries. You may get queried about your background and interest in health policy depending on the interview format. Advocacy also helps. But the point is that with this passion, you should have a better lens to see through and filter the suggested school lists we or other people give you.

It is understandable that you are frustrated. Many premeds come with preconceived ideas (or rely too much on /reddit) to believe the process is strictly transactional (numbers/metrics), only to find out what really matters to the schools, especially from those of us experts who have been doing this for years. Sometimes even prehealth advisors get it wrong.

 

[hubz]

Your research background and productivity really isn't that impressive... there's always a handful of pre-meds who have 3-5 publications (with a >523 MCAT) and from what I've noted your research is clinical, which is even easier to publish. You don't have a Goldwater to show for it either.

I won't comment on chances for admission, but I think this is pretty silly to say. I'm an incoming MD/PhD student at a T5 program and I can confidently say that a first-author research article (not talking about letter to editor type papers) in Nature Medicine is quite impressive and not seen among many of my MD or MSTP classmates. Additionally, clinical research, especially for MD-only admission, is still a great addition to any application. Coupled with a co-first basic science preprint, I think that this individual's research background is actually very good.

 

[thr1932359]

I won't comment on chances for admission, but I think this is pretty silly to say. I'm an incoming MD/PhD student at a T5 program and I can confidently say that a first-author research article (not talking about letter to editor type papers) in Nature Medicine is quite impressive and not seen among many of my MD or MSTP classmates. Additionally, clinical research, especially for MD-only admission, is still a great addition to any application. Coupled with a co-first basic science preprint, I think that this individual's research background is actually very good.

second this as an MSTP student at another T10

 

[thr1932359]

Thank you for the encouragement!

Crazy to see "Class of 2031", congratulations on MSTP @ WashU! Used to live nearby their campus and it's absolutely beautiful, hope it's going well for you.

oh, I agree. I was an undergrad here. Thanks!