thanks for the advice

[imlosinit]

edited for anonymity

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[imlosinit]

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[Mr.Smile12]

When did you submit your application? Are you only interested in our opinion on T20 chances or your entire application strategy?

Obviously, I think you have the desired EAM pieces. We can't gauge personal attributes or fit otherwise. If you are having trouble with II's at this point, you need to tell us more.

 

[Faha]

Are you applying next year or have you already applied this year ? If you have already applied which schools did you apply to ?

 

[imlosinit]

Are you applying next year or have you already applied this year ? If you have already applied which schools did you apply to ?

Next cycle 2023, haven’t applied

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Okay, then I presume you are networking with schools high on your list.
Are you thinking MD/PhD?
What community service opportunities have you done OFF CAMPUS/outside of campus organizations? Are you going to take a journey year with Peace Corps, Americorps, or similar?
Are you an applicant for international scholarship opportunities like Rhodes, Churchhill, or Fulbright?

My impression is a favorable one, but the issue is how you raise those probabilities, and why you think you need to go to any of the 50 "top 20" medical schools. Is your vision to do the research? To focus on public health? It depends on what your vision is for yourself and how it meshes with the schools you want to attend, which can be honed with networking with students, faculty, and alumni at those institutions.

Presumably you have little problem with interviewing if you are talking with VC's and entrepreneurs. The question is which environment would you really want to be in. Why not stay in the entrepreneurship/social entrepreneurship world? Why are they suggesting you go to medical school?

 

[Faha]

Next cycle 2023, haven’t applied

I suggest these schools with your stats:
UMass
Harvard
BU
Tufts
Dartmouth
Brown
Yale
Hofstra
Einstein
Mount Sinai
NYU
Columbia
Cornell
UPenn
Johns Hopkins
U Virginia
Duke
Emory
Vanderbilt
Washington University (in St. Louis)
Northwestern
U Chicago
U Michigan
Case Western
Cincinnati
UCSF
UCLA
USC Keck

 

[voxveritatisetlucis]

What is undergrad tier?

For T20s this can be important

 

[imlosinit]

Okay, then I presume you are networking with schools high on your list.
Are you thinking MD/PhD?
What community service opportunities have you done OFF CAMPUS/outside of campus organizations? Are you going to take a journey year with Peace Corps, Americorps, or similar?
Are you an applicant for international scholarship opportunities like Rhodes, Churchhill, or Fulbright?

My impression is a favorable one, but the issue is how you raise those probabilities, and why you think you need to go to any of the 50 "top 20" medical schools. Is your vision to do the research? To focus on public health? It depends on what your vision is for yourself and how it meshes with the schools you want to attend, which can be honed with networking with students, faculty, and alumni at those institutions.

Presumably you have little problem with interviewing if you are talking with VC's and entrepreneurs. The question is which environment would you really want to be in. Why not stay in the entrepreneurship/social entrepreneurship world? Why are they suggesting you go to medical school?

Not MD/PhD, just MD. What do you mean by networking? How should I go about that? I am also not an applicant to any of the scholarship opportunities, I don’t know much about them. I don’t know my plan for sure but either practicing or going into medical entrepreneurship.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Not MD/PhD, just MD. What do you mean by networking? How should I go about that? I am also not an applicant to any of the scholarship opportunities, I don’t know much about them. I don’t know my plan for sure but either practicing or going into medical entrepreneurship.

Can I ask how you found all of your clinical opportunities if you haven't done any networking, or don't know what I mean by it? You must have done some networking to be able to do research opps at Stanford, Northwestern, and Harvard (including the hospitals for research or being an MA).

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Ah, I assumed you meant networking as in connecting with adcoms at my top choice schools (I just made another post about this if you can take a look when you get the chance). The HMS and NW research I got from applying to a program, my work at Joslin, MGH, and Stanford were all from emailing different PIs and physicians whose interests aligned with mine and we bought thought it would be a good fit.

Yes, I mean that, but the fundamentals of networking are the same whether it's on the research side or meeting students and admissions folks at recruitment events. (How did you find out about those research programs?)

So you didn't leverage these connections to reach out to current students at the med schools at Stanford, Northwestern, or Harvard/MIT? (To answer the thread you apparently just started.)

You probably already have a good idea whether you are a good fit with many of the 50 "top 20" schools. My suggestion is to show you don't need the safety net of being in college to be outstanding enough for those schools to be interested in you (though again, it's not a hard rule).

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Nope, I have not. I'm afraid of coming off a certain way if I do that. Do you recommend connecting with adcom members directly or having an MD candidate/a physician I worked closely with to make a warm introduction? Might be an inaccurate comparison, but I feel like this is sort of similar to raising capital lol, cold emails never work but warm intros always end up in a deal (for the most part).

If you are not a current applicant, you shouldn't worry about coming off in a "certain way" aside from the apparent anxiety/neuroticism/lack of confidence that seems to be a thread through your posts. In recruitment events, you have no real choice but to talk directly... that's why they are there.

I have written a lot on networking in the forums, so search what has been commented upon about it. There is likely an SDN article on it too.

 

[voxveritatisetlucis]

Ivy undergrads are overrepresented at T20s and especially T5s. I mention on this site a lot but when interviews were in person my first cycle, I had interviews at Pitt, UVA, amongst a few others very early. Maybe it was because it was an early interview day, but almost everybody went to an Ivy or Ivy equivalent (MiT, Stanford, Chicago, Williams etc.) It will depend on how you present your entrepreneurship.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

You are asking us for a lot of prescriptive answers (checklist, specific steps). We are limited by this online forum format, and I also think you have more resources at your disposal that you haven't used (career services, student entrepreneurs office, etc.). We don't know where you go to school to point you to a specific place... if you want to show us you are a lifelong learner, you need to show us you can do your homework. Showing that you can be teachable and follow through is essential to admissions and a future as a clinician. Learn it now so you won't be awkward when choosing rotations or residencies. Sorry if the questions are not clear to you... they don't always get better from med school faculty or admins once you are a student.