WAMC/Advice 3.87c, 3.96s, 520 MCAT

[braintumor6894]

I sent my primary application in the very first day I could, and was very good about sending secondaries in within a day or two of receiving them. So for the majority of schools I applied to, I was in the first batch of applications they received. I applied to 18 schools, and have only heard back from 3 of them: 2 holds and 1 rejection. I know that there's still "plenty of time" left in the cycle, but I sent my app in so early I would think that the majority of schools have seen my application already. So my question is where am I lacking? What is off-putting about my application? Why have I yet to receive an interview with my stats and ECs? Here is some info about me below:

Pros to my app:
-3.87 cGPA and a 3.96 sGPA
-Taken the MCAT twice: 508 in 2021 and 520 in 2022
-Selected as top student in my major
-Received an award for community service and leadership from my university
-800 hours of research
-1 publication as second author
-I was an RA at my school
-College football player who was my university's Scholar-Athlete of the Year
-I was a first-team all-conference player
-Multiple year academic all-conference player
-I founded my own non-profit organization at 11 years old which is a Toy Drive thing where I collect toys for kids in need during the holiday season
-I have over 1000 hours of general community service (majority of it coming from the toy drive)

Cons to my app:
I don't have a vast amount of clinical experience. I have 80 hours volunteering in shock trauma at Maryland, 250 hours working as a PCA at UMass Memorial Hospital, 30 hours of shadowing a doctor at Boston Children's. Since submitting my application, I got a job as a medical assistant at a pediatricians office (360+ hours now), and shadowed the neonatal transport team at Maryland (16 hours). I'm also a cis-white male so I know that doesn't help me.

I updated Maryland's app with the newer things, since Maryland is the only school I really care about. But I just think it's crazy that not a single school has liked me enough to interview me. Another thing that may have influence is that I talk about wanting to be a pediatric neurosurgeon a lot in my apps, since that's what I know I want to be. Does that make a difference? Also I had a person who's been on an admissions committee before edit my essays, so I thought they were good. What do you guys think? Am i missing something? Does the small amount of shadowing and not a lot of clinical experience really hurt me that bad? Do schools not take into account COVID and that I was a college football player and rarely had time for stuff like that anyway? What do I do? I'm legit going off the deep end over here.

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[Mr.Smile12]

So I'm not sure why your in- state hasn't moved for you. I think I asked you previously what your prehealth office thinks about your chances.

 

[braintumor6894]

So I'm not sure why your in- state hasn't moved for you. I think I asked you previously what your prehealth office thinks about your chances.

My pre-health advisor told me he thought I had really a good chance of getting in this cycle. Is there anything else I should be doing right now?

 

[Faha]

Which schools did you apply to ?

 

[Mr.Smile12]

I read your past WAMC. There's not enough to say. You could get an invitation in the next week or after Christmas. It's not clear from what we know. Be patient but keep updating the schools high on your list no more frequently than monthly.

 

[braintumor6894]

Which schools did you apply to ?

I applied to these 13 schools first:
Maryland, Hopkins, George Washington, Georgetown, Howard, Drexel, Penn State, UNC, Wake Forest, MUSC, Medical College of Georgia (Augusta), Morehouse, TCU

And then I added 5 schools later on in August:
VCU, Duke, University of Florida, Eastern Virginia, Emory

I know Howard and Morehouse are HBCU's and I'm unlikely to get in, and I know a few others are heavy on state ties (but what schools aren't at this point), but like I said, if I got into Maryland I could care less about the other schools

 

[chilly_md]

I applied to these 13 schools first:
Maryland, Hopkins, George Washington, Georgetown, Howard, Drexel, Penn State, UNC, Wake Forest, MUSC, Medical College of Georgia (Augusta), Morehouse, TCU

And then I added 5 schools later on in August:
VCU, Duke, University of Florida, Eastern Virginia, Emory

I know Howard and Morehouse are HBCU's and I'm unlikely to get in, and I know a few others are heavy on state ties (but what schools aren't at this point), but like I said, if I got into Maryland I could care less about the other schools

This was not a good school list. While one’s state school is often the most likely to interview them, it is not wise to rely on that alone. Of your 18 total, half of them were donations or poor fits.

 

[Faha]

As chilly_md mentioned above, only half the schools on your list are realistic. OOS public MD schools such as Georgia, South Carolina, UNC, U Florida admit few non residents with no connection to the state. Also Georgetown is looking for applicants with many more clinical exposure hours than you have. You should receive some interviews at some time in the application cycle.

 

[Dahlias]

As chilly_md mentioned above, only half the schools on your list are realistic. OOS public MD schools such as Georgia, South Carolina, UNC, U Florida admit few non residents with no connection to the state. Also Georgetown is looking for applicants with many more clinical exposure hours than you have. You should receive some interviews at some time in the application cycle.

I have similar stats (3.90 cGPA and a 3.95 sGPA, 521 MCAT), ORM and decent ECs . I have 5 II (3 coming , 2 already done with 1 A and 1 WL). I am from CA and my state schools all ignore me so far. I am glad that I applied broadly to more than 30 schools because my interviews mostly came from private schools with low median GPA and MCAT except one (Vanderbilt). Have a right school list is so important.

 

[braintumor6894]

This was not a good school list. While one’s state school is often the most likely to interview them, it is not wise to rely on that alone. Of your 18 total, half of them were donations or poor fits.

As chilly_md mentioned above, only half the schools on your list are realistic. OOS public MD schools such as Georgia, South Carolina, UNC, U Florida admit few non residents with no connection to the state. Also Georgetown is looking for applicants with many more clinical exposure hours than you have. You should receive some interviews at some time in the application cycle.

Yeah I figured it wasn’t going to be a great list. I’ve had like no help in this process because my pre-health advisor is essentially non-existent. However, I only applied to schools that if I got in, I would go to. I didn’t want to apply to 45 random schools just so I could get an acceptance when I didn’t want to go there, such as New York or New England schools. The reason I applied to some of those southern schools is because my family is thinking about moving south, and if I went to one, they would move with me, which I stated in my secondaries. I wanted to apply to Maryland ED but I hadn’t gotten my new MCAT score in time, so I’m just going to do that if this cycle doesn’t work out.

Edit: the funniest part about having no help is that some of the schools I applied to I didn’t even know were a bad fit until after I applied. I saw stats, location, and that they “also accept oos” and figured it was cool, and then to find out that “also accepts oos” really means like 3 people lol

 

[alwaysrunning]

I wanted to apply to Maryland ED but I hadn’t gotten my new MCAT score in time, so I’m just going to do that if this cycle doesn’t work out.

If this cycle does not work out, I would not recommend EDing to Maryland unless you talk to them and they support your ED app. Instead come back here and get a strong list of schools to apply to.