WAMC/App Review 3.8, 514 (will retake)

[competitivepoet]

Hello everyone! I'm planning to apply not this cycle, but next. I wanted to try to be early with this to determine what I can fix in the time before applying. I would appreciate any advice on my school list and anything I should do to make my app stronger. Thank you! The absolute DREAM would be to go to a California school. Like I'd do anything TT

Personal details:

• ORM (indian male), gay, from California (Bay Area)
• Junior at large, T-20 public school (I'll be applying as a senior though)
• 514 MCAT (128/130/125/131) - Bio was not a good representation of what I can do. I'm planning to retake because I have the resources and time to put in the work, and I really don't want the MCAT score to hold me from schools.
• Molecular Bio with a minor in acting, cGPA: 3.8, sGPA: 3.65

Clinical experience

• Community healthcare worker at free clinic - 600 hours (should be 800 by the time I apply)
  • STI testing, counseling, scribing charts, coordinating care for patients. Lots of LGBTQ+, black/brown, unhoused, uninsured patients that gave me lots of insight on why medicine and why I want to practice in CA.
  • I'm also a coordinator for the clinic, helping with ordering supplies/medication, checking to see if Labcorp received all the correct samples (blood, urine, swabs, etc).
• Kaiser volunteer - 100 hours
  • Discharging mom's and newborns, seeing how rough the ICU/ED can be for vulnerable populations (drug overdose, going into labor)

Research:

• Intro to research club - 100 hours (only freshman year)
  • Wrote an informal review paper, learned how to go about doing research
• Soil bacteria/virus lab at my university - 300 hours (400 by the time I apply)
• UCSF HIV/long covid lab that focuses on gay/trans patient population - 500 hours (should be 800 by the time I apply)
  • Review paper that I got to make figures for will be submitted in a few months and hopefully will get published! (I'd be like 3000th author but I'd still be so excited to get my name on something!)

Leadership

• VP of large pre-med club - 400 hours (should be 550 by the time I apply)
  • Initiated a college mentorship program between our club members and high school students across the US
  • We host Bay Area high school students at an annual day (campus tours, workshops on essay writing, free lunch)
• Orientation leader for freshmen - 150 hours

Volunteering

• Teaching science to elementary school students at low income Bay Area schools - 300 hours (should be 500 by the time I apply)
• Volunteer at a collective grocery store that provides nutritious food at a low cost because it is entirely volunteer run - 50 hours

Shadowing

• 30 hours, reconstructive urologist working with trans patients
• Hoping to have 30-40 hours with an ED physician. I'm in the process of paperwork before I can shadow.

Other

• A cappella group for my freshman year - 300 hours
  • fun hobby! had to quit because it was too much of a commitment

LORs

• Soil bacteria PI (took a class with her so she'll double as my science prof)
• Still looking for other science letter
• Free clinic (self-written)
• UCSF PI
• maybe the teacher for the elementary school class I helped teach science

————————————————

SCHOOL LIST - used admit.org LOL

• REACH
  • UCSF
  • UCSD
  • UCI
  • UCLA
  • Emory
  • University of Colorado
  • University of Cincinnati
  • Albert Einstein
  • UMiami
  • Geisel
  • Tufts
  • Sidney Kimmel
  • Virginia Commonwealth
  • Seton Hall
  • Kaiser
  • Saint Louis
• TARGET
  • UC Davis
  • California Uni of Science and Med
  • Wayne State
  • Drexel
  • Western Mich
  • Rosalind Franklin
  • GW University
  • Quinnipiac
  • New York Medical College
• BASELINE
  • Lewis Katz
  • UVermont
  • Eastern Virginia
  • Penn State
  • Albany Medical College
  • Wisconsin
  • Texas Christian
  • Rush Medical College
  • Loyola
  • Oakland

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[Mr.Smile12]

Community healthcare worker at free clinic - 600 hours (should be 800 by the time I apply)

According to descriptions, this is non-clinical, so that means your clinical hours are 100 hours at Kaiser and 30 hours of shadowing. That's low.

More variety in clinical experiences would help you.

 

[competitivepoet]

Hi, I wanted to clarify - I'm in the appointments with these patients, collecting HPI, collecting swabs and drawing blood for STI testing.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Hi, I wanted to clarify - I'm in the appointments with these patients, collecting HPI, collecting swabs and drawing blood for STI testing.

Break down the hours between patient-facing activities like scribing and your administrative duties like ordering lab collection supplies. You might be fine then.

 

[competitivepoet]

Yup - I think I'll be listing the two roles as separate activities. Thanks for the advice!

 

[BarrBodyGuy]

I disagree, this sounds very clinical to me. This is literally what MAs do (I am an MA), yes it's collecting labs, vaccines, phlebotomy etc. but part of the job is restocking the tubes, calling labcorp/quest for pick up, and ordering new supplies etc. I would put all the hours together, in your activities I would the focus the writing more on the patient interactions/stories than your role and responsibilities

 

[Mr.Smile12]

I disagree, this sounds very clinical to me. This is literally what MAs do (I am an MA), yes it's collecting labs, vaccines, phlebotomy etc. but part of the job is restocking the tubes, calling labcorp/quest for pick up, and ordering new supplies etc. I would put all the hours together, in your activities I would the focus the writing more on the patient interactions/stories than your role and responsibilities

I can concur to put focus on your patient- facing activities. But administrative duties usually won't be considered clinical at face value. If you ordered supplies for a lab, that activity is not research.

Of course, faculty can consider the activity clinical at their discretion and in deliberations.

 

[competitivepoet]

I disagree, this sounds very clinical to me. This is literally what MAs do (I am an MA), yes it's collecting labs, vaccines, phlebotomy etc. but part of the job is restocking the tubes, calling labcorp/quest for pick up, and ordering new supplies etc. I would put all the hours together, in your activities I would the focus the writing more on the patient interactions/stories than your role and responsibilities

Thanks for the input! Also - huge congrats on your cycle results.