WAMC/Potential Reapplicant (3.88, 521) ORM, OH resident

[goge69]

Hi everyone! I applied this past '23-'24 cycle with 1 gap year (applied after my senior year). Ended up with with 3 II (NEOMED, Case, Feinberg) -> took myself off NEOMED WL for personal reasons so I'm waiting on the 2 - I'd rather reapply than go to NEOMED. While I wait to hear back, I plan on starting my re-app in about a week. Please let me know if I should start sooner.

Additional hours since I applied are my FT research job + non-clinical volunteering, bolded and italicized below. Also, I understand that my lack of nonclinical volunteering likely contributed to my downfall this cycle. I thought my leadership roles could have maybe covered community service but I probably got screened out since I applied with 0 listed. Unfortunately, I did not use SDN or reddit before I applied, so I did not have a good understanding of the application process before May of last year.

My narrative is I want to treat chronic diseases, influenced by my role in helping manage my grandpa's Alzheimers Disease (AD). I am doing AD research for my gap year (worked on a diff neurodegen disease in undergrad), so this past year has been critical in my decision to pursue academic medicine. I am also passionate about reducing the prevalence of chronic diseases in underserved communities from my homeless outreach experience listed below. However, I didn't have my narrative figured out fully until I started writing secondaries, doing AD research which was a new project during my gap year, and going to the volunteering opportunity listed below. So if I reapp, I will include that in my PS the second time around. Honestly, I'm surprised I got II's this cycle since I didn't have a cohesive narrative in my primary. However, I did write about it in some of my secondaries, although the community outreach part was lacking bc I didn't start my volunteering until August 2023, so there wasn't any real substance in my activities to back up my writing.

1. AMCAS GPA: cGPA - 3.88 sGPA - 3.88
2. MCAT: 521 (132/127/130/132)
3. Ohio resident but currently living in Chicago, IL for post-grad research job (which is more strategic to apply as my IS?)
4. Asian ORM Male
5. T10 research-heavy undergrad Neuro Major, Anthro Minor
6. Clinical experience: Hospital Volunteer 120 hr summer 2020 MME b/c it got me into medicine + 125 hr continuously throughout 1.5 years in undergrad = 245 total hrs
7. Research experience and productivity: 1250 hr (undergrad) + 2080 hr (from FT gap year in same lab). My research experience is in basic science (neuro/cell bio). I have 2 pubs (1 was accepted during the '23-'24 application cycle), 1 pub currently finishing up (2nd auth proj high IF), 4 posters, MME
8. Shadowing experience and specialties represented: 160 hr (card, gen surg, neurology, pediatric derm, NIR)
9. Non-clinical volunteering (previously applied w 0 hrs) - will have 155 hours by this June 2024 (started Aug 2023). Since I am working and living in Chicago for my gap year, I found this incredible opportunity where I help with an outreach org for unhoused ppl in underserved parts of Chicago. I primarily hand out food, hygiene, and harm reduction while connecting with our clients through convo. I also have been networking and will soon start helping on community/translational research projects that are associated with this volunteering gig. It will become MME if I have to apply again.
10. Other extracurricular activities (including athletics, military service, gap year activities, leadership, teaching, etc) - Disclaimer: I didn't know leadership/teaching/tutoring wasn't considered community service until after I applied so oops I guess. But here goes:
11. Leadership - Food insecurity club shift leader (125 hr), previous MME; work-study position tutoring underprivileged kids (60 hr) this was a really fun activity I wish I did it for longer but I opted to do work-study w my research position instead, so I quit after a year
12. Teaching/Tutoring - Neuro TA (32 hr), peer tutor for gen chem (80 hr), premed peer mentor (25 hr + 25 hr during gap)
13. Relevant honors or awards - 2 summer research grants during undergrad, award for outstanding summer project, honors senior thesis, Dean's List.
14. Anything else not listed you think might be important: extracurricular - piano performance 10000+ hrs. In HS, I played in Carnegie and competed nationally/internationally but stopped competing bc burnout during college. Instead, I took non-major lessons during undergrad at the music building and did a concert at my local hospital during my junior year! I think I listed under artistic endeavors and chose not to make MME b/c it didn't influence why I wanted to do medicine.

List of schools I applied to '23-'24 (open to adding 5-10 more if reapp):
- Albert Einstein College of Medicine
- Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine
- Emory University School of Medicine
- Harvard Medical School
- Mayo Clinic Alix School of Medicine
- Northwestern University The Feinberg School of Medicine
- Ohio State University College of Medicine
- The University of Toledo College of Medicine and Life Sciences
- The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University
- Tufts University School of Medicine
- University of Chicago Division of the Biological Sciences The Pritzker School of Medicine
- University of Cincinnati College of Medicine
- University of Michigan Medical School
- University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine
- University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry
- Washington University in St. Louis School of Medicine
- Weill Cornell Medicine
- Wright State University Boonshoft School of Medicine
- Yale School of Medicine

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[Faha]

You should add more schools to your application. Your clinical and non clinical volunteering hours are above the minimum for screening (150 hours for each) but many of the schools on your list are very competitive and many applicants with stats similar to your have hundreds or thousands of hours of clinical and non clinical activities. I suggest adding these schools:
Vanderbilt
USF Morsani
Duke
U Virginia
Johns Hopkins
U Penn
Jefferson
Hofstra
Mount Sinai

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Where did you apply last cycle (other than NEOMED, CWRU, or NW)?

With 150 hours of your service orientation activity (unhoused non-profit community service) now documented, you should get more attention and a clearer vision of your purpose as a physician, I hope.

 

[goge69]

Where did you apply last cycle (other than NEOMED, CWRU, or NW)?

With 150 hours of your service orientation activity (unhoused non-profit community service) now documented, you should get more attention and a clearer vision of your purpose as a physician, I hope.

- Albert Einstein College of Medicine - Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine - Emory University School of Medicine - Harvard Medical School - Mayo Clinic Alix School of Medicine - Northwestern University The Feinberg School of Medicine - Ohio State University College of Medicine - The University of Toledo College of Medicine and Life Sciences - The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University - Tufts University School of Medicine - University of Chicago Division of the Biological Sciences The Pritzker School of Medicine - University of Cincinnati College of Medicine - University of Michigan Medical School - University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine - University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry - Washington University in St. Louis School of Medicine - Weill Cornell Medicine - Wright State University Boonshoft School of Medicine - Yale School of Medicine

Apologies, I had pasted this from somewhere else so the formatting might have been funky. Can you see the above?