WAMC/School List Advice TX Resident

[ExcellentCycle2425]

Traditional student who became premed less than a year ago.

cGPA and sGPA: 4.00

MCAT: 52x (Perfect/near perfect scores in all sections except CARS)

Residence: TX Resident, ORM

Undergrad institution: T50

Clinical experience:
<200 hours
Hospital volunteering + Hospice volunteering; no paid experience due to schedule

Research:
~300 hours over 3 semesters in basic science lab; 2 posters
Research internship this summer at a med school (projected 400 hours and at least 1 poster)

Shadowing:
100 hours
Primary care, anesthesiology, neurosurgery

Non-clinical volunteering: >300 hours

Other ECs:

• Undergrad tutor 150+ hours
• Leadership (>125 hours over two activities)

Relevant honors or awards: Nothing extraordinary (Dean's List for one semester)

Current List:
AMCAS:
NYU
Columbia
Yale
Einstein (might remove if they don't consider PI letter to be a science LOR)

TMDSAS:
Baylor
UTSW
Long SOM
Texas A&M
Dell
McGovern
UTMB
U of H
Texas Techs
Tyler
UTRGV

Any schools that I should add/remove? I know there's a single primary fee for all TX schools, but I don't want to waste money on secondary app fees for too many schools. Is that a good idea or should I apply everywhere in TX to be safe?

Also, please suggest schools in the northeast that are generous with need-based aid and I have a realistic chance at.

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[LikeableDolphin]

Only applied TMDSAS, so I will chime in on the TX schools. Don't apply U of H if you're not set on primary care (they do have a 3-yr family med accelerated track if you're interested). If you are not willing to drive/fly down to the valley for an in-person interview don't apply UTRGV. If you don't want to be in East TX and have no ties or do not want to go in person for the interview, don't apply there. Other than that I'd apply to the rest.

 

[ExcellentCycle2425]

Only applied TMDSAS, so I will chime in on the TX schools. Don't apply U of H if you're not set on primary care (they do have a 3-yr family med accelerated track if you're interested). If you are not willing to drive/fly down to the valley for an in-person interview don't apply UTRGV. If you don't want to be in East TX and have no ties or do not want to go in person for the interview, don't apply there. Other than that I'd apply to the rest.

Considering what you said, I'll remove UTRGV, Tyler, and U of H. Thanks for the insight!

Any timeline tips for applications?

 

[LikeableDolphin]

Considering what you said, I'll remove UTRGV, Tyler, and U of H. Thanks for the insight!

Any timeline tips for applications?

Applying early is good, but only if your application is complete/in its strongest state. With your stats I don't think it will hurt as long as you are complete by July/Aug, but if you can get everything in earlier I'd do that, TMDSAS takes like 3-4+ weeks during peak to process the primary so keep that in mind. Make sure you have your letters set and HP committee packet if you're going that route, work on essays/activities and have some people read through them to get some perspective. If you know your application like the back of your hand and are satisfied with it, that's when you should submit.

 

[wysdoc]

Applying early is good, but only if your application is complete/in its strongest state. With your stats I don't think it will hurt as long as you are complete by July/Aug, but if you can get everything in earlier I'd do that, TMDSAS takes like 3-4+ weeks during peak to process the primary so keep that in mind. Make sure you have your letters set and HP committee packet if you're going that route, work on essays/activities and have some people read through them to get some perspective. If you know your application like the back of your hand and are satisfied with it, that's when you should submit.

You are competitive and UTSW likes to do their interviews early, so I would recommend submitting your primary by the end of June and turn your secondaries around within 2 weeks. Take the CASPer + Duet after you have submitted your primary, most TMDSAS schools require it.

 

[ExcellentCycle2425]

You are competitive and UTSW likes to do their interviews early, so I would recommend submitting your primary by the end of June and turn your secondaries around within 2 weeks. Take the CASPer + Duet after you have submitted your primary, most TMDSAS schools require it.

I'm currently taking CASPer 6/11. Should I take it earlier or is that fine?

 

[wysdoc]

I'm currently taking CASPer 6/11. Should I take it earlier or is that fine?

That’s early enough. CASPer goes directly to your schools so be sure to find all of them.
You don’t send Casper through TMDSAS as the middleman