WAMC/School List Help: VA, 3.93cGPA, 3.8sGPA, 519 MCAT

[Shenandoah!]

Hello! I am applying for the first time and I have no clue how to approach making my school list. Any help would be greatly appreciated! Here's my info:

1. GPA: 3.93cGPA and 3.8sGPA
2. MCAT: 519 (129/130/129/131)
3. State of residence: VA
4. Ethnicity and/or race: Middle Eastern
5. Undergraduate institution or category: public in-state
6. Clinical experience (volunteer and non-volunteer):
   - 1 year working full time as a clinical research coordinator (current position, projected 2 years)
   - volunteering for hospice (~100 hours, projected is more since I finished my MCAT and am picking up more shifts)
7. Research experience and productivity:
   - 4th author on a publication that came out in 2018 but the work was done throughout high school
   - No research in undergrad, and doing clinical research now but I don't think it's leading to pubs
8. Shadowing experience and specialties represented:
   - Currently at 25 hours of shadowing Dr.'s I work with (GI). Hoping to have 50 when submitting in May.
9. Non-clinical volunteering:
   - Chemistry tutor/TA for local HS (60 hours)
   - helping settle refugees (22 hours but I started in April - projected to be 40 hours/month in the next year. Heavily involved with this.)
   - Red Cross (50 hours)
   - Organized a community music series (50 hours)
10. Other extracurricular activities:
    - TA for orgo for one semester
    - waitress
    - publicity intern
    - cultural society
    - Music - I was a music major and have a very active music career. I sang with many bands and ensembles, and this took up most my time in undergrad, and continues take a lot of time. President/founder of multiple music groups, and bandleader and manager of current groups.
11. Relevant honors or awards:
    - Received over $14k in awards, grants, and scholarships related to music and musical projects (13 different awards)
12. Letters of Rec
    - expecting strong ones from my orgo prof., primary music professor, and volunteer coordinator for the refugee project. Probably average ones from another science prof. and my PI.

I'm not sure where to apply but I do know location-wise, I'd like to go somewhere with an active jazz scene, which would be metropolitan areas. I would love to stay in the DMV area. I'm having difficulty coming up with other metrics to determine where to apply to. Here are the schools I've come up with so far:

Georgetown
UVA
VCU
EVMS
UMD
Johns Hopkins
Jefferson

Edit: I am planning to apply to 20-25 schools, I just don't know how I should approach picking more than these

Thanks again!

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[Mr.Smile12]

You definitely need a longer list. I'll defer to others who do this routinely.

You'd be a bit surprised how some of the smaller sized college cities have a good jazz scene. I'll let others think if you may have a good match with Nashville (Vanderbilt or Meharry), Detroit/Ann Arbor (especially the middle eastern community plus music), Pittsburgh, St. Louis, New Orleans, Portland, Phoenix...

 

[ujsc]

Hello! I am applying for the first time and I have no clue how to approach making my school list. Any help would be greatly appreciated! Here's my info:

1. GPA: 3.93cGPA and 3.8sGPA
2. MCAT: 519 (129/130/129/131)
3. State of residence: VA
4. Ethnicity and/or race: Middle Eastern
5. Undergraduate institution or category: public in-state
6. Clinical experience (volunteer and non-volunteer):
   - 1 year working full time as a clinical research coordinator (current position, projected 2 years)
   - volunteering for hospice (~100 hours, projected is more since I finished my MCAT and am picking up more shifts)
7. Research experience and productivity:
   - 4th author on a publication that came out in 2018 but the work was done throughout high school
   - No research in undergrad, and doing clinical research now but I don't think it's leading to pubs
8. Shadowing experience and specialties represented:
   - Currently at 25 hours of shadowing Dr.'s I work with (GI). Hoping to have 50 when submitting in May.
9. Non-clinical volunteering:
   - Chemistry tutor/TA for local HS (60 hours)
   - helping settle refugees (22 hours but I started in April - projected to be 40 hours/month in the next year. Heavily involved with this.)
   - Red Cross (50 hours)
   - Organized a community music series (50 hours)
10. Other extracurricular activities:
    - TA for orgo for one semester
    - waitress
    - publicity intern
    - cultural society
    - Music - I was a music major and have a very active music career. I sang with many bands and ensembles, and this took up most my time in undergrad, and continues take a lot of time. President/founder of multiple music groups, and bandleader and manager of current groups.
11. Relevant honors or awards:
    - Received over $14k in awards, grants, and scholarships related to music and musical projects (13 different awards)
12. Letters of Rec
    - expecting strong ones from my orgo prof., primary music professor, and volunteer coordinator for the refugee project. Probably average ones from another science prof. and my PI.

I'm not sure where to apply but I do know location-wise, my main concern is going somewhere with an active jazz scene, which would be most metropolitan areas. I would love to stay in the DMV area. I'm having difficulty coming up with other metrics to determine where to apply to. Here are the schools I've come up with so far:

Georgetown
UVA
VCU
EVMS
UMD
Johns Hopkins
Jefferson

Thanks again!

Your list isn't practical. You should come up with a list of 30 schools. Stats don't make an application. As a jazz drummer I know you can find action in any major city so I would remove that as a variable if you want to do well. You may want to consider a gap year to address improving clinical and nonclinical areas to maximize your chances. This process is expensive. Don't underestimate the challenge as many are denied entry with stats/experiences exceeding yours.

If you write and communicate well, I do believe you can succeed and do well this cycle. Get help where you need it. Best Wishes.

 

[Shenandoah!]

Your list isn't practical. You should come up with a list of 30 schools. Stats don't make an application. As a jazz drummer I know you can find action in any major city so I would remove that as a variable if you want to do well. You may want to consider a gap year to address improving clinical and nonclinical areas to maximize your chances. This process is expensive. Don't underestimate the challenge as many are denied entry with stats/experiences exceeding yours.

If you write and communicate well, I do believe you can succeed and do well this cycle. Get help where you need it. Best Wishes.

I am planning to apply to more than this list, I am mainly looking for help expanding it to get to 20-25 schools. I graduated last year and am doing a gap year as a clinical research coordinator, which I'm continuing until next summer. Was hoping that would help fill in the clinical area. Thank you for the advice

 

[ujsc]

I am planning to apply to more than this list, I am mainly looking for help expanding it to get to 20-25 schools. I graduated last year and am doing a gap year as a clinical research coordinator, which I'm continuing until next summer. Was hoping that would help fill in the clinical area. Thank you for the advice

List: Washington U at St. Louis, Miami, Tulane, Memphis-Tennessee, Dartmouth, George Washington, Einstein, Mt. Sinai, Duke, Yale, Penn, USF, UNC, Jefferson, RUSH, Michigan, NYU, UVA, VCU, Georgetown to start

 

[chilly_md]

So you have about 2000 hours as a CRC? What were your responsibilities?

 

[Shenandoah!]

So you have about 2000 hours as a CRC? What were your responsibilities?

Yes I do - I consent patients to studies in the hospital, and go to endoscopies to collect biopsies/blood/urine. I see patients everyday since there's always 10-15 active studies but I also do other work like data entry. I attend weekly lab meetings but this has felt more like a clinical job than research. My advisor said I should list it twice in my activities section, with 3000 hours under clinical paid and 1000 hours under research paid

 

[Shenandoah!]

List: Washington U at St. Louis, Miami, Tulane, Memphis-Tennessee, Dartmouth, George Washington, Einstein, Mt. Sinai, Duke, Yale, Penn, USF, UNC, Jefferson, RUSH, Michigan, NYU, UVA, VCU, Georgetown to start

Thanks!

 

[chilly_md]

Yes I do - I consent patients to studies in the hospital, and go to endoscopies to collect biopsies/blood/urine. I see patients everyday since there's always 10-15 active studies but I also do other work like data entry. I attend weekly lab meetings but this has felt more like a clinical job than research. My advisor said I should list it twice in my activities section, with 3000 hours under clinical paid and 1000 hours under research paid

Sure, you can split the hours that way. Though right now, its 1500 clinical and 500 research, with the other half being projected. That is still extensive experience. Do not apply to some of the schools mentioned before such as Rush, UNC or Tennessee. They take few OOS students or expect many more non-clinical volunteering hours (Rush).

Apply to the following:
UVA
VCU
EVMS
Johns Hopkins
Jefferson
WUSTL
SLU
Vanderbilt
Emory
Michigan
Einstein
Hofstra
Columbia
Sinai
Dartmouth
Case
Ohio State
Cincinnati
Northwestern
Western Michigan
Tulane (maybe)
Georgetown
Rochester
Miami
USF Morsani
Iowa
Vermont
Mayo AZ

 

[chilly_md]

I know of many OOS accepted to RUSH, Tennessee, and UNC in this cycle that comp well with you. Of the three UNC may the hardest stretch. There are schools in the above list, however, that you could argue the same for. Use your own judgement on what fits best with your goals

Tennessee matriculated 12 non-TN residents, UNC a bit better at around 34. Rush has previously stated that their accepted students completed an average of 3,400 healthcare exposure hours and 1,400 community service hours. It is a service-focused school for an applicant who has just started non-clinical volunteering. They would likely be donations.

 

[ujsc]

Tennessee matriculated 12 non-TN residents, UNC a bit better at around 34. Rush has previously stated that their accepted students completed an average of 3,400 healthcare exposure hours and 1,400 community service hours. It is a service-focused school for an applicant who has just started non-clinical volunteering. They would likely be donations.

Point well taken.

 

[Shenandoah!]

Sure, you can split the hours that way. Though right now, its 1500 clinical and 500 research, with the other half being projected. That is still extensive experience. Do not apply to some of the schools mentioned before such as Rush, UNC or Tennessee. They take few OOS students or expect many more non-clinical volunteering hours (Rush).

Apply to the following:
UVA
VCU
EVMS
Johns Hopkins
Jefferson
WUSTL
SLU
Vanderbilt
Emory
Michigan
Einstein
Hofstra
Columbia
Sinai
Dartmouth
Case
Ohio State
Cincinnati
Northwestern
Western Michigan
Tulane (maybe)
Georgetown
Rochester
Miami
USF Morsani
Iowa
Vermont
Mayo AZ

Thanks for the help!