WAMC/School List (sGPA: 3.85, total GPA: 3.78, MCAT: 512, CA re-applicant)

[reaves_stan]

Hello, re-applicant here. In search of feedback from this past cycle, feedback regarding reapplication, and potential schools to apply for this upcoming cycle. I will be retaking the MCAT in May 2023. Last cycle, I ended up with 1 II that resulted in 1 WL.

sGPA: 3.85
total GPA: 3.78

MCAT: 512 (130/125/127/130)
CA resident
Asian
Engineering degree from T10 undergraduate

I included my hours at the time of initial application and my projected hours upon reapplying in this format: (2023 hours | 2024 hours)

Clinical experience:

• Clinical research coordinator (70 hrs in 2023 | 2050 hrs in 2024)
• Children’s hospital volunteer (150 hrs in 2023 | 150 hrs in 2024)
• Hospice volunteer (75 hrs in 2023 | 130 hrs in 2024)

Non-clinical volunteering experience:

• Tutoring at coding camp (350 hrs in 2023 | 350 hrs in 2024)
• Peer mentor in college (150 hrs in 2023 | 150 hrs in 2024)
• Student consultant for local non-profit (150 hrs in 2023 | 150 hrs in 2024)
• Church volunteer assisting with shelters and food centers (0 hrs in 2023 | 95 hrs in 2024)

Shadowing:

• ENT, pediatric surgery (70 hrs in 2023 | 210 hrs in 2024)

Research:

• Research intern at bioinformatics lab (750 hrs in 2023 | 850 hrs in 2024)
• Undergraduate ML researcher (1200 hrs in 2023 | 1200 hrs in 2024)
• Summer intern at bioinformatics group (400 hrs in 2023 | 400 hrs in 2024)
• Research assistant in laboratory medicine (375 hrs in 2023 | 375 hrs in 2024)
• High school student researcher (1200 hrs in 2023 | 1200 hrs in 2024)

Leadership:

• Senior engineering design (350 hrs in 2023 | 350 hrs in 2024)

Other extracurriculars/leadership:

• Software engineering internship (450 hrs in 2023 | 450 hrs in 2024)

Publications:

• 1 accepted, 5 pending

I submitted my primaries first few days of June, and submitted all my secondaries between mid-July and mid-August. 32 primaries and 31 secondaries. Secondaries submitted:

• Albert Einstein
• Carle Illinois
• Drexel
• Emory
• Geisel @ Dartmouth
• George Washington
• Georgetown
• Icahn
• Kaiser Permanente
• USC
• Temple
• Loyola
• MCW
• Ohio State
• Rush
• SLU
• Thomas Jefferson
• Brown
• Tufts
• Tulane
• UC Davis
• UCI
• UCLA
• UCR
• UCSD
• UCSF
• Colorado
• Miami
• Pittsburgh
• Rochester
• Wisconsin
• Wake Forest

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[Mr.Smile12]

So you banked on research and not a lot of community service over the past year. If you don't get an offer, you're lack of showing service orientation set you back. Coding camp sounds great but it is an extension of your academic interests and expertise. If you had 150 hours of your church community service, your application could be on more solid footing. Having zero hours showing service orientation most likely eliminated you.

I really hope you do well on the MCAT. By taking it a second time, some schools will average your scores for screening purposes, and we expect most retakers to improve or decline by as much as 3 points. Your target is 520+ for maximum benefit.

 

[chilly_md]

Your low clinical hours likely held you back. Many of the schools you applied to were poor fits due to a combination of that, your MCAT score, and low community service.

When you receive your score, please let us know so we can provide an updated list. I would not suggest Rush, Loyola, Tulane or MCW again due to your low non-clinical volunteering. UCR is only for applicants from the IE or who attended UCR in undergrad.

Where was your interview at?

 

[Putkernerinthehall]

Maybe I'm misinterpreting your hours. I'm reading your 2024 entries as cumulative "up to and including projected 2024" hours. Total is like 8100 hours. Even if you put in 2500 hours in 2024 (~50 hours a week all year long), that means you have already logged some 5600 hours? That's almost three years of full time hours prior to 2024. Is that what you've done or are your listed hours in error ?

 

[reaves_stan]

Maybe I'm misinterpreting your hours. I'm reading your 2024 entries as cumulative "up to and including projected 2024" hours. Total is like 8100 hours. Even if you put in 2500 hours in 2024 (~50 hours a week all year long), that means you have already logged some 5600 hours? That's almost three years of full time hours prior to 2024. Is that what you've done or are your listed hours in error ?

When I said "2050 hrs in 2024" I meant that I'll have 2050 hours prior to applying for the 2023-2024 cycle. In other words, I estimate to have 2050 hours by around May or June of 2023 once I submit my initial applications for the 2023-2024 cycle. Hope that clears it up??

 

[chilly_md]

When I said "2050 hrs in 2024" I meant that I'll have 2050 hours prior to applying for the 2023-2024 cycle. In other words, I estimate to have 2050 hours by around May or June of 2023 once I submit my initial applications for the 2023-2024 cycle. Hope that clears it up??

It does not because as was mentioned, your hours across all activities come out to 8110. Have you taken multiple gap years? Those hours do not logically make sense if you did them over 4 years of undergrad while studying as a full-time student.

 

[reaves_stan]

It does not because as was mentioned, your hours across all activities come out to 8110. Have you taken multiple gap years? Those hours do not logically make sense if you did them over 4 years of undergrad while studying as a full-time student.

Ah yes, I understand the confusion. I took a semester off to work entirely on research, there were two summers where I worked two full-time research positions, and another one of my experiences started early in high school (mid-sophomore year of high school) and bled into the end of my freshman year of college.

Oh and also, two of my experiences were built into my school curriculum (essentially they were research projects completed as class theses) so a large chunk of those hours are the same hours as I spent as a full-time student. Hope that clarifies.

 

[chilly_md]

Ah yes, I understand the confusion. I took a semester off to work entirely on research, there were two summers where I worked two full-time research positions, and another one of my experiences started early in high school (mid-sophomore year of high school) and bled into the end of my freshman year of college.

Oh and also, two of my experiences were built into my school curriculum (essentially they were research projects completed as class theses) so a large chunk of those hours are the same hours as I spent as a full-time student. Hope that clarifies.

Where was the WL?