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.
- 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
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.
- AMCAS GPA: cGPA - 3.88 sGPA - 3.88
- MCAT: 521 (132/127/130/132)
- Ohio resident but currently living in Chicago, IL for post-grad research job (which is more strategic to apply as my IS?)
- Asian ORM Male
- T10 research-heavy undergrad Neuro Major, Anthro Minor
- 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
- 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
- Shadowing experience and specialties represented: 160 hr (card, gen surg, neurology, pediatric derm, NIR)
- 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.
- 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:
- 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
- Teaching/Tutoring - Neuro TA (32 hr), peer tutor for gen chem (80 hr), premed peer mentor (25 hr + 25 hr during gap)
- Relevant honors or awards - 2 summer research grants during undergrad, award for outstanding summer project, honors senior thesis, Dean's List.
- 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.
- 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