WAMC/School LIst (3.55 GPA, 520 MCAT), DI athlete

[treepuzzle]

Hi, I graduated in May 2023 and am applying in the upcoming cycle. I am having a bit of a difficult time picking schools because my MCAT is more competitive than my GPA. During undergrad, I dedicated most of my free time to my sport, so I feel I don't have as many substantial extracurriculars as I would have liked.

Are there any schools that particularly like student-athletes? Which schools place a greater emphasis on MCAT vs GPA or a strong upward trend?
Any advice is appreciated Thanks!

cGPA and sGPA: 3.55 GPA, 3.48 sGPA, strong upward trend

MCAT: Summer 2023, 520 (130, 128, 130, 132)

State of Residence: MN w/ ties to NY

Undergraduate Institution: T20/Ivy

Clinical Experience: CNA in a memory care facility: 300 hours

Research Experience:
Clinical Research in Cardiology: 1200 hours. A lot of my day-to-day work is more clinical and talked about that in my essays. This is my current job, so I have ~2000 more hours anticipated.

Neuroscience research in undergrad with mice: 250 hours; one poster presentation at a small conference.

Shadowing: 100 hours (pediatrics, ob-gyn, cardiology, neurosurgery, anesthesia)

Preferred specialty: I don't have a strong preference yet but I am interested in OB-GYN, PM&R, Anesthesia, and Neurology.

Non-clinical volunteering:
Volunteering in an underfunded elementary school classroom: 115 hours
- also organized service events where the elementary students could try out different sports w/ the varsity athletes at my university.

Blood drive volunteer: 40 hours (over 1 summer)

Animal Shelter Volunteer (current position): 50 hours, 150 anticipated.

NCAA Division I Athlete: (3200 hours, 250 hours as a team captain)
- 2x MVP, multiple-time school record holder, selected as one of my university's top athletes for my graduating class.

Other: Inducted into a student-athlete honor society for leadership, integrity and community service.

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School List: Ideally, I would like to be in the Midwest or on the east coast, preferably in NYC or surrounding areas.

University of Minnesota TC

New York Medical College

University of Albany

SUNY Upstate

Suny Downstate

Buffalo

Rochester

Mount Sinai

Weill Cornell

Columbia

Emory

Dartmouth

Brown

Tufts

Tulane

USC

Georgetown

Boston University

University of Michigan

Medical College of Wisconsin

Drexel

University of Iowa

Stony Brook

Duke

Northwestern

Mayo, MN

Pittsburgh

VCU

Wake Forest

Quinnipiac

Yale

Illinois Chicago

Virginia Tech

UCSF

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[Mr.Smile12]

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I would need more details about your role in clinical research since the CNA description feels light. Shadowing seems okay on the surface. Community service is light as you haven't met 150 hours, which is generally the minimum expectation for most medical schools. You also should do more than school-related volunteering or tutoring/mentoring. Not sure if working in an animal shelter will move the needle for many faculty adcoms.

MN or NY: where did you grow up (childhood)? I need some justification for your claim of a strong tie.

Seeking Leverage in “Strong Ties” - SDN

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[wysdoc]

We need a consult from @ACLegan7

 

[AJS59]

Due to the low non-clinical hours, I'd consider removing Georgetown (tends to put a lot of value on those). Also unless you have VA ties Virginia Tech is probably not a good addition

 

[treepuzzle]

Register for this virtual conference as it is scheduled for next week:

Athletes in Medicine

Athletes in Medicine (AiM) is dedicated to supporting and inspiring athletes as they pursue a career in medicine.

www.athletesinmedicine.org

I would need more details about your role in clinical research since the CNA description feels light. Shadowing seems okay on the surface. Community service is light as you haven't met 150 hours, which is generally the minimum expectation for most medical schools. You also should do more than school-related volunteering or tutoring/mentoring. Not sure if working in an animal shelter will move the needle for many faculty adcoms.

MN or NY: where did you grow up (childhood)? I need some justification for your claim of a strong tie.

Seeking Leverage in “Strong Ties” - SDN

The Student Doctor Network provides free tools, resources, and advising services to help students become health professionals.

www.studentdoctor.net

Hi! thanks for responding.

Residency
I was born in Minnesota and lived there until I graduated high school. I went to college in NY and am now living in NY since graduation last May. I have plans to stay in NY until I start medical school. My legal residency is Minnesota, and my parents still live there. Although I do not live there now, I have much more allegiance to Minnesota. I wouldn't say my tie to New York is strong at all, but i thought it was worth mentioning since I live there now.

Clinical Research
As for my clinical research job, I conduct patient visits every day. I collect vitals, medical histories, and do ekgs. I also conduct basic neurological assessments for my studies. I instruct my patients on how to properly take their study medications. I am present during my patient's clinic visits with their physicians. Many of our studies involve investigational devices. I am in the procedure room when these devices are being implanted. I also do basic clinical research tasks such as getting informed consent, screening for potential patients, and data entry.

More details on my shadowing experience:
For neurosurgery and pediatrics, I shadowed in an outpatient clinic. Within cardiology, I have shadowed a congenital heart specialist, a heart failure physician, and multiple electrophysiologists in their clinic. I have observed left and right catheterizations, ICD/pacemaker implants, and ablations. During some of those procedures, I spent time shadowing the anesthesiologists. I also attend daily in-patient rounds and clinical case conferences in cardiology. For OB-GYN, I observed in-patient rounds, a hysterectomy, and an outpatient clinic. In addition to these hours, I work closely with 5 physicians and see their day-to-day lives. I feel as though I have an adequate understanding of what a physician's day is like with both their clinical and administrative duties. I have more anticipated hours and am shadowing an EM physician soon.

As for volunteering, I agree with you about not having enough. I tried to get a volunteering position at the nearby hospitals but the times conflicted with my work schedule. I really like my volunteering at the animal hospital, even if it doesn't impact my application that much. I get to interact with a different demographic of people than I do at my job at the hospital and help out the animals. I volunteered sporadically at a soup kitchen and nursing home as part of a pre-health club throughout college but I don't think the hours are big enough to take up a space on my activities list.

 

[Faha]

How many hours do you have at the nursing home and soup kitchen ?