WAMC/School List Help 527/3.68 [reapplicant, asian, california resident] need help narrowing school list

[djaliram]

1. cGPA and sGPA as calculated by AMCAS or AACOMAS	GPA 3.68c 3.55s (including 3.95c/3.93s postbac)
2. MCAT score(s) and breakdown. Include all (non-voided) attempts.	MCAT 514 then 527 retake
3. State of residence or country of citizenship (if non-US)	CA
4. Ethnicity and/or race	Asian
5. Undergraduate institution or category	T40 Liberal Arts School
6. Clinical experience (volunteer and non-volunteer)	2600 hrs (including 600 volunteering) lions share is paid position in COVID response. track and trace, administering tests, helping with clinical trials for test kits. also worked as a peer health educator in college. worked in flu clinics on campus, gave pregnancy/contraceptive guidance to students and was trained to give guidance for other dimensions of health and wellness (mental, physical, occupational etc). 600 hrs volunteering in hospital, position is very autonomous, involves talking to patients and assisting nurses with tasks as needed.
7. Research experience and productivity	1250 hrs + 3 publications, 1 first-author (IF ~4), 2 abstracts and some poster/symposium presentations. Most of research conducted in the lab. Also did some research under practicing physicians.
8. Shadowing experience and specialties represented	120 hours b/w psychiatry, dermatology, ophthalmology, pediatrics
9. Non-clinical volunteering	600 hours, split b/w elementary school STEM enrichment programming in low-income school district near my college + FGLI high--school tutoring program after graduating
10. Other extracurricular activities (including athletics, military service, gap year activities, leadership, teaching, etc)	lots of leadership activities in college 775 hrs diversity and inclusion programming positions in the college 1250 hrs resident advisor 2500 hrs working then managing student coffeeshop lots of mentorship, involved in starting student EMT program on campus.
11. Relevant honors or awards	4-5 smaller (10k and under) grants applying through my college
12. Anything else not listed you think might be important	4th percentile CASPER/PREView scores Committee Letter + LOR from 1 science and 1 non-science prof./advisor, from post-bac, from research PI, from clinical/COVID work supervisor, and from MD I shadowed.

I applied to 24 schools last cycle(submitted 6/8) but received just one II. I think my school list was top-heavy and the gap between my MCAT and GPA might have put schools off. I turned around secondaries immediately for ~half the schools, I lagged on the other half and turned those around within 10-25 days. I received just one interview invite; it was to an OOS T10. I sent update letters in Jan/Feb.

I had a few professors/advisors read my secondaries and PS and got good feedback from them. I've been told I am a strong writer, but I suspect my secondaries could have been more narrative and that my "why medicine" was not coming through clearly enough.

The T10 I interviewed at offered me an interview in Sept and was very effusive about my app. Interviewer confirmed post-R that there were no red flags and no missing parts. Not sure why I didn't get any interviews at other schools given that feedback.


1st Cycle List:
University of Miami (Miller)
Duke University
University of California - Riverside (UC Riverside)
University of California - Irvine (UC Irvine)
Yale University
Tulane University
New York University School of Medicine (Grossman)
Vanderbilt University
Northwestern University (Feinberg)
University of California - San Francisco (UCSF)
University of Southern California (Keck) (USC)
University of California - San Diego (UCSD)
Brown University (Alpert)
University of California - Los Angeles (UCLA) (Geffen)
Georgetown University
Wake Forest University
University of California - Davis (UC Davis)
University of Chicago (Pritzker)
Columbia University (Vagelos)
University of Virginia
Johns Hopkins University
Tufts University
Kaiser Permanente (Tyson)

Tentative Reapplicant List: (*reapplicant to that specific school)
Hofstra University (Zucker)
University of Pittsburgh
University of Michigan
Mount Sinai (Icahn)
Case Western Reserve University
Emory University
Mayo Clinic School of Medicine (Alix)
Mayo Clinic School of Medicine - Arizona (Alix)
Cornell University (Weill)
University of Rochester
Albert Einstein College of Medicine
University of Iowa (Carver)
University of South Florida (Morsani) (USF)
Ohio State University
University of Colorado
*University of California - Irvine (UC Irvine)
*Kaiser Permanente (Tyson)
*Tufts University
*University of Southern California (Keck) (USC)
*University of Miami (Miller)
*Brown University (Alpert)
*Boston University
*University of California - Los Angeles (UCLA) (Geffen)
*Northwestern University (Feinberg)
*University of California - San Diego (UCSD)
*University of Chicago (Pritzker)
*University of Virginia
*University of California - San Francisco (UCSF)
*Yale University
*Vanderbilt University
*Columbia University (Vagelos)

Additional Schools (if necessary):
Dartmouth College (Geisel)
*Georgetown University
New York Medical College (NYMC)
Western Michigan University (Stryker)
Wayne State University
Thomas Jefferson University (Kimmel)
Seton Hall University (Hackensack Meridian)
Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU)
Saint Louis University (St. Louis)
University of Cincinnati
Creighton University
University of Pennsylvania (Perelman)
Washington University in St. Louis (WashU)
Harvard University
Stanford University
*Duke University
*Johns Hopkins University

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[JukeBoxHeroo]

I doubt your GPA is what held you back. Esp since your post bac GPA is great. Your ECs are also fantastic so it's probably just the writing. In your Reapp I would make sure the narrative flows well, find as many people (that you trust/know what they are talking about) as possible to read it and give feedback. Also for the school list, just add the schools you are thinking about adding. I get that people don't want to apply to a lot bc it's a lot of work but it is definitely worth it. The majority of schools I got interviews from were from schools I did not include in my first school list. I got a lot of OOS unfriendly invites, and invites from schools I thought I had no shot at. Include both the "tentative" and the "additional if necessary" and you will be golden. It's expensive to apply to a lot of schools but worth it.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

What feedback did you get from your prehealth advisors/committee? Where have other students from your program come for school?

Please follow the template and describe your experiences. Hours are important but not sufficient.

[OP answered these in re-editing the first post.]

 

[djaliram]

What feedback did you get from your prehealth advisors/committee? Where have other students from your program come for school?

Please follow the template and describe your experiences. Hours are important but not sufficient.

I started editing my post to match the template, will add the other information you requested once I am back home! Just finished updating, lmk if you need any additional info!

One pre-health advisor thought I might have been too ambitious with my school list and should modify it to better match my GPA. The other advisor thought it might have just been bad luck, suggested that I rewrite my PS to center research instead of service. They told me that I wasn't the only student to receive just one II despite applying to many schools, several students were also still waiting to hear back or waitlisted when I last spoke to the office in March but did not give specific schools.

 

[AJS59]

I started editing my post to match the template, will add the other information you requested once I am back home! Just finished updating, lmk if you need any additional info!

One pre-health advisor thought I might have been too ambitious with my school list and should modify it to better match my GPA. The other advisor thought it might have just been bad luck, suggested that I rewrite my PS to center research instead of service. They told me that I wasn't the only student to receive just one II despite applying to many schools, several students were also still waiting to hear back or waitlisted when I last spoke to the office in March but did not give specific schools.

Your PS should be focused primarily around your driving mission to be a physician. Research is important to this but so is service, clinical and nonclinical.

For what its worth I think the rest of your app is great but maybe remove Creighton and BU; both expect pretty high demands of service and while tutoring is good its not really what those schools are looking for; they're looking for more direct service (food pantry, soup kitchen, shelter work, etc.) where you're not coming in from an angle of "being an expert"

 

[Faha]

I suggest these schools with your stats:
Washington University (in St. Louis)
St. Louis
Tulane
Northwestern
Mayo
Iowa
Colorado
U Michigan
Western Michigan
Case Western
Ohio State
Cincinnati
Vanderbilt
Emory
USF Morsani
Miami
Duke
U Virginia
Georgetown
Johns Hopkins
Pittsburgh
UPenn
Jefferson
Hofstra
Einstein
Mount Sinai
New York Medical College
Columbia
Cornell
Rochester
Dartmouth
Tufts
Boston University
Yale
Kaiser
The UCs (except Riverside unless you are from that region)
USC Keck

 

[tompremed]

First glance is that the big jumps in GPA and MCAT may raise questions for some reviewers. It is exceedingly difficult to get a 527 MCAT, especially given the first score as well as the low GPAs. You might want to explain the jumps: try to work it in your PS or in the secondaries.

 

[AJS59]

First glance is that the big jumps in GPA and MCAT may raise questions for some reviewers. It is exceedingly difficult to get a 527 MCAT, especially given the first score as well as the low GPAs. You might want to explain the jumps: try to work it in your PS or in the secondaries.

I don't think it's necessary for OP to explain the jumps at least in the personal statement, which should be focused largely and entirely around their motivation to a physician

 

[tompremed]

I don't think it's necessary for OP to explain the jumps at least in the personal statement, which should be focused largely and entirely around their motivation to a physician

Not necessarily but they are not exclusive. May be the OP became motivated to be a physician only in the senior year or after graduation and since then has dedicated him/herself to work hard on the premed classes and MCAT preparation. They will explain the jumps in GPA (senior and postbac) and in MCAT scores. This could certainly fit into a narrative of improving oneself to becoming a doctor.

 

[AJS59]

Not necessarily but they are not exclusive. May be the OP became motivated to be a physician only in the senior year or after graduation and since then has dedicated him/herself to work hard on the premed classes and MCAT preparation. They will explain the jumps in GPA (senior and postbac) and in MCAT scores. This could certainly fit into a narrative of improving oneself to becoming a doctor.

I would still think, given the opportunities to address academic shortcomings elsewhere in secondaries, that the personal statement is best served for showing one's motivation to be a physician through their activities and background.