WAMC/School List Help

[alhazenmanawi]

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[Mr.Smile12]

Are the clinical and non-clinical hour numbers too low to be competitive at the schools below?

On numbers, your hours are right near the threshold for me. The issue is going to be balance. You take a lot of initiative (which is good), but you don't seem to take a lot of time with the people you are serving from the description unless it's tutoring where you are coming in as a leader or subject matter expert. I would still work on more hours to be better on par with the rest of your applicant pool. In short, actions are great... but can (not must, in your case) show more stamina and willingness to be immersed in those issues.

You definitely show this in your other highlighted activity as described.

The advocacy for Palestine... you have been doing this for 3 years. However, you must be careful how you want to take this topic on. Look at how respected humanitarian and medical organizations have framed the October 7 invasion and stay on a humanitarian/humanistic tightrope.

Gaza Israel war | MSF

Learn how MSF teams are responding to the Hamas-Israel war in Gaza, Palestine.

www.msf.org

Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory - PHR

PHR’s work in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory has centered on documenting and raising awareness about human rights violations resulting from the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict. In response to Hamas’ attacks on Israeli civilians on October 7, 2023 and Israel’s assault on...

phr.org

Read

Amid the Israel-Palestine Conflict, I Feel Despair and Resolve - Interfaith America

"I find myself in a spirit of both despair and resolve. Despair about events in the world, resolve to do my part to make it better," writes Eboo Patel.

www.interfaithamerica.org

Avoid having that one activity catch the attention of any adcom faculty member that will ultimately gloss over every other clinical and non-clinical experience you have. If you take the route of caring and advocating for others, you should be measured and balanced so that you aren't "radioactive"/"hot lava". We have enough stories about college students and administrators in the last semester or so who have claimed to be diversity leaders but have given highly incendiary and offense remarks on the subject. And ironically, the top-name brand schools will be most sensitive about it as they are in the spotlight.

 

[alhazenmanawi]

Thank you for the quick response. It might be hard to rack up many more hours at this point given the amount of time left, but I will be sure to keep balance and immersion in mind when discussing these sections. I will definitely take a look at the links above, thank you!

 

[AJS59]

I would maybe subtract Georgetown (might yield protect, and the commitment to service doesn't square the best with your profile) but otherwise the list looks solid

 

[alhazenmanawi]

I would maybe subtract Georgetown (might yield protect, and the commitment to service doesn't square the best with your profile) but otherwise the list looks solid.

Thank you! Do you think it would be wise to replace some of the latter schools with schools like Illinois, Vermont, Wayne State, St. Louis, Hofstra, Temple or Drexel, or would I be risking yield protection? All good schools I am interested in and seem to have decent out-of-state acceptance rates for students at my school. Already have a lot and don't want to apply to more than 40.

 

[JukeBoxHeroo]

Fyi tutoring is not non clinical hours. I would try to get some more non clinical hours if you can. There's a separate selection on AMCAS for tutoring/teaching

 

[alhazenmanawi]

Fyi tutoring is not non clinical hours. I would try to get some more non clinical hours if you can. There's a separate selection on AMCAS for tutoring/teaching

Thank you for responding. I would likely be unable to get many more non clinical hours at this point, though I hope to greatly supplement it in my gap year and discuss this in my secondaries+interviews.

Finally, would I still be able to classify the tutoring as "non-clinical volunteering"? I am concerned I might have too few hours without the tutoring experience. I have seen other posts on SDN saying this is permissible if properly framed:

You can label tutoring kids for free as volunteer, non-clinical or as tutoring. It is your choice. You might not call it leadership unless you were leading a group of tutors (peer leader).

Many adcom members put a high value on service to others, particularly service to those who are not able to help themselves. Medicine is a service industry and the service is to all strata of society so having experience with the people you might not meet in everyday life and that you will care for as a student and resident (little to no choice in who you serve as a trainee, more when you are a practitioner) is important.

Just as you might get away with having a healthy offspring despite smoking, drinking and eating junk food, you might get into medical school without non-clinical volunteering but you might sleep better at night knowing you've done your best to assure a good outcome.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Thank you! Do you think it would be wise to replace some of the latter schools with schools like Illinois, Vermont, Wayne State, St. Louis, Hofstra, Temple or Drexel, or would I be risking yield protection? All good schools I am interested in and seem to have decent out-of-state acceptance rates for students at my school. Already have a lot and don't want to apply to more than 40.

Take a look at the MSAR and see which schools get over 10K applications. Look at the MCAT/GPA stats to determine yield protection possibilities. Mission fit dictates your success.

 

[MD_Maker]

Based on your phrasing of gap year, I imagine you're in your last year of undergrad? In which case, your hours are not too bad. Obviously your metrics are good, but I'm not seeing anything that really "pops" out at me from your descriptions, which obviously in this setting are quite bare. Overall, I think your potential is great and you have a good shot at top programs (permitting a well-written application).

Do you know what your application will be centered around? That might be the determining factor with your school list (and your chances).

Good that you have a lot of CA schools. I actually like your list, though not sure how I feel about Wake Forest or Ohio State. I don't think they'd take you very seriously.

 

[alhazenmanawi]

Thank you for the reply, this was definitely helpful. Yes, in my final year and planning for one gap year.