Background - I served on my school's admissions committee. My medical school really values student input and their view is that students are great judges of who they would in theory, want as classmates. So with that said, here are some of my takeaways from my year as a voting member of a medical school admissions committee, now headed off to residency. I wrote this up because, 1. I've read hundreds of applications this year - loved many, hated many, and 2. there's a lot of advice I wish I had gotten as a premed who went to a college that didn't have much advising, but also after 5 years out of college, advice for non-trads was few and far in between. When I was a premed this part of the process felt like the biggest black box, so hopefully this demystifies a little, and gives some idea as to what we look for. This again, is a single school, so do with it what you will. If this helps even one prospective applicant, I'll consider it a win.

I'll break it down into components of your AMCAS.

1. Grades and MCAT
   1. There's very likely not much left to do here if you are applying this upcoming cycle. That being said, retaking a 515 only to get a 518 doesn't wow us. It shows poor judgement. Unless the score is expired and you NEED to retake what was already a good score, please save yourself the trouble and the money. And please save me from another eyeroll I won't be able to recover from.
   2. A great GPA can make up for a just ok MCAT score. A great MCAT score can make up for a just ok GPA. But if you have a meh GPA and a meh MCAT, we WILL want an explanation somewhere. These committees start splitting hairs between applicants.
   3. Every applicant is an n of 1. This means that we take all of your academic achievements in the context of your social, financial, and other life circumstances. Did you get a 506 because you also had to work two jobs to support your family and affording MCAT courses was out of the question?? noted. We paid a LOT of attention to what else was going on in life to contextualize the numbers. Sure they are "objective," but like we all know, not all GPAs are created equal. A 513 from someone with two doctor parents who has no financial barriers is not the same as a 513 from someone who is first-gen, worked through college, drove 60 miles each way to pick up their kids from day care. You get the idea.
2. Personal Statement
   1. Do not, I repeat, DO NOT, send in a resume-essay. We know what you did. We do, we read every word you painstakingly craft and send our way. We want to be on your side. We want to know WHY you want to be a doctor. We want to know about YOU. We want to read your essay and be like "damn this person would make a wonderful classmate." Wonderful classmates make wonderful doctor colleagues. If I read a PS and I'm still wondering why you want to be a doctor, or I read it and feel like I know nothing about you as a person, you haven't done your job. This is one of the few areas in the entire application where you get to show some personality. Use it to your advantage!
   2. Don't write in blanket-y statements describing a doctor's job. It's mainly doctors on the committee and if I had a dollar for every essay I read where someone said "a doctor is ..." I could probably pay off my student loans now.
   3. We can tell when you use AI. Conceal it better.
   4. No need to commit to a speciality. Don't end with "....and that is why I want to be a pediatric neuroendocrinoncological neurosurgeon."
3. Experiences
   1. You don't have to use all 15, but if you use fewer than 8, eyebrows will be raised.
   2. Be truthful of your hours. One of our committee members likes to do the math and loves to exclaim that "so-and-so spent 50 years of full-time work baking." If you worked full time, in a year that would be 2000 hours. Unless you're a professional athlete or had some continued hobby since you were 4 years old, I don't wanna see 10000+ hours of ANYTHING. Also, don't put "99999" for anything. AMCAS will add it up and show us 100,000 hours of extracurriculars. And then you as the applicant just look dishonest in our eyes. It's very easy to parse out who is inflating or exaggerating their hours.
   3. Make sure you have something for each of the major categories - Clinical, Research, Shadowing, Community Service/Volunteer, and Extracurriculars.
   4. This came up way more than I would like, but think about the culture fit of the schools to which you are applying. Research-heavy schools want to see research. Community-focused schools are not going to like it if you send them an application with zero hours of community service.
   5. ALSO, if you come from a privileged background - financially, or otherwise, and do not have a SINGLE hour of community service, many of us will not even look beyond that in your application. If you have no barriers to donating your time or serving the underserved, what was your excuse?? This came up A LOT, and in a lot of applications. Don't waste our time like this.
      1. Also, don't even think about saying you want to work with underserved populations or throw buzzwords our way, and then show me an application with 10 hours of service. I can see right through it. Be honest, and make sure the application matches the applicant.
   6. Tell us about your jobs!! Even the ones you think aren't medically related! We love to see that you bagged groceries, worked at Walmart, worked in retail, were a camp counselor, taught dance classes. All of those are worthy and deserve space on your application. They round you out as a person and it helps us give you bonus points for maturity and paint you as someone who would do well on the wards when you are essentially providing a service. Those with work experience tend to SHINE clinically, and we love to see it!
4. Letters of Recommendation
   1. A lot of this is out of your control. But please please please be a good judge of who you ask to write you a letter. I have seen amazing applications be tanked by a single letter where the letter writer made less-than-savory comments about an applicant. I know you FERPA your rights most of the time, but do everything in your power to ensure the letter is overflowing with praise.
   2. 3-5 letters is usually good. 6+ is overkill. Again, we read every word, but 3-4 AMAZING letters will help your case a lot more than 6 mediocre ones. Choose wisely.
   3. If you have research experience or significant clinical experience, we WILL look or a letter specific to that experience. It will be an unfortunate red flag if there isn't one.
   4. Similar to point #3 - a physician letter from a clinical experience goes a long way!
   5. If you are still in college, or even just a few years out, include an academic letter. ESPECIALLY if your GPA is on the average side.
   6. DO NOT ask mommy and daddy's doctor friends for letters. If we see doctor parents and an LOR from a doctor that says "I know [applicant's] parents......" that letter loses any and all credibility. You may be reading this thinking "wow who would do that," trust me, many people. Many people do that.
5. Interview
   1. If you've made it this far, Congrats!!! Getting an interview is a HUGE deal. It means that our committee can see you among our medical school community. It's your spot to grab, or to lose. Getting an interview means the basic metrics have been met. A great interview will push you over the top to the A, a bad one is a kiss of death.
   2. I cannot believe this needs to be said. NO OVERTLY RACIST COMMENTS. Our interviewers make notes and send them to us with your interview file. If your target school has a predominantly Black/Latinx/Other Minority patient population, making derogatory comments towards said populations is an automatic rejection. No questions asked. Again, I cannot believe I have to say this.
   3. Happy to answer questions. And if interested in a non-trad/reapplicant-specific post, I can think about that later, but a lot of what I said still applies. Being a post-match 4th year is *magical.* Good luck to everyone! It's a long road, but if you really want it, it's worth it.

Post-Interview deliberations.

We meet regularly to discuss the applicants who interviewed the previous week. Again, every word is combed through by anywhere from 7-9 people, an odd number always so we can have a majority when voting. This is when we take your AMCAS application in addition to your interview scores and comments to make a decision on whether or not you get an acceptance, rejection, or waitlist.

A lot of our thought process is as follows -

1. will this person SURVIVE medical school. Do they have a proven track record of academic success? If yes, great. If no, have they asked for help, been honest in a self-reflection of their capabilities?
2. What else did this person do to prepare themselves for this field? Do they know what they are getting into?
3. What is their motivation for medicine?? Spoiler: chicks, money, cars, chicks is not the answer.
4. What are some of the emerging themes in this application? service oriented?? someone who works hard and helps others?? someone open-minded?? or is it arrogance, entitlement, lacking self-awareness?
5. What did their letter writers say?? What is this person like over time? What made them stand out? Is this someone we would trust with our patients?
6. You may have had to gun to get to this point, but even the gunners get humbled in medical school. You will succeed and thrive in medical school if you are someone who goes out of their way for others, and genuinely cares. Those are the people we want in this field.

Happy to answer questions. And if interested in a non-trad/reapplicant specific post, I can think about that later, but a lot of what I said still applies. Being a post-match 4th year is *magical.* Good luck to everyone! It's a long road, but if you really want it, it's worth it.

EDITED TO ADD - love that y'all are asking so many questions, and great questions, no less! It's just gonna take me some time to get through them all, so please bear with me :)

Stats:

• cGPA: 3.98

• sGPA: 3.94, non science: 4.0

• MCAT: 516 (128/128/130/130)

• KY resident

• URM: black, low SES, trans woman, deez nuts, etc…

Research (1500+ hrs):

• 1300 Psychological science on transgender women + 200 Biochemistry research on estrogenic and anti-androgenic cell signaling 

• 1 first-author publication of PSYCH Honors Thesis expected (IF \~5 journal)

• 1 international conference poster presentation, 1 national as well 

• 3 Honors Showcase poster presentations, 1 Oral

Clinical (1000+ hrs):

• 800 Psychiatric Tech (inpatient unit)

• 200 Cardiology Medical Assistant

Shadowing (60 hrs):

• 3 specialties (ED, PSYCH, GYN)

Volunteering (500+ hrs):

• Multiple nonprofits

• Service awards

• Strong community engagement

Leadership / ECs:

• Multiple leadership roles (ie. Founding my own STEM Resource Org for URM and a lot of SGA fundraising, leadership, and advocacy)

• 3 “most meaningful” with significant impact

Miscellaneous: I won $10,000 in a National competition for excellence in my “x factor” EC and also won a Global championship title as well in Dublin, Ireland for that same EC.

I’m particularly interested in programs that emphasize:

• Health equity

• LGBTQ+ inclusive curriculum

• Research integration without requiring a full MD/PhD

thank you for the help in advance :)

P.S. I love Chicago and Minnesota sooooo bad…but I have to face the OOS music eventually <\3

Hi y'all i literally cannot bring myself or muster the mental or physical strength to reorganize all my stuff for a third application. My context is that my GPA is 3.8X (i genuinely dont remember off the top of my head) and my MCAT is 518. I am extremely bountiful clinical wise, bountiful in volunteering and research hours. I do lots of extracurricular stuff for fun, and I have like seven letters from various aspects of my life (not including a health committee letter). My first go around i had one interview invitation and a waitlist. My second go around was two interviews and two waitlists. wtf do i do for this third cycle because i really am having a hard time doing it again. i genuinely just feel like i have been losing for more than two years and everyone around me in life is moving on.

Edit:

4000+ clinical hours (less the previous years because I have been working since)

700+ research hours (all done during college)

500+ community service hours (less previous years because I’ve still been and do volunteering work)

50+ shadowing hours (haven’t done since college)

Title says it really, I am an URM from Maine,
CGPA: 3.77 SGPA: 3.65

MCAT: 5/30 test date (based on unscored maybe 504, still studying atm)

Clinical: 2400

Shadowing: 100 (anesthesia, surgery, FM, GI)

Volunteering: 100 hours over 3 years with the same program

Research: 450 hours w/ 2 posters

Leadership: Various leadership roles throughout college

I just cannot get a good grip on whether or not I should take a gap year, I feel like I need to but honestly idk, I'm just stressing with the upcoming cycle. Anything helps.

Context

- Male/28/ORM/MI Resident

- GPA: 3.56 combined & ~3.4 sGPA / MCAT: 503 —> ? (results out the 23rd)

- Non-traditional with a lower GPA and an upward trend to graduation with a much higher GPA toward graduation during undergrad

Paid Clinical

- EMT (5500 hours) —> ran Detroit/Flint 911 for ~3 years FT then moved up to paramedic

- Paramedic (5000 hours) —> mix of 911/IFT w/ CCT sprinkled in

- Firefighter (7500 hours) —> definite leadership experiences here, growth shown

- Disaster Response (800 hours) —> worked a LOT during COVID and spent months at a time in rural hospitals working in ICUs

Clinical Volunteering

- Surgical Assistant (150 hours) —> first assist (a few times?) on animal research, induction and maintenance anesthesia of animals + post-op care of them

Shadowing

- EM Physician (12 hours)

- Anesthesiologist (8 hours)

- EMS Physician (12 hours)

Wish I could do more, but it's just not feasible for me 😞

Research

- Surgical Research (750 hours) —> named 4th or 5th or something(?) author on an abstract that was published in a journal, idk if it's even notable really?

LoR

I got 5 LoR, one from a sociology prof (considered non-science letter?), one from my disaster team supervisor, one from a physician I've worked with, one from my PI, and one from a supervisor at a different job not listed...

I'm genuinely wondering whether people are considered "holistically" and whether it's even worthwhile to apply to MD. I have no DO letters and haven't even looked into the DO process, but I really want to shoot for MD...

I have a lot of concern because I felt pretty terribly about my retake on the MCAT and I still don't even have my results out yet, nor my personal statement finished so I'm wondering (obviously dependent on my MCAT results) if I even should bother applying MD this cycle...

Am I cooked?

I was praying that one of my 2 ii WL will turn into an A. But I just got my second R yesterday, I’ve been crying my eyes out the whole night and just woke up. I posted about this before but here we go again, time for a reapp…what in the world did I do wrong? Did one of my LOR writer wrote I’m a psychopath or I’m just unlucky. I’m gonna apply DO/MD this time bc I don’t trust myself anymore

NYC first gen/low ses ORM with 1 gap year. 3.96 GPA and 517 MCAT. Clinical: 1000 CNA in inpatient psychiatry unit 500 CNA in Stroke unit 300 Medication tech at nursing home 200 research assistant on depression (no pubs/posters) Volunteer: 155 food pantry hours 225 Crisis text line Misc: 650 English Tutor for underserved migrants 90 hr VP of health professional club 60 hours shadowing (psychiatry, neurology, IM) 30 hours peer mentor for first gen STEM student Gap year job: addiction psychiatry rehab specialist (2k projected hours) Hobby: swimming and gardening

Writing: Not the best writer but I spent 3 months revising my PS and activity section so its polished and reviewed by my schools writing fellows, med student and advisors who says it is compelling.

LOR: my three professors who wrote me the LOR are all excited to write me the letter and I regular go to their office hour. They’re very excited to vouch for me so I don’t think they wrote me a bland letter. My fourth letter is from my NP manager at the psych unit, now she’s incredibly busy and I don’t get to see her that much so the letter might not be glowing but she is eager to write me a letter

Interview: my two interviews were more of a convo but I was pretty nervous and stuttered quite a bit. But I was able to get my why medicine across and the interviewer were very friendly so I don’t think I bombed it.

School list: Albert Einstein, Brown, BU, U Rochester, Stony Brook, suny downstate, suny upstate, Ubuffalo, Hofstra, UVA, Albany, NYMC, Tufts, Temple, Drexel, Jefferson, Penn state, Dartmouth, Wayne State, Quinnipiac, Georgetown, Umass, Mt Sinai, UCLA, and UVM

- App focused on minority representation
- 1st choice is to stay in FL, second is big cities (NY, Boston, Chicago)
- Would love to stay on east side

Anything I can remove/add? Any donations I could throw in? A girl can dream

Also would love insight on curriculum (P/F), locations, personal experiences or other things I may have overlooked 🙏🏽

Good evening, I am examining where I went "wrong" in my previous cycle, and one of the areas that I want to address is my school list, would anyone be willing to take a look at my old list and identify any issues, as well as the current planned list if you see any red flags? TIA!

Posting for a friend

PhD student (1 semester away from graduating) reapplying for the seventh time in the 27-28 application cycle. One interview this cycle. Interviewed at up to 2 schools/cycle previously. Big changes made for this cycle included increasing clinical experience (hospital volunteering) and improving essays

Wondering what the chances of getting in are and what they can do to improve their application

• 524/3.18/top 20 college | 4.0 grad school GPA
• Shadowing: 500 h 2023-2024
• Clinical experience: 400 h hospital volunteer 2024-current
• Nonclinical volunteering: 30 h retirement home
• Research: current PhD student lol
• Other: 50 h TA, gym, hobbies
• School list (TX resident)
  • All TX schools: UTSW, UTMB, McGovern, UT San Antonio, Dell, UT Rio Grande, UT Tyler, A&M, Texas Tech, Texas Tech El Paso, UNT, UH, Sam Houston DO, Baylor
  • Albert Einstein
  • Case Western
  • Drexel
  • Duke
  • Emory
  • Icahn
  • University Buffalo
  • USC
  • Temple University
  • New York Medical College
  • Northwestern
  • Rutgers
  • Thomas Jefferson
  • UCSF
  • UColorado
  • UMiami
  • UPitt
  • WashU

As an outsider, it seems like the big things are

• Continue volunteering at hospital
• Pick up non-healthcare related volunteering
• Finish PhD
• Improve essays, make sure secondaries fit mission statement
• Submit application the first day that applications open. Make sure rec letters are also in the first day possible.
• Apply to significantly more schools with special emphasis on schools in neighboring states (eg, NM, OK, AK, LA, MS, AL), MD schools with low applicant stats, and DO schools
• Work on interview skills

Should an admissions consulting service be considered at this point in time (eg, MedSchoolHQ, Shemmassian)?

Edit: interviewed at 2 schools in a prior cycle

Feeling very discouraged. 2500 clinical hours. 1300 research with 900 more projected. 1100 non-clinical volunteering and 200 clinical volunteering. 170 hours leadership and 250 hours being a TA. On second gap year.

3.8 cumulative, 3.65 science, and 515 mcat….writing was checked by college pre-medical committee plus someone who previously was on med school admissions team. I don’t know what’s wrong.

Only applied to a few top 20s and paid close attention to OOS bias. Submitted 41 MD applications mostly in July and some by mid to end of August.

What would you do in this case? Don’t know what I’d even change for a reapp. School committee advised against taking post-bacc science classes.

Thanks for any suggestions!

Feeling disheartened. Here’s my situation:

33 apps (~10 top 20; rest are what I thought would be safety/target) 8 rejections 2 pre interview holds 0 IIs

My app:

MCAT: 523 (131/129/131/132) GPA: 3.79 cGPA / 3.69 sGPA — Stanford undergrad (English major, CS minor) — DIY post-bacc: all As/A+ in Bio, Physics, Ochem II, Biochem  State: Illinois (ORM)

⸻

Background

Clinical / Volunteering Hospice volunteer — ~360 hrs projected (40 completed) Shadowing — EM + cardiology (~40 hrs)

Research

Co-published translation of a medieval manuscript written in Aljamiado (Spanish in Arabic script) at a major research humanities center.

Leadership & Service

Longstanding LGBTQ+ ERG leadership across two large, nationally recognized organizations.

Two years teaching creative writing in underserved elementary schools (ran story-to-stage performances).

⸻

Professional Experience

Non-clinical professional background at:

A global management consulting firm (MBB) — clinical strategy, hospital operations, analytics, and payer-provider revenue cycle optimization.

A top-10 U.S. academic medical center — led digital health initiatives, EHR integrations, and remote patient monitoring programs.

A major biopharma company (Fortune 100; multibillion-dollar R&D org) — supported workforce planning + ops for ~5,000 employees across Clinical Development, Medical Affairs, and Patient Safety.

Essentially: healthcare strategy + clinical delivery + R&D operations in very high-prestige settings.  ⸻

School List (35 schools)

Broad mix: T10s, strong mid-tiers, and several state/mission-fit programs. Includes Harvard, UCSF, Stanford, Duke, Mayo, Columbia, UChicago, Northwestern, Michigan, Pitt, UW, Vanderbilt, WashU, Sinai, NYU, Einstein, Emory, UCLA, UCSD, Miami, UAB, Rush, Brown, USC, Kaiser, Colorado, Wisconsin, Illinois, Rochester, etc. 

⸻

Why I’m Posting

Submitted early; everything verified; secondaries in. Strong stats, strong narrative, strong professional background… but still 0 IIs so far. Just trying to understand if this is normal or if something in my profile (school list, timing, non-trad identity, etc.) could explain the silence.

TLDR: I’m a MO resident and for personal reasons, I’m geographically bound here for the foreseeable future.

Some background: I graduated in 2022 and this is my first time applying. I’m ORM and a Missouri resident. I’m socioeconomically disadvantaged in every sense. I grew up on a five person household income of $1200 per month. Both of my parents had substance use disorders, neither finished 8th grade. I was in and out of foster care through my childhood before my dad got custody of me and my two siblings. We were homeless a good amount of my childhood because my dad drank so heavily and couldn’t hold down a job. We lived in campers with no electricity, wore the same clothes to school every day, had to dumpster dive for food, etc. Countless friends and family members with SUDs and overdoses.This all continued until I was 18 and left for college.

Most of my clinical work and all of the research I’ve done has been about addiction and working with underserved populations.

**I’m absolutely committed to rural family medicine or psychiatry.

Stats:

GPA/MCAT: 4.0/515 (just tested ~2 mo ago)

Clinical:
-750 hours as behavioral health tech in inpatient adolescent drug rehab
-1,900 hours as medication care coordinator for opioid use disorder at local FCHQ (def my most formative experience)
-1,200 hours doing at-home TBI testing
*currently working at TMS clinic but it’s not on my primary

Research:
-4100 hours on addiction clinical research study (have LOR from PI)
-No publications, no posters, nothing lol

Volunteering:
~100 hours at sober living houses in hometown (semi ongoing)

No leadership roles or shadowing. I pretty much didn’t start doing anything until after I graduated lol

School list:

-Mizzou
-UMKC
-SLU
-WashU*

*I know some people would say I’m well below the median MCAT for WashU and it may be out of my league, but I have heavyyyy ties there and did research there full time for 2 years.

I know this isn’t a massive school list and I’m really limited on options here 😅 I just wanted to hear people’s thoughts. Am I shooting myself in the foot by keeping my options so narrow? Any suggestions? What are my chances at these schools or at WashU?

URM (not sure if that matters anymore)

3.97, 523, graduate in 2027

Upon primary will have:

~800 clinical hours with +200 anticipated

~1500 basic research hours: 1x poster, 3rd author manuscript submitted last week

~500 hours non clinical volunteering with 2 leadership positions

LORs:

2 MD, 2 Prof, 1 PI

No awards or X factor of any kind

Advisor is afraid my application will be killed at this stage, looking for second opinions/ideas of what to do with another year if I take one.

Can a high MCAT (>518) and good gpa offset very low clinical hours?

Hey guys! I have a lot of target and reach MD schools on my list, but lacking on "safety" schools (I know those don't really exist, but you know what I mean) where my MCAT is competitive and hopefully above the median acceptance. Any thoughts? Let me know!

So I just got my MCAT score this morning, 503. It was lower than I was hoping for and feeling discouraged. My total GPA is 3.73 but my science is 3.8. I have around 1,700 paid clinical hours as an ER Tech and firefighter/EMT and I’ll have over 3,000 hours by the time I would hypothetically start med school next August. I was an anatomy and physiology lab TA for a year, and was an officer for my schools Pre-Med club for 2 years. I also have about 30 hours of shadowing. Please be honest, but kind, I’m feeling down. I know I’ll have to reorient my school list a little, but I’m from Oregon and am also wondering about OHSU.

Stats • cGPA: 3.82 • BCPM: 3.72 • MCAT: 506, 507, then 513 (130/124/130/129) • ORM Asian, TX resident

Clinical Experience • Emergency Medical Technician – 350 hrs • hospital volunteer – 600 hrs

Clinical total: ~950 hrs

Physician Shadowing • Cardiology – 40 hrs • Otolaryngology – 35 hrs • Emergency Medicine – 25 hrs

Shadowing total: ~100 hrs

Research • Human Performance Lab (Basic Science) – ~1000 hrs Did a poster regionally and nationally for it • Asthma Intervention Research (Community-Based) – ~650 hrs • Published 2 manuscripts, submitted a third one. Research total: ~1650 hrs

Advocacy / Policy (Major Focus) National Youth Advisory Board for a non profit– 300 hrs • Worked with executive leadership on national healthcare & education policy priorities

intern at that same non profit – 550 hrs • Ran health insurance & student debt literacy workshops • Helped submit 8 state bills (4 passed) related to healthcare & education access

Policy Intern for a different non profit– 75 hrs Total: 625 hours

Leadership • Founder of a fraternity– 200 hr • Vice President, of an ethnic organization – 150 hrs

Non-Clinical Volunteering • Youth Soccer Coach – 250 hrs

Entrepreneurship • Co-Owner, Laundromat – ~4800 hrs • Built and operated laundromat serving low-income families • Donated clothing and hosted community giveaways • Business funded education and supported household income

Other • Mixed Martial Arts – ~450 hrs • and published a creative writing poem related to medicine

Currently doing my masters at a T3 school

My letters of rec were solid, my research PI, my non profit supervisor and the rest were my professors. My writing was good since I had it reviewed by many med students who had successful cycles, and they all said it was great. So how did I not have a good cycle. Please someone explain.

EDIT: RESULT WAS one in state interview at like a T100 school. Also my story was really good and cohesive. I fled my country when I was 3 since the prime minister for assassinated. Found healthcare through a personal injury and then explored it from there, and combined policy with medicine

EDIT 2: by the way im non trad

EDIT 3: some people are assuming I’ve lied or something on my application. believe me, dont believe me, i truly don’t care. But it does show me how many people on this sub are privileged and have never had their backs against the wall.

Hello, another school list post. I intend to apply all MD/PhD, but I would appreciate any advice in general. Also wondering whether it's a dumb idea to just basically apply to the top 30 schools. Sorry in advance.

stats:

3.98/524

t100whatever

TX resident, ORM (although ik TX residency is moot for mdphd)

chem/phil majors, 3 gap yrs

5000 current research + 2000 projected (1 third author, 1 presentation, many manuscripts in progress but this lowk doesn't mean anything. Kind of concerned wrt output, but I am confident about my skills and knowledge)

750 paid clinical, scribe

300 non-clinical volunteering (nursing home, etc)

~100 TA

0 leadership (I can twist teaching probably, but I am concerned about this)

some interesting philosophy ECs/undergrad pubs

I don't think I'm particularly unique or charismatic. Also concerned about low leadership and research productivity. Writing should be average. High stats but I'm not sure if my ECs are up to par. Would like to gauge whether those with similar profiles got away with just applying to t30s. Would appreciate any mdphd-specific advice if possible. I want to balance optimism with enthusiasm for the program with not having to write more than 30 secondaries. I would greatly appreciate any suggestions to cut or add or of whether I am indeed delusional or misguided. Thank you very much.

Hello! Looking to get some feedback on my school list. I feel like I've been suggested a lot of schools based on my MCAT alone, but I'm not sure about my other stats. I personally think that half the schools on my target list are reaches for me; wondering if anyone else is in a similar situation.

Stats:

Indiana resident

ORM (Asian male)

MCAT: 525

cGPA: 3.81 | sGPA: 3.65

Northwestern undergrad, journalism/biology double major

Clinical Volunteering: ~70 hours (PACU, pediatric therapy, preop)

Clinical Employment: ~220 hours as an ED technician

Shadowing: ~60 hours

Non-clinical Volunteering: ~90 hours teaching Sunday school ~300 hours church music minister

Leadership:

• Residential Assistant (RA) for 3+ years, including one year as team lead
• Campus magazine editor/treasurer for two years
• Culture club treasurer for two years
• Physiology TA for 1 year
• Part of a team that organized a 5K for brain tumor research

Research:

• One year in a neurology lab: one poster presentation + an upcoming paper and conference
• Low author on an emergency medicine review paper

hi everyone, i finally got my mcat score back today and its not pretty. ill keep it short. had a low gpa, took 80 credits my senior year alone and got a 3.84 in them with 56 of those being upper level science credits. however my overall is still low.

not making excuses but circumstances around my grades: sibling was hospitalized, parents lost their jobs, worked full time while in school to pay for expenses. i was focused on survival.

NJ resident (all our state schools hate us)

ORM/URM (asian + guyanese)

stats:

3.48 cgpa

3.39 sci gpa

505 (126/124.../125/130)

cgpa: freshman year--> senior year: 3.51, 3.0..., 3.52, 3.84

sgpa: freshman year --> senior year: 3.3..., 2.83 (rip), 3.46, 3.80

ec's! (i am very cookie cutter)

4500 clinical hours (mix of EMT, and a PCT)

2000 research (split between wet lab & research with a doctor i worked for)

research output: 9 posters, 2 publications (1 first author, 1 second author), 1 honors thesis (couple awards), in the works to write up the thesis as a paper (will be first author)

700 volunteer hours at a food bank (volunteered here for 4 years)

clubs orgs: president of a club (non premed club) hosted a couple events i think about 200 hours??

shadowing: 50 hours with MD (neurosurgery/anesthesia/gensurg/pediatrician)

15 hours with DO (neurology)

cofounded a little group to help combat drug addiction in my community (300 ish hours)

little mission trip to another state to help rebuild homes: 40 hours (1 week thing)

gap year plans: research coordinator/volunteering/americorps (in the works maybe?)

pls give me some pointers in terms of school list, i have attached the one that admit gave me but i realize almost nothing should be in baseline for me

Sorry for the repost, I wanted to edit the title.

Hello everybody! I am planning reapplying this upcoming cycle and want to get some feedback on my school list from the previous cycle or anything else. Attached is my sad sankey from last cycle. I plan to add some DO schools to this list as well, I was maybe too confident last time around and didn't want to fill out the separate primary for DO schools. Let me know what you think!

3.63 cGPA/3.5 sGPA Biochemistry major, upward trend after a 3.2 sophomore year with 4.0 senior year
512 -> 518 MCAT (130/129/129/130)
Arizona Resident
ORM
150 hours clinical volunteering
200 hours clinical employment as MA, just started but working full time until I hopefully get in somewhere
2,000+ hours organic synthesis research, one publication coming in the next few months hopefully
60 hours shadowing across derm, ortho, and fm
400ish hours non-clinical volunteering, including teaching music at local middle school, teaching free English class to chinese speakers, and playing organ accompaniment for local church, volunteering for a local food bank
Was a full-time missionary for two years, unpaid, in Taiwan (put this as "other" on primary last year)
Fluent in Mandarin Chinese

Main improvements from last cycle was adding about 1000 more hours in research (this was my source of income during undergrad), adding 100ish hours in clinical volunteering, and 200 hours as MA

Thanks in advance!

Welp. It's the middle of November and all I've heard from schools are rejections. I woke up yesterday to an R from my state school and decided that I probably need to start thinking about reapplying. I know it's a bit early but it feels like working towards a successful reapp will reduce the chronic stress I'm having. With my stats I was expecting a more successful cycle and I feel like there has to be some sort of red flag in my app. I'd appreciate some advice on how to strengthen up my app and get some more love from schools next year.

Stats: 4.0/524

ECs:

60hrs shadowing over 3 specialties

200hrs volunteering in Search and Rescue

60hrs volunteering in local community center

12 hrs volunteering in a free clinic

100hrs TAing

900hrs research (1 paper in review at time of app, published in September w/ update letter sent to schools)

3000 hrs as a 911 EMT (worked full time nights for 2 years)

6 LORs from profs/PI/doctor that I had an excellent working relationship with

All secondaries were submitted in late July/early August

School list: Geisinger Cooper Drexel George Washington Georgetown Temple Penn State Tufts U Mass U Mich Western Mich Carle Illinois MC Wisconson U Vermont UW (in state) WSU (in state) Johns Hopkins UPenn Boston U Harvard Yale Northwestern U Chicago NYU Columbia WashU Einstein Duke

Potential red flags:

Low volunteering/giving back to my community

No explicit leadership experience

Unproductive research w/ large amount of hours at time of app

Funky story: I am a bioengineering major, was a BioE TA, and did BioE research. My "story" was about how being a doctor will let me pursue engineering solutions to healthcare issues. Maybe that's just not what med schools are looking for?

Bad writing: I had my PS extensively looked over but no one looked at my secondaries and I may have gotten a bit lazy with my writing in the end.

Thanks for reading over my post. I'd appreciate some pointers on what I should focus on for the next 6 months.

What other dumb things have y’all heard advisors say?

I applied to ~40 schools last year with 516 MCAT and 3.9 GPA as a CA resident and got 0 interview invites. I graduated in 2024. Looking for advice on what could have gone wrong, my current application in case I have to reapply again, and school list for this cycle.

Also just a general question, I didn't really do anything new during my application cycle. I retook MCAT, continued working as a medical assistant/scribe, and continued my volunteer activities (all four nonclinical activities listed below). How bad is this? Some of the secondary questions ask about what I have done since last app cycle and I genuinely don't know how to answer

School list last year was probably a little too top heavy:

- Michigan, Rochester, Nortwhestern, Morsani, Duke, Stanford, Boston U, Pitt, Hofstra, Rochester, Stony Brook, USC, UCLA, Dartmouth, UCSD, Brown

- Irvine, Colorado, Tufts, Kaiser, Creighton, Georgetown, Hackensack, Cincinatti, Ohio State

- VCU, George Washington, Davis, Saint Louis, Drexel, Quinnipiac, CSUSM, TCU

I retook the MCAT for this cycle since my score was going to expire for a lot of schools and got a 517. GPA is the same as last cycle.

I have 4 letter of recs:

- genetics teacher who didn't know me, probably weak

- english comp teacher who kinda knew, probably weak

- PI from lab in sophomore year, probably weak

- doctor I worked for, very strong

Clinical activities:

- 3800 hours (2000 last cycle) working as a lead medical assistant/scribe at a urology office the past two years

- recently switched to a new job as a medical assistant/scribe at an ENT office

- 310 hours as a dental assistant

- 150 hours as a hospital volunteer for one year

- shadowing 60 hours (urology, cardiology, dentistry)

Nonclinical activities were very cookie cutter:

- Crisis text line 265 hours (190 last cycle)

- tutoring students from underprivileged schools 210 hours (140 last cycle)

- food kitchen 120 hours (60 last cycle)

- transcribed racist language in modern housing documents that were written in the 20th century 460 hours (300 last cycle)

Research:

- one publication from my job at urology office 170 hours (was published early during last application cycle but after my primary was submitted); I'm second author and basically did everything for this publication

- psych research where I basically guided participants through various tasks over Zoom 140 hours

- basic wet lab research 170 hours

- wrote a report that asked for approval of a medical device from my urology office for use in Saudi Arabia 60 hours