WAMC, non-trad, 3.84c, 3.88s

[BrainRavens]

Hello all,

I'm doing the thing and looking for feedback. I took the MCAT a few days ago and still waiting on scores, but I'd appreciate any feedback in the meantime to allay my fears and worries.

I believe I've followed the formatting correctly, but please correct me if I've missed anything. Any and all suggestions are welcome and appreciated, but pls be gentle.

1. Haven't gotten AMCAS calculations yet, but cumulative stands about 3.84 and science about 3.88 by my calculations.
   1. FWIW, my GPA has been a perfect 4.0 for the entirety of the second degree. Straight A's going back years now, so there's a pronounced trend.
2. MCAT scores are still being waited on. Last few FL's were 516, 517, 520, 524, 522 for the AAMC's.
3. New York resident.
4. White.
5. Two undergrad degrees; one in literature from university of Oklahoma, the other a physical therapy degree from City University of New York.
6. Clinical experience, I have about 1,000 hours of one-on-one patient contact as a physical therapist, as well as some clinical exposure as part of a research project working in the emergency department directly with patients.
7. I've done a bit of research: working in the emergency department of a hospital as part of an opioid intervention analysis, a bit of work with my home college looking at brown adipose tissue in various human populations, and I was recently accepted for a summer program at an ivy league institution where I will be doing work looking at cardiometabolic stuff. About 600 hours total, likely a poster, no pubs.
8. Shadowing about 60 hours. Some GP, some emergency department, a small fraction virtual.
9. I spent years volunteering with at-risk youth as part of a mentoring program. More than a thousand hours, easily.
10. I was a high school teacher for 5 years in an inner-city, high-poverty environment. The school I worked at won multiple awards, and I won teacher of the year. I taught a handful of subjects across the science and language departments.
    1. I don't know how relevant, but as leadership I've considered adding that I spent about 15 years teaching, and training, martial arts. Everything from local tournaments to professional fighters, I worked, taught, ran a school, trained, everything. It's been years ago now, but it made up a large part of my life for a long time.
11. I graduated magna cum laude for my first degree, and summa cum laude for my most recent degree (first in my class). A lot of Dean's list.
12. X-factor stuff: I grew up super poor, highly rural environment. Was a ward of the state, spent time in foster care, was homeless for a bit. My early childhood was a wild ride in a number of ways. First in my family to attend, or graduate, college.

I did some basic snooping and used admit.org and have the current school list (as a very rough draft):

• Safety (as much as anything can be 'safe'):
  • Albany.
  • Buffalo.
  • SUNY Upstate.
  • SUNY Downstate.
  • Penn Sate.
  • George Washington.
  • Drexel.
  • Vermont.
  • Colorado.
  • St. Louis.
  • Wayne State.
  • Creighton.
  • Michigan.
  • Nova Southeastern.
  • Virginia.
• Reach:
  • Columbia.
  • NYU.
  • Cornell.
  • Hopkins.
  • Harvard.
  • Yale.
  • UPenn.
  • Duke.
  • Stanford.
  • Dartmouth.
  • Georgetown.
• Baseline:
  • Albert Einstein.
  • NY Medical College.
  • Icahn.
  • Rochester.
  • Hofstra.
  • Stony Brook.
  • UT Austin.
  • Boston.
  • Northwestern.
  • Pittsburgh.
  • Mayo Clinic.
  • Tufts.
  • Brown.
  • Iowa.
  • Case Western.

Sincere thank-you to anyone who gets this far, and for any feedback or pearls of wisdom.

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[Mr.Smile12]

Where in New York did you grow up?

 

[BrainRavens]

Where in New York did you grow up?

I grew up in Oklahoma, though I've lived in New York for about the last 10 years.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

I grew up in Oklahoma, though I've lived in New York for about the last 10 years.

Would you be interested in returning to Oklahoma for medical school? What do you think is your purpose as a physician, as opposed to a PT (your previous career)?

Not much we can do without an official MCAT.

 

[BrainRavens]

Would you be interested in returning to Oklahoma for medical school? What do you think is your purpose as a physician, as opposed to a PT (your previous career)?

Returning to Oklahoma wouldn't be first on my list, but I'm not opposed to moving most anywhere. While I grew up in Oklahoma, I also spent a lot of time there in foster care, and in an abusive household as a kid. I have no family there anymore, and it's not necessarily a place to which I long to return.

A few things. I worked in a nursing home, which involves working alongside physicians (mostly internists and PM/R doctors); seeing the differing impacts and influence was a big factor. The scope of practice, ability to help people from a wider range. PT is unquestionably necessary, of course, but can be fairly limited in a lot of ways. Working alongside those physicians functioned, in some ways, like a day-by-day shadowing experience for months on end, and it was both eye-opening and sort of affirming as a course of action. I knew pretty early that I wanted to go back and further my education, but working in that environment really solidified that I felt strongly inclined toward being a physician. Later shadowing, and interactions with MD's in research, has only confirmed that instinct for me.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Thanks! At the very least, focus on killing that MCAT, and let us know once your score is in. You should get lots of attention from schools on your list, so make sure you check out their secondaries and pre-write (if you haven't already).

 

[BrainRavens]

Thanks! At the very least, focus on killing that MCAT, and let us know once your score is in. You should get lots of attention from schools on your list, so make sure you check out their secondaries and pre-write (if you haven't already).

Awesome, thank you for the response and for the advice. I will start in on writing secondaries soon, and reach out as soon as I have MCAT scores back.

Thank you again.