WAMC CA ORM 3.2 GPA (rising trend) 511 MCAT (leadership focused application) (2024)

Hi all, happy score release day, there was a lot of weight taken off my shoulders this morning from the score release so I finally was able to put this test behind me and get to ask wise @Goro, @Faha, and other members what they think would be a good school list for my chances.

Here we go!

1. GPAs
   1. cGPA 3.21
   2. AMCAS sGPA 3.06
   3. AACOMAS sGPA 3.06
   4. TMDSAS ??? (probably the same?)
   5. Break down by year
      1. Freshman - 2.426
      2. Sophom*ore - 3.171
      3. Junior (COVID) - 2.917
      4. Senior - 3.686
      5. Postbacc - 47 credits of 3.825
2. MCAT Scores Breakdown - 511
   1. C/P 129
   2. CARS 125 (yikes..., will this sink me?)
   3. B/B 129
   4. P/S 128
3. CA
4. Asian - Vietnamese
5. Private - T50, T5 in state, Jesuit institution if it helps narrow down list
6. Clinical Experience
   1. Medical Assistant 3000 hours
   2. Hospital Volunteer 600 Hours
   3. Radiology Reading Room Volunteer 100 hours
7. Research
   1. Maybe 100 hours of wet lab? No publications, didn't really do much but get taught research lab methods and skills and was cancelled because of COVID
8. Shadowing
   1. Cardiothoracic Surgery - 24 hours
   2. General Surgery - 48 hours
   3. Family Medicine - 40 hours
9. Non-clinical volunteer
   1. Court Appointed Special Advocate - 600 hours, ongoing activity
      1. Providing mentorship & guidance to children under the juvenile court system who have experienced abuse, neglect, or abandonment
      2. Cultivating healthy life skills & strategies to ensure the child is able to transition to adulthood
      3. Attend court hearings & be the voice advocating for the best interest of the foster child
      4. Sworn officer of the court
   2. Project Access - 350 hours
      1. Helping in after school care center for families with young children to have an outlet to be creative or get tutoring with homework
      2. Contribute to fulfilling overall mission of cultivating strong communities through on site access to health, education, & economic services
      3. Assisted site manager in running food distribution drives every week for low income families
10. Extracurriculars
    1. Powerlifting from hobby to participating in competition at the local level, did not place though. Total hours invested now is 4000 hours and counting
    2. Photography as a hobby, turning it into a side hustle for fun
    3. Long time computer nerd, designed and built custom computers when I was young for fun and currently do it as a side gig for some extra income to help pay for bills
    4. Three gap years
    5. Three years of executive leadership positions that had significant relevance to my culture - all in total maybe 2000 hours of leadership and volunteering
       1. Freshman year was executive board for school club
       2. Sophom*ore year was a dual position in between the school club executive board and the regional executive board
       3. Junior year was another dual position elected by regional members and other schools to represent them at the national level
          1. Worked with national executive board officers about bringing forward programs and events that would benefit the greater interest of Vietnamese Americans as a whole.
          2. Some initiatives included
             1. Support and resources to help small Vietnamese businesses survive and thrive after COVID
             2. Programs to help Vietnamese American college students learn professional skills, building resumes, expand their networks, and foster connections in the professional world
11. Awards and Honors - maybe helping our region win Region of the Year award at the National Award Ceremony during my tenure? Not a personal award but collaborative achievement
12. Other things to note
    1. none that I can think of but feel free to ask! I'll answer to the best of my ability

School list

TMDSAS schools due to strong ties to Texas
(crapshoot here since I'm OOS but who cares it's 10+ schools for one price so I might as well try, not really expecting much though)

MD

TCU-UNT
CUSM (maybe)
Rosalind Franklin
Creighton
Drexel
Duke
George Washington
Keck (maybe???)
Temple
Loyola
NYMC
NOVA MD
UA - Phoenix
Vanderbilt (maybe)
UCI (hard reach but I am from the OC area)
(I have 5 more free schools I need to add, and maybe an extra 10 to be safe)

DO

ATSU Arizona
Midwestern U - Az and Chicago
Burrell
LECOM
Marian COM
NYITCOM
NOVA DO
Orlando COM
PCOM
Touro NY and CA
Rowan DO
UIW
WesternU CA

Thank you again everyone!

For starters, delete OrlandoCOM. TOO new. Delete SOMA, and the for profit BCOM as well.

Replace with
Sam Houston
PacNW
TUNCOM

If leadership is your angle, have you been in contact with anyone involved with VAMA? Their website seems to be dormant since 2020, and I'm not sure if they are still active as suggested from their website. Otherwise, have you connected with APAMSA student officers at the schools on your list?

ADDED: Another group that is more active is VAMP.

California programs may consider Vietnamese at least as "not overrepresented" and could be URM if that matters.

Find your mission fit with schools, especially those with more exposure to underserved Asian communities and will put more weight on your last 30-60 credit hours. Your application is strong.

Mr.Smile12 said:

If leadership is your angle, have you been in contact with anyone involved with VAMA? Their website seems to be dormant since 2020, and I'm not sure if they are still active as suggested from their website. Otherwise, have you connected with APAMSA student officers at the schools on your list?

ADDED: Another group that is more active is VAMP.

California programs may consider Vietnamese at least as "not overrepresented" and could be URM if that matters.

Most Philly health providers cannot speak Vietnamese. A local pharmacist is trying to change that through a stroke education program

Viet-Capacity has reached over 800 Vietnamese-speaking Philly residents with culturally tailored education around cardiovascular disease.

whyy.org

Find your mission fit with schools, especially those with more exposure to underserved Asian communities and will put more weight on your last 30-60 credit hours. Your application is strong.

Click to expand...

I actually did reach out to VAMA multiple times in 2021 because I was on the committee in charge of reaching out to organizations to speak and participate in workshops at our annual conference. Did not get a single response from them at all so I'm assuming it's essentially defunct/inactive.

I did not reach out to VAMP since they're located in Florida. But I do have some FL schools I want to attend (also cause family live there) and if I matriculate there I would want to inquire more about their membership!

Would you recommend UCSF? That's about a reach as it can get with my stats but I heard they like reinvention and consider Vietnamese as URM? The only other schools I could think of would be Houston/Dallas area because of the Vietnamese community there

Goro said:

For starters, delete OrlandoCOM. TOO new. Delete SOMA, and the for profit BCOM as well.

Replace with
Sam Houston
PacNW
TUNCOM

Click to expand...

Reading the post about SOMA just made me shiver thinking about third year. Duly noted and removed. Is BCOM that egregious as well?

Sam Houston was already on my list on TMDSAS! I only left out schools that had a focus on rural medicine like Tyler, Lubbock, and RGV because their mission won't fit me. PacNW and TUNCOM added

Does the rest of my DO list look good?

Faha said:

I suggest these MD schools with your stats:
Vermont
Quinnipiac
Albany
Drexel
Temple
George Washington
Eastern Virginia
Wake Forest
NOVA MD
Belmont
Tulane
TCU
Creighton
Rosalind Franklin
Loyola
Medical College Wisconsin
Oakland Beaumont
Wayne State
California University
Loma Linda (if you fit their mission)
UC Davis
UC Irvine
Alice Walton (when it opens)
Roseman (when it opens)
You could add UIWSOM, WCU-COM, ACOM and LMU-DCOM to your DO list.

Click to expand...

Would you say Keck, Vanderbilt, and UNLV are reaches as well? I'm nervous about Belmont since they're absolutely brand new.

HopefulDoc71500 said:

Would you say Keck, Vanderbilt, and UNLV are reaches as well? I'm nervous about Belmont since they're absolutely brand new.

Click to expand...

Those schools are unrealistic with your stats.

HopefulDoc71500 said:

Would you recommend UCSF? That's about a reach as it can get with my stats but I heard they like reinvention and consider Vietnamese as URM? The only other schools I could think of would be Houston/Dallas area because of the Vietnamese community there

Click to expand...

They do, but I'm discouraged with your stats.

HopefulDoc71500 said:

Reading the post about SOMA just made me shiver thinking about third year. Duly noted and removed. Is BCOM that egregious as well?

Sam Houston was already on my list on TMDSAS! I only left out schools that had a focus on rural medicine like Tyler, Lubbock, and RGV because their mission won't fit me. PacNW and TUNCOM added

Does the rest of my DO list look good?

Click to expand...

Yes indeed