Hey guys! While I am stoked to have been sitting on an A from my top DO choice since October, and am so grateful, I can't help but feel a little sad that I have not been shown any MD love. The DO school is such a great fit for me, and I genuinely love it, but I fear I may be beating myself up slightly with regards to MD schools. Throughout undergrad, my premed advisors told me I had a super strong application, so I think I set some harmful expectations. (I had a lot of setbacks during my undergraduate studies, a lot of super fun trauma, my father and stepfather both got diagnosed with cancer, and my grandfather got diagnosed with really rapidly progressing dementia). I know my numerical stats are on the lower side/national average, so I'm thinking that could be it. I know my writing is strong, I had a bunch of people check it. But I was wondering if anyone had some advice for me or could point out holes in my application?

511/3.78/4.0 MA Bioethics
- White woman/first gen American/English 3rd language
- 112 hours shadowing
- 400 hours hospice volunteering
- 1250 research hours, no pubs. (Hoping to get something accepted soon, but my mentor had a lot of family/immigration emergencies so we got set back a lot).
- 500 hours volunteer tutoring/coaching sports underserved children (helped get one of my students into their dream school!!!)
- 450 hours at family business
- 360 hours emergency room volunteering
- D1 Athlete, All-American honors
- Did the sport for 14 years (about 30k hours. It was 6 days of practice a week, 11 practices. Brutal stuff)
- Member of national team in my sport, 2x national champion, represented country at World and European Championships (I was told that this sport would set me apart, that it was worth investing all of this time into. But it took so much out of me. I honestly I wish I spent more of that time doing what I really love: anything related to medicine. But you live and you learn, I guess.)

This gap year, have sent update letters about this:
- 360 hours coaching the D1 sport in college
- 40 additional shadowing hours
- 250 additional hospice hours
I am also going to begin volunteering at another hospital soon, so I am excited for that.

My school list was very low-yield, I fear. I applied to 23 schools, still waiting to hear back from these:
Drexel, Temple, Sidney Kimmel, Einstein (heavy ties to Bronx, but let's be honest, it's more of a hail mary), Rutgers (both), Tufts (not expecting much), Stonybrook (not expecting much), UConn, NYMC, Cooper, Quinnipiac, Penn State, Albany, Loyola, NYITCOM, PCOM.

Anything is greatly appreciated, thank you so much! And good luck to everyone this cycle! I know it's not over yet, so manifesting IIs and As for yall!