Chances? 34Q / 3.787 / 4+ yrs research UC school

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Hey so here are my stats

Univ of California
GPA: 3.787 (cum laude)
MCAT (PS/VR/BS): 14/10/10 Q (34Q)
Research:
Neuro research 4+ years

according to neuronix im
GPA: ok/excellent
MCAT: ok
Research: excellent

2 >2nd author pubs >10 impact factor

1 first author accepted w/ minor revision 8 impact factor
1 first author being written will be submitted within the next couple of weeks
1 4th author at 7 impact factor
2 first author posters at Society for Neuroscience and like 2 others where im not first

LORs:
2 from PIs (worked for both 4+ yrs)
1 from Science prof
1 from MD/FACS
1 from MD/Ph.D FACS helped w/ research

ECs

Shadowing 100+ hours OR and ER
Phi Beta Kappa
Nu Rho Psi 1st place poster presentation
Deans Award for my research ($200 cash award)
Medical mission to central america
tutoring underprivileged kids for a tutoring company
Golden Key and another leadership group i don't remember the name of right now

i know my MCAT score is grossly lopsided but ehhh what are my chances?

i really want to end up in either NY or CA

my top choice right now is Cornell/Tri-I having looked at CA schools i dont think i stand a chance at a majority of the schools here....so any suggestions? do i stand a chance at columbia (awesome neuro dept.)

Originally Posted by MrNeuro

Hey so here are my stats

Univ of California
GPA: 3.787 (cum laude)
MCAT (PS/VR/BS): 14/10/10 Q (34Q)
Research:
Neuro research 4+ years

according to neuronix im
GPA: ok/excellent
MCAT: ok
Research: excellent

2 >2nd author pubs >10 impact factor

1 first author accepted w/ minor revision 8 impact factor
1 first author being written will be submitted within the next couple of weeks
1 4th author at 7 impact factor
2 first author posters at Society for Neuroscience and like 2 others where im not first

LORs:
2 from PIs (worked for both 4+ yrs)
1 from Science prof
1 from MD/FACS
1 from MD/Ph.D FACS helped w/ research

ECs

Shadowing 100+ hours OR and ER
Phi Beta Kappa
Nu Rho Psi 1st place poster presentation
Deans Award for my research ($200 cash award)
Medical mission to central america
tutoring underprivileged kids for a tutoring company
Golden Key and another leadership group i don't remember the name of right now

i know my MCAT score is grossly lopsided but ehhh what are my chances?

i really want to end up in either NY or CA

my top choice right now is Cornell/Tri-I having looked at CA schools i dont think i stand a chance at a majority of the schools here....so any suggestions? do i stand a chance at columbia (awesome neuro dept.)

I know nothing, but I'm pretty sure you'll get accepted to some big names with that many pubs...not really sure why you decided to post this.

You'll do well.

But, you may have to make a decision whether to take anything in the NYC area or anything in CA versus a less competitive but stronger school outside of the more competitive areas. This may not happen to you, but make sure you apply to enough schools so that you will have those choices.

You want to "end up" in CA or NY for med school, or for life? Because if you want to end up in CA with a family, it doesn't much matter where you go to med school- it matters where you do residency.

Originally Posted by Neuronix

You'll do well.

But, you may have to make a decision whether to take anything in the NYC area or anything in CA versus a less competitive but stronger school outside of the more competitive areas. This may not happen to you, but make sure you apply to enough schools so that you will have those choices.

Hmm ok thanks neuronix. Do you know if some programs are biased to who they give interviews to based on their research? I saw somewhere that Cornell is biases to cancer research and Columbia to neuro.

Also what are your school recommendations.

Originally Posted by gbwillner

You want to "end up" in CA or NY for med school, or for life? Because if you want to end up in CA with a family, it doesn't much matter where you go to med school- it matters where you do residency.

Is residency solely based on step scores and LORs? Also any schools you'd recommend.

Originally Posted by MrNeuro

Hmm ok thanks neuronix. Do you know if some programs are biased to who they give interviews to based on their research? I saw somewhere that Cornell is biases to cancer research and Columbia to neuro.

I can't speak for those programs in particular, but generally programs do like to play to their strengths while maintaining a diverse class within biomedical science.

Also what are your school recommendations.

An MSTP

Is residency solely based on step scores and LORs? Also any schools you'd recommend.

Step scores and class rank (mostly clinical grades). Those are most important. The other factors are important too, but it's just like GPA and MCAT score all over again.

Originally Posted by Neuronix

I can't speak for those programs in particular, but generally programs do like to play to their strengths while maintaining a diverse class within biomedical science.

I was recently talking to one of my PIs and as i was listing my stats and discussing where i'd like to attend he strongly encouraged that i strongly consider top 10 programs. I'm a bit of a realist and realize that my scores are below average for the top 10 programs...if you had to throw a percentage out there for my chances just based off of my stats what would it be? As im not even considering applying to harvard ucsf stanford etc b/c i feel my scores are too low.

I'd say you have a pretty good chance at a top 10 school--tough to put a number on it, but maybe 75% if you apply to all 10 (or however many there are--I think there are actually 12 "top 10" schools in the US News rankings this year).

I'd encourage you to not rule any schools out initially--by virtue of the numbers applying, MD/PhD programs can look a little deeper than MD programs when evaluating applicants, and the person reviewing your application at Harvard may just see something in your application that catches their interest and leads to an interview invitation.

Have you kept in contact with the programs? From my experience applying to Mudphuds, and anything in life in general, having them know you by name before you send out that application is very very important. For me, it made the difference between an interview and no interview. Utimately I think my spot in an MSTP program was because I kept at it until they accepted me

Originally Posted by biobukowski

Have you kept in contact with the programs? From my experience applying to Mudphuds, and anything in life in general, having them know you by name before you send out that application is very very important. For me, it made the difference between an interview and no interview. Utimately I think my spot in an MSTP program was because I kept at it until they accepted me

If you don't mind me asking, what kinds of things did you specifically ask them?

Another consideration is what do you want to DO with research. It sounds like you went to a big lab that was high profile, and generated a lot of data. Do you want to continue that line of work? It's a lot to ask an incoming grad student for a coherent research vision, but I think this would guide you in terms of where you would want to go, because as many above indicated, schools in NY/CA may not be great or have specific people that you are interested in working with, which in itself is a very important consideration.