MD 3.55 cGPA, 3.44 sGPA, 519 MCAT

[yomilicious]

Hello!

I will be applying June 2016 and am looking for early feedback about my application while I still have time to fix things if needed. I am currently a fourth-year undergrad, so I will be taking one gap year during my application cycle.

Stats:

• BA in biology with honors at a top 20 university
• Asian female, IL resident
• cGPA: 3.55, expected to rise to a 3.6
• sGPA: 3.44, expected to rise to a 3.5
• GPA trend: looks like a checkmark: 1st year: 3.53, 2nd year: 3.35, 3rd year: 3.80, 4th year: 3.8+ (i hope). does this count as upward trend?
• MCAT: 519 (129/131/129/130)

ECs:

1. Research: worked in the same lab for 1.5 years, 750+ hours. 2 posters, 1 senior thesis. a first author paper is currently in the works, but may not be published in time.
2. Work: 2 years working as a clerical aide for a professor of Healthcare Administration (750 hours), one summer interning at the American Cancer Society (400 hours)
3. Student Organizations /Leadership:
   • executive board of a multicultural sorority for 2 years, including 1 year as president. very involved; led my chapter to win chapter of the year and completely renovated the new member process.
   • VP of the Greek Council for 2 years
   • member of a dance team for four years. led our annual showcase for the past three years, as well as various performances and competitions.
   • 1 year on the exec board of a cultural club
   • 2 years in a pre-medical fraternity
4. Clinical Volunteering: only 25 hours so far at a community clinic. (probably my weakest area, will work hard to bring this up to a minimum 100)
5. Non-clinical Volunteering: 100 hours from various sources through my sorority, nothing consistent unfortunately
6. Shadowing: 50 hours with different doctors
7. Dean's List for all of junior year (and hopefully senior year!)

Other:

• LOR: fairly strong (2 science profs, 1 literature prof, ACS boss, clerical aide boss, lab PI, Greek advisor)
• Personal statement: nothing earth shattering, but should be a solid piece.

Tentative School List:
Rush
Loyola
Rosalind Franklin
U of Illinois
Commonwealth
Drexel
Jefferson
Penn State
UVA
VCU
Eastern VA
Virginia Tech
Western Michigan
Oakland
University of Wisconsin
Medical College of Wisconsin
University of Vermont

Reach Schools -- are any of these worth applying to?
Case
Emory
USC
Dartmouth
Wake Forest
Northwestern
UMich

Also, a question: I am planning to do something clinically relevant during my gap year, maybe scribing or volunteering. Is there a way to indicate what I will do during my gap year on my primary application, or is this something I will have to wait to talk about during interviews?

Thank you in advance for any advice and insight!

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[GrapesofRath]

Your list is fine. Any tweaks you need to it are relatively minor. Focus on doing well this year. And yes you can indicate on your app what you are doing during your gap year.

If you want some minor tweaks:

1) If you are from the southern part of the state absolutely 100% apply to SIU

2) Western Michigan, Drexel, TCMC(OOS) and perhaps Va Tech are all pretty low yield. You can basically replace them without really affecting your chances much.

3) Other schools worth consideration(not an exhaustive list): Tulane, Albany, Quinnipac, Boston U, Cincinnati, Hofstra, Duke, Miami, Einstein, Rochester.

4) Some of your reaches might be attainable, particularly if you ace this year. In particular, Case, Wake, Emory, and USC are probably worth an app.

5) In your shoes with your MCAT it might also be worth considering some OOS public schools. Wisconsin which is a neighboring state to you is one. Iowa might not be a bad one. Maybe Ohio State, U of Arizona(both) off the top of my head as well.


All in all, you'll be fine. Focus on acing this year and trying to get more volunteering experience in, in particular it would help you to get some experience with the less privileged, lower SES groups, or those who might be disabled, terminally ill etc.

 

[yomilicious]

Thank you so much!