3.76cGPA, 3.6sGPA, 518 MCAT, MI resident, help with schools please

This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.

shna2326

Full Member
7+ Year Member
Joined
May 6, 2015
Messages
15
Reaction score
29
Hi Everyone, I'm a long-time reader but it's my first time posting. I just wanted some advice on my school list. I'm trying to narrow it down to 20-25 schools and would love suggestions.

Asian female, MI resident, just graduated and taking a gap year

Major: Biological Science, History

GPA: 3.76, upward trend
sGPA: 3.60, upward trend
MCAT: 518

Extracurriculars:
  • Breast cancer research, no pubs (500 hours)
  • Hands-on hospital volunteering program where we did interventions with patients to prevent delirium and physical decline (450 hours)
  • Working as an ER scribe starting in May and throughout my gap year (2000 hours)
  • Volunteering in a Surgery Family Waiting Room (60)
  • Competitive dance team for 4 years and held leadership roles for 2 (600)
  • In a multicultural sorority and had leadership role on it as well as the Council my sorority was on (won leadership award as well) (500)
  • Member of Health committee of Student Government and worked mostly with mental health (150)
  • Shadowed variety of specialties (48)
  • Worked as a study group leader for 1 year (300)
  • Various community service projects (80)
School List:
Michigan
Wayne State
Oakland
Michigan State
CMU?
Cincinnati
Rush
Rosalind Franklin
Loyola?
Ohio State
Toledo
California Northstate?
New York Medical College
Thomas Jefferson
Quinnipac?
Drexel?
Tufts?
Rutgers?
George Washington
Georgetown
Tulane
Case Western
Albert Einstein
Pittsburgh
Northwestern
UChicago
NYU
Mt. Sinai
Columbia
Emory
Duke

Schools with a question mark are ones that I'm not sure if I'm applying to. I'd love suggestions on what schools to cut out or any to add.

I'm really interested in patient care, though I also enjoy research. I am potentially interested in working with medically underserved communities but not rural medicine.

Also, miscellaneous question: My PI who is semi-famous for breast cancer research, has strong ties to Michigan, UChicago, and Northwestern. I have a fairly strong letter from him and was wondering if this would help me have a better chance at those schools.

Thanks for your help!

Members don't see this ad.
 
Rutgers takes mainly NJ residents so you can remove it. Apply to all your Michigan schools and include Central Michigan and Western Michigan as potential safeties. You do not need to apply to California Northstate. As long as you apply to all your Michigan schools you can include most OOS schools to reach your goal of 20.
 
A very good list! My mods to your list below. You can do vastly better than CN"U".

Michigan
Wayne State
Oakland
Michigan State
CMU
Cincinnati
Rush
Rosalind Franklin
Loyola
Ohio State
Toledo
Thomas Jefferson
Quinnipac
George Washington
Georgetown
Tulane
Case Western
Albert Einstein
Pittsburgh
Northwestern
UChicago
NYU
Mt. Sinai
Columbia
Emory
Duke

Consider :
Western MI
Hofstra
The Manhattan Titans
U Miami
BU
Emory
Harvard
Yale
JHU
 
Members don't see this ad :)
Thanks so much for your help! I'll definitely take that into consideration. I also was planning to apply to a few DO schools because I like the osteopathic philosophy. However, I realize that my stats are on the higher side for DO and wanted to make sure this wouldn't hold me back in the future as I don't want to limit my residency/specialty options in the future. Do either of you have any thoughts on this?

I'm planning on applying to MSUCOM, Western, Midwestern, and Touro.
 
You really dont need DO schools or any OOS school that isn't a reach for you. Youll get plenty of interest amongst the variety of state schools in MI. I would only apply to OOS schools you know you would turn down for your state schools and that cheap tuition. If that means only applying to the Harvard's and Stanford's of the worlds OOS so be it. You don't need much else OOS if you apply to all your state schools.
 
Top