3.9 cGPA, 3.65 sGPA, 31 MCAT (10P/9V/12B)

[coldcase331]

GA resident, undergrad at University of Alabama
Major: Biology
Minor: General Business

Strong LoR from a doctor, 2 science professors, 1 from the Every Move Counts Coordinator (below), and 1 from an academic advisor that I have strong relationship with.

EC:

• Started a fraternity on campus and held numerous leadership positions (2000+ hours, always required 20+ hours a week)
• A few greek honor awards for community service/leadership/inter-greek relations
• Shadowing Experience: Family Practice, Radiology, Anesthesiology, Neurology (160 hours total, 40 hour work week with each)
• Had to work during the summer to support myself through school: manager at Papa John's (40+ hours/week, approximately 1600 hours)
• Leader of Every Move Counts Initiative: We go into underserved communities and teach children of all ages how to play chess. Been a part of the program for two years (6 hours/week, 312 hours total)
• 1 year of undergraduate research: hope to be published by the time interviews come around
• 1 year of tutoring for the university

Hopefully my stats are good enough to get in somewhere. Here is what my list looks like so far:

MCG
Mercer
Emory (absolute reach)
FAU
UAB
Thomas Jefferson
Penn State
Georgetown
Creighton
Tulane (have some family connections there)
Wake Forest
VCU
Drexel
Wayne State
Miami (Florida)

Any additions or comments about my list will be much appreciated.

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[Goro]

Have you set foot in a hospital to interact with patients? Any clinical volunteer work??? Shadowing doesn't count in this regard.

You need to show AdComs that you know what you're getting into, and show off your altruistic, humanism side. We need to know that you're going to like being around sick or injured people for the next 40 years.

Here's another way of looking at it: would you buy a new car without test driving it? Buy a new suit or dress without trying it on??

We're also not looking for merely for good medical students, we're looking for people who will make good doctors, and 4.0 GPA robots are a dime-a-dozen.

I've seen plenty of posts here from high GPA/high MCAT candidates who were rejected because they had little patient contact experience.

Not all volunteering needs to be in a hospital. Think hospice, Planned Parenthood, nursing homes, rehab facilities, crisis hotlines, camps for sick children, or clinics. Check out your local houses of worship for other volunteer opportunities.

Once you get that out of the way, you're competitive for:

U VM Miami St. Louis Albany Rochester Rush Rosy Franklin NYMC VCU EVMS Wake Forest Jefferson Temple Drexel Creighton George Washington Tulane Loyola Creighton Any new MD school, except Hofstra and Central MI. Any DO program. Your state school.

GA resident, undergrad at University of Alabama
Major: Biology
Minor: General Business

Strong LoR from a doctor, 2 science professors, 1 from the Every Move Counts Coordinator (below), and 1 from an academic advisor that I have strong relationship with.

EC:

• Started a fraternity on campus and held numerous leadership positions (2000+ hours, always required 20+ hours a week)
• A few greek honor awards for community service/leadership/inter-greek relations
• Shadowing Experience: Family Practice, Radiology, Anesthesiology, Neurology (160 hours total, 40 hour work week with each)
• Had to work during the summer to support myself through school: manager at Papa John's (40+ hours/week, approximately 1600 hours)
• Leader of Every Move Counts Initiative: We go into underserved communities and teach children of all ages how to play chess. Been a part of the program for two years (6 hours/week, 312 hours total)
• 1 year of undergraduate research: hope to be published by the time interviews come around
• 1 year of tutoring for the university

Hopefully my stats are good enough to get in somewhere. Here is what my list looks like so far:

MCG
Mercer
Emory (absolute reach)
FAU
UAB
Thomas Jefferson
Penn State
Georgetown
Creighton
Tulane (have some family connections there)
Wake Forest
VCU
Drexel
Wayne State
Miami (Florida)

Any additions or comments about my list will be much appreciated.

 

[coldcase331]

Thank you for the advice Goro, there were a couple EC that I forgot to post on here. I did in fact volunteer at a nursing home during my freshman summer (also throughout high school). Although I know that I don't have the most medical experience compared to other applicants, I worked hard on my AMCAS to explain how all my other experiences and lessons learned through these experiences could be applied in a medical context. Do you think that this could help me in any way?

Edit: And I agree, the 4.0 GPA robot is all too common when applying to medical school. I believe that's why more and more schools are moving to a holistic review instead of going strictly based on metrics. I'll be honest, I used to be one of those 4.0 robots when I was in high school, but I vowed to myself that I would change that when I entered college. I wanted to become more well rounded, and that was essentially the theme of my AMCAS and part of my personal statement. I feel that if I'm offered an interview at a school, I'll be able to show that I'm not a 4.0 robot anymore.

 

[GrapesofRath]

Thank you for the advice Goro, there were a couple EC that I forgot to post on here. I did in fact volunteer at a nursing home during my freshman summer (also throughout high school). Although I know that I don't have the most medical experience compared to other applicants, I worked hard on my AMCAS to explain how all my other experiences and lessons learned through these experiences could be applied in a medical context. Do you think that this could help me in any way?

Edit: And I agree, the 4.0 GPA robot is all too common when applying to medical school. I believe that's why more and more schools are moving to a holistic review instead of going strictly based on metrics. I'll be honest, I used to be one of those 4.0 robots when I was in high school, but I vowed to myself that I would change that when I entered college. I wanted to become more well rounded, and that was essentially the theme of my AMCAS and part of my personal statement. I feel that if I'm offered an interview at a school, I'll be able to show that I'm not a 4.0 robot anymore.

It's better than having nothing but Goro's point still stands to a large extent. Best thing you can do; get some clinical experience NOW in the next few months. Volunteering in a hospital/hospice. Whatever is easiest to be allowed to volunteer at in the shortest amount of time(ie where there is the fewest amount of paperwork/clearances to go through or wherever they are most likely to take you on faster). Many of these people without clinical experience who get rejected with high stats at least get to the interview stage. Your in solid shape to get some II's despite your issues with clinical exposure. If say your interview is in October and you can talk about how the past few months you've gained 100-150 hours of clinical exposure volunteering in a hospital that can definitely help your case. It's not perfect but it will help. The problem with your current clinical exposure while solid is that it was at the beginning of college. Commitment over time counts alot, especially with volunteering. You don't have that with regards to clinical exposure(and no it doesn't count you did it in high school).

 

[coldcase331]

Unfortunately, I have to work during my summers because I have to partly support myself through school. So the amount of extra clinical experience I can get before mid august is going to be minimal. And between research, EC's, and keeping my grades up, I don't know what kind of commitment I could give to adding another volunteer activity. I know that it would be better than nothing in terms of a learning perspective, but something tells me that the "last-minuteness" of this would worry an adcom more than help me. What do you think?

 

[GrapesofRath]

Unfortunately, I have to work during my summers because I have to partly support myself through school. So the amount of extra clinical experience I can get before mid august is going to be minimal. And between research, EC's, and keeping my grades up, I don't know what kind of commitment I could give to adding another volunteer activity. I know that it would be better than nothing in terms of a learning perspective, but something tells me that the "last-minuteness" of this would worry an adcom more than help me. What do you think?

Prioritize what you need to. Work and grades are what matter. These other things don't as much. There are many top applicants who work their ass off for years only for it not to matter due to lack of clinical exposure. Do you want to be that person?

 

[Gandyy]

Well you win at the stats part of this application process.

 

[coldcase331]

Of course I don't want to be that person! I want to be the most prepared applicant as possible. So as far as prioritizing, my job and grades are absolutes. Would you suggest taking a break from one of my EC's (maybe the Every Move Counts program, don't hold a fraternity position anymore) and using that extra time to volunteer at my university's hospital? This wouldn't be ideal for me because I enjoy working with and have grown close to the children in the program, but I want to make sure that medical schools know that I'm serious about pursuing a medical career.

 

[GrapesofRath]

Of course I don't want to be that person! I want to be the most prepared applicant as possible. So as far as prioritizing, my job and grades are absolutes. Would you suggest taking a break from one of my EC's (maybe the Every Move Counts program, don't hold a fraternity position anymore) and using that extra time to volunteer at my university's hospital? This wouldn't be ideal for me because I enjoy working with and have grown close to the children in the program, but I want to make sure that medical schools know that I'm serious about pursuing a medical career.

Do what you think is best. Whatever you think is the least valuable use of your time is something you can consider replacing with some more volunteering. I don't expect volunteering from here on out to make of a difference I shouldn't have stated it so unequivocally. But it is something to consider doing especially since it's not hard to knock out 100 hours in 2 months.

Part of the reason I'm really trying to make that point clear is that your stats aren't along the lines of those top applicants who get rejected for no clinical exposure. The 3.9 cumulative is very nice but 3.65 science GPA and a 31 MCAT are the definition of average. I'm also guessing that since you still have a 3.9 in spite of your 3.65 science gpa you basically only took your pre-reqs and few other science classes. Fortunately, when we are talking about average in this case its that of an MD matriculant but still a weakness like that is not ideal. All that said, I think you'll be ok there's no point in freaking you out just apply broadly and you'll get II's and can take it from there.

 

[coldcase331]

The issue with my sGPA being lower than my cGPA is that I AP'ed out of 8 hours of bio, 4 hours of physics, and 8 hours of calculus. I scored a 5 on all the AP exams and earned A's for them while in high school. The reason that I didn't retake any of the classes is that I got an A+ in phys II, indicating that I retained material from phys I. I'm also a biology major, with A's in all my biology classes taken so far (except for ecology of all classes ). So basically what's bringing my science GPA down is the B's in orgo I/II, the B+ in the orgo lab, all that with the combination of fewer science/math hours because of AP's. I appreciate all the advice that has been given so far. Sometimes I just wish that there was more time in the day so I could fit everything in

 

[coldcase331]

I also want to know if my school list is good. If there's a "C" by the name, it means I've already submitted a secondary. And an update: I just started volunteering at my University's hospital in the ER for 12 hrs/week to add extra clinical experience.

VCU-C
FIU-C
GW-C
Toledo-C
Quinnipiac-C
FAU-C (I have family that practices in the Boca Raton area)
Tufts-C
Tulane-C
Miami-C
MUSC-C
Emory-C
Mercer-C
EVMS-C
NYMC-C
Rosy Franklin-C
Arizona
Thomas Jefferson-C
Rush
Wake Forest
UNC
Albany
Drexel
Temple
Penn State
UAB
Illinois-Chicago

Edit: and MCG my state school lol

 

[Banco]

Out of the remaining schools, I'd remove UNC and Arizona since you're OOS. Otherwise the rest are fine.

Did you forget south alabama?

 

[Faha]

You can remove UNC, Illinois since you are not a resident of those states. Otherwise send in the secondaries for the other schools on your list. You could apply to a few more schools to increase your odds for an acceptance such as Oakland Beaumont, Western Michigan, St. Louis and Creighton.

 

[coldcase331]

Did you forget south alabama?

Although I did go to Alabama, I'm not a resident of the state, and USA only takes in state applicants.

You can remove UNC, Illinois since you are not a resident of those states. Otherwise send in the secondaries for the other schools on your list. You could apply to a few more schools to increase your odds for an acceptance such as Oakland Beaumont, Western Michigan, St. Louis and Creighton.

And I thought Illinois was relatively decent with OOS, just really high tuition for the first year? Also, because I got 19 secondaries in the span of a week, I had to get selective with which ones I did first, Creighton and Georgetown are already past the 2 week marks, so I decided not to do them. Unless you think it's still worth throwing my hat into the ring.

 

[Faha]

Although I did go to Alabama, I'm not a resident of the state, and USA only takes in state applicants.



And I thought Illinois was relatively decent with OOS, just really high tuition for the first year? Also, because I got 19 secondaries in the span of a week, I had to get selective with which ones I did first, Creighton and Georgetown are already past the 2 week marks, so I decided not to do them. Unless you think it's still worth throwing my hat into the ring.

Creighton and Georgetown are worth sending in secondaries as your stats are competitive for an interview.