MD 3.94 cGPA, 3.93 sGPA, 37 MCAT. Need help with school list.

[Tappinfool66]

Hi everyone,

I’m looking for some advice on the schools I’m thinking of applying to this upcoming cycle.

About me:
I’m a PA resident living in Philadelphia currently. I did my undergrad here in Philly too, where I got my degree in Spanish last May. As for my stats, I have a 3.94 cGPA, a 3.93 sGPA and a 37 MCAT (10VR, 13BS, 14PS). I’m in my first gap year working as an ED scribe in a children’s hospital right now and I’ve been doing that for the past six months or so. I plan on staying there for at least another six months or so, possibly for the next year and a half until I start med school.

The following is what I’ll be listing on my experiences section:
-Phi Beta Kappa Induction
-Sigma Delta Pi (National Spanish Honors Society) Induction
-Tutoring (paid - work study): ~500 hours

GED students: ~200 hours
Student-athletes: ~150 hours
First generation college students: ~150 hours​

-Diamond Peer Teaching (undergrad online homework “TA” for Organic Chemistry I): ~ 150 hours
-ED Scribing: ~10 months (by the time I apply)
-Shadowing: hopefully ~100 hours (I currently have about 30 in general surgery and I’m hoping to get more over the course of this Spring in ortho, ENT, oncology and/or primary care, all likely pediatric since I work in a children’s hospital)
-Study Abroad semester in Spain: 6 months
-Service Immersion in Eastern Kentucky (Habitat for Humanity and similar organizations): 4 weeks, one week per summer for past four years
-Volunteer/tutor/mentor for an organization that helps Spanish-speaking children with afterschool tutoring: ~75 hours
-Spinning: ~2.5 years (I got really into spinning over two years ago and it helped me lose some weight. I’m considering getting certified to teach courses soon and this is a tentative thing I might put on my experiences section)

Here’s my list of 20 (in no particular order) so far:
Mayo
Penn
Temple
Jefferson
Pittsburgh
Penn State
Vanderbilt
Mt. Sinai / Icahn
NYU
UCSF
Washington University in St. Louis
University of Washington in Seattle
BU
Tufts
Case Western
University of Chicago / Pritzker
University of Michigan
Northwestern University / Feinberg
University of Albany
University of Colorado

I don’t have any research experience and, while I’ll keep an eye out, I don’t see myself getting any before I apply or even during the application cycle. That being said, I think I’m kind of a unique applicant with my Spanish major, my studying abroad, taking two gap years to work in an ED and the fact that I took some time off in the middle of college to take care of my dad, who was disabled, which I write about that in my personal statement. So, do you guys see anything wrong with my schools list? I know my stats will be considered competitive at most places, which has inadvertently made it kind of hard putting a list together because I can't really tell how many reach/safety schools I have. Is my list too top heavy? Is there room for another top tier school or two? Are there any schools that are on my list that I should take off of it? Are there any schools not on my list that you guys think would be good to apply to? Thanks in advance for everyone’s help and advice!

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[OneTwoThreeFour]

You are a good applicant, but not necessarily unique. If anything, it isn't your major/abroad/gap year that makes you unique; I would say it is much more significant that you took time off in the middle of college to take care of your father. I'm not an adcom, but I'd say that commitment to family and placing someone else's needs over your own make you stand out in a good way. As far as your school list, I think Icahn might be more research oriented and UW is strongly, strongly biased towards Washington residents. I'm not as familiar with some of the other institutions. I would recommend schools like Rochester (a little personal bias), Dartmouth, & BU.

Hi everyone,

I’m looking for some advice on the schools I’m thinking of applying to this upcoming cycle.

About me:
I’m a PA resident living in Philadelphia currently. I did my undergrad here in Philly too, where I got my degree in Spanish last May. As for my stats, I have a 3.94 cGPA, a 3.93 sGPA and a 37 MCAT (10VR, 13BS, 14PS). I’m in my first gap year working as an ED scribe in a children’s hospital right now and I’ve been doing that for the past six months or so. I plan on staying there for at least another six months or so, possibly for the next year and a half until I start med school.

The following is what I’ll be listing on my experiences section:
-Phi Beta Kappa Induction
-Sigma Delta Pi (National Spanish Honors Society) Induction
-Tutoring: ~500 hours

GED students: ~200 hours
Student-athletes: ~150 hours
First generation college students: ~150 hours​

-Diamond Peer Teaching (undergrad online homework “TA” for Organic Chemistry I): ~ 150 hours
-ED Scribing: ~10 months (by the time I apply)
-Shadowing: hopefully ~100 hours (I currently have about 30 in general surgery and I’m hoping to get more over the course of this Spring in ortho, ENT, oncology and/or primary care, all likely pediatric since I work in a children’s hospital)
-Study Abroad semester in Spain: 6 months
-Service Immersion in Eastern Kentucky (Habitat for Humanity and similar organizations): 4 weeks, one week per summer for past four years
-Volunteer/tutor/mentor for an organization that helps Spanish-speaking children with afterschool tutoring: ~75 hours
-Spinning: ~2.5 years (I got really into spinning over two years ago and it helped me lose some weight. I’m considering getting certified to teach courses soon and this is a tentative thing I might put on my experiences section)

Here’s my list of 20 (in no particular order) so far:
Mayo
Penn
Temple
Jefferson
Pittsburgh
Penn State
Vanderbilt
Mt. Sinai / Icahn
NYU
UCSF
Washington University in St. Louis
University of Washington in Seattle
BU
Tufts
Case Western
University of Chicago / Pritzker
University of Michigan
Northwestern University / Feinberg
University of Albany
University of Colorado

I don’t have any research experience and, while I’ll keep an eye out, I don’t see myself getting any before I apply or even during the application cycle. That being said, I think I’m kind of a unique applicant with my Spanish major, my studying abroad and my gap years. I also took some time off in the middle of college to take care of my dad, who was disabled, and I write about that in my personal statement. So, do you guys see anything wrong with my schools list? I know my stats will be considered competitive at most places, which has inadvertently made it kind of hard putting a list together because I can't really tell how many reach/safety schools I have. Is my list too top heavy? Is there room for another top tier school or two? Are there any schools that are on my list that I should take off of it? Are there any schools not on my list that you guys think would be good to apply to? Thanks in advance for everyone’s help and advice!

 

[Goro]

Nothing wrong with aiming high. Great looking app. I suspect that the research heavy schools might want some research. UC schools are really hard to get into, especially for OOS. Suggest trading off UCSF for maybe Duke, Vanderbuilt, Baylor, U Penn, or Einstein.

Here’s my list of 20 (in no particular order) so far:
Mayo
Penn
Temple
Jefferson
Pittsburgh
Penn State
Vanderbilt
Mt. Sinai / Icahn
NYU
UCSF
Washington University in St. Louis
University of Washington in Seattle
BU
Tufts
Case Western
University of Chicago / Pritzker
University of Michigan
Northwestern University / Feinberg
University of Albany
University of Colorado

 

[nemo123]

It's hard to gauge how your app will fare without any research experience. That being said, you are a more interesting applicant with your Spanish major background. Despite the lack of research, the rest of your ECs are solid, but like another poster said, nothing too unique though. I would still apply to UCSF. Even though they're very picky over who they interview and ultimately accept, they like interesting applicants and you could possibly fit a mold that they're looking for.

I would get rid of some of the research heavy schools like Northwestern, Penn, Sinai, and Pritzker.

 

[Tappinfool66]

Nothing wrong with aiming high. Great looking app. I suspect that the research heavy schools might want some research. UC schools are really hard to get into, especially for OOS. Suggest trading off UCSF for maybe Duke, Vanderbuilt, Baylor, U Penn, or Einstein.

Great, thanks! I've added Duke and Einstein (Penn and Vandy were already on there). I've also added a few more schools that weren't so "top tier." I think I'll keep UCSF just to give trying for at least one Cali school a shot. I'm at 26 now, though, and I don't think I really want to apply to that many schools. Are there any others that you (or anyone else on here) think should come off my list? I also tried arranging them more in decreasing order of ranking (apart from Mayo, my top choice, and the PA schools I'm planning on applying to).

Mayo
Penn
Temple
Jefferson
Pittsburg
Penn State
UCSF
Washington University in St. Louis
Duke
University of Washington in Seattle
University of Chicago / Pritzker
University of Michigan
Vanderbilt
Northwestern University / Feinberg
Mt. Sinai / Icahn
NYU
Case Western
Emory
BU
University of Rochester
Albert Einstein
Georgetown
Tufts
University of Albany
University of Colorado
Medical College of Wisconsin

 

[Goro]

You can trade out UCSF for Stanford. I think you can do better than MCW....like with Miami.

Great, thanks! I've added Duke and Einstein (Penn and Vandy were already on there). I've also added a few more schools that weren't so "top tier." I think I'll keep UCSF just to give trying for at least one Cali school a shot. I'm at 26 now, though, and I don't think I really want to apply to that many schools. Are there any others that you (or anyone else on here) think should come off my list? I also tried arranging them more in decreasing order of ranking (apart from Mayo, my top choice, and the PA schools I'm planning on applying to).

Mayo
Penn
Temple
Jefferson
Pittsburg
Penn State
UCSF
Washington University in St. Louis
Duke
University of Washington in Seattle
University of Chicago / Pritzker
University of Michigan
Vanderbilt
Northwestern University / Feinberg
Mt. Sinai / Icahn
NYU
Case Western
Emory
BU
University of Rochester
Albert Einstein
Georgetown
Tufts
University of Albany
University of Colorado
Medical College of Wisconsin

 

[nemo123]

Not Stanford. They look for applicants with extremely research heavy backgrounds unless an applicant has something very unique to offer to the class. Keep UCSF, OP. Either way, you don't need to pay anything to UCSF unless you get invited to complete a secondary anyway.

OP, I'd get rid of Northwestern. They like to see some amount of research experience, and it'll be an uphill battle for you to get an interview there without any in your app. The other school I'd get rid of is UW. They interview a very small number of OOS applicants, and it wouldn't be worth your money to apply there. Given your heavy volunteer experiences, I might add USC.

 

[Tappinfool66]

It's hard to gauge how your app will fare without any research experience. That being said, you are a more interesting applicant with your Spanish major background. Despite the lack of research, the rest of your ECs are solid, but like another poster said, nothing too unique though. I would still apply to UCSF. Even though they're very picky over who they interview and ultimately accept, they like interesting applicants and you could possibly fit a mold that they're looking for.

I would get rid of some of the research heavy schools like Northwestern, Penn, Sinai, and Pritzker.

Not Stanford. They look for applicants with extremely research heavy backgrounds unless an applicant has something very unique to offer to the class. Keep UCSF, OP. Either way, you don't need to pay anything to UCSF unless you get invited to complete a secondary anyway.

OP, I'd get rid of Northwestern. They like to see some amount of research experience, and it'll be an uphill battle for you to get an interview there without any in your app. The other school I'd get rid of is UW. They interview a very small number of OOS applicants, and it wouldn't be worth your money to apply there. Given your heavy volunteer experiences, I might add USC.

Great, thanks for the reply! I took out Northwestern, Sinai and UW. I think I'll keep Penn just because I've lived in Philly for five years and in PA my whole life so, even though PA schools don't have a big preference for IS applicants, I'd like to apply to most of the schools in the state. I think I'll also keep Pritzker just because it seems like a really good school and I think I could be really happy there. It'll be one of my reaches

I also added USC and Miami. Maybe it'll even help at those schools that I speak Spanish? I'm at about 23 now, though. Should I consider taking WashU off? In general would you say my list looks decently balanced now? I know my stats are good but aside from that I don't think I'm a spectacular applicant and I don't want to risk not getting in somewhere because I applied to too many schools that were out of my reach.

Mayo
Penn
Temple
Jefferson
Pittsburg
Penn State
UCSF
Washington University in St. Louis
Duke
University of Chicago / Pritzker
University of Michigan
Vanderbilt
NYU
Emory
USC
BU
University of Rochester
Albert Einstein
Georgetown
University of Miami
Tufts
University of Albany
University of Colorado

 

[Tappinfool66]

Given your heavy volunteer experiences, I might add USC.

Also, I wouldn't say I have really heavy volunteer experience. Are you talking about 500 hours of tutoring I did? I should mention that I did that as work study during school so it was paid work.

 

[Tappinfool66]

Bump? Anyone else have any advice/suggestions? Here's my list currently:

Mayo
Penn
Temple
Jefferson
Pittsburg
Penn State
UCSF
Washington University in St. Louis
Duke
University of Chicago / Pritzker
University of Michigan
Vanderbilt
NYU
Emory
USC
BU
University of Rochester
Albert Einstein
Georgetown
University of Miami
Tufts
University of Albany
University of Colorado

Thanks in advance!