34 MCAT with a sharp J curve

[Jabbed]

cGPA 3.45
sGPA 3.33
MCAT 34 (12/11/11)
FL residency

My GPA alone disqualifies me from being a competitive candidate at many MD schools... but I'm wondering how important the upward trend of my GPA is from year to year. As you can see:

Freshman Year: 3.34
Sophomore Year: 2.73 (2.95 and 2.49)
Junior Year: 3.71
Senior Year: 3.936

The poor freshman/sophomore year performance was due to reasons outside of academics and is heavily mentioned in my committee letter. While I know my chances are pretty severely hampered, what range of schools should I consider applying to with these stats? A LizzyM of 68.5 seems to keep me out of the running for any top 50 school, but should I consider revising that number given my strong upwards trend?

I would greatly appreciate any advice more specific than "apply early and broadly."

My list:

Long shots:
Dartmouth
Case Western
Duke
Mayo

Reach:
Emory
Ohio State
UCF
Einstein

Competitive:
Boston University
Rochester
MC Wisconsin
University of Miami
University of Florida
Georgetown
Loyola
Tufts
Jefferson
V Tech
FIU
Temple
Albany
George Washington

Very competitive
Wake Forest
Vermont
New York Medical
Drexel
Tulane
Florida State
Chicago Med

Thoughts?

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[Omppu27]

Apply early and broadly.








But seriously, I think if you had legitimate reasons for a poor freshman and sophmore year, your GPA won't hurt you as much as you think it might, especially with an impressive (and balanced!!) MCAT score.

How are you ECs? What's your state of residency? What kind of location would you like to go to school in (big city? east, midwest, west?)?

 

[Jabbed]

Florida residency but hoping to matriculate in the northeast. ECs are meh: 2 years employment as an ED scribe (2000 hours), EMT experience, 300 hours assisting in a special needs classroom, and the usual smattering of non-leadership volunteering and clubs.

No research or publications, but I have a lab lined up for my gap year. Any gap year advice would also be more than welcomed!

What I'd really like to know though is what my adjusted LizzyM score should be? I know that its not the end-all be-all, but it does seem quite handy for judging how competitive an application is on stats alone. I'm very worried about being top heavy on my school list if I apply to the schools that I really want.

 

[gmcguitar4]

You are freakin out too much. You will def get some interviews if you apply broadly. Your chances are only severely hampered for top schools.

 

[dahassa]

cGPA 3.45
sGPA 3.33
MCAT 34 (12/11/11)

My GPA alone disqualifies me from being a competitive candidate at many MD schools... but I'm wondering how important the upward trend of my GPA is from year to year. As you can see:

Freshman Year: 3.34
Sophomore Year: 2.73 (2.95 and 2.49)
Junior Year: 3.71
Senior Year: 3.936

The poor freshman/sophomore year performance was due to reasons outside of academics and is heavily mentioned in my committee letter. While I know my chances are pretty severely hampered, what range of schools should I consider applying to with these stats? A LizzyM of 68.5 seems to keep me out of the running for any top 50 school, but should I consider revising that number given my strong upwards trend?

I would greatly appreciate any advice more specific than "apply early and broadly."

I'm sure the upward trend will help a lot, but it would be tough for any of us to quantify and tell you how much it would change your Lizzy M score. Unless there is something you haven't told us (multiple research publications or other super awesome EC), I would imagine the top 25 are out. I think at some of the lower end top 50 schools you might have a chance. At Georgetown for example, for matriculated students the average sGPA is 3.55 with a 31 MCAT. GW I believe is a 3.7 cGPA/30 MCAT. So while your GPA is a little low, I would def apply to a few. (the ones I mentioned have a ton of applicants so I would also include other top 50s with fewer applicants). I would also apply to a ton of great schools not in the top 50 and my state schools.

 

[Jabbed]

Would this be a sensible list or am I dreaming a bit?

Dartmouth (long shot)
Case Western (long shot)
Duke (long shot)
Mayo (long shot)
Emory
Ohio State
UCF
Einstein
BU
Rochester
MC Wisconsin
UM
UF
Georgetown
Loyola
Tufts
Jefferson
V. Tech
FIU
Temple
Albany
George Washington

 

[October88]

Would this be a sensible list or am I dreaming a bit?

Dartmouth (long shot)
Case Western (long shot)
Duke (long shot)
Mayo (long shot)
Emory
Ohio State
UCF
Einstein
BU
Rochester
MC Wisconsin
UM
UF
Georgetown
Loyola
Tufts
Jefferson
V. Tech
FIU
Temple
Albany
George Washington

I would try to find info about the GPA and LizzyM cutoffs for each school so that you won't just be wasting an application.

If um is Michigan that would be a long shot too.

I definitely would add a few more safer schools! I wouldn't want to have to reapply.

 

[Jabbed]

I would try to find info about the GPA and LizzyM cutoffs for each school so that you won't just be wasting an application.

If um is Michigan that would be a long shot too.

I definitely would add a few more safer schools! I wouldn't want to have to reapply.

UM is University of Miami (in-state).

This is kind of at the heart of what I'm asking. I'm not sure how competitive I am given that I only have a Lizzy of 68.5 but a strong upwards trend with an associated sob story. My MCAT score is competitive at all schools from Emory onwards, so I took that as a guideline for coming up with the list. Should I treat myself as a 68.5 or fudge the numbers to reflect my improved performance over the past 2 years?

Thanks for the great advice so far!

 

[Jabbed]

Long shots:

• 
  Dartmouth
  Case Western
  Duke
  Mayo

Reach:

• 
  Emory
  Ohio State
  UCF
  Einstein

Competitive:

• 
  Boston University
  Rochester
  MC Wisconsin
  University of Miami
  University of Florida
  Georgetown
  Loyola
  Tufts
  Jefferson
  V Tech
  FIU
  Temple
  Albany
  George Washington

Very competitive

• 
  Wake Forest
  Vermont
  New York Medical
  Drexel
  Tulane
  Florida State
  Chicago Med

Thoughts?

 

[Goro]

There are schools out there that do reward reinvention (Albany and BU come to mind, Tulane possibly). best to call some admissions deans and see if you're competetive.

Also, shoot for low-tier schools (no shame there), like NYMC, Rosy Franklin and also try ALL the new MD programs.

Plus, your state school, if any.

You're also fine for any DO program, including mine.

cGPA 3.45
sGPA 3.33
MCAT 34 (12/11/11)

My GPA alone disqualifies me from being a competitive candidate at many MD schools... but I'm wondering how important the upward trend of my GPA is from year to year. As you can see:

Freshman Year: 3.34
Sophomore Year: 2.73 (2.95 and 2.49)
Junior Year: 3.71
Senior Year: 3.936

The poor freshman/sophomore year performance was due to reasons outside of academics and is heavily mentioned in my committee letter. While I know my chances are pretty severely hampered, what range of schools should I consider applying to with these stats? A LizzyM of 68.5 seems to keep me out of the running for any top 50 school, but should I consider revising that number given my strong upwards trend?

I would greatly appreciate any advice more specific than "apply early and broadly."

 

[Jabbed]

Any advice/recommendations on my school list? (edited original post to include it)

 

[Jabbed]

Shameful bump.

 

[padfoot777]

Add a few well respected DO programs to your list and I'd say you're more than set for this cycle. Filling out secondaries for almost 30 schools is going to cost a TON of $$$ and be super time consuming. Application season is stressful enough, don't beat yourself up about your first two years of college so much (your MCAT is higher than avg at some schools on your list, and your GPA is lil lower than ballpark at those schools). Just so you know interview>>>stats most of the time. I'd say throw down PCOM and UMDNJ for DO programs if you're trying to come up to the northeast. They're both great schools who match students to impressive programs

 

[padfoot777]

Dont get discouraged if you see students with lower stats than you get more interviews or accepted into programs you didnt btw. You're going to see stuff during interview season that will literally make NO sense to you at all lol. Keep your head, focus on you, and as long as you interview well you'll get into a school