37 MCAT, 3.91 GPA. Schools??

[TheVirg]

37 MCAT: 10 (VR), 14 (PS), 13 (BS)
cGPA: 3.91
sGPA: 3.95
Virginia resident, ORM

Employment/Research:
2 Summers of Research (650+ hours), one publication, one symposium presentation
1 Summer working with brain damaged patients (200+ hours)
1 Year of tutoring

Volunteering:
1 Year hospital volunteering + 1 summer hospital volunteering (~200 hours)
Other vounteering: honor society, local library, health department (underserved community), etc. (~70 hours)

Shadowing:
~50 hours across a pretty broad range of doctors (Sports med, general practice, dermatology, some hospital specialties, free clinic)

Basically I did not know I wanted to go to medical school until my Junior year (where I am currently, some of the above numbers are projected). All of this mostly happened after my second year, but I think I have a lot in terms of growth and career exploration. Here's my school list. Are there any schools to completely drop or to consider adding?

UVA
Virginia Tech
Virginia Commonwealth (VCU)
UNC
Duke
Vanderbilt
UMD
UMich
Cornell
Mt. Sinai
Columbia
Connecticut
BU
Einstein
Wisconsin
University of Toronto
Tennessee
Yale
Pitt

I would really prefer to go out of state (Virginia) but I can't seem to find many mid-tier schools with palatable acceptance rates for OOS or OOR. Any help?

Thank you!

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[Relax!]

I would really prefer to go out of state (Virginia) but I can't seem to find many mid-tier schools with palatable acceptance rates for OOS or OOR. Any help?

Your stats seem good enough for most of the schools on your list. Other "mid-tiers" you could consider are Dartmouth, Rochester, Georgetown, GW, Tufts. U of Toronto prefers Canadian applicants, and Tennessee heavily favors in-state as well, so research those schools carefully before applying.

 

[Goro]

You're golden! Nothing wrong with aiming high. Still, some of the public schools you had really favor in-staters.

NYU
U Miami
Duke
Emory
UVA
Virginia Tech
Virginia Commonwealth (VCU)
UNC
Duke
Vanderbilt or U Penn
UMich
Cornell
Mt. Sinai
Columbia
BU
Einstein
Wisconsin
Yale or Harvard or JHU
Pitt or Northwestern
UNC (maybe)
U WV
Keck
USF Morsani
U AZ
U CO
U VM
UCLA
UCI
UCSF

 

[WedgeDawg]

UVA IF YOU INTERVIEW "OKAY" I GUARANTEE YOU'LL GET IN HERE
Virginia Tech MAYBE DROP
Virginia Commonwealth (VCU)
UNC DROP
Duke
Vanderbilt
UMD DROP
UMich
Cornell
Mt. Sinai
Columbia
Connecticut MAYBE DROP
BU
Einstein
Wisconsin MAYBE DROP
University of Toronto DROP
Tennessee DROP
Yale
Pitt

Suggestions to add:
Upper tiers: Northwestern, Harvard, Penn, NYU, Hopkins, Stanford, Emory
Mid tiers: Dartmouth, Rochester, USC-Keck, Wake Forest

@Goro, I'm not sure why you're suggesting UNC to applicants from Virginia (I remember you suggested the same to me when I was making my list) - they have OOS matriculation rates in the single digits! Do they in fact accept a lot of Virginians who just decide not to go?

 

[Goro]

25 OOSers in a class of 180 is not single digits. Maybe your stats weren't the same as OP? Or I might not have looked as carefully at UNC as I did yesterday.


@Goro, I'm not sure why you're suggesting UNC to applicants from Virginia (I remember you suggested the same to me when I was making my list) - they have OOS matriculation rates in the single digits! Do they in fact accept a lot of Virginians who just decide not to go?[/QUOTE]

 

[Relax!]

FYI, UMD takes more OOS students than Wisconsin, Tennessee or UNC. UNC, however, is a great school and you have very good stats, so you may have a shot, as Goro is implying. Might be best to drop Wisconsin and Tennessee though.

 

[WedgeDawg]

25 OOSers in a class of 180 is not single digits. Maybe your stats weren't the same as OP? Or I might not have looked as carefully at UNC as I did yesterday.

Hmm, interesting, I just looked at their website and they do in fact have around 25 (a bit more actually) out of state (only 2 from VA though). Strange, because on MSAR I thought it said only 8 or 9 (though MSAR has been known to be wrong about things, especially matriculation data). Thanks for clarifying.

 

[Doug Underhill]

I would ditch the low-return OOS, especially Toronto. To replace it, I would take the sandwich approach and add Mayo to your application between two top tier private MDs that strongly appeal to you.

 

[Goro]

U MD is not as stringent as I thought they were for OOSers. They took 46 last year for a class of 163. However, if you're a MD resident, your odds of being accepted if given II are ~50%. OOSer: ~20-25%.

So, OP, I suggest that you can put U MD back on the list!

FYI, UMD takes more OOS students than Wisconsin, Tennessee or UNC. UNC, however, is a great school and you have very good stats, so you may have a shot, as Goro is implying. Might be best to drop Wisconsin and Tennessee though.

 

[TheVirg]

I have noticed that a lot of people have updated their WAMC posts with results from this cycle. I haven't made an MDApps, so I figured I would join in because I know looking through similar WAMC threads helped me finalize my school list.

Accepted:
UVA, NYU, Mount Sinai, VT Carilion, and VCU

Waitlisted: Pitt, Columbia, Cornell, Vanderbilt

II, Declined: Ohio State and SUNY Downstate

Rejected: Yale, Duke, USC Keck, Rochester, Tufts, Connecticut, Maryland, Wake Forest, Wisconsin

*I did not receive any post-interview rejections but obviously got on a number of waitlists.

For future applicants: I did not fully understand how difficult it would be to apply to OOS schools. I received no love from Maryland, Connecticut, Wake, and Wisconsin even though I had reasonable ties to some of them. If I were to apply again I would have removed these schools and applied to private OOS schools with no in-state preference. Obviously this is retrospective, but I now realize that I didn't fit these schools missions exceptionally well on top of being OOS. Also, do your best to make your application stand out in some way. I regret not having any particular part of my application stand out, whether it was research, volunteerism, or leadership. Talking to other applicants throughout the process has made me realize how many applicants have truly remarkable aspects of their applications. My pretty average interview skills combined with no outstanding section of my application probably contributed to my waitlists.

If anybody has specific questions about these schools then feel free to PM me and i'll get back to you as soon as I can. I'm very happy with the results of my cycle and hope that this information will eventually help someone with similar stats. Last but not least, be receptive to the advice of Goro, Wedge, Grapes, etc. because you never know when that information will help you. Good luck!