- Joined
- Apr 22, 2013
- Messages
- 71
- Reaction score
- 88
Hi all! First of all, sorry about the length of this post...I'm relatively new to SDN (been lurking since last summer, but made barely any comments) and I've been freaking out about where to apply based on my stats.
That said, I would be so appreciative if somebody could take a look at my stats, info and tentative school list and provide some comments or suggestions about where I should apply! I'm doing the best I can with MSAR (yes I purchased it), school websites, books, etc. but I feel like people who are "in the game" would have a better idea. So...here goes!
Stats:
Not-URM, not disadvantaged
New York resident
Just graduated (May 2014) from 4-year private institution in NY; B.S. in Molecular Genetics; music minor
3.87 cumulative GPA (Science GPA is likely around there, but I haven't calculated it yet)
38 MCAT (12/11/15)--this was my second try (April 2014). First try was a 31 (12/08/11) (August 2013)
Clinical/Research ECs:
~200 hours shadowing an ophthalmologist (right now my desired specialty) at a Bronx clinic. Included some patient interaction, and observation of several eye surgeries.
~160 hours intern at an orthodontist's practice; included a lot of direct patient contact
~350 hours research at NIH as a Summer Intern. I worked in the National Eye Institute; included a visit to the clinic for some shadowing. Got a poster out of it, which I presented at my school's poster session.
~200 hours as an unpaid volunteer assisting with ophthalmic/epidemiology research (data collection/organization). Got a poster out of it.
-About 2 years (3 semesters) of research in a lab at school. 10-18 hours a week depending on the semester. Got a lot of great scientific knowledge, but no publications (SO close this past semester). But, a really great LOR from my PI there, and I got an Independent Research credit for each semester.
Other ECs:
-TA for a genetics class (2 semesters, including head TA for 1 of them) and Biology lab (1 semester)
-Biology tutor (1 semester)
-Assistant Resident Adviser to a hall of about 30 freshmen--responsible for fostering a communal atmosphere and planning group social/community service events (1 year)
-member of Society of Undergraduate Biology Students; Running Club; Pit Orchestra; Wind Ensemble
-Running Club executive board (1 semester)
-participant in Journal Club at NIH (summer)
-editor for Journal of Undergraduate Research (3 semesters)
-Worked ~15 hours/week at local library for 1 summer during college (while internship-hunting)
Honors/Awards/Scholarships:
Dean's List (all 8 semesters)
Recipient of Bio Department prize (1 of 10 students to receive it)
Dean's Academic Scholarship recipient (all semesters)
Scholarship for music achievement (all semesters)
Various other scholarships
Letters of Recommendation: Likely very good/strong. Includes a committee letter from my school
Hobbies:
Running, reading, playing music (piano/clarinet), even a little bit of dance here and there.
School List
-here we go!! General trend of this list is from "safer" schools to "reach" schools. My plan is to draw from this list to have about 20 schools by the time I whittle it down. Obviously it's kind of a huge list now so bear with me as I try to figure it out!! (Schools with * are ones that I'm 99% sure I want to apply to.)
Rush
Albany
New York Medical College
Thomas Jefferson*
Hofstra
Temple
SUNY Buffalo*
Rosalind Franklin
Wake Forest*
SUNY Upstate*
SUNY Downstate*
Tufts
St. Louis
UNC
Rochester*
Stony Brook*
Dartmouth*
Emory
Boston
Case Western*
Columbia*
Duke
Hopkins
NYU
Northwestern
Pittsburgh
Vanderbilt
Harvard
Mt. Sinai
U Chicago
Yale
U Penn*
Wash U
I know it's "top-heavy" especially when you get into Hopkins and below. I really liked UPenn from its website so I think I want to apply there, and I know I want to "reach" to a few other places but I really have no clue how to decide where. (I do like WashU...) Since I want to apply to ~20 and have 11 "definites", I guess I'm really just trying to narrow down the others to about 9 or so that I would be likely to get into.
So--any suggestions are much appreciated!! Feel free to add/delete from this list as you want. Please and thank you!! I'm excited to hear from you all and I'm very receptive to any sort of constructive criticism. Be honest--I would be very appreciative.
That said, I would be so appreciative if somebody could take a look at my stats, info and tentative school list and provide some comments or suggestions about where I should apply! I'm doing the best I can with MSAR (yes I purchased it), school websites, books, etc. but I feel like people who are "in the game" would have a better idea. So...here goes!
Stats:
Not-URM, not disadvantaged
New York resident
Just graduated (May 2014) from 4-year private institution in NY; B.S. in Molecular Genetics; music minor
3.87 cumulative GPA (Science GPA is likely around there, but I haven't calculated it yet)
38 MCAT (12/11/15)--this was my second try (April 2014). First try was a 31 (12/08/11) (August 2013)
Clinical/Research ECs:
~200 hours shadowing an ophthalmologist (right now my desired specialty) at a Bronx clinic. Included some patient interaction, and observation of several eye surgeries.
~160 hours intern at an orthodontist's practice; included a lot of direct patient contact
~350 hours research at NIH as a Summer Intern. I worked in the National Eye Institute; included a visit to the clinic for some shadowing. Got a poster out of it, which I presented at my school's poster session.
~200 hours as an unpaid volunteer assisting with ophthalmic/epidemiology research (data collection/organization). Got a poster out of it.
-About 2 years (3 semesters) of research in a lab at school. 10-18 hours a week depending on the semester. Got a lot of great scientific knowledge, but no publications (SO close this past semester). But, a really great LOR from my PI there, and I got an Independent Research credit for each semester.
Other ECs:
-TA for a genetics class (2 semesters, including head TA for 1 of them) and Biology lab (1 semester)
-Biology tutor (1 semester)
-Assistant Resident Adviser to a hall of about 30 freshmen--responsible for fostering a communal atmosphere and planning group social/community service events (1 year)
-member of Society of Undergraduate Biology Students; Running Club; Pit Orchestra; Wind Ensemble
-Running Club executive board (1 semester)
-participant in Journal Club at NIH (summer)
-editor for Journal of Undergraduate Research (3 semesters)
-Worked ~15 hours/week at local library for 1 summer during college (while internship-hunting)
Honors/Awards/Scholarships:
Dean's List (all 8 semesters)
Recipient of Bio Department prize (1 of 10 students to receive it)
Dean's Academic Scholarship recipient (all semesters)
Scholarship for music achievement (all semesters)
Various other scholarships
Letters of Recommendation: Likely very good/strong. Includes a committee letter from my school
Hobbies:
Running, reading, playing music (piano/clarinet), even a little bit of dance here and there.
School List
-here we go!! General trend of this list is from "safer" schools to "reach" schools. My plan is to draw from this list to have about 20 schools by the time I whittle it down. Obviously it's kind of a huge list now so bear with me as I try to figure it out!! (Schools with * are ones that I'm 99% sure I want to apply to.)
Rush
Albany
New York Medical College
Thomas Jefferson*
Hofstra
Temple
SUNY Buffalo*
Rosalind Franklin
Wake Forest*
SUNY Upstate*
SUNY Downstate*
Tufts
St. Louis
UNC
Rochester*
Stony Brook*
Dartmouth*
Emory
Boston
Case Western*
Columbia*
Duke
Hopkins
NYU
Northwestern
Pittsburgh
Vanderbilt
Harvard
Mt. Sinai
U Chicago
Yale
U Penn*
Wash U
I know it's "top-heavy" especially when you get into Hopkins and below. I really liked UPenn from its website so I think I want to apply there, and I know I want to "reach" to a few other places but I really have no clue how to decide where. (I do like WashU...) Since I want to apply to ~20 and have 11 "definites", I guess I'm really just trying to narrow down the others to about 9 or so that I would be likely to get into.
So--any suggestions are much appreciated!! Feel free to add/delete from this list as you want. Please and thank you!! I'm excited to hear from you all and I'm very receptive to any sort of constructive criticism. Be honest--I would be very appreciative.