519, ~3.8 cGPA ~3.85 sGPA; Looking to minimize TOS

[Horse Apiece]

ORM, 519 fairly balanced MCAT (only taken once). ~3.8 cGPA, and slighly higher sGPA. Probably going to stay the same or increase after this year. Major in one of the Natural Sciences. Non-prestigious Undergrad. Will be applying the next cycle after graduation in Spring 2017. Looking at either clinical or lab work for the gap year, and do have prior clinical work experience (and connections) which should help in finding a job. Going to up the shadowing a bit, and continue clinical volunteering and/or nonclinical (dependent on where I end up living).

Experiences:
All within the last three years:
Clinical:
>1000 hrs. between paid and volunteer work (~200 hours of which is clinical volunteering).
Shadowing sufficient/will improve on over this year.

Research:
>2 years between two labs. No publications, but do have posters.

Non-clinical:
Student government committee 3 years.
Leadership position and several smaller roles >2 years, many hours
Nonclinical volunteering, longitudinal and also some sporadic, >200 hours total
Employment >3000 hours.
Slightly less common hobbies that will be on app.
*Will fill in primary application with greater detail.

LORs should be very good, as I have developed great relations with my PI, and other letter writers.

My main hope is to minimize the amount of debt. I know school policy can differ for parental & student contribution, and I am looking to apply to those which may be generous given my situation. I know I probably have a shot at many of these schools although I am not a top candidate. I would like to apply to those where I might be a potential scholarship/good financial aid candidate, and am aware that best case scenario; I would be just average for many of the schools currently on my list.

Current School List:
*EDIT* LIST UPDATED AFTER RECEIVING FEEDBACK; put here to help future applicants.
Hopkins
U. Chicago (Pritzker)
Stanford
Harvard
Yale
Columbia
U. Michigan
Vanderbilt
Case Western
Sinai
NYU
Emory
Einstein
Duke
Penn.
WashU (St. Louis)
USC - Keck
Rochester
Mayo (AZ), Mayo (MN)
Northwestern
*State schools (which I'm very blessed to have good options for)
-Would like to potentially place: Baylor, UCLA (bad for OOS?), Mayo (MN) on my list. Is it worth it to extend my list beyond ~20? I could if needed spare the money, but am off put by the total cost of applying that I will probably have (Primaries + Secondaries currently would be about $3000, not including potential interviews!).

Other criteria that I value for schools that I used to formulate my current list(not all meet all criteria): Have VA hospital affiliations (I hear students can make a pretty good impact through the VA on rotations to help influence their patients lives and treatment), student run clinics, good global health programs, P/F (pretty much every top school has this for the first two years), collaborative environment, no mandatory lecture.

@LizzyM @Goro @WedgeDawg @Catalystik @gyngyn

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[LizzyM]

Start by buying the MSAR. Focus on schools friendly to OOS candidates with low average debt among grads. I'm not here to do your homework.

 

[Lawpy]

Start by buying the MSAR. Focus on schools friendly to OOS candidates with low average debt among grads. I'm not here to do your homework.

Ah but you did provide some very useful rules of thumb

1. Look at each school on the list. Ask yourself, "If this were the only school I was admitted to and if I were offered only loans to attend, would I go here?" If the answer is no, strike it from the list.
   
2. Imagine that you are invited to interview at all of the schools but can only attend 20 interviews. Which 20 would you want to interview at? That's your list.

I like following WAMC layouts like WedgeDawg's WAMC Procedure shown below:

Here is how I approached picking my medical school list.

1. Wrote down my stats, calculated my LizzyM score

2. Went through a list of med schools (sources include the current school-specific discussion forum which lists them alphabetically, USNWR list, or MSAR - you'll get more or less the same result either way) and wrote down any schools I was possibly interested in attending. I came up with a list of around 40 schools.

3. Looked for all schools in my state or which gave preference to applicants from my state. Made sure they were on my list and/or added them to my list.

4. Went through my list and tabulated median GPA (two decimal places) and MCAT for each school based on MSAR data and then sorted them in excel by MCAT score.

5. Separated them generally into reach/target/"safety" categories

6. Pruned my list down to a reasonable number of schools by removing those I wasn't really interested in for whatever reason. I ended up going against the golden rule of SDN and removed half of my state schools as well. I was arrogant and decided that I would rather reapply than go to these schools. Most applicants should not do this. I ended up with 24 schools which was, I felt, a reasonable number.

7. Make sure I had an adequate balance of reach/target/"safety" (balance doesn't have to be 1:1:1 - it depends on your applicant profile. Mine was around 4:1:1).

NOW

If I were to do this again, or advise someone else, I would add these steps (indicated by number where they should fall into this list):

5.5. Look at the 10th and 90th percentile sGPA, cGPA, and MCAT of all the schools on the list. If my numbers fell outside the list, I would put them in a "probationary" category.

6.1. Don't remove half my state schools.

6.5. Go through the probationary list and remove any schools that were not from my state and that I didn't feel really really strongly about wanting to possibly attend.

8. Make sure I have at least 20 schools. If I didn't have 20, I would go back to my original list and add some schools back in, preferably in the target range.

FINALLY

What is your MCAT?

Also moving to WAMC

 

[WedgeDawg]

Sorry if I overlooked this in your post, but what state are you from?

 

[Horse Apiece]

Start by buying the MSAR. Focus on schools friendly to OOS candidates with low average debt among grads. I'm not here to do your homework.

I have already bought the MSAR, and have made several revisions to my list, which is why I am now asking for advice on that list from people who are more familiar with the process. Especially on the things that schools aren't always advertising; like how their aid is calculated. Sorry if you got the wrong impression from my post.

Sorry if I overlooked this in your post, but what state are you from?

You didn't miss it. I did not include my state. There are not a terribly large amount of applicants, and more than one school. I am above the 90th percentile MCAT, and above the median GPA I believe, for all the schools.

 

[Goro]

I assume that you'll be applying in the cycle? if so, I recommend any school on your list. Suggest adding Columbia, U Miami, Cornell, Hofstra, Keck and/or BU. Also consider Pitt and both Mayos.

I can't help you with finances...that's your job, to negotiate scholarships.

Baylor is simply too low a yield for a non-Texan. Given your financial constraints, I recommend against UCLA, even though you're UCLA (and UCSF) caliber.

 

[Horse Apiece]

I assume that you'll be applying in the cycle? if so, I recommend any school on your list. Suggest adding Columbia, U Miami, Cornell, Hofstra, Keck and/or BU. Also consider Pitt and both Mayos.

I can't help you with finances...that's your job, to negotiate scholarships.

Baylor is simply too low a yield for a non-Texan. Given your financial constraints, I recommend against UCLA, even though you're UCLA (and UCSF) caliber.

Thank you for the advice. I will definitely take it into account for my final list. I will be applying next june.

As for the financial aspect, a follow up question: is it better to apply to some schools where I will be at or near their 90th for accepted in the hopes of a scholarship, or would this be a low yield endeavor?
At all the top schools it seems, at most, my stats would be average (so not likely to get aid, unless they spread the love pretty far, was my assumption, or calculate aid generously). I did try to narrow it down from my original list (~47 on MSAR) by fit and curriculum, OOS interviews, etc, as written at the end of my OP.

Thanks again!

 

[Goro]

Financial aid is way outside my expertise. Best to inquire in the school-specific threads about your possible eligibility.

All I can do is tell you where I think you're competitive.

Thank you for the advice. I will definitely take it into account for my final list. I will be applying next june.

As for the financial aspect, a follow up question: is it better to apply to some schools where I will be at or near their 90th for accepted in the hopes of a scholarship, or would this be a low yield endeavor?
At all the top schools it seems, at most, my stats would be average (so not likely to get aid, unless they spread the love pretty far, was my assumption, or calculate aid generously). I did try to narrow it down from my original list (~47 on MSAR) by fit and curriculum, OOS interviews, etc, as written at the end of my OP.

Thanks again!