Asian (Indian) 3.96/511 Applying for MD/DO

[PooshBag]

Hi there,

I will be applying this cycle, and would like to have some advice on my school list.

-VA resident, asian, Attending large public university that is not Ivy league.
LizzyM: 70.5


-Shadowing - 65 hours total
-Volunteer at a Free Clinic - 280 so far, since Oct 2014
-Hospice Volunteer - ~100 Hours so far (absolutely love doing this!)
-Research Internship - poster presentation, no pub-400 hours
-Paid Chem/Orgo tutor- 3hrs/week, for one semester
-Assistant Manager at a Restaurant. Lots of hours.
-ER scribe
-Active member (not leadership position) of some student organizations/clubs. Nothing grand or amazing. Just something i like to be a part of.

-Dean's list,
-Invited to join Phi Kappa Phi, didn't join it though. Still worth mentioning?

*I have applied to some summer programs I am very interested in, but for now I'm just gonna assume this is all, because there is no guarantee i will be granted those summer opportunities.

Please look over my schools, and see if I am a good candidate or not. Please add or subtract schools from the list.

georgetown
gwu
uva
vcu
evms
vt
nymc
hofstra
UMD
Drexel
penn state
Rutgers
chicago rosalind franklin
u of illinois
musc-columbia
St. Louis
university of louisville
Warren alpert (brown university)
Tufts
-------------------------------------------------------------
vcom (currently have family attending here)
msucom
nyit-com
lecom
pcom
mw/ccom

Some of the abbreviations for the schools might be off. I apologize for that. The schools are listed in no particular order. I do have a DO letter.

Thank you for taking the time to read and help.

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[Faha]

You are competitive for any DO school. For MD schools you can delete Louisville, Rutgers, MUSC, UMD and Illinois since they mainly accept their own state residents. Schools you could add include:
Quinnipiac
Albany
Temple
Jefferson
Tulane
Creighton
Loyola
Oakland Beaumont
Henricopolis (if they open in 2017)

 

[PooshBag]

Glad to hear i'm competitive for DO. I really don't care about MD or DO too much. Beggars can't be choosers lol. I just want to be a doctor! I heard Tulane has a high selection bias for students that have done study abroad or volunteer abroad or something. Is that true?

Also, thanks for those recommendations. I'll update my list. Would anyone else like to provide their $0.02?

 

[nonamesleft]

[...] I heard Tulane has a high selection bias for students that have done study abroad or volunteer abroad or something. Is that true?

If you're applying to Tulane, why not LSU-New Orleans also?

 

[PooshBag]

Doesn't LSU New Orleans have a very low OOS acceptance? According to MSAR, they accepted only 15 OOS students out of 2084 OOS applicants. Tulane seems to have a decent OOS acceptance rate, in comparison to other schools. Again, all of my info is from MSAR. I may be wrong, or it may be wrong. Anyone with more expertise is welcome to comment.

 

[WedgeDawg]

Doesn't LSU New Orleans have a very low OOS acceptance? According to MSAR, they accepted only 15 OOS students out of 2084 OOS applicants. Tulane seems to have a decent OOS acceptance rate, in comparison to other schools. Again, all of my info is from MSAR. I may be wrong, or it may be wrong. Anyone with more expertise is welcome to comment.

Nope, you're correctly interpreting MSAR! LSU-NO is not a good choice for you.

You're competitive for low tier MD schools and competitive for any DO school. I would apply broadly to MD schools that don't have an in-state or mission based bias and throw in some DO schools too.

Georgetown and GWU are generally considered low-yield due to the volume of apps, but I think they're okay choices for you since you are from Virginia and you are the type of applicant who might benefit from applying to low yield schools. UVA will be a reach, but worth a shot since you're in-state. VCU, EVMS, VT are all musts, of course. NYMC and Hofstra are good choices too. UMD and MUSC-Columbia have IS bias as well, but I know Virginia applicants with similar stats to you have gotten acceptances there recently, so I would leave those on too. Drexel and Penn State are low yield, but probably worth it for you, and I might tack on Temple and Jefferson as well. Rosalind Franklin is fine. St. Louis is fine, though your MCAT is a little low for them. Rutgers, U-IL, and Louisville are all very in-state heavy, so I would remove them. Your MCAT is a little low for Brown AND they only interview 3% of applicants, so I would leave that one off. Tufts is fine.

I would also consider applying to Quinnipiac, Tulane (not sure about whether they favor people who have studied abroad or not), Loyola, Oakland, West Virginia (I know VA applicants who have interviewed there in recent cycles), and the two University of Arizona schools.

 

[PooshBag]

This is my final list, after many opinions, researching, and MSAR-ing. 24 schools. I feel as though these are the schools that will maximize my chances for MD. All VA schools are on there, because I'm a Virginia resident. Is this list reasonable? Are there any glaring mistakes that you would remove or replace with something else?

Creighton University School of Medicine***
Drexel University College of Medicine

Eastern Virginia Medical School
George Washington University Sch of Med & Hlth Sci
Georgetown University School of Medicine
Hofstra Northwell School of Medicine at Hofstra University
Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University
Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medici***
Marshall Univ Joan C. Edwards School of Medicine
Medical University of South Carolina
New York Medical College
Oakland University William Beaumont School of Medicine***
Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine

Quinnipiac University SOM
Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Scien***
Saint Louis University School of Medicine***
Sidney Kimmel Medical College at Thomas Jefferson University
Tufts University School of Medicine
Tulane University School of Medicine
University of Maryland School of Medicine
University of Virginia School of Medicine
Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicin
Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine
West Virginia University School of Medicine

 

[Faha]

You have a very well thought out list and should receive several interviews.

 

[PooshBag]

You have a very well thought out list and should receive several interviews.

God willing. Thank you for looking over it.

 

[PooshBag]

This is an update for anyone who skims the My Chances section of the forums. I was given 7 MD interviews and 1 DO interview. As of October 17th, 2016, I have attended 5 of the 7 MD interviews. I was fortunate enough to receive two MD acceptances yesterday , one of which came with a very big and significant scholarship.

Thank you for you help, everyone.

10/24/2016 update: Received another MD acceptance. and 1 more DO invite. Total acceptances: 3 MD

 

[Leumas8]

Congratulations. I'm applying next cycle with similar stats so it's nice to see you succeed.

 

[oopsaloo]

This is an update for anyone who skims the My Chances section of the forums. I was given 7 MD interviews and 1 DO interview. As of October 17th, 2016, I have attended 5 of the 7 MD interviews. I was fortunate enough to receive two MD acceptances yesterday , one of which came with a very big and significant scholarship.

Thank you for you help, everyone.

FINALLY. Someone who tells us their outcome after a chance thread instead of leaving us hanging.

 

[okiepoke]

Congrats!! I love hearing successes, its so inspiring. Thank you for sharing

 

[makhan22]

This is an update for anyone who skims the My Chances section of the forums. I was given 7 MD interviews and 1 DO interview. As of October 17th, 2016, I have attended 5 of the 7 MD interviews. I was fortunate enough to receive two MD acceptances yesterday , one of which came with a very big and significant scholarship.

Thank you for you help, everyone.

10/24/2016 update: Received another MD acceptance. and 1 more DO invite. Total acceptances: 3 MD

Do you mind sharing the schools where you got accepted?

 

[Goro]

This is an update for anyone who skims the My Chances section of the forums. I was given 7 MD interviews and 1 DO interview. As of October 17th, 2016, I have attended 5 of the 7 MD interviews. I was fortunate enough to receive two MD acceptances yesterday , one of which came with a very big and significant scholarship.

Thank you for you help, everyone.

10/24/2016 update: Received another MD acceptance. and 1 more DO invite. Total acceptances: 3 MD

 

[LoveBeingHuman:)]

Nope, you're correctly interpreting MSAR! LSU-NO is not a good choice for you.

You're competitive for low tier MD schools and competitive for any DO school. I would apply broadly to MD schools that don't have an in-state or mission based bias and throw in some DO schools too.

Georgetown and GWU are generally considered low-yield due to the volume of apps, but I think they're okay choices for you since you are from Virginia and you are the type of applicant who might benefit from applying to low yield schools. UVA will be a reach, but worth a shot since you're in-state. VCU, EVMS, VT are all musts, of course. NYMC and Hofstra are good choices too. UMD and MUSC-Columbia have IS bias as well, but I know Virginia applicants with similar stats to you have gotten acceptances there recently, so I would leave those on too. Drexel and Penn State are low yield, but probably worth it for you, and I might tack on Temple and Jefferson as well. Rosalind Franklin is fine. St. Louis is fine, though your MCAT is a little low for them. Rutgers, U-IL, and Louisville are all very in-state heavy, so I would remove them. Your MCAT is a little low for Brown AND they only interview 3% of applicants, so I would leave that one off. Tufts is fine.

I would also consider applying to Quinnipiac, Tulane (not sure about whether they favor people who have studied abroad or not), Loyola, Oakland, West Virginia (I know VA applicants who have interviewed there in recent cycles), and the two University of Arizona schools.

What is OP lacking that makes him/her only competitive for low-yield schools?

 

[PooshBag]

Thanks for the positive vibes @Goro . Your advice, from directly asking and lurking around, has helped considerably. For privacy, I won't list the schools here, but if anyone is interested, I'll PM the schools i got into.

Do you mind sharing the schools where you got accepted?

 

[PooshBag]

What is OP lacking that makes him/her only competitive for low-yield schools?

I was lacking non-clinical research. That came up a bit in my interviews. Additionally, my MCAT is not a golden ticket score. It's a decent, but not amazing, score. I believe my MCAT was what limited my school list to low-yield and not top tier schools.

 

[Goro]

I'd appreciate the PM !

Thanks for the positive vibes @Goro . Your advice, from directly asking and lurking around, has helped considerably. For privacy, I won't list the schools here, but if anyone is interested, I'll PM the schools i got into.

 

[WedgeDawg]

What is OP lacking that makes him/her only competitive for low-yield schools?

A higher MCAT?

 

[LoveBeingHuman:)]

A higher MCAT?

Even then I'd say OP is pretty good for some mid-tier MD's

 

[MoDiddy]

Even then I'd say OP is pretty good for some mid-tier MD's

He's also an ORM..

 

[WedgeDawg]

Even then I'd say OP is pretty good for some mid-tier MD's

Sure, I mean OP can certainly apply, but a 511 is equivalent to a 31 - most mid tier schools have 33-35 MCAT medians, so they would be reaches for him. When I think of mid-tier schools, I think of schools like Rochester, Einstein, Hofstra, USC-Keck, Emory, UVA, Wake Forest, etc - perhaps we have different internal definitions.

 

[El-Rami]

Now that you got accepted into an MD program, prepare to work your ass off. I'm not kidding. You literally have no clue how hard you'll have to work, especially if you don't want to be average. Good luck.