MD & DO c3.93/s3.95 MCAT32 PLEASE HELP ME! CHANCES/SUGGESTIONS?

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Whatman

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Hello Everyone,

I am a postbac at National Institute of Health (NIH) doing Cancer research. I am currently doing my 2nd year fellowship. I am applying this cycle (2015-2016) to MD schools and am really struggling with which schools to apply to. Due to my weakness in stats, I would like to apply to both MD and DO schools at the same time, and will try to apply as many schools as possible.

Because I want you to get a full scope of myself, I will be fairly thorough in my stats and experiences. Thank you in advance for your time!

cGPA: 3.93/4.00
sGPA: 3.95/4.00
MCAT: 29 (PS11, VR9, BS9), 32 (PS13, VR7, BS 12). <- I am really worried about my low Verbal score. BTW, English is not my first language (Came to the U.S. during high school)

Research
- During my undergraduate, I participated in a cell bio/molecular genetics lab for 3 years. Did not publish, but presented posters several times and won several awards (best poster awards, etc.) Also, I was fortunate to receive HHMI Undergraduate Research Fellowship (one of the prestigious fellowships).

- After graduation, I started to work at NIH as a postbac, doing cancer research focusing on cell bio/molecular genetics, pathway related biochemistry, etc. I am going to stay here for two years. I won several awards presenting posters and presentations.

Shadowing
- More than 150 hrs of shadowing (participated several shadowing programs provided local hospitals and NIH). I observed different departments in a hospital. did not mention specifics.

Volunteering
- Emergency Room Volunteer: 150 hrs at the same ER ove the span of almost 3 yrs (on and off)
- Medial Tip to South America: 2 weeks of clinical and non-clinical volunteering (community development plan)
-Prepare and deliver specialized meals and groceries to HIV/AIDS, cancer and other life-threatening illnesses (~50 hrs).

Leadership
- Executive Organizers for several national science/engineering conferences – received several awards for recognition
- TA during undergraduate – Organic Chemistry I and Organic Chemistry II TA
- Held several positions in the ethnic organization during undergraduate

- During undergraduate, my friends and I founded a group called Collegiate Leadership Academy to foster leadership in college students. We organized the long-term event consisting of a series of lectures led by notable leaders including a senator, TSA executive analyst, religious figure, etc.

Awards
- Honors scholar
- Dean’s list
- President Scholarship
- Professional Society Award
- Several poster presentation awards

Others
- 2 publications
- play soccer (2nd in the national soccer competition)
- tutor –Math/Science


I talked to my advisor and she said I should apply this cycle. I am still really struggling with the list of schools I apply to. As mentioned earlier, I am willing to apply as many schools as possible to increase the chance getting into MD/DO programs.


Please help me come up with schools that I have a decent chance of acceptance. Thank you so much in advance for your time!

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That 7 in VR is the major weakness of your app, especially when it went down two points on the retake. I think you should be fine for DO, but that sub-8 might be grounds for rejection at some MD schools.
 
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So far, I have come up with:

Arizona-Phonix
Arizona-Tuscon
Loma Linda
University of Colorado
Quinnipiac-Frank Netter SOM
Rosalind Franklin SOM
Univeristy of Connecticut SOM
Georgetown
George Washington
Howard
U of Miami - Miller SOM
U of Central Florida
FIU-Wertheim
Florida Atlantic University - Schmidt
USF Health Morsani College of Medicine
MC Georgia
Morehouse
Iowa-Carver
Loyola-Stritch
Rush
University of Illinois COM
Indiana
Kansas
University of Kentucky
University of Louisville
Tulane
University of Maryland
Uniformed Services
Michigan State
Oakland University William Beaumont Medical School
Wayne State
Western Michigan University Homer Stryker M.D. School of Medicine
University of Minnesota
Missouri Kansas City
Creighton
Cooper
Albany
Albert Einstein
Hofstra University North Shore–LIJ SOM
New York Medical College
Rochester
Toledo
Wright State-Boonshoft
Drexel
Penn State
Thomas Jefferson
Temple
Meharry
Eastern Virginia
Virginia Commonwealth
University of Washington - Seattle
Medical College of Wisconsin
Marshall-Edwards WV
WV university SOM

These are some of the schools I thought I could have some chances. All the schools are sorted by their STATE (A-Z).
I really want to cut down some schools if possible. Please help me out.
I have not really made a list for DO schools yet. Suggestions PLEASE!
 
DO schools are not a must for you

great start on your list. your next step is to dig deeper into the MSAR to see which schools interview/accept a significan portion of out-of-staters. this is going to cut a lot of public schools and make your list much more manageable

you can probably take out the HBCUs too (howard, meharry, morehouse)
 
Vain Brother, Thank you so much for your input. I will look into the MSAR list more in depth. You want me to take out howard, meharry, morehouse because they are too competitive for me? or they do not really accept OOS.
 
Vain Brother, Thank you so much for your input. I will look into the MSAR list more in depth. You want me to take out howard, meharry, morehouse because they are too competitive for me? or they do not really accept OOS.
HBCU stands for historically black college/university. they prefer students who are black or have demonstrated a strong commitment to serving that community
 
They only accept URMs and maybe one or two non-URM people who have a lengthy history of helping URMs.
 
I suggest (but do your homework to rule out schools that average scores.:

Loma Linda
Quinnipiac-Frank Netter SOM
Rosalind Franklin SOM
Tufts
U of Miami - Miller SOM
U of Central Florida
FIU-Wertheim
Florida Atlantic University - Schmidt
Loyola-Stritch
Rush
Tulane
Uniformed Services (are you willing to be in the Armed Forces?)
Oakland University William Beaumont Medical School
Western Michigan University Homer Stryker M.D. School of Medicine
Creighton
Cooper
Albany
Albert Einstein
Hofstra University North Shore–LIJ SOM
New York Medical College
Rochester
Drexel
Thomas Jefferson
TCMC
Temple
Eastern Virginia
Virginia Commonwealth
Medical College of Wisconsin
WV university SOM (maybe)
Wake Forest
ANY DO School. I can't recommend LUCOM.
Your state school(s)
 
HBCU stands for historically black college/university. they prefer students who are black or have demonstrated a strong commitment to serving that community
Thank you. I did not know about that!
 
I suggest (but do your homework to rule out schools that average scores.:

Loma Linda
Quinnipiac-Frank Netter SOM
Rosalind Franklin SOM
Tufts
U of Miami - Miller SOM
U of Central Florida
FIU-Wertheim
Florida Atlantic University - Schmidt
Loyola-Stritch
Rush
Tulane
Uniformed Services (are you willing to be in the Armed Forces?)
Oakland University William Beaumont Medical School
Western Michigan University Homer Stryker M.D. School of Medicine
Creighton
Cooper
Albany
Albert Einstein
Hofstra University North Shore–LIJ SOM
New York Medical College
Rochester
Drexel
Thomas Jefferson
TCMC
Temple
Eastern Virginia
Virginia Commonwealth
Medical College of Wisconsin
WV university SOM (maybe)
Wake Forest
ANY DO School. I can't recommend LUCOM.
Your state school(s)

If I decided to apply all the schools, is the number of schools considered too many?
 
some schools automatically reject applicants with a sub score lower than 8. Make sure you look into when you finalize your list. You should be fine for some mid-tier MD schools though. Great DO applicant.
 
If I decided to apply all the schools, is the number of schools considered too many?
You could apply to all of these if you wanted to.....if you have the money and time then great! You'll have more options! The first ~5 secondaries take forever but then the questions become redundant. The time it takes to do 10 secondaries is a lot but I don't think doing 10 more would take even close the amount of time it took to do the first 10. It would take a long time for you to apply to that whole list but if you don't have anything else to do then and have the money, then why not? Take into account the cost of traveling arrangements.
 
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