Chances for UNC-Chapel Hill?

[DrowningInWork]

In-state
Undergrad @UNC, bio major, chem minor, anthropology minor
3.7 sGPA, 3.7 cGPA (due to dismal 1st semester)
33 MCAT
Strong LORs
Female

250 hours hospital volunteering
50 hours shadowing
2000 hours research (1 pub as 2nd author)
240 hours teaching music lessons to underprivileged children
Spending the year as a teaching fellow at a school with high dropout, crime, etc rate

What are the weaknesses in my application/what can I do to strengthen it? What are my chances for UNC? What range of schools should I be applying to?

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[baxt1412]

you are just under their median GPA (3.8) and just at their median MCAT. they do have a preference for IS apps.

clinical volunteering hours look good, shadowing is good, research/pub is good, did you get paid for your music lessons? what about payment for your teaching? i ask because if not, then it could be considered non-clinical volunteering which would be good.

what about hobbies? what is your PS based on?

 

[DrowningInWork]

The music lessons are volunteer, but the teaching fellowship is paid.

My main hobby is music; I am one of the best on my instrument at UNC despite not being a music major or minor. I was in the university symphony and chamber ensembles every semester, in addition to taking private lessons from UNC's viola professor during my entire four years. I gave a recital my sophomore year benefitting the pediatric blood and marrow transplant center's family support program (I have never heard of another non-major at my school giving a recital). Other than that, I play some competitive scrabble (god, I'm such a nerd), but I'm not very good.

I'll actually be applying next year while I complete the second year of my teaching fellowship, so I have not written my PS yet. I'm not sure exactly what I'll be writing about--I may speak about growing up with/caring for a brother with a rare, potentially fatal genetic disorder and interacting with others with the disorder around the world, and seeing the cutting edge treatments (esp gene therapy), tying that in with my interest in clinical and translational research. Another possibility is writing about how my experiences working with underprivileged children (music lessons, teaching fellowship) have given me an insight into the type of medical care these populations need and made me want to practice medicine in an underserved area. My fear is that these may both be cliche. Definitely will look into writing a strong PS later on when I apply.

 

[baxt1412]

It doesn't matter if you're good at your hobby.. it interests you and therefore, it interests ADCOMs.

sounds like you've got it figured out. i can't quite comment too much on your chances, but looks like your app is pretty good. i'd feel good with it. are you applying anywhere else? if so, check out MSAR for sure.

 

[DrowningInWork]

I've known people with worse statistics who were accepted there, so good chance if you interview well. Just make sure you inform them why you are special out of the pack of students with ~33 MCAT and ~3.7 GPA who did the same shadowing stuff.

If I had your application I'd be confident...

My worry is that my first year grades will kill my application.
Gen chem 1 B+
gen chem 2 D
gen chem 2 retake B
mechanics C

After this, I pulled it together and got straight As for the rest of college. But I'm really worried that the D will hurt me despite my otherwise great record (in terms of grades, at least).

 

[boomshaketheroom]

I'd defer to others who know more about this stuff, but since it was your freshman year, I'd think it is either fine or someone will ask you about it. That basically sets you up to say how you got better and turned things around.

 

[DrowningInWork]

It doesn't matter if you're good at your hobby.. it interests you and therefore, it interests ADCOMs.

sounds like you've got it figured out. i can't quite comment too much on your chances, but looks like your app is pretty good. i'd feel good with it. are you applying anywhere else? if so, check out MSAR for sure.

This is the list I have so far. It's definitely extremely top heavy because I'd really like to be involved in research, so the rankings are actually important to me. I think I can consider ECU a "safe" school as much as that can exist in med school admissions? What can I add to/subract from this list?

So far I have:
UNC-CH
Duke
Wake Forest
ECU
Michigan
Emory
Penn
Stanford
UChicago
Rochester
University of Washington
Albert Einstein
University of South Carolina
VCU
Rosalind Franklin

 

[sapphire86]

My worry is that my first year grades will kill my application.
Gen chem 1 B+
gen chem 2 D
gen chem 2 retake B
mechanics C

After this, I pulled it together and got straight As for the rest of college. But I'm really worried that the D will hurt me despite my otherwise great record (in terms of grades, at least).

I will be a MS1 in the fall at UNC. I had a couple of bad grades during my freshman year and it definitely came up in my interview. Be prepared to articulate what happened, what you learned from it, and how you improved.

 

[sapphire86]

ECU is far from research heavy FYI. And unless you have close ties to SC, thats gonna be a tough one.

ECU is in NC

 

[DrowningInWork]

ECU is far from research heavy FYI. And unless you have close ties to SC, thats gonna be a tough one.

Yeah, I'm just applying there b/c I'm in-state so it'll be cheap.

 

[chemguy79]

Yeah, I'm just applying there b/c I'm in-state so it'll be cheap.

ECU is also very mission-specific, so unless you have demonstrated service to the rural populations of NC, it may not be as much of a safety as its statistics make it seem.

 

[DrowningInWork]

ECU is also very mission-specific, so unless you have demonstrated service to the rural populations of NC, it may not be as much of a safety as its statistics make it seem.

Ah. Well, f***

 

[lmn]

This is the list I have so far. It's definitely extremely top heavy because I'd really like to be involved in research, so the rankings are actually important to me. I think I can consider ECU a "safe" school as much as that can exist in med school admissions? What can I add to/subract from this list?

So far I have:
UNC-CH
Duke
Wake Forest
ECU
Michigan
Emory
Penn
Stanford
UChicago
Rochester
University of Washington
Albert Einstein
University of South Carolina
VCU
Rosalind Franklin

You have a few schools that are way too big of reaches imo, I know you're interested in research but a 33 is pretty low for some of those top schools. Also, if you're so interested in research, I would expect you to be doing research during your gap year, hopefully securing additional pubs, and showing your commitment to it if it is so important to you. Your teaching job is great don't get me wrong, but it doesn't show your commitment to research and isn't helping you with that path/goal.

 

[DrowningInWork]

You have a few schools that are way too big of reaches imo, I know you're interested in research but a 33 is pretty low for some of those top schools. Also, if you're so interested in research, I would expect you to be doing research during your gap year, hopefully securing additional pubs, and showing your commitment to it if it is so important to you. Your teaching job is great don't get me wrong, but it doesn't show your commitment to research and isn't helping you with that path/goal.

I assume these are Duke/Michigan/Penn/Stanford/Pritzker? Maybe Emory as well. I'm actually good on $$, so I don't mind applying to too many schools. And I was thinking about taking additional gap year(s?) for some research. In that case, I'd have to retake the MCAT, and I'm fairly certain I can go 36ish with some intensive study.

 

[chemguy79]

BTW ... What was your MCAT subsection breakdown?

Do you still have connections with your research PI? Since you have 2000 hours of experience and a second author publication, I would like to think that you have a strong research application but an additional publication would surely strengthen that part of your application. (Much easier said than done, of course.)

Definitely beefing up your volunteering and shadowing should be another priority if you were to take an additional gap year.

 

[DrowningInWork]

BTW ... What was your MCAT subsection breakdown?

Do you still have connections with your research PI? Since you have 2000 hours of experience and a second author publication, I would like to think that you have a strong research application but an additional publication would surely strengthen that part of your application. (Much easier said than done, of course.)

Definitely beefing up your volunteering and shadowing should be another priority if you were to take an additional gap year.

MCAT was 11,11,11. I like to think it's pretty balanced.

Going back to my old lab for a year or two is almost definitely an option. I was actually working on a project fairly autonomously when I graduated, and it doesn't look like anyone else is picking it up (the technical aspects of the project are difficult + it takes a while to get good enough to take decent data), so I could potentially get a first author pub if I did return. Another option is returning to run clinical studies. As a potential future MD involved in research, I feel that this might strengthen my application as much or more than bench experiments. Is that actually the case?

I'm getting started with more clinical volunteering in August-3 to 5 hrs/wk. My current job doesn't really allow me to do much more than that (lol, beginning to appreciate my own HS teachers a lot more). Will more shadowing really help my app? I honestly hated doing it. I felt like I was intruding/making patients feel uncomfortable.

 

[lmn]

MCAT was 11,11,11. I like to think it's pretty balanced.

Going back to my old lab for a year or two is almost definitely an option. I was actually working on a project fairly autonomously when I graduated, and it doesn't look like anyone else is picking it up (the technical aspects of the project are difficult + it takes a while to get good enough to take decent data), so I could potentially get a first author pub if I did return. Another option is returning to run clinical studies. As a potential future MD involved in research, I feel that this might strengthen my application as much or more than bench experiments. Is that actually the case?

I'm getting started with more clinical volunteering in August-3 to 5 hrs/wk. My current job doesn't really allow me to do much more than that (lol, beginning to appreciate my own HS teachers a lot more). Will more shadowing really help my app? I honestly hated doing it. I felt like I was intruding/making patients feel uncomfortable.

Your shadowing is fine imo, as long as you didn't just shadow a specialist that whole time. Volunteering is pretty good as well, but should always be increased.

Imo, if you are really driving for a research school you should go back to do one or both of those research options, you really need to prove to these schools how research dedicated you are and how you have excelled in that realm. If you are interested about clinical vs bench research, you can search what LizzyM has said on the topic, basically she said that she considers bench research more highly that clinical for a few reasons that you can read about more in her posts.

 

[DrowningInWork]

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[DrowningInWork]

Your shadowing is fine imo, as long as you didn't just shadow a specialist that whole time. Volunteering is pretty good as well, but should always be increased.

Imo, if you are really driving for a research school you should go back to do one or both of those research options, you really need to prove to these schools how research dedicated you are and how you have excelled in that realm. If you are interested about clinical vs bench research, you can search what LizzyM has said on the topic, basically she said that she considers bench research more highly that clinical for a few reasons that you can read about more in her posts.

About 1/2 of my shadowing was with PCPs.

As far as the research goes, I honestly feel like I've done nearly what is expected of MD/PhD applicants, and my rec from my PI will be very strong. Will more research help more than, say, a higher MCAT? My issue is that my PI expects 80 hr workweeks for full time employees, and I don't think I can do that AND volunteer AND restudy for the MCAT.

 

[lmn]

About 1/2 of my shadowing was with PCPs.

As far as the research goes, I honestly feel like I've done nearly what is expected of MD/PhD applicants, and my rec from my PI will be very strong. Will more research help more than, say, a higher MCAT?

I would say you're fine then for shadowing.

Since I don't know the specifics of your research, I'll just assume your feeling is accurate, in which case if you are just looking for something to really help your app standout I would consider things like Americorp, etc. These show amazing commitment to the underserved and your local (US) community and a few of our adcom members have said they really look highly upon and enjoy people who have those types of experiences under their belt.

Ya sure a 38 MCAT would look better than a 33 if it were your first score, but a number of our adcom members have said they heavily frown upon people retaking an MCAT score that is already in the top 90th percentile since they see it as someone who annoyingly chases perfection and has poor decision making when there are such high chances to drop your score.

 

[DrowningInWork]

I would say you're fine then for shadowing.

Since I don't know the specifics of your research, I'll just assume your feeling is accurate, in which case if you are just looking for something to really help your app standout I would consider things like Americorp, etc. These show amazing commitment to the underserved and your local (US) community and a few of our adcom members have said they really look highly upon and enjoy people who have those types of experiences under their belt.

Ya sure a 38 MCAT would look better than a 33 if it were your first score, but a number of our adcom members have said they heavily frown upon people retaking an MCAT score that is already in the top 90th percentile since they see it as someone who annoyingly chases perfection and has poor decision making when there are such high chances to drop your score.

Will definitely look into Americorp. Is TFA also a good option? Education is something I'm very passionate about, and I am greatly enjoying the first part of my teaching fellowship this year.

I agree that retaking would be iffy at this point, but unless I am applying next cycle, I would NEED to retake the MCAT as my first score (33) will be more than 3 years old by then.

 

[Goro]

Goro suggests:

UNC-CH
Duke (maybe)
Wake Forest
ECU
Emory
Rochester
Albert Einstein
VCU
Rosalind Franklin
Loyola
Drexel
Temple
Jefferson
Tufts
GWU
Georgetown
Va Tech
Hofstra
U Miami
Tulane
SLU
MCW
VCU
EVMS