List of Schools.. 40R MCAT 3.5 GPA?!

[lmaozedong]

Hi there,
I just received my MCAT score for the Aug. 26th sitting and I'm now trying to figure out where I should apply. Mostly I'm applying by location (I like cities, NYC, Boston, Philadelphia, Washington D.C., San Francisco) and I'm mostly looking to apply to schools in those areas. I'm from California so I'm applying to a few other UCs as well.

My GPA is pretty bad.. it's a 3.46 I think right now at U. Penn.. but I'm hoping my MCAT score (14 PS 12 VR 14 BS) will make up for it. I'm hoping to bring it up to the 3.5-3.6 range by the end of this semester and about a 3.6 when I graduate.

My ECs are probably pretty average.. work in a lab, volunteer at hospital, hopefully going to China to do some medical work there this summer.. I also lead Bible studies at my school, which I think is actually pretty relevant since most of it is about caring for people.

Here is my preliminary list, how does it look?
Harvard
Stanford
Northwestern
U of Chicago
Cornell
UCSD
UCSF
Columbia
Mt. Sinai
NYU
Vanderbilt
Penn
UCLA
Hawaii
Tufts
Georgetown
Boston U
U Washington
Temple

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[Textuality]

Congrats on the MCAT score! That will probably help you out with the GPA, but you never know.

Anyways, I'd add Pitt and Jefferson, also, why Hawaii? Are you a Hawaiin resident? I thought they didn't take out of state applicants? And Univ of Washington is HIGHLY competitive if you're out of state, did you mean Wash U? They tend to like high MCATs.

 

[lmaozedong]

I'm interested primarily in Primary Care, and U of Washington is supposed to have a great program in that, which explains why I want to apply there. I realize it's highly competitive but I still want to give it a shot.

A lot of my family is from Hawaii, and although I'm not a Hawaiian citizen (I'm from California) I want to look into moving there permanently in the future. Is it true that they don't take ANYBODY from out of state? If so, scratch that off my list..

I feel like Pittsburgh would be a pretty terrible place to live for four years, although I am considering Jefferson. I hear a lot of people transfer from Jefferson into Penn as well.

I want to look into MD/PhD (if I decide to go against my primary care inclinations and go into research) programs as well. Any suggestions?

 

[Textuality]

Fair enough, I just asked because my advisor basically told me not to waste my money applying to UWash, and I seem to recall the Hawaii numbers being really low but if you have a strong family connection then that makes more sense and probably makes you a better candidate in their eyes.

MD/PhD is really a whole different ball game, which I'm not too familiar with. But it does require a hefty amount of research experience, and preferably publications/posters/ etc. It's also arguably more competitive (at least, it is for most of those schools on your list).

I grew up in Pittsburgh and loved it there, and the school is amazing. I wouldn't discount it unless you've been to pittsburgh and really don't like it because it really does offer a great program in a great system.

Are you applying next cycle? It's kind of late this cycle to be applying right now...

Also, Cornell and Einstein are missing from your NYC school list, any reason?

 

[lmaozedong]

Cornell was an oversight.. and yes, I am planning on applying next cycle. Or even perhaps the cycle after that if I decide to take a year off..

I really don't know anything about Einstein, so I'll have to do my research about that to figure out if I want to apply there hah

Anyone else have input on my list? I'm a little concerned because of my poor GPA..

 

[Anatidae]

Being from California with an interest in primary care, you should probably consider the rest of the California schools. Especially UC Davis and USC, but I'd throw in UCI as well.

 

[watergirl1202]

oh . my . god.

how did you get that mcat score?? what do you do? what books do you use??? how long did you study for? did you use the aamc practice tests??

i just actually want like a 33-35.... any tips?? haha my mcat score from august was no good... and i studied sooooooo hard

 

[lmaozedong]

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showpost.php?p=7209416&postcount=375

there's the link to how I studied. I'm generally a pretty good standardized test taker, but I just took a lot of practice tests and read through the material in the Kaplan book a few times. I feel like it's not helpful to study TOO much material for a couple reasons 1) the MCAT is a thinking test primarily and 2) my brain can only hold so much information at once I wanted to be efficient with that space.. lol

anyway, I'm mostly looking for general input on my list. Am I too top heavy? Need more safeties? Other schools I'm missing out on that I should check out? etc..

 

[Vihsadas]

We have pretty similar stats, went to similarly regarded undergrad schools (not that it *really* matters), but I'm a little older, have a few personally initiated endeavors (including a publication) some research, volunteering, shadowing, athleticism and I'd like to think that my PS was good (not in any small part to the help I received from people on this website. ) The most important potential difference between our apps is that I have a weird background: started in music for two years, switched to science, total 6 years to graduate then a 1 yr post-bacc.

So, you can look over my app for whatever its worth, and myabe find a few schools based on that. Depending on what your interests are and how your PS/apps turn out, you have a shot at some pretty good schools I'd say. For one, Case/CCLCM really like high MCAT scores coupled with research. They've been known to take chances on low GPA/high MCAT people (also see user: maxprime). Although I don't have an accept yet, I've been doing pretty well in the pre-interview part of the app. Let's hope that I follow through on interviews! GL, let me know if you want help with how I approached my app.

PS, search mdapps to see how successful others with similar stats were. That might give you some idea of where to look.

 

[lmaozedong]

We really do have similar stats! Thanks a bunch, I'll be rooting for you

 

[SDN2013]

I have similar stats to you. 3.49 GPA from a top 10 state school, and 38 MCAT.

Unless if you are doing MD/PhD, honestly don't bother applying to UWash, I basically threw $30 on the AMCAS, only to receive an email essentially saying they only consider in the region people.

So far I have had 5 pre-secondary rejections (UCSD, UCSF, Vanderbilt, UNC, UWash, but I'm oos for all those schools), you are IS for UCSD and UCSF, so you have much higher chances.

Other than that, your list looks fine I think. 40R is simply an amazing MCAT.

Perhaps your biggest obstacle will be how fast you can complete those secondaries. It might turn out to be more of a handicap than your GPA. Definitely get them all done by mid November if possible, the earlier the better.

 

[stooges287]

Congrats on your MCAT score! It's funny that your stats are almost totally identical to mine when I applied last year (40P, 3.5). I would suggest adding some more safety schools - even though your application will merit a look from the schools on your list, especially because you went to UPenn, a 3.5 GPA is still on the low side of most of those schools. Don't get me wrong, a 40 MCAT is amazing, but it's my belief that 38+ MCAT scores result in diminishing returns, whereas the difference between say, a 3.5 and 3.7 is pretty large.

 

[Vihsadas]

Congrats on your MCAT score! It's funny that your stats are almost totally identical to mine when I applied last year (40P, 3.5). I would suggest adding some more safety schools - even though your application will merit a look from the schools on your list, especially because you went to UPenn, a 3.5 GPA is still on the low side of most of those schools. Don't get me wrong, a 40 MCAT is amazing, but it's my belief that 38+ MCAT scores result in diminishing returns, whereas the difference between say, a 3.5 and 3.7 is pretty large.

What were the schools you ended up getting into in the end?

 

[stooges287]

What were the schools you ended up getting into in the end?

I fixed my MDApps profile so you can take a look.

 

[ApoK]

The list looks good, but you may want to add a few more upper/middle-tier schools like Case Western given your lower than average GPA at the majority of these schools. Remember the difference to ADCOMs between 38 to 41 on the MCAT is minimal, at least from what I've observed. Unlike the above post about Washington University in St. Louis, I disagree about your chances there and wouldn't recommend applying. I believe they are extremely number hungry, meaning your GPA would essentially disqualify you right off the bat.

Also, I made a similar thread. Would you all mind checking it out and giving me your thoughts as well?

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?p=7264554#post7264554