List of Schools Help

[abcde100]

List of Schools Help!

CA Resident

3.91 cGPA, 3.97 sGPA

34 MCAT (12/12/10V) fourth time (rest of time above 30; not much improvement)


Research for 360 hours; no publications

Medical scribe for the past 15 months

Long term tutoring experience for past two years (Self employed tutoring and tutoring companies)

Shadowing for 80+ hours

Volunteer work at hospital for 80 hours

Community Service (240 hours)

List so far:
Northwestern
Jefferson
U of Washington
Columbia
Emory
USC
UCSD
UCLA
UC Davis
UC Irvine
Case Western
University of Arizona
Boston U
NYU
Cornell
Rosalind Franklin
Miami (Miller)
Albany
George Washington
Temple
Oakland
Rochester
SUNY Buffalo
Georgetown
SUNY Downstate
Tufts

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[TorpedoVegas38]

Your chances at University of Washington are pretty much zero being a CA resident and having an underwhelming amount of shadowing/clinical experience, so I would definitely remove them.

Then maybe add a few more lower-tier schools if you can handle the amount of secondaries, ie. Drexel, Cooper, Creighton, etc

I think WashU really likes stats (did you mean them instead of UW?) so maybe add them.

 

[abcde100]

I have about 2400 hours clinical experience of scribe work and 80 hours of direct shadowing experience. But very minimal research on my application.

 

[gyngyn]

If that is you in the avatar, may I suggest an alternative to protect your anonymity.
And if it is, you can cut your school list back quite a bit.

 

[TorpedoVegas38]

ah missed the scribe work, nice. Still extremely unlikely at UW though

 

[abcde100]

Oh no, the avatar is Turk from Scrubs! I'm Asian American. What schools do you recommend me to cut down?
And Torpedo, would you recommend me to add more lower-tier schools to the list?

 

[gyngyn]

Oh no, the avatar is Turk from Scrubs! I'm Asian American. What schools do you recommend me to cut down?
And Torpedo, would you recommend me to add more lower-tier schools to the list?

I guess I'm not plugged in!
Definitely cut U of W. GT and GW get a boatload of aps.
What is the average of your 4 MCAT's?

 

[abcde100]

I got a 34 my first time (13P, 10v, 11B)
But I didn't really study the first time. Thought it would be okay to take it again with some studying.
Got a 32 and then a 31 (knowledge decay for being out of school for over a year)
Recently took it again and got a 34.

 

[TorpedoVegas38]

that's a tough call because you have 25 schools right now (after removing UW) and you have good stats. If you can handle writing 25-30 secondaries (try and pre-write some) then add a few more lower-tier and maybe a few more upper-tier that you like. If you have a great personal statement, LORs, and apply early you have a real good shot at some upper-tier schools. Personally at the end of the day getting at least one acceptance is the most important thing so i tend to be on the cautious side and would add a few more lower-tier schools

just my 2 cents

 

[WedgeDawg]

Just to quickly break down your school list:

Reaches:
Northwestern
Columbia
Emory
UCSD
UCLA
Case Western
Cornell
NYU
U of Washington (which I see you are wisely removing anyway)

Targets:
USC
UC Davis
UC Irvine
Miami (Miller)
Rochester

Schools that get an extremely high number of apps:
Boston U
Jefferson
George Washington
Temple
Georgetown
Tufts

Everything else:
University of Arizona
Rosalind Franklin
Albany
Oakland
SUNY Buffalo
SUNY Downstate

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Taking the MCAT 4 times might come across badly to a lot of your reaches, many of whom your MCAT average (32.75) falls around the 10th-25th percentile for. It might be worthwhile to cut down some of the schools in categories 1 and 3 and focus on adding a few more to category 2. It is unlikely that you will receive an interview at your reaches (due to competitiveness) and unlikely that you will receive an interview at category 3 schools (due to volume of applications), and thus it might not be worth the money and effort applying there. You have a good app other than your 4x MCAT with 0 improvement so you probably stand a chance somewhere, but you really have to pick your schools carefully, which means paring down on the "unlikely to get interview" schools and adding more of the "much more likely" ones. Of course, given infinite time and money, apply to all of them, but since these constraints inevitably factor in, you should take that into account when making your list.

 

[abcde100]

WedgeDawg, thanks for the input.
What targets would you recommend me to look at and add to my school list? At the end of the day, I'll cut out a couple from cat #1 and 3

 

[gyngyn]

WedgeDawg, thanks for the input.
What targets would you recommend me to look at and add to my school list? At the end of the day, I'll cut out a couple from cat #1 and 3

Cut Columbia, Cornell and NYU. You know you are going to apply to all the CA schools!

 

[abcde100]

Any schools you would recommend to add, gyngyn?

 

[TorpedoVegas38]

Consider adding VCU, Cooper, Creighton, EVMS, Hofstra, Tulane, The Commonwealth, Mayo (no secondary i believe), Drexel (also no secondary), SLU

 

[gyngyn]

Any schools you would recommend to add, gyngyn?

I like Tulane and Einstein for you.
Some of @WedgeDawg's targets are going to balk at the 4 MCAT's.

 

[abcde100]

Just to quickly break down your school list:

Reaches:
Northwestern
Columbia
Emory
UCSD
UCLA
Case Western
Cornell
NYU
U of Washington (which I see you are wisely removing anyway)

Targets:
USC
UC Davis
UC Irvine
Miami (Miller)
Rochester

Schools that get an extremely high number of apps:
Boston U
Jefferson
George Washington
Temple
Georgetown
Tufts

Everything else:
University of Arizona
Rosalind Franklin
Albany
Oakland
SUNY Buffalo
SUNY Downstate

----

Taking the MCAT 4 times might come across badly to a lot of your reaches, many of whom your MCAT average (32.75) falls around the 10th-25th percentile for. It might be worthwhile to cut down some of the schools in categories 1 and 3 and focus on adding a few more to category 2. It is unlikely that you will receive an interview at your reaches (due to competitiveness) and unlikely that you will receive an interview at category 3 schools (due to volume of applications), and thus it might not be worth the money and effort applying there. You have a good app other than your 4x MCAT with 0 improvement so you probably stand a chance somewhere, but you really have to pick your schools carefully, which means paring down on the "unlikely to get interview" schools and adding more of the "much more likely" ones. Of course, given infinite time and money, apply to all of them, but since these constraints inevitably factor in, you should take that into account when making your list.

@WedgeDawg @gyngyn Hi asking for more advice. I've received 5 MD interviews - 2 reaches, 1 extremely high number of apps, 2 "everything else." I've been deferred at three schools. The interviews went well, but do you think they might be deferring me because of 4x MCATs? Why even interview me in the first place?