Literally your average applicant? 3.64 cGPA. 3.55 sGPA. 34R MCAT.

[joonage]

I feel as if I'm literally the average applicant. I will be applying this June.

Korean male senior at four-year public university.
Neurobiology and Psychology double major.
cGPA: 3.64. Pretty much averaged this throughout my whole college years. Unfortunately, no trend as a lot of my grades are "roller coaster-ish" (ie. 3.9 in one class, 3.2 in another). However, averaging over 3.8 this school year.
sGPA: 3.55. Same as above ...
MCAT: 34R

//EDIT: GPAs could possibly be cGPA of 3.72 and sGPA of 3.66 if I'm understanding the AMCAS classification correctly.

Volunteering
Childlife Playroom Volunteer - 3 hrs/week since Nov. 2011. Pretty much hang out with patients at my local children's hospital, whether in the playroom or in their rooms. Truly one of the most enjoyable and enlightening experiences I have participated in.
Feeding the homeless - ~4 hrs/once a month from junior year in high school until end of sophomore in college. Help hand out food with my church a local community shelter.

I have also helped out at my church a lot, with being a counselor and helper at retreats and such, but I don't know if I should put it in or not. Don't really have a set number of hours either. Could help fill leadership criteria though, I guess?

Employment
Event Services Assistant - ~10 hrs/week. Part of event services staff at my school's student union building.
Church summer school helper - ~20 hrs/week for 8 weeks. Helped out at my church during it's summer school program, where kids learned various stuff such as art, English, etc. and chaperoned at field trips. Wasn't really a job, as I only got paid $400 (under the tables essentially) so don't know if I should list as job or volunteer.

Research
Student Research Assistant - ~20 hrs/week since March 2011 in the Department of Neurosurgery. Worked full time summer of 2011, as well as part of summer 2012. Being hired for full time after graduation as well. Specialize in confocal microscopy and currently learning MCAO survival surgery. No publications as of now; however, possibly 2-3 set to be submitted by summer (hopefully 2nd or 3rd author).

Also from this position, I have gotten a research scholarship at my school twice and will have two poster presentations at my school's symposium by the time I graduate.

Physio Assistant - 9 hrs/week for one year in the Department of Psychology. Helped analyze physiological data of children in on-going psych study at my school.

Shadowing
Pediatric Neurosurgeon - 30 hours. Chief of Neurosurgery at children's hospital.
Pediatric Urologist - 30 hours.
Orthopedic Surgeon (Oncology specialist) - 20 hours.
Plastic Surgeon - 30 hours.
Pediatrician - 25 hours.

These are the rough times. Made the stupid mistake of not writing down my hours but these hours should all be essentially correct. Also, hopefully shadowing a neurologist and possibly another primary care physician.

Letters of Recommendations
Should have four strong letters. 2 from my neurobio professors and 1 from my psych professor and 1 from my PI. The PI letter should be very strong.

Trying to get in contact with an MD to write me a letter but we'll have to see about that.

Schools
Albany
Albert Einstein
Boston University
Case Western
Rosalind Frankin
Columbia University
Emory
George Washington
Georgetown
Mount Sinai (Icahn)
Jefferson
Johns Hopkins
Keck (USC)
Loyola (Stritch)
New York Medical
NYU
Northwestern
Oregon Health & Science Univ.
Rush
Stanford
Temple
Tufts
UCLA
UCSF
Chicago (Prtizker)
Illinois
Michigan
Rochester
Texas (Southwestern)
Virginia
Univ. of Washington (In-state)
Cornell (Weill)

32 schools. I should qualify for FAP, which will give me 14 free primaries. I will most likely shrink my list, as I do have a lot of top schools. A lot of higher up schools that I've put are because I have a huge interest in neurosurgery and those schools (ie, Columbia/Hopkins/Cornell/etc) are known for their neurosurgery programs. Hopefully, my research experience can get them to at least look at my application. Some schools that much my stats I haven't put in (ie, Creighton/etc) since I really do not want to live in those cities ...

Any other schools that are recommended or schools that I should definitely take out?

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I know it's a lot of text! Please give me recommendations and other advice to help me get prepared for the upcoming cycle! Thanks!

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[SOMBound13]

You have a number of OOS publics that may mostly favor instate students.

I would take off:

UCs
Oregon
Michigan
Illinois
Virginia
Texas (that not AMCAS, right?)

also take off:
Stanford
UChicago

 

[red doctober]

eh michigan is like 50/50 IS/OOS

 

[dextor2003]

You have good research and clinical experience, but need more (strong) leadership. But remember, just because a school's affiliated residency program may be good for neurosurgery, doesn't meant that should be the place you go for medical school. What you'll experience as a med student is different from what you'll experience as a resident in training--or so I've come to learn on here at least. But I remember LizzyM saying in a post that if you're interested in a top 10 (obviously good for neurosurgery), one of the things you want to have shown is long term commitment and strong leadership in a service-oriented activity.

Also, list your summer church school activity as a job. If you got paid, it's not volunteering.

 

[MiracleforMD]

You have a number of OOS publics that may mostly favor instate students.

I would take off:

UCs
Oregon
Michigan
Illinois
Virginia
Texas (that not AMCAS, right?)

also take off:
Stanford
UChicago

Oregon specifically states that OOS applicants with a 3.6+/32+ are considered strong applicants...

 

[joonage]

You have good research and clinical experience, but need more (strong) leadership. But remember, just because a school's affiliated residency program may be good for neurosurgery, doesn't meant that should be the place you go for medical school. What you'll experience as a med student is different from what you'll experience as a resident in training--or so I've come to learn on here at least. But I remember LizzyM saying in a post that if you're interested in a top 10 (obviously good for neurosurgery), one of the things you want to have shown is long term commitment and strong leadership in a service-oriented activity.

Also, list your summer church school activity as a job. If you got paid, it's not volunteering.

Thanks for the advice! I know that medical school and residency will be different. I just believe that going to a school known for it will give me a leg up in research, connections, etc.

As for leadership, don't really know what I can put for there. =/ ... Really, I can only think about my church activities as a counselor for leadership and it seems too late to get any leadership positions now ...

Also, I did TA for a psych class (as an undergraduate peer tutor). Would that be able considered leadership or some other label?

Oregon specifically states that OOS applicants with a 3.6+/32+ are considered strong applicants...

Yup, exactly why I am considering applying there. Also, not too far from home but far enough.

 

[joonage]

So, apparently the school I go to has a unique GPA system (4.0 scale with 0.1 increments). I had calculated my GPA using my school's system, not AMCAS.

I know I'll be putting in my numeric grade and AMCAS will automatically convert. The instructions manual says that AMCAS will use my school's classification system, which is the following:

A 4.0-3.9
A- 3.8-3.5
B+ 3.4-3.2
B 3.1-2.9
B- 2.8-2.5
C+ 2.4-2.2
C 2.1-1.9
C- 1.8-1.5
D+ 1.4-1.2
D 1.1-0.9
D- 0.8-0.7

Using this conversion and calculating my AMCAS GPA gives me a cGPA of 3.72 and a sGPA of 3.66, which will open up more doors I believe.

Am I understanding this correctly? Thanks!

 

[impact2d]

I feel as if I'm literally the average applicant. I will be applying this June.

Korean male senior at four-year public university.
Neurobiology and Psychology double major.
cGPA: 3.64. Pretty much averaged this throughout my whole college years. Unfortunately, no trend as a lot of my grades are "roller coaster-ish" (ie. 3.9 in one class, 3.2 in another). However, averaging over 3.8 this school year.
sGPA: 3.55. Same as above ...
MCAT: 34R


I know it's a lot of text! Please give me recommendations and other advice to help me get prepared for the upcoming cycle! Thanks!

Just FYI, the average applicant to US medical schools had a total score of a 28.2 MCAT and 3.53 GPA.
The average Matriculant had a 31.1 and 3.74. So despite what many on SDN would have you believe, you are far from the average applicant, and even better than the average matriculant. That said, your list looks good to me, I might ditch Albany and replace it with a cheaper option, it's crazy expensive and I wasn't a huge fan of the city either, and with your background I think you'll get better offers. Maybe replace it with Hofstra? Much cheaper tution, and known to be offering good merit money for people in your range. EDIT: (oops, just saw you said you didn't want to live out on Long Island-I would just look up in MSAR a private school with the cheapest tution and replace Albany with it, or maybe apply to states that are OOS friendly and offer in state tution too. What about SUNY Stonybrook? What state is IS for you?)

Also, I would add TheOhio State University. I may be partial since I loved my interview there, but their new curriculum was awesome. The city was awesome. They owned literally all of the hospitals in the area, and you pretty much just get free reign to train in some of the best hospitals around for your entire time there. You are right around their matriculant average. You get in-state tuition after the first year. Also, they are friendly to OOS.

 

[SOMBound13]

eh michigan is like 50/50 IS/OOS

True, but 80% of its applicants are OOS. Unless the OP has a tie to UMich, his chances are probably not good.

Oregon specifically states that OOS applicants with a 3.6+/32+ are considered strong applicants...

Yes, but 90% are OOS, but the SOM is only 35% OOS. If the OP has some ties to this state (other than being a border state), it seems less likely.

Since the OP is looking for schools to remove, it makes sense to me to remove the ones where his chances seem less likely. He qualifies for FAP, but he only gets 14 free apps. His list has 32 schools. Even if he can swing funding for a few schools, he still needs to subtract from his list.


edited to add... I see that the OP thinks AMCAS will calculate his GPA's more favorably than what he first thought. If so, then he's far from an average applicant (not that he was with his earlier calculation).

If that Texas SOM requires that Texas application system, then if he's going to do that, then he might as well apply to more TX SOMs since I think the apps are cheap there. That said, it's just easier to avoid the whole TX app system.

 

[joonage]

Just FYI, the average applicant to US medical schools had a total score of a 28.2 MCAT and 3.53 GPA.
The average Matriculant had a 31.1 and 3.74. So despite what many on SDN would have you believe, you are far from the average applicant, and even better than the average matriculant. That said, your list looks good to me, I might ditch Albany and replace it with a cheaper option, it's crazy expensive and I wasn't a huge fan of the city either, and with your background I think you'll get better offers. Maybe replace it with Hofstra? Much cheaper tution, and known to be offering good merit money for people in your range. EDIT: (oops, just saw you said you didn't want to live out on Long Island-I would just look up in MSAR a private school with the cheapest tution and replace Albany with it, or maybe apply to states that are OOS friendly and offer in state tution too. What about SUNY Stonybrook? What state is IS for you?)

Maybe I am going my "SDN average" ... As for Hofstra, my mistake ... I thought it was in the south/midwest like Creighton for some reason I'll look into it, although I've heard it's one of those schools that don't hand out a lot of II, if I recall correctly.

And Washington is my home state!

True, but 80% of its applicants are OOS. Unless the OP has a tie to UMich, his chances are probably not good.

Yes, but 90% are OOS, but the SOM is only 35% OOS. If the OP has some ties to this state (other than being a border state), it seems less likely.

Since the OP is looking for schools to remove, it makes sense to me to remove the ones where his chances seem less likely. He qualifies for FAP, but he only gets 14 free apps. His list has 32 schools. Even if he can swing funding for a few schools, he still needs to subtract from his list.

edited to add... I see that the OP thinks AMCAS will calculate his GPA's more favorably than what he first thought. If so, then he's far from an average applicant (not that he was with his earlier calculation).

If that Texas SOM requires that Texas application system, then if he's going to do that, then he might as well apply to more TX SOMs since I think the apps are cheap there. That said, it's just easier to avoid the whole TX app system.

Thanks for the points. I know UMich is a stretch to begin with so I might not include it into my list. As for OHSU, no connections, but I like it's location so I still have to think about it.

For Texas schools, I included UT:SW as it is a well known medical school with great research opportunities. The TMDSAS is a little annoying hurdle so whether I end up applying is up the air ... Right now, I am leaning towards not applying since my stats seem to be on the median for that school, and being OOS won't help.

 

[sevenmints]

You have a number of OOS publics that may mostly favor instate students.

I would take off:

UCs
Oregon
Michigan
Illinois
Virginia
Texas (that not AMCAS, right?)

also take off:
Stanford
UChicago

Ignore these recommendations. Honestly, you would have a decent shot at all of those places.

 

[SOMBound13]

Ignore these recommendations. Honestly, you would have a decent shot at all of those places.

did you read that the OP needs to remove some schools from his list? All you did was tell him to ignore these suggested eliminations. You didn't offer any suggested schools to remove.

Now that the OP has altered his GPA, his chances are better for those schools. That said, he still needs to remove some schools.

 

[joonage]

did you read that the OP needs to remove some schools from his list? All you did was tell him to ignore these suggested eliminations. You didn't offer any suggested schools to remove.

Now that the OP has altered his GPA, his chances are better for those schools. That said, he still needs to remove some schools.

Any recommendations on what to take out if the fixed GPA is correct?

Would it be worthwhile to apply to 30 schools? I know the secondary fees will be waived ... but since I won't be going to school, I could still do the secondaries ... right?