Need help with school list!!!

[neuro17]

Hi SDN

I could use some serious help with my school list. My goal is to get the list to around ~20, but I could see myself at like 35 different schools! I've done my best to filter out OOS-unfriendly schools and locations that I wouldn't like.

My main issue is that my MCAT is super unbalanced (see below) which is making it hard to gauge whether I'm above or below the school medians listed in MSAR.

Stats:
GPA: 4.0, sci GPA: 4.0
MCAT: 36 (14 PS, 9 Verbal, 13 BS)

Great volunteer work/community work
Good clinical experience - tutor pediatric patients, hospice volunteer
Some shadowing - 50-75 hrs?
Currently taking 2 years off to do clinical research at a major teaching hospital - will hopefully get at least a couple publications out of this by June
Not too strong on lab research - did 1 summer of lab research at a medical school, but I'm just not a huge fan of lab research - love clinical research though!

Safety (not sure if any medical school can be considered a "safety" but whatever)
Quinnipiac
UConn - in-state
Rochester

Low Match
BU
Rosalind Franklin
Hofstra
Temple
Rush
Jefferson
Miami
UVM

High Match
Albert Einstein
Duke
Emory
Tulane
GW
USC
NYU
Tufts
Vanderbilt
Cornell

Reach
Georgetown
Harvard
Northwestern
Brown


Are there schools I should add or replace with schools I have on the list?

Thanks guys!

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[Cyberdyne 101]

Why are Brown and Georgetown reaches?!

I think you should scratch Rosalind Franklin and add Dartmouth.

Also, why Rush? Do you have family in Chicago? Why not add VCU and/or UVA?

Perhaps you should consider Sinai and Columbia as additional reaches.

 

[WedgeDawg]

Moving to WAMC

Your classifications of schools indicates you probably haven't actually looked at MSAR and compared your stats to school stats. For example, Duke, Vanderbilt, NYU, and Cornell are all in the reach category. Rochester and BU would be high match. Georgetown would be "safety" (but not really). Brown falls into its own category of "you probably shouldn't apply unless you fit a very specific archetype".

Buy MSAR (it's $25) so you can actually see real school stats and compare them to yours.

 

[GrapesofRath]

I count 25 schools right now and you want to get down to 20?

Cut Brown, George Washington, GW, Tulane and Rosalind Franklin. That gets your list down to 20 without really reducing your chances.

I would invest in MSAR and take a look at schools 90th percentile MCAT statistics. It might seem counter intuitive, but schools like Rochester, Einstein, Miami, Emory and Case Western are probably higher yield for you than schools like Temple, Rosalind, Rush, GW, G-town etc which get way too many apps and your stats are really high for. I would probably also give Ohio State, UVA, Emory, Case, Cincinnati, Wake Forest, U of Illinois, Stony Brook, Saint Louis, Pitt, and Dartmouth a look as well.

 

[neuro17]

Thanks all. I actually got the MSAR a couple days ago but again, I'm a little unsure as to how much it will help me seeing that my mcat is unbalanced. While my overall score might be competitive at certain schools, my verbal is not. My gpa isnt really helping me narrow down anything either.

Can someone elaborate on what the Brown archetype is?

I've added a couple schools to this list, but would anyone want to go through and chop some out? Some schools I'm now not so sure about are: Hofstra, Temple, Jefferson, Rochester

 

[WedgeDawg]

Thanks all. I actually got the MSAR a couple days ago but again, I'm a little unsure as to how much it will help me seeing that my mcat is unbalanced. While my overall score might be competitive at certain schools, my verbal is not. My gpa isnt really helping me narrow down anything either.

Can someone elaborate on what the Brown archetype is?

I've added a couple schools to this list, but would anyone want to go through and chop some out? Some schools I'm now not so sure about are: Hofstra, Temple, Jefferson, Rochester

Look for schools that have a verbal 10th percentile of 10 or greater and don't apply to those only apply to a select few.

 

[GrapesofRath]

I wouldn't worry all that much about the 9.

There are some top tier schools that might perhaps sneer at it or have hesitation over it, but I would still apply rather similarily as I would with a 10+(perhaps a hair more conservative). MSAR verbal 10th percentile statistics can be misleading, particularly with top schools. The number of people who hit 36+(which is the median at many top schools) who also have a 9 subsection are few and far between. You are limited in how much you can take away from a 10th percentile statistic of a school for something like verbal at a top 20. Is the school against taking 9 in verbals? Or is it simply a function of very few people who hit 36+ only get 9's in the verbal? There's no great way of answering this question, honestly there is variation from school to school and invidual evaluator and committee that is hard to project. I have certainly seen plenty of people have success, even at top tiers, with your MCAT breakdown and overall score, I wouldnt exactly call it a fatal blow.

Brown takes about half its class through special programs. For the others, over 60+% of them took 3 or more years off from UG and are often the non trad type with unique experiences. In other words, the school a) interviews a very very small proportion of the people who apply b) I'm not sure you necessairly fit the profile of those who do get interviews.

Hofstra, Temple and Rochester would all be solid additions to a school list.

 

[Goro]

I suggest

Quinnipiac
UConn - in-state
Rochester
BU
Hofstra
Jefferson
Miami
UVM
Albert Einstein
Duke
Emory
Tulane
USC
NYU
Vanderbilt
Cornell
Harvard
Northwestern
Pitt
All the NYC schools
Yale

 

[neuro17]

All the NYC schools

are you referring to the SUNYs? I thought they were not OOS-friendly

 

[WedgeDawg]

are you referring to the SUNYs? I thought they were not OOS-friendly

He means Cornell Columbia NYU Sinai

 

[Goro]

NYC. Go look 'em up.

Actually, Stony Brook is rather OOS friendly, so add them too.

are you referring to the SUNYs? I thought they were not OOS-friendly