School List Help - 3.5/3.45 gGPA/sGPA, 42 MCAT (3rd retake)

[JackyLin]

Was wondering if you guys could help me with a school list suggestions. I have just received my score from 4/4. This is a quick look of my info:

gGPA/sGPA - 3.5/3.45
- low freshmen (3.2?)
- 3.7x sophomore
- low junior (3.1?) (family problem and had difficult time focusing at school)
- 3.975 senior year (all As except one A-, first two quarters are normal workload and took a risk at redeeming myself by taking 28 units/7 courses compared to normal workload. Had a mixture of upper division humanities/social sciences and sciences)

MCAT
April 2011 - 29P (11/9/9)
August 2011 - 33M (13/10/10)
April 2013 - 42 (14/13/15)

Clinical (total ~300 hours)
~4 months-ongoing/~100 hours at emergency room lobby area - concluded because my main duties were restricted to cleaning the lobby and calming hysterical patients
~6 months-ongoing/~120 hours at surgical acute/ICU department - left after getting a gist of the hierarchy of interpersonal relations and the interplay of communications among hospital staffs, along with bedside matters and know how patients of different severity are treated.
~6-7 physician shadow/~120-140 hours total - getting a view of different surgical subspecialties, maintaining contact with a current physician to participate more into his research.

Research
~2 years at a school of medicine neuroscience lab, working on my Masters thesis and projected defense date is in summer, potential submission
~0.5 year in 2011 working in an immunology lab

Community
At the beginning stages of an organization aimed to source student volunteers to local medically underserved areas, by partnering up with local clinics/physicians, with plans to host community workshop/seminars to raise healthcare awareness on specific topics.

California resident

Any help is appreciated!

- Updated School List -

Reach:
U of Michigan
Mayo
Columbia
Mt. Sinai
Duke
U of Pittsburgh
Stanford (instate)
UCSD (instate)
UCSF (instate)
Emory
NYU
U of Penn
Brown
Vanderbilt
Target:
U of Colorado
Dartmouth
Case western
UCI (instate)
UCLA (instate)
UCR (instate)
UCD (instate)
Boston U
U of Washington
U of N. Carolina
Safety:
Jefferson
Loyola
Temple
U of Rochester
Einstein

I categorized based on LizzyM scores. I know it looks a bit reach heavy but I figure with the 3rd MCAT maybe I could throw a few more crap shots...what do you guys think? What school can be deleted/added?

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[acampos21]

Wow, your mcat score is awesome! If you don't mind telling, how'd you prepare for it?

 

[TexasSurgeon]

Holy crap. That MCAT. HOW

You seem very competitive with that score. You have good ECs as well!

 

[JackyLin]

I used the 3 month plan and put in a mix of TPR and mcat-review.org on the later topics since BR tends to be detail heavy for bio and ochem. For verbal I used EK 101 and TPR hyperlearning (both the book and online material - they were very nice to renew a few weeks for a past student). Always practice after content review as it is crucial to exercise your ability to apply the concepts.

And have this on repeat. http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&feature=endscreen&v=q5nVqeVhgQE

 

[TexasSurgeon]

I used the 3 month plan and put in a mix of TPR and mcat-review.org on the later topics since BR tends to be detail heavy for bio and ochem. For verbal I used EK 101 and TPR hyperlearning (both the book and online material - they were very nice to renew a few weeks for a past student). Always practice after content review as it is crucial to exercise your ability to apply the concepts.

And have this on repeat. http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&feature=endscreen&v=q5nVqeVhgQE

Haha yeah well it's clear you know your science. So I think any questions about your GPA will be silenced. Just write a good PS that mentions the low grades initially.

 

[ZeaL6]

And have this on repeat. http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&feature=endscreen&v=q5nVqeVhgQE

I will now get a 42 on my mcat in 2 weeks. This is going on repeat

 

[TexasSurgeon]

That's such a huge improvement from a 29 and 33

 

[October88]

MCAT instructors hate him!

Everyone is in awe of your MCAT score that no one is answering your question! You are great whereever you apply and when you apply for schools keep do not think of your lower MCATs holding you back and apply based on your most recent MCAT. Also, I would research which schools commonly give merit scholarships because you would possibly qualify. I would apply early to a lot of top schools (you need to apply to numerous because the chances of getting in is slim at any for even exceptional candidates) and I would also apply to all of your state schools.

 

[Alejandro]

Apply to all of your state schools, and apply broadly. I had similar grades as you, but my mcat (while respectable) wasn't at the 40+ level. That being said, I think my EC's carried me some bit, but realistically, just apply broadly. 20 should do the trick at least.

 

[osprey099]

Dude, a 42 MCAT is going to get you in somewhere. You got nothing to worry about.

 

[JackyLin]

Thanks for the encouraging words guys, I was afraid my grades may drag me down a bit. But in all honesty what do you think are my chances with top tier schools? My grades though not a direct upward trend does have a significant breaking points I believe (I'm rather happy with what I did in senior year), and hope that would help me to remain competitive with top tier schools? Or may I be lacking ECs for that matter? (no publication yet, organization still on early stage but I'd imagine much would have progressed by interview)

 

[TexasSurgeon]

Thanks for the encouraging words guys, I was afraid my grades may drag me down a bit. But in all honesty what do you think are my chances with top tier schools? My grades though not a direct upward trend does have a significant breaking points I believe (I'm rather happy with what I did in senior year), and hope that would help me to remain competitive with top tier schools? Or may I be lacking ECs for that matter? (no publication yet, organization still on early stage but I'd imagine much would have progressed by interview)

I mean you may get filtered out based on GPA but they may filter you back in because of MCAT. Your GPA may be the only "scary thing" but you're still competitive I think.

 

[darkjedi]

That 42 will carry your application to a lot of interviews, provided you dont only apply to elite schools. That said, I wouldn't be surprised if you got many interviews there either.

 

[aspiring20]

I mean you may get filtered out based on GPA but they may filter you back in because of MCAT. Your GPA may be the only "scary thing" but you're still competitive I think.

i really dont think a 3.4+ will be screened out at many, if any places. sure, it is less than ideal, but by no means bad.

 

[TexasSurgeon]

i really dont think a 3.4+ will be screened out at many, if any places. sure, it is less than ideal, but by no means bad.

Oh sorry I meant filtered out and back in for the top schools. Yeah I think you'll be fine. Jedi said it right.

 

[JackyLin]

Bump for updated school list.

 

[Goro]

Wow, Jacky, that last MCAT is stunning! Top 1% territory.

Unfortunately, the cGPA doesn't match the MCAT. The great upward trend is a good thing, and I think you'll get plenty of interviews, but I'd shy away from the top tier schools.

I'd definitely apply to each UC school, plus those in surrounding states...maybe even in WA state as well. Throw in Stanford too! If you want an "autosafety" (meaning, you'd pretty much get an automatic acceptance based upon your packet and assuming you don't bomb your interview [don't laugh, I've seen it happen], throw in Western and TUCOM-CA.

Also suggest:

Mt. Sinai
Duke
Boston U
Jefferson
Loyola
Temple
U of Rochester
Einstein
Creighton
Drexel
Tufts (maybe...I don't have my MSAR with me)
Hofstra

 

[mcloaf]

I'd definitely expect you to get in somewhere great with this application.

FYI I wouldn't apply to UWashington as a CA resident unless you're ok with pretty much giving away your application fee.

 

[JackyLin]

Thanks for the suggestions! I was wondering what about schools receiving high volume of applicants like GW? Should I give those a try and hope my third MCAT will catch their eye? Also, from what I read on a few other threads, there are schools with tendency to be more forgiving on low GPA/high MCAT applicants like case western? Can someone comment on that?