MD WAMC 1st Post. 505 MCAT cGPA 3.91 sGPA 3.92

[urhuese15]

I am a longtime SDN lurker and this is my first time posting. I am trying to compile a list of medical schools to apply to and I am completely lost, maybe because I am still waiting on my MCAT score. I took the MCAT in Aug 2015 and will not receive my score until September. But I am dead-set on applying this 2016 cycle as I am currently in a combined degree program and already have conditional acceptance to two medical schools. I am an URM (Black, African) female, TX resident with the aforementioned GPA. My current list of medical schools is much too long (about 70 schools) and needs narrowing down. So far, I am considering:

Albert Einstein
Baylor
Boston University
Case Western Reserve
Columbia
Duke
Emory
Dartmouth
George Washington
Georgetown
Harvard
Howard
Mt. Sinai
Johns Hopkins
Cornell
Mayo
Northwestern
Perelman at UPenn
Rush
Stanford
Stony Brook
Temple
Texas A&M
Texas Tech
UTHSCSA
Warren-Alpert at Brown
Tufts
Tulane
Buffalo State
University of Arizona
UC Davis
UC Irvine
UC David Geffen
UC San Diego
UC San Francisco
U of Chicago - Pritzker
University of Hawaii
Rochester
UTMB Galveston
UTH at Houston
UT Southwestern
Vanderbilt
Washington University at St. Louis
Yale
Harvard...

Thanks in advance!

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[Goro]

Sept is really late. I recommend holding off until the next cycle.

Without an MCAT score, it's hard to advise perfectly, but your GPAs are stellar for anyone. Assuming you can score at least in the high 20s, I recommend:


ALL TX schools, including Baylor
Albert Einstein
Boston University
Case Western Reserve
Columbia
Duke
Emory
Harvard
ALL HBCs
Mt. Sinai
Johns Hopkins
Cornell
Mayo
Northwestern
Perelman at UPenn
Rush
Stanford
Stony Brook
Temple
Tulane
UC David Geffen
UC San Diego
UC San Francisco
U of Chicago - Pritzker
Rochester
Hofstra
U Miami
Vanderbilt
Washington University at St. Louis
Yale

 

[urhuese15]

Sept is really late. I recommend holding off until the next cycle.

Without an MCAT score, it's hard to advise perfectly, but your GPAs are stellar for anyone. Assuming you can score at least in the high 20s, I recommend:


ALL TX schools, including Baylor
Albert Einstein
Boston University
Case Western Reserve
Columbia
Duke
Emory
Harvard
ALL HBCs
Mt. Sinai
Johns Hopkins
Cornell
Mayo
Northwestern
Perelman at UPenn
Rush
Stanford
Stony Brook
Temple
Tulane
UC David Geffen
UC San Diego
UC San Francisco
U of Chicago - Pritzker
Rochester
Hofstra
U Miami
Vanderbilt
Washington University at St. Louis
Yale

Thank you so much for replying! I was afraid my thread would get lost in the forum. Do you know if medical school admission officers will look at my application without an MCAT score? If not, does that mean the earliest that they would review my application is September 8th?

 

[LizzyM]

It is possible that some schools will "skim the cream" using computer pre-screens and review your application shortly after it arrives while other schools will use a "first in-first read" process meaning you will be reviewed in November, or later.... have you submitted your AMCAS for verification? Have you purchased access to MSAR?

You have two conditional offers so you need to look at each school against those two offers and ask yourself, "would I attend ___ if it were the only other school to offer me admission?" If the answer is "no", then don't waste your time. What are your goals? Some of the schools you've listed have a mandatory thesis or research project. Are you interested in research enough to want to do a graduate thesis? If not, scratch those off your list. Texan? take a look at the average low in January for Boston, New York, New Haven, Rochester, Buffalo, Chicago, Philadelphia. Here's the daily high and low for Rochester NY last January: http://www.accuweather.com/en/us/rochester-ny/14614/month/329674?monyr=1/01/2015 Do the colder winters and shorter winter days in the north hold any appeal over your Texas options?

I'd suggest making 3 lists: one under the assumption that you score 504-508 on the MCAT, one assuming a score of 509-512, and another assuming a 513+. Divide your list into lower/medium/higher. Depending on your MCAT choose the schools mostly in one of those three groups with 1-2 schools from the other two groups.

 

[GrapesofRath]

General consensus on SDN in the vast majority of cases is to take conditional acceptances.

If you don't there is no point applying to anything but top schools or anywhere you would much rather go than the ones you are already in. For top schools 504+ should be your goal on the MCAT, the higher the better obviously.

 

[ChrisMack390]

Personally I would take one of the conditional acceptances and go on vacation with my thousands of saved dollars

 

[Faha]

Agree with @Goro and @LizzyM. Your best chances are in Texas and 90% of Texas applicants end up attending medical school in Texas.

 

[Goro]

IF OP, being a Texan, wishes to go to med school in northern climes, I strongly urge her to learn how to drive in snow. Having lived in TX, it only takes flurries to panic a city there.

 

[GrapesofRath]

IF OP, being a Texan, wishes to go to med school in northern climes, I strongly urge her to learn how to drive in snow. Having lived in TX, it only takes flurries to panic a city there.

Schools get closed for days at a time at the first sight of freezing rain or ice. Not an exaggeration at all.

 

[Goro]

Yup! Been there, done that!

Schools get closed for days at a time at the first sight of freezing rain or ice. Not an exaggeration at all.

 

[urhuese15]

It is possible that some schools will "skim the cream" using computer pre-screens and review your application shortly after it arrives while other schools will use a "first in-first read" process meaning you will be reviewed in November, or later.... have you submitted your AMCAS for verification? Have you purchased access to MSAR?

You have two conditional offers so you need to look at each school against those two offers and ask yourself, "would I attend ___ if it were the only other school to offer me admission?" If the answer is "no", then don't waste your time. What are your goals? Some of the schools you've listed have a mandatory thesis or research project. Are you interested in research enough to want to do a graduate thesis? If not, scratch those off your list. Texan? take a look at the average low in January for Boston, New York, New Haven, Rochester, Buffalo, Chicago, Philadelphia. Here's the daily high and low for Rochester NY last January: http://www.accuweather.com/en/us/rochester-ny/14614/month/329674?monyr=1/01/2015 Do the colder winters and shorter winter days in the north hold any appeal over your Texas options?

I'd suggest making 3 lists: one under the assumption that you score 504-508 on the MCAT, one assuming a score of 509-512, and another assuming a 513+. Divide your list into lower/medium/higher. Depending on your MCAT choose the schools mostly in one of those three groups with 1-2 schools from the other two groups.

No, unfortunately I have not yet submitted my AMCAS But I do have access to the MSAR and I have been using it religiously. Thank you for phrasing the comparison in that manner, it makes the decision process much clearer. I am interested in research, I even toyed with the idea of applying MD/PhD and am currently doing undergraduate research. Thank you for also bringing my attention to the weather, I did not originally place much weight on it as a deciding factor. Thank you for the idea of splitting my list into three.

 

[urhuese15]

General consensus on SDN in the vast majority of cases is to take conditional acceptances.

If you don't there is no point applying to anything but top schools or anywhere you would much rather go than the ones you are already in. For top schools 504+ should be your goal on the MCAT, the higher the better obviously.

If you do not mind, could you please explain why that is the general consensus?

 

[urhuese15]

Personally I would take one of the conditional acceptances and go on vacation with my thousands of saved dollars

I understand the sentiment. I guess I am just fearful of "selling myself short". Whatever that means...

 

[urhuese15]

Agree with @Goro and @LizzyM. Your best chances are in Texas and 90% of Texas applicants end up attending medical school in Texas.

I was not aware of that statistic. Would you happen to know why? Is it because of preference or are Texan applicants not as successful outside of TX?

 

[urhuese15]

IF OP, being a Texan, wishes to go to med school in northern climes, I strongly urge her to learn how to drive in snow. Having lived in TX, it only takes flurries to panic a city there.

Duly noted!

 

[urhuese15]

Schools get closed for days at a time at the first sight of freezing rain or ice. Not an exaggeration at all.

It's true!

 

[LizzyM]

First all, Texas residents get a huge bargain when they attend med school in Texas. Think about it... at a private school outside of TX you might be paying 50K/yr or more for tuition and more for housing not to mention winter clothing and snow tires. Now a URM might be offered something to sweeten the deal but there are no guarantees. When all is said & done, it is tough to get applicants out of Texas.

 

[GrapesofRath]

"urhuese15, post: 16833978, member: 705776"]I was not aware of that statistic. Would you happen to know why? Is it because of preference or are Texan applicants not as successful outside of TX?

Gyngyn has talked repeatedly about how alot of lower tier privates don't even consider TX residents anymore because they know the chance of them actually matriculating is so low due to the factors LizzyM talked about. This doesn't apply to top tiers from what I understand; not sure about your middle tier Hofstra, Boston U types.

 

[efle]

Washington University at St. Louis

ಠ_ಠ

 

[Narmerguy]

How were your MCAT practice exams? You should look through the MSAR to help narrow down this list. You'd be applying quite late, so I would prioritize the schools in Texas (as others have said) and if you do competitively on the MCAT maybe keep some top schools in addition to that.

 

[urhuese15]

I have received my MCAT score today. 505. Could you please help me edit my list? I know it's not the best score, but your help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!

 

[efle]

That is approx equiv to a 28. Get the MSAR, it is your best friend now

 

[GrapesofRath]

I have received my MCAT score today. 505. Could you please help me edit my list? I know it's not the best score, but your help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!

Goro's list is a good guide but it is getting really late have you submitted your primary yet? If not I'd be even more inclined to just take your conditional acceptances.

If you are hell bent on applying this cycle no matter what(and applying won't cause you to lose the conditional acceptances) look at Goro's list and only apply to schools you really would want to go to. Likewise, invest in MSAR. You are a URM with a good GPA but at least be cognizant at the very minimum of the schools you might want to apply to where your MCAT would be 5-6 points below the 10th percentile(schools like WASHU, Penn, Chicago, NYU, Sinai, Stanford). But yes invest in MSAR, do it right now.

 

[urhuese15]

That is approx equiv to a 28. Get the MSAR, it is your best friend now

Thank you for the score equivalent. I was unsure of how to interpret my score. I have the MSAR, but know I can put it to better use.

 

[urhuese15]

Goro's list is a good guide but it is getting really late have you submitted your primary yet? If not I'd be even more inclined to just take your conditional acceptances.

If you are hell bent on applying this cycle no matter what(and applying won't cause you to lose the conditional acceptances) look at Goro's list and only apply to schools you really would want to go to. Likewise, invest in MSAR. You are a URM with a good GPA but at least be cognizant at the very minimum of the schools you might want to apply to where your MCAT would be 5-6 points below the 10th percentile(schools like WASHU, Penn, Chicago, NYU, Sinai, Stanford). But yes invest in MSAR, do it right now.

Thank you so much for your advice! I am not sure if I fully understood you, but are you saying that I should or should not apply to schools where my MCAT is 5-6 points below the 10th percentile? I would think I should not, right? I thought I am supposed to apply to schools where my score is at or above the 50th percentile (not that there are many in my case)?

 

[Lawpy]

ಠ_ಠ

( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

Goro's list is a good guide but it is getting really late have you submitted your primary yet? If not I'd be even more inclined to just take your conditional acceptances.

If you are hell bent on applying this cycle no matter what(and applying won't cause you to lose the conditional acceptances) look at Goro's list and only apply to schools you really would want to go to. Likewise, invest in MSAR. You are a URM with a good GPA but at least be cognizant at the very minimum of the schools you might want to apply to where your MCAT would be 5-6 points below the 10th percentile(schools like WASHU, Penn, Chicago, NYU, Sinai, Stanford). But yes invest in MSAR, do it right now.

Thank you so much for your advice! I am not sure if I fully understood you, but are you saying that I should or should not apply to schools where my MCAT is 5-6 points below the 10th percentile? I would think I should not, right? I thought I am supposed to apply to schools where my score is at or above the 50th percentile (not that there are many in my case)?

Avoid applying to schools where your MCAT is significantly below their 10th percentile, and focus mainly on the schools presented by Goro. Good luck.

 

[urhuese15]

ಠ_ಠ

Please forgive my ignorance. I unfortunately do not know how to fix the mistake.

 

[Doug Underhill]

Well, if you already have conditional acceptances to two schools, just apply to all the schools you really like, and if you don't get in to any of them, just go to the ones you're already accepted at. There's no point in spending time and $ applying to additional safeties if you already have a safety.

African-American applicants with a 3.9 and a 505 have a shot at any school in the country. Not a guarantee, by any means, but a shot.

Also, Buffalo State doesn't have a medical school. If you refer to UB as Buff State they will insta-reject you.

 

[urhuese15]

Well, if you already have conditional acceptances to two schools, just apply to all the schools you really like, and if you don't get in to any of them, just go to the ones you're already accepted at. There's no point in spending time and $ applying to additional safeties if you already have a safety.

African-American applicants with a 3.9 and a 505 have a shot at any school in the country. Not a guarantee, by any means, but a shot.

Also, Buffalo State doesn't have a medical school. If you refer to UB as Buff State they will insta-reject you.

Thanks! I will keep that in mind!

 

[efle]

What are the two schools you already have conditional acceptances at?

If they are solid schools and likely to be cheap (read: if they're Texan) then you may not want to bother dealing with an application cycle at all.

A 28 will be tough going for even a URM with a 3.9 at the likes of famous Top 20 names, and if those are the only places you'd attend over your current options, then you might want to save the time and money altogether.