What are my chances? honesty hour

[justanotherpremed96]

I'm a URM AA male. cGPA 3.18, sGPA, 3.12 with upward trend; 515 retake. Graduated from Wake Forest with a BS in biochemistry.

scholarship recipient, Bilingual, VA resident

ECs + research:
Worked part-time all through out undergrad in a gym and then as a chemistry tutor. Founded/Co-founded 2 clubs - one was a local chapter of a national student organization for anti-genocide and mass atrocities, served as president and oversaw several community events, another was a mental health club (leadership position); 2 years of undergraduate biochem research which culminated in a poster presentation (publication is likely); 280 hours volunteering in children's hospital with patient interaction, 370 hours volunteering in homeless shelter; currently working my first of 2 yrs at NIH as a clinical research assistant on several studies and one clinical trial with daily patient interaction, along with my own research project, which has potential for publication (would be the first ever of its kind), and of course plenty of intramurals.

**I was subject to a school disciplinary sanction for an incident during my sophomore year, plan to disclose**

Planning on sending at least 3-4 LORs from the heads of any major groups I worked with

My current list is as follows..

NYU (dream)
cornell
umich
meharry
northwestern
UCLA (Geffen)
UVA
Rutgers
Wisco
UNC
Penn
Howard
EVMS
VCU
Loyola Chicago
Emory
VTC
vandy

Please be very honest, i appreciate all the help/critiques from those who have been through the admissions process and/or adcoms. I am preferential to MD research institutions and more so looking to see if my gpa (and school sanction) will be a truly significant burden. thanks again

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[Faha]

Schools such as NYU, Cornell, Michigan, Northwestern, Penn, Emory, Vanderbilt are unrealistic since they accept very few applicants with your GPA. Rutgers, U Wisconsin, UNC accept very few non residents with your GPA and no connections to the state. Here is a more realistic school list:
Howard
Meharry
Morehouse
UCLA-Drew
Eastern Virginia
Virginia Commonwealth
Virginia Tech
UVA
Wake Forest
George Washington
Quinnipiac
Vermont
New York Medical College
Seton Hall
Penn State
Drexel
Temple
Jefferson
NOVA MD
Oakland Beaumont
Medical College Wisconsin
Rosalind Franklin
Loyola
St. Louis
Creighton
Tulane

 

[candbgirl]

What was your first MCAT score?

 

[DrRiker]

Schools such as NYU, Cornell, Michigan, Northwestern, Penn, Emory, Vanderbilt are unrealistic since they accept very few applicants with your GPA. Rutgers, U Wisconsin, UNC accept very few non residents with your GPA and no connections to the state. Here is a more realistic school list:
Howard
Meharry
Morehouse
UCLA-Drew
Eastern Virginia
Virginia Commonwealth
Virginia Tech
UVA
Wake Forest
George Washington
Quinnipiac
Vermont
New York Medical College
Seton Hall
Penn State
Drexel
Temple
Jefferson
NOVA MD
Oakland Beaumont
Medical College Wisconsin
Rosalind Franklin
Loyola
St. Louis
Creighton
Tulane

UVA might also be a donation. 10th %ile GPA for accepted IS students is 3.66.

 

[justanotherpremed96]

What was your first MCAT score?

505

 

[DokterMom]

Your GPA is the weak link -- What were your last 3 semesters? And do you have a good story for the trend?

Also, the IA may or may not be a big deal. What was the nature of the sanction? Academic integrity and violence are big; alcohol and pot are minor.

Your reach schools do seem a bit too 'reachy' but there's a good place for you overall. The HBCs should be a good safety net for you, so I'd add more mid-tier and upper mid-tier as your reaches.

Good Luck!

 

[justanotherpremed96]

Schools such as NYU, Cornell, Michigan, Northwestern, Penn, Emory, Vanderbilt are unrealistic since they accept very few applicants with your GPA. Rutgers, U Wisconsin, UNC accept very few non residents with your GPA and no connections to the state. Here is a more realistic school list:
Howard
Meharry
Morehouse
UCLA-Drew
Eastern Virginia
Virginia Commonwealth
Virginia Tech
UVA
Wake Forest
George Washington
Quinnipiac
Vermont
New York Medical College
Seton Hall
Penn State
Drexel
Temple
Jefferson
NOVA MD
Oakland Beaumont
Medical College Wisconsin
Rosalind Franklin
Loyola
St. Louis
Creighton
Tulane

I appreciate it. For the most part do you think most schools do employ a holistic approach in each evaluation or do you think my gpa is just irreconcilable to most of the upper tier schools i mentioned...

 

[Faha]

I appreciate it. For the most part do you think most schools do employ a holistic approach in each evaluation or do you think my gpa is just irreconcilable to most of the upper tier schools i mentioned...

Your GPA is just too low. For example, NYU has a 10th percentile of 3.72 so there are 12 students in each admitted class with a GPA less than 3.72 Most of those would be in the 3.5 to 3.7 range. There may be no students with a GPA as low as yours or perhaps one. You will not be that one student.

 

[candbgirl]

I appreciate it. For the most part do you think most schools do employ a holistic approach in each evaluation or do you think my gpa is just irreconcilable to most of the upper tier schools i mentioned...

Your GPAs are so low for upper tier schools that if the schools had autoscreen set you probably wouldn’t make it through the autoscreen. But nice improvement on your MCAT retake.

 

[justanotherpremed96]

Your GPA is the weak link -- What were your last 3 semesters? And do you have a good story for the trend?

Also, the IA may or may not be a big deal. What was the nature of the sanction? Academic integrity and violence are big; alcohol and pot are minor.

Your reach schools do seem a bit too 'reachy' but there's a good place for you overall. The HBCs should be a good safety net for you, so I'd add more mid-tier and upper mid-tier as your reaches.

Good Luck!

I appreciate the input. last three were 3.52, 3.30, 3.38, yeah I mean serious financial issues stemming from my mom's cancer treatment and other family related issues really messed with my head couple semesters but anyway i know I'll be able explain that stuff so I'll try to make it a good story in explaining the trend.

My IA was alcohol related.

 

[CandH23]

Your GPA is the weak link -- What were your last 3 semesters? And do you have a good story for the trend?

Also, the IA may or may not be a big deal. What was the nature of the sanction? Academic integrity and violence are big; alcohol and pot are minor.

Your reach schools do seem a bit too 'reachy' but there's a good place for you overall. The HBCs should be a good safety net for you, so I'd add more mid-tier and upper mid-tier as your reaches.

Good Luck!

I think this is sound advice. Instead of vandy and NYU why not some other upper mid tier like Mount Sinai.
Don't remove the reaches all together tho, keep some. Great MCAT score. Last few semesters if trending higher than overall will probably be looked at favorably. Possible rough start in the beginning of undergrad?

 

[candbgirl]

... last three were 3.52, 3.30, 3.38, .

Not exactly a strong upward trend. It will be interesting to see where you land. Please let us know. And again, nice improvement on your MCAT retake.