What are my chances of getting into a top medical school?

[aztlannation]

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[DaMedDude]

GPA?

 

[aztlannation]

[Deleted]

 

[Doug Underhill]

You're not getting into a top school with a 7 VR. 8 is considered to be the cutoff for many medical schools. Work hard on getting that VR up, and you should be a very competitive applicant.

 

[el_duderino]

This is a hypothetical based on your MCAT.

The answer is "rock the MCAT and get clinical and shadowing experience." Can't imagine any reason you wouldn't get shadowing at least.

 

[minion1992]

I mean this is a very personally choice. If you can afford to wait, I think that would only help your chances. Overall grade-wise (assuming you undergraduate degree is from UCLA and you only took some community college coursework) I think you are in the ball park of good schools. If you get a good MCAT score 35+, you should be set number-wise. I think shadowing is a little overrated in the sense that you need some for the top schools just to show you know this is the career for you, but do little to boost your unique story. Applying to medical school is a little bit random, but if you can afford to wait and do something unique in that time period that you think would differentiate you, then you should do it to better your odds and have a more compelling story.

Because I guarantee people will have the same grades as you at the interviews of these schools and similar clinical exposure + solid rec + some research + volunteer at hosp/school. What I am missing from your app is something unique because everything you wrote down is pretty standard at these schools, at least when I interviewed. You might not have written it down which is totally chill, but if you don't have that I think it hurts your odds at schools like stanford and harvard.

 

[aztlannation]

I mean this is a very personally choice. If you can afford to wait, I think that would only help your chances. Overall grade-wise (assuming you undergraduate degree is from UCLA and you only took some community college coursework) I think you are in the ball park of good schools. If you get a good MCAT score 35+, you should be set number-wise. I think shadowing is a little overrated in the sense that you need some for the top schools just to show you know this is the career for you, but do little to boost your unique story. Applying to medical school is a little bit random, but if you can afford to wait and do something unique in that time period that you think would differentiate you, then you should do it to better your odds and have a more compelling story.

Because I guarantee people will have the same grades as you at the interviews of these schools and similar clinical exposure + solid rec + some research + volunteer at hosp/school. What I am missing from your app is something unique because everything you wrote down is pretty standard at these schools, at least when I interviewed. You might not have written it down which is totally chill, but if you don't have that I think it hurts your odds at schools like stanford and harvard.

Thanks for the feedback guys! Very helpful indeed. minion1992. You make an excellent point. I totally agree with you. I need to think of something that will differentiate me from everyone else.

Any more responses and feedback will be greatly appreciated guys!

 

[minion1992]

I also agree with the others, your first priority should be studying for the MCAT and getting a good score. Only then can you start worrying about the other parts lacking in your app (I agree with a little more clinical experience that is different than escort services and some shadowing would not hurt). The story part is up to you and what you want to do in a career in medicine. Your aiming for very amazing schools which only give you the tools to succeed, its your job to utilize them to make something happen, you need to prove you can do that.

 

[Goro]

For a Mexican-American, I respectfully disagree. OP is golden.

You're not getting into a top school with a 7 VR. 8 is considered to be the cutoff for many medical schools. Work hard on getting that VR up, and you should be a very competitive applicant.