Which schools/tier(s) do you think I have a better shot at than a long shot?

[gravity567]

Hello,
Thanks in advance for your comments.

Which schools/tier(s) do you think I have a better shot at than a long shot?

-37R
-4.0GPA from a mid-tier school (40 to 60 in US News ranking)
-Biology major, Philosophy minor
-Caucasian
-SURF (Summer research) at Caltech one summer. No papers published yet.
-Study Abroad (spanish) one summer
-studying for the MCAT and physican shadowing one summer
-varsity athlete
-Founder/director of an inaugural charity race. Over 300 people involved/participated.
-president of a large student organization (non-medical, dance) for one year. dance instructor for 2 years.
-honor societies: odk, phi beta kappa, golden key
-new member of the year award for campus sororities
-cardiology ekg research assistant- this past year, incomplete
-volunteering at a cancer center—1 hour per week during the school year
-Attended various bioethics seminars and conferences
-Note-taker for the disabled for one class, one semester
-Co-authoring the second edition of a family member’s textbook. Not yet published.

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[jbz24]

It really depends. Your stats are good enough for any school. The research may be the major thing holding you back, as it was only for a summer with no pubs. The rest of your ECs seem pretty good. With your stats, I would focus on mainly mid tier and top tier, with some lower tier safeties. Where are you from and what locations are you looking at?

 

[mspeedwagon]

Definitely Tier 1, but AVOID the research focused schools (Mayo, JHU, Washington U in St. Louis etc.).

 

[Catalystik]

One hour/week for a year of clinical experience is pretty sparse. Did the EKG lab give you more hours of patient interaction than that?

How many hours per doc did you shadow? Was it just shadowing, or did you do some assisting too?

What did you do as a research assistant? What I'm getting at is, were you doing research, which would augment the summer program, or was it mainly busywork that would not result in a coauthorship on a paper?

How many years were you a varsity athlete?

The leadership and teaching are good. The numbers are good. Unless the book is accepted for publication, you would save the coauthorship for an update letter.