2018 Applicant (How competitive?)

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Ejm1

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Hi guys,

I will be applying to medical school this coming summer for the 2018 cycle. I would love if I could get some opinions as to how competitive of an applicant I am and what schools I should shoot for. Here is a basic overview...

GPA: 3.98 (assuming this will be my final GPA)
MCAT: 515 (took once, C/P 128 Cars 128 B/B 130 P/S 129
Major: Biochemistry
State School

I am a first semester senior. I have been volunteering on our local 911 ambulance service as an EMT for over two years now. I have volunteered over 1,000 hours, and will continue to do so even during my gap year. I plan on becoming a crew chief shortly, which will demonstrate great leadership.

I also teach as a TA for the EMT class that we run through our organization and I am also an EMT for club sports events at the university.

I worked in a high level neuroendo lab for about two years. I completed a full time summer research project and presented at our undergrad research conference. Unfortunately, I left the lab this fall and will not receive any publications.

I have volunteered at a local hospital for over two years now, mostly non-clinical. It is something that I really enjoying doing and will be able to speak highly of.

I plan on starting to volunteer at the local homeless shelter cooking meals for them about once a week.

I will hopefully have around 40 hours of shadowing across a few different specialties.

This was just a basic outline of my application profile. I am wondering if I could be a competitive applicant at top tier medical schools, or if I am being overzealous in thinking so.

Please let me know what you guys think!!

Thanks a bunch
 
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You certainly have enough research experience for the top research schools, but I wouldn't aim for schools with median MCATs of like 36/37.

I think you would be fine applying to schools with median MCAT 33-35 as the bulk of your school list. Throw in whatever top schools you would like (Stanford, Cornell, NYU, Feinberg, Sinai, U Chicago, etc). Include your state schools and some "safeties" and you're good to go.
 
You certainly have enough research experience for the top research schools, but I wouldn't aim for schools with median MCATs of like 36/37.

I think you would be fine applying to schools with median MCAT 33-35 as the bulk of your school list. Throw in whatever top schools you would like (Stanford, Cornell, NYU, Feinberg, Sinai, U Chicago, etc). Include your state schools and some "safeties" and you're good to go.

I'm pretty sure your 94th percentile MCAT will be welcomed at any school you apply to.
 
I'm pretty sure your 94th percentile MCAT will be welcomed at any school you apply to.

I'll clarify. I meant to suggest not to have such a top-heavy list. The bulk of the list should be 33-35 median MCAT, state schools, and some safeties. S/he can apply to as many top tier schools of median 36+ as s/he wants.
 
Thanks for the responses guys! Does anyone see any weaknesses that I could improve upon my senior year?

Thanks again
 
Thanks for the responses guys! Does anyone see any weaknesses that I could improve upon my senior year?

Thanks again

No weaknesses, but start reflecting on your experiences; it's never too early to do that. But if you had to work on your application, perhaps more volunteering outside of the hospital, even though you mention you have a good amount of non-clinical volunteering within a hospital. Continue to strengthen relationships with your letter writers.

Also, just try to relax and enjoy senior year! Applying is one of the most stressful and nerve-wracking things I've ever done.
 
has anyone had any amazing non clinical volunteering experiences they would like to share?
 
You're quite competitive. I suggest:

I suggest the following. Nothing wrong with aiming high; the ones I have in bold are schools where your MCAT score is 2-3 points below their avg, and your GPA is ~ the same as the school avg. Thus, proceed with caution on these, but I feel you're in striking distance for some.


U VM
U Toledo
Miami
St. Louis
Albany
Albert Einstein
Rochester
Rush (note: very service/experience oriented with a 150hr service requirement. Avg student has 800 hours of community service, and >1800 hours of health care exposure.)
Rosy Franklin
NYMC
EVMS
Wake Forest
Jefferson
Temple
Drexel
Creighton
Tulane
USC/Keck
Dartmouth
MCW
Loyola
USF Morsani
Emory
BU
Mayo (both)
Duke
Case
JHU
Pitt
Northwestern
NYU
Vanderbilt
Columbia

Hofstra
Uniformed Services University/Hebert (just be aware of the military service commitment)
Your state school(s).


Hi guys,

I will be applying to medical school this coming summer for the 2018 cycle. I would love if I could get some opinions as to how competitive of an applicant I am and what schools I should shoot for. Here is a basic overview...

GPA: 3.98 (assuming this will be my final GPA)
MCAT: 515 (took once, C/P 128 Cars 128 B/B 130 P/S 129
Major: Biochemistry
State School

I am a first semester senior. I have been volunteering on our local 911 ambulance service as an EMT for over two years now. I have volunteered over 1,000 hours, and will continue to do so even during my gap year. I plan on becoming a crew chief shortly, which will demonstrate great leadership.

I also teach as a TA for the EMT class that we run through our organization and I am also an EMT for club sports events at the university.

I worked in a high level neuroendo lab for about two years. I completed a full time summer research project and presented at our undergrad research conference. Unfortunately, I left the lab this fall and will not receive any publications.

I have volunteered at a local hospital for over two years now, mostly non-clinical. It is something that I really enjoying doing and will be able to speak highly of.

I plan on starting to volunteer at the local homeless shelter cooking meals for them about once a week.

I will hopefully have around 40 hours of shadowing across a few different specialties.

This was just a basic outline of my application profile. I am wondering if I could be a competitive applicant at top tier medical schools, or if I am being overzealous in thinking so.

Please let me know what you guys think!!

Thanks a bunch
 
Hi guys,

I will be applying to medical school this coming summer for the 2018 cycle. I would love if I could get some opinions as to how competitive of an applicant I am and what schools I should shoot for. Here is a basic overview...

GPA: 3.98 (assuming this will be my final GPA)
MCAT: 515 (took once, C/P 128 Cars 128 B/B 130 P/S 129
Major: Biochemistry
State School

I am a first semester senior. I have been volunteering on our local 911 ambulance service as an EMT for over two years now. I have volunteered over 1,000 hours, and will continue to do so even during my gap year. I plan on becoming a crew chief shortly, which will demonstrate great leadership.

I also teach as a TA for the EMT class that we run through our organization and I am also an EMT for club sports events at the university.

I worked in a high level neuroendo lab for about two years. I completed a full time summer research project and presented at our undergrad research conference. Unfortunately, I left the lab this fall and will not receive any publications.

I have volunteered at a local hospital for over two years now, mostly non-clinical. It is something that I really enjoying doing and will be able to speak highly of.

I plan on starting to volunteer at the local homeless shelter cooking meals for them about once a week.

I will hopefully have around 40 hours of shadowing across a few different specialties.

This was just a basic outline of my application profile. I am wondering if I could be a competitive applicant at top tier medical schools, or if I am being overzealous in thinking so.

Please let me know what you guys think!!

Thanks a bunch

Your stats are awesome and certainly competitive for "good" MD programs. Definitely apply to a few "lower tier" MD as well just to be safe.
 
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