3.23 sGPA, 3.37 cGPA, 35 MCAT - Chances and Advice for Gap Year?

[Drtssg]

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[skais595]

Go Cats!

 

[swimmergirl2010]

Hi All,

I am a Senior at Top 20 School. Not URM. Resident of Illinois. I will be applying to Medical School this June, as soon as the application comes out.

I have a pretty bad GPA and I've gotten multiple C/C+'s in some of my premed prereqs. I still have 2 quarter to bring it up (schools on the quarter system). Hopefully my cGPA will be about 3.45 and my sGPA will be close to 3.35 by the time I apply.

I got a 35 on my MCAT, which I took last summer.

Research

I've been a part of multiple research projects, but no publications.

Summer of my Sophomore Year
- Full time research as part of team of undergrads
- Presented our work at an international conference
- Advisers (multiple PI's) said we could potentially publish our work but the team split up and we didn't have a chance to do so

Junior Year
- Worked on a project about a novel protein involved in the circadian system in the Drosophila brain
- Again my work was presented at a conference in conjunction with the work of the postdoc that I was working with (Didn't attend, due to lack of funding)
-For various reasons I left this lab at the end of my Junior Year

Senior Year
- Started research in a new lab
- Working on an interesting project about memory

Volunteering
- Since sophomore year I've been volunteering at a Children's hospital (Total 125hr)
Worked directly with children in the extended care wing. Is this considered Clinical Volunteering?
- Non Clinical Volunteering - 120+ hours (Varying in type and duration)

Shadowing
- Shadowed a cardiologist and a pediatrician for about 60 hours total
- Looking into shadowing a EM Doctor and a DO doc.

Other Extra-Curricular

- Teaching a workshop, which students can sign up for as additional practice for a class that they are in. (ie. A student taking biology, can take the workshop for biology)
- TAing for a Biology lab section
- Couple other groups around campus

LOR's

- 2 solid LOR's
- One from a prof who knows me well, another from the PI at my new lab
- I don't have a great person to ask for a non-science rec letter but will probably ask a professor I have in a small class this quarter


Which medical schools do you think I would be a competitive applicant for? I'm probably going to apply to all the Illinois schools. What are my chances at UIC, Rush, Loyola, Rosalind Franklin? Also, I might apply to UChicago and Northwestern, even though I doubt I have any chance of getting an II. I'm not really sure how to go about figuring out the rest of my school list. Total of maybe 20-25 schools. I would prefer to go to a MD school, but would also go DO if I didn't get into any MD.

Also, I'm taking a gap year. I'm considering doing a research internship or something similar. But, I'm interested in hearing about any suggestions for cool things people have done or heard about that I can do during my gap year.

Thanks for all the help! Definitely appreciate it!

xxxxx

 

[hopeful22213]

How far south in Illinois? If you are in central or southern portions of the state you'd be fairly competitive at SIU. The stats look decent for an applicant with your numbers and get even better if you can raise that gpa just a little bit:

https://www.aamc.org/download/321518/data/2012factstable25-4.pdf

 

[matanpucla]

I've got really similar stats, same MCAT and very close GPA. I've had 2 interviews so far, one top 40 MD interview resulted in a waitlist, the other was in an IMG school which i'm very excited about, haven't heard back yet.

So you definitely have a chance, but i will warn you that the low GPA might hurt you with some schools. Good luck, and I'll let you know when/if i get that coveted acceptance!

 

[Drtssg]

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[swimmergirl2010]

Chances are we went to 1 of the 2 Illinois school, but since you said top 10, I'm assuming you went to the other one. Haha. Also, I looked up the statistics, it comes out to around 60% of all applicants getting in. Not bad, I guess.

Have you thought about which schools you want to apply to? Also if you are taking a gap year, are you considering doing an SMP?

Thanks again for the help! Even though I feel like I know my chances overall, it really help getting other people's opinions...

I'm going to apply to SMP's for next year, and med schools in June. So, I'll either be doing an SMP during my gap year or applying to some clinical research positions. Another great gap year program is Community HealthCorps.

 

[Goro]

Chances are:

UIC: possible if you can ace every course from here on in

Rush: possible

Loyola: possible

Rosalind Franklin: definitely doable, esp. if GPA is >3.4


UChicago: don't waste your time

Northwestern: see U Chicago

Try SIU as well, especially if you have any ties to the southern part of the state or are very interested in rural medicine.

Try CCOM, because that's your best best.

Also suggest DMU and MarionCom

Hi All,

Which medical schools do you think I would be a competitive applicant for? I'm probably going to apply to all the Illinois schools. What are my chances at UIC, Rush, Loyola, Rosalind Franklin? Also, I might apply to UChicago and Northwestern, even though I doubt I have any chance of getting an II. I'm not really sure how to go about figuring out the rest of my school list. Total of maybe 20-25 schools. I would prefer to go to a MD school, but would also go DO if I didn't get into any MD.

Also, I'm taking a gap year. I'm considering doing a research internship or something similar. But, I'm interested in hearing about any suggestions for cool things people have done or heard about that I can do during my gap year.

Thanks for all the help! Definitely appreciate it!