3.27cGPA,3.19sGPA,37MCAT

[LittleBoar]

3.27cGPA and 3.19sGPA from Johns Hopkins. Majored in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering.

37 MCAT (12PS, 11V, Q, 14BS)

ECs:
800 hours intern for the chief anesthesiologist at a local hospital
50 hours intern for the radiology department at another local hospital
50 hours shadowing for the physical training department at the same local hospital
500 hours of tutoring for foreign exchange high school students
Varsity Letter in NCAA wrestling at Hopkins (and in high school if that matters)
Black belt in Tang Soo Do and Jiu Jitsu, tonss of martial arts awards
Volunteer martial arts instructor for underprivaledged youth/teens
personal trainer and nutritional consult

Tentative list (From Maryland btw):
Maryland (top choice)
Hopkins (long shot)
Darthmouth (reach)
UPenn (reach)
UPitt (reach)
George Washington
Georgetown
Howard
Virginia
Eastern Virginia
Virginia Commonwealth
Drexel
Jefferson
West Virginia
Marshall

So how am I looking? Realize GPA and sGPA a bit low. Hoping that going to a university known for grading very hard might help a little. Also that fact that I majored in Chemical and Biomolecular engineering which is quite a tough degree. Started well my freshman year, dipped into 2.7 range sophomore year, steady upward trend the next 4 semesters.

Reason for crappy sophomore year: I attempted to cut weight (for wrestling) to the weight class I had wrestled the year before, despite growing a lot through the last year, and adding 15lbs. Cut from 155lbs to 133lbs in a month...got really sick in the middle of the first semester (hair dropping, extremely brittle skin, consistent body and stomach cramps, headaches all the time, got sick like every few weeks). Despite this I still kept my weight really low to help the team (we had no other guys to wrestle that weight class), eating only 2 protein bars a day while exercising 3 hours a day, to maintain the low weight. It was very hard to do well in class (especially since i was taking 4-5 science classes a semester due to the engineering major) but I still cut the weight the whole time to help the team...

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[soon2bedoctor]

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[flodhi1]

If you apply early and broadly you might get a chance but there's obviously no guarantee.

 

[LittleBoar]

Its ridiculous how similar our applications are. I applied this last cycle with a 3.23 sci /3.19 cum/37 MCAT (12/11/14 breakdown as well) from a Top 10 school. My med school list looked very similar to yours. Unfortunately, I only got two interviews. However, I was verified in November which is very late. Submit early and you will be fine. Being a Varsity Athlete definitely helps too. I'm sure you'll get in somewhere. Try bumping up that GPA by taking upper level science classes if you can. Good luck!

Thanks for all that. It's nice to hear from someone with similar stats. Btw did you get accepted anywhere after the interviews? Also I'm planning to submit my amcas the week of June 5 (I'm like more than halfway done, pretty much just personal statement left). Also do you think I should explain my gpa problem in my personal statement?

 

[LittleBoar]

Also does being Hispanic change anything?

 

[cfive22]

Also does being Hispanic change anything?

Whoa...if you're hispanic you're in a different boat now. Yes it does! I think that it definitely gives you a better chance because you're a URM.

 

[soon2bedoctor]

.

 

[Yonko Shanks]

gotta love being Hispanic lol. Once he said he was Hispanic it was like almost every door opened.

 

[LittleBoar]

A little side note...Im a weird hispanic...like my parents and all my relatives are from Trinidad (a little island a few miles from Venezuala), and my parents used to speak Spanish (but not much anymore since they have been here for 25 years). Most Trini's speak both Spanish and English because it was a Spanish colony for 300 years and a british one for 150 years. Even more strangely, I have a middle eastern last name because we are muslim. But my first name is Spanish. Idk lol. Racially, I'm very mixed, I know that for a fact. I have parts of native Latin American, Middle eastern, and black in me. I have been told I look everything from Mexican, to Samoan, to Middle Eastern and East Indian. But it's safe to identify as Hispanic right? because that's what I do identify as.

Anyways, I just finished my AMCAS. I just calculated my BCPM and its actually 3.23 (probably not that big of a difference from 3.19)

In addition, here is my final school list:

Top:
Harvard
Johns Hopkins
UPenn
UPitt
Dartmouth

Mids:
Maryland
Virginia
Penn State
Georgetown
West VA
Temple

Low/Safeties:
George Washington
Howard
Uniformed Services
Eastern VA
VA commonwealth
VA tech
Commonwealth of PA
Drexel
Jefferson
Morehouse
Meharry
Albany
New York Med
Marshall

Going to spend the next week and a half revising, so that I can send it right on June 5th. But anyways, does this list look good?

 

[sotto voce]

Double check your race/ethnicity ... for example, the term "African-American" for some reason doesn't include Americans of Egyptian or South African descent, which I think is a tragedy. I don't know if Trinidadian or whatever you are counts as URM, nor do I know if that's considered Hispanic, too. Good luck. Either way it's better than being Asian-American or even European-American like myself.

 

[LittleBoar]

Yea the US government description is "a person of Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, South or Central American, or other Spanish culture or origin, regardless of race" I'm guessing that because Trinidad was primarily a Spanish colony, and Spanish is one of the official languages (the name Trinidad is Spanish and so is the name of most of the cities) it would be considered hispanic. Especially if race doesn't matter.

 

[DoctorLacrosse]

.

 

[LittleBoar]

I consider myself "west indian" because west indian means you are from one of the carribean islands, and hispanic because that means you are from an area of spanish origin. It's just that their never is a "west indian" check box in any form I fill out. So i always put hispanic, because that's a wayyyy better fit then white, black, asian, or native american (at least for me).

I was just looking around, and I found out their are different types of west indian: french, british, dutch, etc. Their is one type called Spanish West Indian, and Trinidad, along with Cuba, dominican, etc. are included: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_West_Indies

 

[flodhi1]

People keep misunderstanding URM and automatically correlate Hispanic with URM when it's not the case most times. Mexican Americans and Puerto Ricans are the main Hispanics considered URM. I do not think residents of Trinidad or West Indies are considered URM. I know for sure Dominicans and Cubans are NOT URM.
You can call AAMC to verify if you qualify as URM.

Association of American Medical Colleges
2450 N Street, NW
Washington, DC 20037-1126

Phone: 202-828-0400
Fax: 202-828-1125

Office Hours: 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. (ET), Monday-Friday

 

[LittleBoar]

I'm putting down hispanic (spanish speaking nation, former spanish colony, spanish name, etc), mixed (part native, part middle eastern) trinidadian, for my self identification. That's what I am, so if it's URM or not, whatever.

Anyways, this is a large diversion from my original...is my second list of schools looking about right? Keep in mind 3.27 GPA, 3.24 sGPA, 37Q MCAT

 

[LittleBoar]

sorry for the bump, but I REALLY need to know if this list is good, since I plan to apply next week, as soon as AMCAS allows submissions. so yea...does this look good? for the OOS schools, are they valid options, or should I eliminate some of them since they probably dont take alot of OOS?


Top:
Harvard
Johns Hopkins
UPenn
UPitt
Dartmouth

Mids:
Maryland
Virginia
Penn State
Georgetown
West VA
Temple

Low/Safeties:
George Washington
Howard
Uniformed Services
Eastern VA
VA commonwealth
VA tech
Commonwealth of PA
Drexel
Jefferson
Morehouse
Meharry
Albany
New York Med
Marshall

Thinking about Wake Forest and Tulane too

 

[MedPR]

Also does being Hispanic change anything?

sorry for the bump, but I REALLY need to know if this list is good, since I plan to apply next week, as soon as AMCAS allows submissions. so yea...does this look good? for the OOS schools, are they valid options, or should I eliminate some of them since they probably dont take alot of OOS?


Top:
Harvard
Johns Hopkins
UPenn
UPitt
Dartmouth

Mids:
Maryland
Virginia
Penn State
Georgetown
West VA
Temple

Low/Safeties:
George Washington
Howard
Uniformed Services
Eastern VA
VA commonwealth
VA tech
Commonwealth of PA
Drexel
Jefferson
Morehouse
Meharry
Albany
New York Med
Marshall

Thinking about Wake Forest and Tulane too

I'm confused.. You're applying to top MD schools with a 3.27 (way below average) and a 37 (above average, but nothing special for those top schools). I get that you went to Hopkins for undergrad so your 3.27 is a bit more valuable than the average 3.27... but still.

Whether or not you identify with being a URM, if your country is Trinidad, you are not a URM and you will be thrown in the non-URM pile. Also Meharry and Howard are HBCs, so I think you're wasting your time and money with those as well.

 

[LittleBoar]

Yea I'm applying there for kicks. I was told to do so by the Hopkins Premed Committee for a bunch of reasons. I mean it's just 5 schools anyways...I'm not expecting much out of them, but if something happens, that's cool.

I was thinking about dropping Meharry and Howard, so that confirms it. Thanks. Any other low tier schools I can add on that I have a shot at?

And yea I'm not even thinkin about the URM thing anymore. I just put Hispanic, then Mixed Trinidadian.

 

[ILuvScience]

Its ridiculous how similar our applications are. I applied this last cycle with a 3.23 sci /3.19 cum/37 MCAT (12/11/14 breakdown as well) from a Top 10 school. My med school list looked very similar to yours. Unfortunately, I only got two interviews. However, I was verified in November which is very late. Submit early and you will be fine. Being a Varsity Athlete definitely helps too. I'm sure you'll get in somewhere. Try bumping up that GPA by taking upper level science classes if you can. Good luck!

OMG our cumulative gpa for both science and non science is the SAME. lol but I am not done yet, I still have three more chems left, and one biology left. I am debating on retaking the courses I got C's in. But yes, I have been advised to apply early next year, so I will take the MCAT June 1 and get all my paperwork in the first week of June. BEST OF LUCK TO ALL OF YOU.