MD 3.4/520 School List Help Please

[coddan3]

1. cGPA: 3.41 / sGPA: 3.45. (extreme upward trend)

2. MCAT: 520 (128,131,129,132)

3. State: Florida resident

4. Ethnicity: URM (Latino)

5. Undergraduate institution: FIU

6. Clinical Experience: ~1500 hours scribing + 200-300 hours of doing volunteer recreational therapy with patients with mental disorders at a psychiatric hospital

7. Research Experience: ~300 hours as part of a neuroscience lab, trained in performing EEGs and will be conducting EEGs on patients for a sleep study this summer.

8. Shadowing: ~ 150 hours shadowing a Family Medicine doctor.

9. Non-Clinical Volunteering:
-Site leader for Alternative Breaks - I organized and led a community service mission (15 students) to New Orleans for 1 week to plant trees and rebuild plant nurseries to help recover from hurricane Katrina.

- About 200 hours across 4 years as part of social fraternity in the philanthropy committee, raising money for different charities.

10. Extracurricular Activities:
-Camp Orientation facilitator: spent a summer being a camp facilitator mentoring and orienting incoming freshman, mentored over 60-70 students in total.

-Executive Vice President of my fraternity

-Ritual Director of my fraternity

11. Anything else: I was in a band my first 2 years of college, we played original music at local venues with a small following (not sure if they will care at all tbh)



GPA EXPLANATION: I was really academically immature my freshman and sophomore year and didn’t apply myself, i made a complete 180 and maintained almost straight A’s (one B+ and 2-4 A-‘s) for my junior and senior year, AND I took an extra year of difficult classes (like advanced orgo) at 15+ credits to prove I can handle the coursework.



Current School list: Every school in florida

Miami
USF
University of Florida
FIU
NOVA MD
FAU
FSU
UCF




I don’t know where to go from here as I am above the 90th percentile MCAT on almost every school i can find in MSAR, while being below the 10th percentile GPA on even the lowest ranked schools. I am willing to apply to 40+ schools.

Please help me gain an idea as to what type of schools i should apply to. Also, is it even worth applying to any T20s at all? Feel free to break my heart.

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[Mr.Smile12]

The problem is that the MSAR does not disaggregate matriculant data so you don't have any idea how those matriculants who were socioeconomically disadvantaged or come from historically underrepresented communities performed with GPA or MCAT, where those numbers are going to be lower in general. To that end, I think your GPA may be okay, but you should do some networking with LMSA and SNMA chapters to see what others think.

That said, non-clinical volunteering needs more detail. It doesn't look like there is sufficient descriptions to give me a sense of your service orientation especially with opportunities where you truly have grown from being uncomfortable.

 

[coddan3]

That said, non-clinical volunteering needs more detail. It doesn't look like there is sufficient descriptions to give me a sense of your service orientation especially with opportunities where you truly have grown from being uncomfortable.

I’ll take this as needing to improve my volunteering. If I were to do some meaningful non-clinical volunteering before this coming cycle, how would you feel then?

 

[Mr.Smile12]

I’ll take this as needing to improve my volunteering. If I were to do some meaningful non-clinical volunteering before this coming cycle, how would you feel then?

Well, what do you have in mind? This isn't just about box-checking.

 

[coddan3]

Well, what do you have in mind? This isn't just about box-checking.

I agree. Sorry if it came off the wrong way. What I meant to say is, which schools should i be looking at when it comes to my GPA and MCAT combination?

 

[Mr.Smile12]

I agree. Sorry if it came off the wrong way. What I meant to say is, which schools should i be looking at when it comes to my GPA and MCAT combination?

From my earlier statement, have you done your networking with SNMA and LMSA chapters? They can give you a little better insight and can convince you to keep them on your list.

 

[coddan3]

From my earlier statement, have you done your networking with SNMA and LMSA chapters? They can give you a little better insight and can convince you to keep them on your list.

I have not networked with them yet. What do you mean by "convince you to keep them on your list"? If it's about my current school list, I plan to keep those schools on my list. I'm having trouble with choosing OOS schools. Thank you for the help so far.

 

[Faha]

Are you fluent in Spanish ?

 

[coddan3]

Are you fluent in Spanish ?

Yes!

 

[Faha]

I suggest adding these OOS MD schools to your application:
Hofstra
Einstein
Mount Sinai
NYU
Columbia
Cornell
Dartmouth
Boston University
Brown
Jefferson
Georgetown
Arizona (Phoenix and Tucson)
USC Keck
UCLA
UCSF
Kaiser
Northwestern
U Chicago

 

[Mr.Smile12]

I have not networked with them yet. What do you mean by "convince you to keep them on your list"? If it's about my current school list, I plan to keep those schools on my list. I'm having trouble with choosing OOS schools. Thank you for the help so far.

Basically you need to want to have these students be your peers in school as well as your networking connections to a residency in the future. Do they want you to be part of their program? Then they need to pitch to you why you belong to their school. If they don't feel that their school is really that strong, you're going to hear it. Let them help you choose OOS schools; if they have gone to enough regional or national meetings, they know how students at other schools pitch their programs and can possibly give you a connection to those students. If they can't or don't know how to network, that should be a warning sign, even with schools that you already have down on your list.

 

[coddan3]

Basically you need to want to have these students be your peers in school as well as your networking connections to a residency in the future. Do they want you to be part of their program? Then they need to pitch to you why you belong to their school. If they don't feel that their school is really that strong, you're going to hear it. Let them help you choose OOS schools; if they have gone to enough regional or national meetings, they know how students at other schools pitch their programs and can possibly give you a connection to those students. If they can't or don't know how to network, that should be a warning sign, even with schools that you already have down on your list.

Thank you for this! I will try this out.

 

[coddan3]

I suggest adding these OOS MD schools to your application:
Hofstra
Einstein
Mount Sinai
NYU
Columbia
Cornell
Dartmouth
Boston University
Brown
Jefferson
Georgetown
Arizona (Phoenix and Tucson)
USC Keck
UCLA
UCSF
Kaiser
Northwestern
U Chicago

Thank you for the reply!

I did not think I would have a chance for even half of these schools. If you don't mind, what is it about my application that makes you think I have a chance here?

 

[Faha]

Thank you for the reply!

I did not think I would have a chance for even half of these schools. If you don't mind, what is it about my application that makes you think I have a chance here?

Thank you for the reply!

I did not think I would have a chance for even half of these schools. If you don't mind, what is it about my application that makes you think I have a chance here?

URM Latino who is fluent in Spanish with a MCAT of 520 and good ECs.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

URM Latino who is fluent in Spanish with a MCAT of 520 and good ECs.

Agreeing... anyone from LMSA/SNMA should be jumping over each other to offer you their help as mentors.

 

[coddan3]

I suggest adding these OOS MD schools to your application:
Hofstra
Einstein
Mount Sinai
NYU
Columbia
Cornell
Dartmouth
Boston University
Brown
Jefferson
Georgetown
Arizona (Phoenix and Tucson)
USC Keck
UCLA
UCSF
Kaiser
Northwestern
U Chicago

If you don’t mind, what do all of these schools have in common that make them good for me to apply to?

[mention]Faha [/mention]

 

[chilly_md]

You have a strong upward trend it seems. Was it around a 3.7 or higher the last 2 years of college? That goes a long way.

You may add in Wayne State (though they are bigger on volunteering and your longer term one was fundraising as opposed to hands on work), Western Michigan, Vermont and Rochester if you would like additional options. You should receive interviews at your in-state options and you can see how the other schools suggested respond.

 

[coddan3]

You have a strong upward trend it seems. Was it around a 3.7 or higher the last 2 years of college? That goes a long way.

You may add in Wayne State (though they are bigger on volunteering and your longer term one was fundraising as opposed to hands on work), Western Michigan, Vermont and Rochester if you would like additional options. You should receive interviews at your in-state options and you can see how the other schools suggested respond.

last 2 years were 3.8+

 

[chilly_md]

last 2 years were 3.8+

That is great, you have shown you are a different student from your first few semesters in college. Thus you can aim higher with some of the larger names such as Columbia.

 

[coddan3]

That is great, you have shown you are a different student from your first few semesters in college. Thus you can aim higher with some of the larger names such as Columbia.

Would it be a donation to apply to Duke, Yale, Mayo, or Stanford?

 

[chilly_md]

Would it be a donation to apply to Duke, Yale, Mayo, or Stanford?

I think you should Duke and Mayo. Stanford may prefer applicants with more research so if you would like to take one off to save some money, that could be it. Yale maybe as well. Vanderbilt, Emory and WUSTL are worth an app instead of them.

 

[Faha]

If you don’t mind, what do all of these schools have in common that make them good for me to apply to?

[mention]Faha [/mention]

Other than Dartmouth, they are all in areas with large Hispanic populations. For example, Einstein is in the Bronx which is 60% Hispanic.