3.46 cGPA, 3.60 sGPA, 37 MCAT (14, 11, 12)

[Twisted18]

Hi everyone! I would just like to ask for your input as to how competitive I am for mid-range medical schools, as well as any suggested medical schools that I should apply to. I already have my own list, but I'm open to any and all suggestions! It would be nice to stay on the East Coast, but it's not a necessity.
I'm also taking a gap year, but I don't have anything set in stone yet so it would be nice to get some advice as to what positions or experiences would help out my app.

Here's what I have:

- Florida Resident
- Graduated from Johns Hopkins University
- B.S. in Molecular and Cellular Biology with honors
- Minor in Economics
- 3.46 cGPA, 3.60 sGPA, 37 MCAT (14PS, 11 VR, 12BS)

Awards/Honors
- Eagle Scout
- Dean's List (4 semesters)
- Member of the National Society of Collegiate Scholars
- Member of Beta Beta Beta (Biology Honors Society)

Research
- 3 years with ~800 hours in a cell biology lab (mitochondria membrane dynamics + cancer gene research)
- 1 summer with ~200 hours of clinical research that resulted in a first author publication on holohemispheric DVAs
- Participated in the biology department's poster session

Shadowing
- Shadowed cardiologist, anesthesiologist, neurologist, neuro-oncologist, neuro-ophthalmologist, neuro-radiologist, orthopedic surgeon, E.R. doctor, and general surgeon for 20-60 hours each last summer

Activities
- Science/Sports Club for 2 years where we spend one day a week at a nearby, underserved elementary school to hold an after school event, which may consist of organized, team-based sports or a simple/fun science experiment (lava lamps, rubber band cars, etc.)
- Active member of JHU Red Cross for 4 years and was a member of the Blood Services Committee
- Men's Fencing team for 2 years
- Tutorial Project Coordinator for 2 years (help organize tutors and elementary school students for a one-on-one, weekly tutoring session)
- JHU Intramural Basketball for 3 years starting my sophomore year as a combo guard and won championships last year

Good letters of recommendation from M.D.s, my professors, and my research PI.

I really appreciate your time for reading, and thank you in advance for the help! Good luck to everyone applying currently and in the future!

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[pachewisc]

Hi everyone! I would just like to ask for your input as to how competitive I am for mid-range medical schools, as well as any suggested medical schools that I should apply to. I already have my own list, but I'm open to any and all suggestions! It would be nice to stay on the East Coast, but it's not a necessity.

Do you think you could post that list? That'll give us somewhere to start and build our advice off of your interests.

Honestly, you have a very strong app. You may feel your GPA is low, but Hopkins is known nationally for heavy grade deflation. Adcoms will view your GPA as higher than it actually is. Plus the name itself gives it a bit of an extra boost also. I think some top schools, namely the research driven ones, will love you.

 

[October88]

Do you think you could post that list? That'll give us somewhere to start and build our advice off of your interests.

Honestly, you have a very strong app. You may feel your GPA is low, but Hopkins is known nationally for heavy grade deflation. Adcoms will view your GPA as higher than it actually is. Plus the name itself gives it a bit of an extra boost also. I think some top schools, namely the research driven ones, will love you.

My thoughts exactly. Post your list!

You are for sure good for mid-tier schools but I would shoot for a number of top schools as well!

 

[bfMD1291]

I will be able to help more if I see your intended school list, but with that being said I think your MCAT score will definitely keep you in the competitive range for the top schools. The GPA will hold you back a little bit, but the MCAT score shows that you are a more than capable applicant! I think you will have a good shot at most mid-tier medical schools, assuming we have the same mid-tier definition!

 

[Twisted18]

Ahh thank you for your responses! However, I'm not too certain of Hopkins having grade deflation. I've done some research on it, and it seems that it's about average in terms of how accurate the grades really are. That being said, those studies/interviews were not specific with regards to the departments involved, so I hope you're right

And I apologize for forgetting to post my list of schools... I knew I was forgetting something! Again, this is only a tentative list, and I plan to add a few more or take some out. Since reading your posts, I added a few of what I think are higher tier schools to the top (I previously only had NYU and Dartmouth as reach schools). Please feel free to make suggestions/comments! Once again, thank you all for reading!

NYU School of Medicine
Dartmouth Medical School
Mount Sinai School of Medicine
Duke University
UF College of Medicine
BU School of Medicine
University of Rochester
Jefferson Medical College
UMiami Miller School of Medicine
Georgetown University School of Medicine
Tufts University School of Medicine
Loyola UChicago Stritch School of Medicine
Temple University
Wake Forest University School of Medicine
George Washington University School of Medicine
New York Medical College
Drexel University

 

[pachewisc]

Okay I've tried to rearrange them for you. I didn't apply to most of these schools as I wasn't looking East Coast or Florida, so I may have them a bit out of order for a couple.

First things to note, a lot of the schools that you're applying to are below your stats. Try using a LizzyM score to tell which ones will be in your range. Your LizzyM is 72 plus I'd add in maybe [U1]pt for going to Hopkins[/U] and another pt for an excellent overall application. That brings you ~74 LizzyM. Assuming you're a guy (Eagle Scout), if you're ORM, maybe take away a point or 2. To be fair, we'll conclude your LizzyM is ~73.

"Reach":
Duke 71.4
NYU 70.5
Sinai 71.4
Dartmouth 72

On Par:
UF 69
Rochester 69.4
Miami 69.2
Tufts 68.2

Good chance, but high applicant pools (~10,000+ applicants):
BU 69.5
Jefferson 68.1
GT 68.8
Loyola 68.5
Wake 67.3
GW 67.5

Good chance (safety):
NYMC 67
Drexel 66.1

You'll notice that, because of your high MCAT, you're "above average" at every school on your list. That being said, those reach schools are still reach schools because of your GPA.

The next thing to be aware of are ALLLL the safety schools you have. This is what we would consider a bottom heavy list. Many of the schools you've chosen have lower scores than you have, and lots of them are super popular to apply to.

Suggestions:
Drop most of those good chance and safety schools unless you REALLY want to attend them
Replace those removed schools with in more "true" safeties. Those are your lower ranked state schools: UCF, USF, FL Atlantic, FIU
Add in more reaches: Hopkins, Columbia, Cornell, Yale
Fill with some on par schools: Pitt, Virginia, FSU

 

[October88]

Okay I've tried to rearrange them for you. I didn't apply to most of these schools as I wasn't looking East Coast or Florida, so I may have them a bit out of order for a couple.

First things to note, a lot of the schools that you're applying to are below your stats. Try using a LizzyM score to tell which ones will be in your range. Your LizzyM is 72 plus I'd add in maybe [U1]pt for going to Hopkins[/U] and another pt for an excellent overall application. That brings you ~74 LizzyM. Assuming you're a guy (Eagle Scout), if you're ORM, maybe take away a point or 2. To be fair, we'll conclude your LizzyM is ~73.

"Reach":
Duke 71.4
NYU 70.5
Sinai 71.4
Dartmouth 72

On Par:
UF 69
Rochester 69.4
Miami 69.2
Tufts 68.2

Good chance, but high applicant pools (~10,000+ applicants):
BU 69.5
Jefferson 68.1
GT 68.8
Loyola 68.5
Wake 67.3
GW 67.5

Good chance (safety):
NYMC 67
Drexel 66.1

You'll notice that, because of your high MCAT, you're "above average" at every school on your list. That being said, those reach schools are still reach schools because of your GPA.

The next thing to be aware of are ALLLL the safety schools you have. This is what we would consider a bottom heavy list. Many of the schools you've chosen have lower scores than you have, and lots of them are super popular to apply to.

Suggestions:
Drop most of those good chance and safety schools unless you REALLY want to attend them
Replace those removed schools with in more "true" safeties. Those are your lower ranked state schools: UCF, USF, FL Atlantic, FIU
Add in more reaches: Hopkins, Columbia, Cornell, Yale
Fill with some on par schools: Pitt, Virginia, FSU

This is one of the most informative and helpful posts I've read on here! Apply to all your state schools which are your safeties and apply to more top schools))))

 

[Twisted18]

Wow thank you so much! I appreciate all the calculations haha

Looking back at the list, I can definitely say that I wanted to play a little safer with my applications, but I suppose if I apply to all the FL schools as my safeties, it will give me a chance to apply more top heavy. It was hard for me to pick out schools because I was so concerned with the low cGPA, and my higher sGPA and MCAT threw off most of my calculations. Just out of curiosity, how important is it to have above a 3.5 GPA?