3.52 cgpa, 3.45 sgpa, and 34 MCAT Chances and School List Please

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NCMED101

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10+ Year Member
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Residency: NC
Major:
Biomedical Engineering
GPA:

My GPA is low at 3.52 and science gpa is even worse at 3.45. I have a semi-upward trend which is shown below.

Freshman GPA: 3.34
SophomoreGPA: 3.22
Junior GPA: 3.77
Senior: 3.69 (Was actually a 3.94 in Fall, but had a 3.49 in Spring. Gen ed classes killed me)

MCAT breakdown:


34Q
PS: 14 VR: 9 BS: 11 Writing: Q


EC's (normal and nothing spectacular)
-Clinical Volunteering (270 hours)
-Nonclinical Volunteering (150 hours)
-Research for one year
-Shadowing (100 hours across 3 different specialties)
-Design Project (Led to poster presentation at annual biotech symposium)
-Private Tutor for 3 years


My school list - Please suggest some more schools for me. I have applied to these following 10 schools, but I want to apply to 30-35 schools to increases chances of acceptance.

MD:

Albany
Drexel
EVMS
NYMC
Rosalind Franklin
ECU
UNC (top choice)
VCU
Virginia Tech
Wake Forest

DO:

Des Moines
LECOM
NYCOM
PCOM
UMDNJ

I know my low gpa is going to hold me back at a lot of places, but hoping that applying early and broadly will help me get a few interviews. I have graduated this past spring and I plan to apply for some paid research jobs to gain more research experience for a year. I plan to continue volunteering at the hospital in the fall again. Do you guys have any suggestions on other ECs to add on in the meantime, chances in general, and more schools (~20 more schools)? Thanks for all the help

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I browsed MSAR for schools with lower gpa medians. How does new list sound?

MD:

Albany
Drexel
EVMS
NYMC
Rosalind Franklin
ECU
UNC (top choice)
VCU
Virginia Tech
Wake Forest
East Tennesse State
Hofstra
Indiana
Keck
Loma Linda
Loyola
Med University of South Carolina
MSU
Northeast Ohio
OSU
PSU
Rush
Tufts
Tulane
Cincinnati
Illinois
Loisville
Missouri-Kansas
University of Rochester
USC Columbia
Washington

DO:

Des Moines
LECOM
NYCOM
PCOM
UMDNJ

I would like to trim list down by 2-5 schools or so. Any advice on schools to cut out or add in?
 
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I browsed MSAR for schools with lower gpa medians. How does new list sound?

MD:

Albany
Drexel
EVMS
NYMC
Rosalind Franklin
ECU
UNC (top choice)
VCU
Virginia Tech
Wake Forest
East Tennesse State (OOS friendliness)
Hofstra
Indiana
(OOS friendliness)
Keck
Loma Linda (check out the lifestyle agreement before applying)
Loyola
Med University of South Carolina
MSU (very high OOS tuition)
Northeast Ohio (OOS friendliness)
OSU
PSU
Rush
Tufts
Tulane
Cincinnati
Illinois
(very high OOS tuition)
Loisville
Missouri-Kansas
(unlikely to be OOS friendly)
University of Rochester
USC Columbia
Washington
(OOS friendliness)

DO:

Des Moines
LECOM
NYCOM
PCOM
UMDNJ

I would like to trim list down by 2-5 schools or so. Any advice on schools to cut out or add in?

See notes on bolded schools. I'm also not sure about the South Carolina schools' OOS friendliness although they might look more favorably on NC applicants.
 
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I browsed MSAR for schools with lower gpa medians. How does new list sound?

MD:

Albany
Drexel
EVMS
NYMC
Rosalind Franklin
ECU
UNC (top choice)
VCU
Virginia Tech
Wake Forest
East Tennesse State
Hofstra
Indiana
Keck
Loma Linda
Loyola
Med University of South Carolina
MSU
Northeast Ohio
OSU
PSU
Rush
Tufts
Tulane
Cincinnati
Illinois
Loisville
Missouri-Kansas
University of Rochester
USC Columbia
Washington

DO:

Des Moines
LECOM
NYCOM
PCOM
UMDNJ

I would like to trim list down by 2-5 schools or so. Any advice on schools to cut out or add in?

Take a look at my MD list (it's somewhere in the WAMC). I've got just about all of the bottom 10% GPA schools on there except for the historically black colleges (Howard and Meharry I believe).
 
Took out the bolded ones that didn't favor OOS and high tuition. Added the following:

BU
Creighton
George Washington
Jefferson
Medical School of Wisconsin
SLU
Wright State
Vermont

Should I be looking at any schools in Florida? Also how does the DO school list look? Chances in general? Thanks for all the help
 
Very few FL schools are OOS-friendly, except for Miami which is private, and I think one other. I can't really comment on the DO schools, except that I know that some of them require a letter from a DO you shadowed -- if you don't have that either figure out which schools those are (pretty sure LECOM is one) and drop them or get one ASAP.
 
Thank you, I will look to add these schools and research a bit more since I can add them anytime in the next 3 weeks. I am looking to shadow a DO next week, so will hopefully get a LOR from him. The DO app can be sent late June or early July and still be considered relatively early right? Also any feedback on my chances at MD or DO in general?
 
My schools is probably the most OOS friendly state school in Florida
 
My schools is probably the most OOS friendly state school in Florida

According to MSAR, your school accepted 15 out of 2,000 OOS :O. If that's the best, then screw Florida haha.

@OP, you have a very high MCAT score, so I would be a little more optimistic, especially with your upward trend in grades and difficult and unique major. I think you'll get plenty of MD interviews on your list. Although, you have a ton of public schools that are not good for applying to OOS. Definitely scrap those.
 
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According to MSAR, your school accepted 15 out of 2,000 OOS :O. If that's the best, then screw Florida haha.

@OP, you have a very high MCAT score, so I would be a little more optimistic, especially with your upward trend in grades and difficult and unique major. I think you'll get plenty of MD interviews on your list. Although, you have a ton of public schools that are not good for applying to OOS. Definitely scrap those.

That's 12.5% of our class is OOS...
 
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