MD 3.6 GPA, 31 MCAT, school selection help?

[futuremdplz]

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Hi everyone!

I need some help selecting schools, I've done research on MSAR but it seems like you guys really know what's up so could you help me out?

Stats:
NJ resident
not URM, but SES
3.6 c and s GPA (significant upward trend, family member got cancer and I had to take an additional job freshman & sophomore year and my grades dipped a bit, but I got a 4.0 my entire junior year)
31 MCAT (11V, 11BS, 9PS)
lots of volunteer experience (medical and non-medical)
athlete
work during the school year
lots of research (acknowledged on 1 pub, have an abstract and done a poster presentation)
lots of shadowing in a variety of specialties and fields
rising senior (graduating May 2016)

Schools:
Albany
Einstein
BU
Case Western
Cooper
Drexel
Emory
Dartmouth
Georgetown
George Washington
Hofstra
Loyola Stritch
Mayo
Rush
Rutgers NJ
Rutgers RWJ
Jefferson
Sidney Kimmel
Temple
UMiami
UVM
Tufts
Brown
NYMC
Penn State
Quinnipiac
URochester
VCU

it's a big list and I want to cut it down, can you help me out? I want a good mix of reach schools, mid-tier, and lower-tier so please send suggestions my way! Thanks everyone!

 

[Banco]

Overall good application. I think you have a decent shot at NJMS, RWJ, and Cooper.

Consider removing:

Schools that get too many applications: GTown, GWU

Reaches: Case Western, Rochester, Dartmouth, Mayo, BU, Brown (interview very few people, and have a preference for their own undergrads)

Otherwise your list is solid.

 

[md-2020]

I'd keep the DC schools to maximize my chances and cut out the high reaches that @Banco mentioned above (CWRU, Dartmouth, Brown, Mayo, BU, Rochester) as well as Hofstra (MCAT is low) and Emory (I'd say that is a high reach as well).

Consider adding Rosy Franklin, it's a solid fit for your stats.

 

[GrapesofRath]

Agree with everything above. Your best shot is with the NJ state schools. Don't give schools like Mayo, Brown and Dartmouth donations they don't need.

You have a solid application. The precedent is people who apply early with your kind of stats to 20+ realistic schools and have a solid state of residence often are able to net some II's.

 

[GrapesofRath]

From your list: Albany, Cooper, Drexel, Georgetown, GW, Loyola, Rush, Rutgers(both), Jefferson, Temple, Miami, UVM, Tufts, NYMC, Penn State, Quinnipac and VCU are realistic. That's 20 schools.

Here a couple more to add to get that number up to around 25-30 to maximize your odds:
Western Michigan
Wake Forest
Tulane
Saint Louis
Creighton
Franklin
Medical College Wisconsin
TCMC(maybe)
Stony Brook(maybe)

Suggest throwing in some DO's as well. You're fine for any Touro and Western would be good places to start.

 

[futuremdplz]

thanks everyone for your help!

so I qualified for the FAP and so I have 15 free primaries and all free secondaries, but I've been saving for med school apps for a while so I'm not afraid to apply to a lot of schools.

I want to avoid DO schools because I don't have a letter of rec from a doctor (I've heard a lot of schools need them, correct me if I'm wrong)

My question: is it worth it to apply to the reaches if I fall within their 10th-90th for GPA and MCAT? Or am I really just wasting my money? I went to a pretty tough undergrad so I know med schools aren't going to weigh my GPA the same as at other schools and I also know I have great LORs...but how much does all that help? Do I really just boil down to my MCAT score and GPA?

 

[GrapesofRath]

thanks everyone for your help!

so I qualified for the FAP and so I have 15 free primaries and all free secondaries, but I've been saving for med school apps for a while so I'm not afraid to apply to a lot of schools.

I want to avoid DO schools because I don't have a letter of rec from a doctor (I've heard a lot of schools need them, correct me if I'm wrong)

My question: is it worth it to apply to the reaches if I fall within their 10th-90th for GPA and MCAT? Or am I really just wasting my money? I went to a pretty tough undergrad so I know med schools aren't going to weigh my GPA the same as at other schools and I also know I have great LORs...but how much does all that help? Do I really just boil down to my MCAT score and GPA?

If your GPA is above the 10th percentile that's called striking distance. The thing is there aren't really reaches that can be justified applying to with a 31 MCAT where a 3.6 GPA is considered low. So to answer your question, a school like Case Western or Emory might have a 10th percentile MCAT of 30(I'm not basing this off anything just giving an example) and you are above the 10th percentile GPA for those schools ,but a 31 will sink you at both and isn't worth the application.

The next person who says "I went to a really easy undergrad school where grading was a joke" will be one of the first. We all think our school is tough. Unless it's one of the big names with a reputation for being a feeder to med schools it won't matter nearly as much as you want. And like I said, even if it is a big name the 31 restricts you from the middle tier schools and above. That said you are competitive; use the list provided to you and you are in position to get several II's.

 

[futuremdplz]

The next person who says "I went to a really easy undergrad school where grading was a joke" will be one of the first. We all think our school is tough. Unless it's one of the big names with a reputation for being a feeder to med schools it won't matter nearly as much as you want. And like I said, even if it is a big name the 31 restricts you from the middle tier schools and above. That said you are competitive; use the list provided to you and you are in position to get several II's.

sorry, I didn't mean to sound like "my undergrad was so tough blah blah blah" I've just seen people post on here like "unless you went to MIT, WashU, or CalTech your GPA is gonna be weighted just like everyone elses" ....so I went to one of those three schools but I'm not sure how much of a difference that makes

I already applied to most of the schools you guys suggested a while ago (submitted June 2, already submitted secondaries), but part of me is thinking "hey I applied to X undergrad as a super-reach and I got in, could it happen again for med school?"
Basically - should I risk wasting the $37 now or should I just accept I have 0 chance and save that money for the II's I will (hopefully) get?

 

[GrapesofRath]

sorry, I didn't mean to sound like "my undergrad was so tough blah blah blah" I've just seen people post on here like "unless you went to MIT, WashU, or CalTech your GPA is gonna be weighted just like everyone elses" ....so I went to one of those three schools but I'm not sure how much of a difference that makes

I already applied to most of the schools you guys suggested a while ago (submitted June 2, already submitted secondaries), but part of me is thinking "hey I applied to X undergrad as a super-reach and I got in, could it happen again for med school?"
Basically - should I risk wasting the $37 now or should I just accept I have 0 chance and save that money for the II's I will (hopefully) get?

The statistics show the odds of someone getting into med school with a 3.6 from one of those schools is rather high. If you went there your pre med advisor probably made you aware of that. Like I said though the mcat limits your school choices regardless of where you went to undergrad