3.65 gpa, 36 mcat, schools and chances?

[Throwaway #1]

Hey All - I'm looking for what people think I have a decent chance of getting into...OPINIONS lol. You can be harsh or you can be nice, but just honest advice so I can sort of gauge myself and make sure I'm pointed in the right direction.

Stats: 3.65~ cGPA and sGPA, 36 MCAT (Balanced 13, 12, 11).

Ivy League School
ORM (Asian)

Extracurricular:
Lots of leadership, cofounded 2 organizations (one for awareness for a disease and one for awareness for diversity), more things but just generally I'm very involved in extraccurics
300+ hr shadowing
1 publication, 2 years research
consulting gap year job
Interest in md with mph/mba
Lots of work experiences (1000+hrs) which include:

• general manager small student-run company that generates 120k+ revenue each year.
• branch manager type deal (position is inflated and is impressive in name only)

List of Schools and my Impression of Targets:
Tippity Top Reach:

• UPenn
• Wash U
• Harvard
• Stanford
• UChicago
• Yale
• Duke
• Hopkins
• Upitt

Reach but WITHIN sight:

• Mt. Sinai
• Northwestern
• NYU
• Cornell
• Columbia
• Mayo

Just about right:

• Case Western
  
• BU
• Dartmouth
• URochester
• Albert Einstein
• Tufts
• Brown
• Georgetown

Lower Goals:

• Hofstra
• Temple
• Thomas Jeffersion
• GW
• Drexel

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[Banco]

Pretty great application. List seems fine for you. For the top schools, your MCAT is there but your GPA is near the 10%ile for a lot of them. I think your strategy is good, applying to a bunch of top schools and then having a good amount of realistic shots as well.

You do have a lot of schools though. I'd remove Brown (interview very few people); GWU, Gtown, and Drexel get like 12k+ apps and you probably don't need them. Harvard, Hopkins have 10%ile GPAs at 3.7, so if you're looking to remove reaches I'd probably start there. Penn/WashU have 38 MCAT median and 3.68 10%ile GPA, so if you wanna cut those are probably good options as well.

What about your in state schools?

 

[WedgeDawg]

List overall looks fine for your app. Some of your tippy top reaches and reasonable reaches should be swapped around a bit (Pitt and Duke should move down and NYU should move up based on stats, for example) but that doesn't really matter at this point. Remove Brown unless you go there. Definitely add USC-Keck. GPA and MCAT are "fine" for all schools on list but not standout.

Edit: to clarify, the reaches you are most competitive for are those that are forgiving of a low gpa as long as the MCAT is good+ and which look at ECs heavily. Now, I wouldn't remove any of your reaches - your best bet for a top acceptance is the shotgun approach, which you're taking, but be aware you're more likely to get bites at Pitt, Duke, Columbia, and Cornell than WashU, Hopkins, and Penn.

 

[Throwaway #1]

What about your in state schools?

Thanks for the response!

I'll cut some schools as you suggested and no west coast just bc I'd like to stay near home in MA.

UMass for in-state. And it looks like my internal compass is pointed in the right direction enough. Hopefully can transcend into one of my tippity top schools! But of course let me know if there's anything else you'd like to add.

 

[mw18]

Can't argue with what you've been told. It's solid advice. But if you are going to apply to your reaches and you have the time/money to do all the secondaries, why not UCSF, too? You have almost every other top school. Don't neglect them. Lol

 

[WedgeDawg]

You say no west coast yet you have Stanford - might as well add UCSF and Keck as the former screens pre-secondary and you have a great shot at the latter.

 

[Throwaway #1]

You say no west coast yet you have Stanford - might as well add UCSF and Keck as the former screens pre-secondary and you have a great shot at the latter.

Stanford is one of those "I HAVE to apply for Stanford right?", similar to my application to Harvard. But the rest of the West Coast schools I don't think I'd attend even if I got in because they're so far. Stanford I would bc I have this dumb bias towards it and love their great MPH/MBA programs I could take advantage of.

But I appreciate all the advice!

 

[mw18]

Stanford is one of those "I HAVE to apply for Stanford right?", similar to my application to Harvard. But the rest of the West Coast schools I don't think I'd attend even if I got in because they're so far. Stanford I would bc I have this dumb bias towards it and love their great MPH/MBA programs I could take advantage of.

But I appreciate all the advice!

People outside of medicine would definitely recognize Stanford over UCSF, no doubt. But within medicine, I think it has just as much or more allure. If you could turn it down, more power to you (barring a nearby top 5 accept). You must really love Massachusetts.

 

[GrapesofRath]

Hey All - I'm looking for what people think I have a decent chance of getting into...OPINIONS lol. You can be harsh or you can be nice, but just honest advice so I can sort of gauge myself and make sure I'm pointed in the right direction.

Stats: 3.65~ cGPA and sGPA, 36 MCAT (Balanced 13, 12, 11).

Ivy League School
ORM (Asian)

Extracurricular:
Lots of leadership, cofounded 2 organizations (one for awareness for a disease and one for awareness for diversity), more things but just generally I'm very involved in extraccurics
300+ hr shadowing
1 publication, 2 years research
consulting gap year job
Interest in md with mph/mba
Lots of work experiences (1000+hrs) which include:

• general manager small student-run company that generates 120k+ revenue each year.
• branch manager type deal (position is inflated and is impressive in name only)

List of Schools and my Impression of Targets:
Tippity Top Reach:

• UPenn
• Wash U
• Harvard
• Stanford
• UChicago
• Yale
• Duke
• Hopkins
• Upitt

Reach but WITHIN sight:

• Mt. Sinai
• Northwestern
• NYU
• Cornell
• Columbia
• Mayo

Just about right:

• Case Western
  
• BU
• Dartmouth
• URochester
• Albert Einstein
• Tufts
• Brown
• Georgetown

Lower Goals:

• Hofstra
• Temple
• Thomas Jeffersion
• GW
• Drexel

I honestly count maybe 5 schools on this list that a) don't have 35+ MCAT medians b) aren't extremely selective for their own peculiarities(mayo small class, brown taking 60% from their own undergrad etc). And the ones that don't fall under either category are your classic low yield schools with their 13+ K apps such as G-town, GW, Temple(70% IS) and Drexel.

So yeah, you certainly have a solid app but I think it might be time to adjust things a little. Not the greatest idea probably to have 21 schools with 35+ MCAT medians on your list out of your 27(and the ones that don't being low yield or having peculiarities about them).

There are a lot of good lower tiers for you to look into. Invest in MSAR, come back with some of them for input.

 

[Goro]

Hold very still because I'm going to pound some sense into you.

Without clinical volunteering, your chances of getting accepted are very small.

What are you going to say when asked how you know you are suited for a life of caring for the sick and suffering? “That you just know”? Imagine how that will go over!

Here's the deal: You need to show AdComs that you know what you're getting into, and show off your altruistic, humanism side. We need to know that you're going to like being around sick or injured people for the next 40 years.

Here's another way of looking at it: would you buy a new car without test driving it? Buy a new suit or dress without trying it on??

We're also not looking for merely for good medical students, we're looking for people who will make good doctors, and 4.0 GPA robots are a dime-a-dozen.

I've seen too many posts here from high GPA/high MCAT candidates who were rejected because they had little patient contact experience. Yes, you have a lot of shadowing. Way more than needed. At least you know what a doctor's day is like.

Not all volunteering needs to be in a hospital. Think hospice, Planned Parenthood, Ronald McDonald House, nursing homes, rehab facilities, crisis hotlines, camps for sick children, or clinics.

Service need not be "unique". If you can alleviate suffering in your community through service to the poor, homeless, illiterate, fatherless, etc, you are meeting an otherwise unmet need and learning more about the lives of the people (or types of people) who will someday be your patients. Check out your local houses of worship for volunteer opportunities.

Examples include: Habitat for Humanity, Humane Society, crisis hotlines, soup kitchen, food pantry, homeless or women’s shelter, after-school tutoring for students or coaching a sport in a poor school district, teaching ESL to adults at a community center, Big Brothers/Big Sisters, or Meals on Wheels.

 

[gyngyn]

As delicious as your stats are, you are not going to get an interview at my school with this application.

 

[GrapesofRath]

Hold very still because I'm going to pound some sense into you.

Without clinical volunteering, your chances of getting accepted are very small.

What are you going to say when asked how you know you are suited for a life of caring for the sick and suffering? “That you just know”? Imagine how that will go over!

Here's the deal: You need to show AdComs that you know what you're getting into, and show off your altruistic, humanism side. We need to know that you're going to like being around sick or injured people for the next 40 years.

Here's another way of looking at it: would you buy a new car without test driving it? Buy a new suit or dress without trying it on??

We're also not looking for merely for good medical students, we're looking for people who will make good doctors, and 4.0 GPA robots are a dime-a-dozen.

I've seen too many posts here from high GPA/high MCAT candidates who were rejected because they had little patient contact experience. Yes, you have a lot of shadowing. Way more than needed. At least you know what a doctor's day is like.

Not all volunteering needs to be in a hospital. Think hospice, Planned Parenthood, Ronald McDonald House, nursing homes, rehab facilities, crisis hotlines, camps for sick children, or clinics.

Service need not be "unique". If you can alleviate suffering in your community through service to the poor, homeless, illiterate, fatherless, etc, you are meeting an otherwise unmet need and learning more about the lives of the people (or types of people) who will someday be your patients. Check out your local houses of worship for volunteer opportunities.

Examples include: Habitat for Humanity, Humane Society, crisis hotlines, soup kitchen, food pantry, homeless or women’s shelter, after-school tutoring for students or coaching a sport in a poor school district, teaching ESL to adults at a community center, Big Brothers/Big Sisters, or Meals on Wheels.

Oh and there's that issue also.

High MCAT ORM CA residents from top schools aren't exactly rare commodities. There is a ton of potential with this application that if done correctly with the right secondary essays, LORs etc can be a great one that gets a number of ADCOMs at top 20 school's attention.

But right now potential is the key word; it has to be harnessed properly. From what you listed there is ZERO commitment here to the less fortunate and documentation of altruism. Forget clinical volunteering, is there any meaningful volunteering experience you have?

You have a ton of good things in place. Your stats work well particularly given you came from a top school. Your ECs demonstrate research excellence and leadership and responsibility in diverse and unique ways. But you REALLY need some documentation of clinical exposure beyond shadowing and service to the less fortunate. Because while I don't know you and think this, it is quite possible an ADCOM will look at your app and says "this guy doesn't get out of his comfort zone. He loves his research. He loves his big name consulting firms. He loves working manager and other leadership roles. But there's no real service here or commitment to helping the less fortuante and sick. There is no altruism and that's what medicine is all about. He does what he likes, but is that what is necessary always?".

Again, I don't think this, but you have to look at it from an ADCOMs stand point. Really serving others and the less fortunate makes a big big difference in med school admission. That's what stands out in the way that commands ADCOMs attention. If you make a focus to service and working with the less fortuante and gaining clinical exposure through that in the next year, you could come back here next year with a very strong application. It'll take effort on your part, but that's kind of what makes admission to top med schools so difficult.

 

[Throwaway #1]

Hold very still because I'm going to pound some sense into you.

Without clinical volunteering, your chances of getting accepted are very small.

What are you going to say when asked how you know you are suited for a life of caring for the sick and suffering? “That you just know”? Imagine how that will go over!

Here's the deal: You need to show AdComs that you know what you're getting into, and show off your altruistic, humanism side. We need to know that you're going to like being around sick or injured people for the next 40 years.

Here's another way of looking at it: would you buy a new car without test driving it? Buy a new suit or dress without trying it on??

We're also not looking for merely for good medical students, we're looking for people who will make good doctors, and 4.0 GPA robots are a dime-a-dozen.

I've seen too many posts here from high GPA/high MCAT candidates who were rejected because they had little patient contact experience. Yes, you have a lot of shadowing. Way more than needed. At least you know what a doctor's day is like.

Not all volunteering needs to be in a hospital. Think hospice, Planned Parenthood, Ronald McDonald House, nursing homes, rehab facilities, crisis hotlines, camps for sick children, or clinics.

Service need not be "unique". If you can alleviate suffering in your community through service to the poor, homeless, illiterate, fatherless, etc, you are meeting an otherwise unmet need and learning more about the lives of the people (or types of people) who will someday be your patients. Check out your local houses of worship for volunteer opportunities.

Examples include: Habitat for Humanity, Humane Society, crisis hotlines, soup kitchen, food pantry, homeless or women’s shelter, after-school tutoring for students or coaching a sport in a poor school district, teaching ESL to adults at a community center, Big Brothers/Big Sisters, or Meals on Wheels.

Sorry, I didn't really elaborate enough with my extracurriculars since I gave off the wrong impression.

• Mentoring program at college for new students
• Volunteering at a local dementia center
• Alzheimer's association (cofounder)
• Free Clinic
• Soup Kitchen
• Diversity in Medicine organization (cofounder)
• Volunteer in to help those in ghetto areas advance in education/job placement etc.

I've spent most of my time on the Alz + Div in Med organizations (maybe 1000hrs put together) and then maybe around 300-400hrs on everything else.

 

[GrapesofRath]

Sorry, I didn't really elaborate enough with my extracurriculars since I gave off the wrong impression.

• Mentoring program at college for new students
• Volunteering at a local dementia center
• Alzheimer's association (cofounder + VP)
• Free Clinic
• Soup Kitchen
• Diversity in Medicine organization (cofounder + VP)
• Volunteer in to help those in ghetto areas advance in education/job placement etc.

I've spent most of my time on the Alz + Div in Med organizations (maybe 1000hrs put together) and then maybe around 300-400hrs on everything else.

While I still wouldn't feel comfortable making 21/27 schools on my list be schools with 35+ MCAT medians or those with peculiarities that make them uber competitive (such as Mayo and Brown described above) and the others being classic low yield schools(The DC schools and Drexel for ex) you should be in very solid shape. Just put together a list with a better list of solid lower tiers(Saint Louis, Creighton, Wake, Oakland etc); if you are going to apply to 27 schools those should make about 1/3 of your list(give or take).

 

[Throwaway #1]

As delicious as your stats are, you are not going to get an interview at my school with this application.

Oh and there's that issue also.

High MCAT ORM CA residents from top schools aren't exactly rare commodities. There is a ton of potential with this application that if done correctly with the right secondary essays, LORs etc can be a great one that gets a number of ADCOMs at top 20 school's attention.

But right now potential is the key word; it has to be harnessed properly. From what you listed there is ZERO commitment here to the less fortunate and documentation of altruism. Forget clinical volunteering, is there any meaningful volunteering experience you have?

You have a ton of good things in place. Your stats work well particularly given you came from a top school. Your ECs demonstrate research excellence and leadership and responsibility in diverse and unique ways. But you REALLY need some documentation of clinical exposure beyond shadowing and service to the less fortunate. Because while I don't know you and think this, it is quite possible an ADCOM will look at your app and says "this guy doesn't get out of his comfort zone. He loves his research. He loves his big name consulting firms. He loves working manager and other leadership roles. But there's no real service here or commitment to helping the less fortuante and sick. There is no altruism and that's what medicine is all about. He does what he likes, but is that what is necessary always?".

Again, I don't think this, but you have to look at it from an ADCOMs stand point. Really serving others and the less fortunate makes a big big difference in med school admission. That's what stands out in the way that commands ADCOMs attention. If you make a focus to service and working with the less fortuante and gaining clinical exposure through that in the next year, you could come back here next year with a very strong application. It'll take effort on your part, but that's kind of what makes admission to top med schools so difficult.

Multiple posts but I didn't figure out how to put quotes together until just now.

Sorry, I didn't really elaborate enough with my extracurriculars since I gave off the wrong impression.

• Mentoring program at college for new students
• Volunteering at a local dementia center
• Alzheimer's association (cofounder)
• Free Clinic
• Soup Kitchen
• Diversity in Medicine organization (cofounder)
• Volunteer in to help those in ghetto areas advance in education/job placement etc.

I've spent most of my time on the Alz + Div in Med organizations (maybe 1000hrs put together) and then maybe around 300-400hrs on everything else.

 

[Throwaway #1]

While I still wouldn't feel comfortable making 21/27 schools on my list be schools with 35+ MCAT medians or those with peculiarities that make them uber competitive (such as Mayo and Brown described above) and the others being classic low yield schools(The DC schools and Drexel for ex) you should be in very solid shape. Just put together a list with a better list of solid lower tiers(Saint Louis, Creighton, Wake, Oakland etc); if you are going to apply to 27 schools those should make about 1/3 of your list(give or take).

Okay I will keep that in mind and expand my school list/cut off more of the top schools/low yield. Thanks for the input!

 

[gyngyn]

Multiple posts but I didn't figure out how to put quotes together until just now.

Sorry, I didn't really elaborate enough with my extracurriculars since I gave off the wrong impression.

• Mentoring program at college for new students
• Volunteering at a local dementia center
• Alzheimer's association (cofounder)
• Free Clinic
• Soup Kitchen
• Diversity in Medicine organization (cofounder)
• Volunteer in to help those in ghetto areas advance in education/job placement etc.

I've spent most of my time on the Alz + Div in Med organizations (maybe 1000hrs put together) and then maybe around 300-400hrs on everything else.

This application would get an interview.

 

[Goro]

Ahhh, with ALL your ECs, that's a game changer.

• Duke
• Hopkins
• Upitt
• Mt. Sinai
• Northwestern
• NYU
• Columbia
• Case Western
  
• BU
• URochester
• Albert Einstein
• Georgetown
• Hofstra
• Temple
• Thomas Jeffersion
• Loyola
• U Miami
• Tulane
• SLU
• U VM
• USC/keck

 

[RhinB]

Dunno if it's helpful now but here's where I actually ended up in this cycle:

http://www.mdapplicants.com/profile.php?id=28792

Might help to see the before and after. Not a throwaway anymore! Bottomline is that I did well / better than I personally expected this cycle. SDN is a great resource and again, thanks everyone for your feedback!