3.69 cGPA, 3.74 sGPA, 33 MCAT

[494110]

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I am a Colorado resident preparing to send my application in before the end of September. Since I'm late in the cycle I want to know how much it will affect me. My MCAT breakdown is 11/11/11 which is a retake from a 24 (9PS, 5VR, 10BS)--took a Kaplan course and didn't freak out the second time. I have a prominent upward GPA trend and graduated Cum Laude from a Top 100 liberal arts institution. Have wide range of LORs including a committee letter.

Activities

- 4 year collegiate cross country, team captain, all conference, conference and school academic award winner

- shadowed same physician since senior year of high school until present, about 60 hours and receiving LOR

- began volunteering at Planned Parenthood in July this summer, will have 60 hours before submitting application and planning on continuing until matriculation (worried about lack of clinical volunteering for this cycle)

- 2 summers of research including one summer at the University of Chicago (publication due in early 2014)

- tutored intro biology senior year for 80 hours

- Resident Assistant for 2 years

- lifeguard and swim instructor for 3 summers (2 highschool, 1 college after freshman year)

- volunteered (non-clinical) with middle school as a student mentor, humane society, did flood relief trip freshman year for 1.5 weeks.

Schools

This I am not sure of. I will apply to about 15 only MD including my state school (which is notoriously hard to get into). I'd like recommendations for schools near my stats, a few safety schools, and a few top tiers but nothing too far outside my range.

So far I'm was thinking:

At my stats
U of Colorado
U of Minnesota
U of Iowa
U of Washington
U of Arizona @ Phoenix or Tucson (I'm worried about the hot climate though)

Top tier near stats
Mayo
Brown
Dartmouth
Georgetown (may no have appropriate english credits and am not Catholic...)
U of Chicago (way out of my stats but I did research there and was in a program with their med school so I am going to take my chances here)

I haven't picked safety schools yet. I've been using the MSAR but have been focusing on my app more than school selection at the moment which is why I'm here (I'm not that lazy, I promise). Any recommendations would be much appreciated. At the moment all I know is I'm interested in internal medicine, emergency medicine, and possibly general surgery. Last caveat is I'd prefer a cold climate the majority of the year which rules out Texas, Florida, etc...

Please excuse any typos, I wanted to submit my inquiry ASAP.

Thanks!

 

[stolen_biscuit]

I would add a bunch of schools! While you look fine, you are a relatively average applicant. (I don't mean that in a bad way.) That's awesome in a state with many state schools, but to get into other state's public med schools, you will generally need to be a better candidate than their average applicant.

Mayo is a tiny, tiny program, so unless it is a dream school, I wouldn't count it as a realistic reach. I thought UW also held very few spots for OOS applicants?

Go through your MSAR and look for schools that have a high percentage of OOS admits (or private schools), and try to stay above their averages.

Hope this helps!

 

[494110]

This helps a ton! I'll pay more attention to the OOS acceptance rates. Mayo is definitely not a dream school, I just wanted to throw some top tiers in the mix just to see what the results are. Thanks again for the response!

 

[SoMuchMCATAhhhh]

I agree with the UW- they basically only accept in state people, as well as people in the "WWAMI" states. As a colorado resident, I wouldn't spend money in applying there! But for the most part your stats look good, and actually I'd recommend you look into some New York schools (a lot of them are OOS friendly, and on par with your stats)!

Good Luck!

 

[stolen_biscuit]

To get a little more specific, since you are possibly looking at going OOS or private, check out NY and OH schools. They allow you to gain residency. I don't know how NY works; I've just heard about it. In OH, it's pretty easy to get resident rates after your first year. You can also do that in TX, but you have to like TX, and they max out at 10% OOS...plus it's an entirely different application system.

Since I honestly believe most schools are created equal, my advice centers around debt. 🙂

 

[Goro]

Being from CO, I don't think you'll have much luck at U WA, U MN or U IA; Brown prefers its own UGs, but you should be OK for Dartmouth. The GPA will probably hurt you at Mayo.Suggest adding all schools in Chicago, except UIC, and all PA schools, for starters. Oh, throw in Duke, Vandy, NYU and Baylor for the mix.

Activities

- 4 year collegiate cross country, team captain, all conference, conference and school academic award winner

- shadowed same physician since senior year of high school until present, about 60 hours and receiving LOR

- began volunteering at Planned Parenthood in July this summer, will have 60 hours before submitting application and planning on continuing until matriculation (worried about lack of clinical volunteering for this cycle)

- 2 summers of research including one summer at the University of Chicago (publication due in early 2014)

- tutored intro biology senior year for 80 hours

- Resident Assistant for 2 years

- lifeguard and swim instructor for 3 summers (2 highschool, 1 college after freshman year)

- volunteered (non-clinical) with middle school as a student mentor, humane society, did flood relief trip freshman year for 1.5 weeks.

Schools

This I am not sure of. I will apply to about 15 only MD including my state school (which is notoriously hard to get into). I'd like recommendations for schools near my stats, a few safety schools, and a few top tiers but nothing too far outside my range.

So far I'm was thinking:

At my stats
U of Colorado
U of Minnesota
U of Iowa
U of Washington
U of Arizona @ Phoenix or Tucson (I'm worried about the hot climate though)

Top tier near stats
Mayo
Brown
Dartmouth
Georgetown (may no have appropriate english credits and am not Catholic...)
U of Chicago (way out of my stats but I did research there and was in a program with their med school so I am going to take my chances here)

I haven't picked safety schools yet. I've been using the MSAR but have been focusing on my app more than school selection at the moment which is why I'm here (I'm not that lazy, I promise). Any recommendations would be much appreciated. At the moment all I know is I'm interested in internal medicine, emergency medicine, and possibly general surgery. Last caveat is I'd prefer a cold climate the majority of the year which rules out Texas, Florida, etc...

Please excuse any typos, I wanted to submit my inquiry ASAP.

Thanks![/QUOTE]

 

[494110]

Thanks for all the responses guys! I will look into Chicago, Pennsylvania, and NY schools. I'm particularly interested in NY and Chicago since I was raised/went to school in a rural community and a change in scenery would be nice. OOS is important for me since Colorado only has one MD program that is notoriously difficult to get into.

Is it really worth a look at schools like Vanderbilt, Duke, NYU, etc... since I am below their averages by quite a bit? I am already planning on applying next cycle (not because of low confidence, I'm just being realistic). At this point I'm not worried about getting into a top 20. I just want to go to a respectable school that won't hold me back if I decide to go for a competitive residency. As I understand, the majority of US MD programs won't hold a student back in that regard as long as their USMLE step 1 is good. Is that correct?

Thanks again for all the advice, all I've focused on at this point has been my application and trying to get shadowing/clinical volunteering hours.

 

[494110]

I will hopefully submit my primary before the end of the week and the AAMC claims verification will take up to 8 weeks. I have to wait for committee approval. Do you think I will get serious consideration at any of these schools (including my reach schools) considering I'm submitting near the end of September? I'm a little worried but am also prepared to apply next cycle! Here is my final list of schools:

Safety
The Commonwealth Medical College
Marshal University
Cooper Med School

My Range
George Washington
Medical College of Wisconsin
Oakland Univ Beaumont
Rush
Temple
Virginia Commonwealth
Albany Medical College
Georgetown
Jefferson
New York Medical College
Brown
Hofstra
Loyola
University of Colorado

Reach
Dartmouth
University of Rochester
Tufts
University of Iowa (most likely deleting from list)
University of Chicago (most likely deleting from list)

 

[stolen_biscuit]

I think your list looks good.

In terms of timing, there's not much you can do, so you might as well apply if you don't mind spending the money. Most of these schools will interview into March, so there are still quite a few invites going out.

If you do look to cut down and save money, realize that some of these schools (e.g.: George Washington, Temple, Georgetown) get insane amounts of apps. So while your chances are fine statistically, the odds of actually getting an interview and then spot in the class are slim.

Best of luck!

 

[494110]

That sounds good. Too bad Temple and Georgetown were two of my top picks but, like you said, most med schools are created equal. I just want to be a doctor!

 

[stolen_biscuit]

That sounds good. Too bad Temple and Georgetown were two of my top picks but, like you said, most med schools are created equal. I just want to be a doctor!

If they are top picks, go for it! And convey that (and why) in secondaries.

 

[494110]

Thanks for the encouragement! I'm submitting tonight so "here goes nothing"!

 

[Goro]

I'd add Tufts, BU, Loyola, Rosy F, Rush, all schools in PA, U VT, MCW, SLU, Albany, Rochester, NYU, NYMC, Quinnipac, and Einstein. How's that for cold-loving schools?

Delete U WA..too competitive for an OOSer. Brown prefers their own UGs. Religion won't matter to Georgetown, so you're OK there, but I'd pick Loyola.

I am a Colorado resident preparing to send my application in before the end of September. Since I'm late in the cycle I want to know how much it will affect me. My MCAT breakdown is 11/11/11 which is a retake from a 24 (9PS, 5VR, 10BS)--took a Kaplan course and didn't freak out the second time. I have a prominent upward GPA trend and graduated Cum Laude from a Top 100 liberal arts institution. Have wide range of LORs including a committee letter.

Activities

- 4 year collegiate cross country, team captain, all conference, conference and school academic award winner

- shadowed same physician since senior year of high school until present, about 60 hours and receiving LOR

- began volunteering at Planned Parenthood in July this summer, will have 60 hours before submitting application and planning on continuing until matriculation (worried about lack of clinical volunteering for this cycle)

- 2 summers of research including one summer at the University of Chicago (publication due in early 2014)

- tutored intro biology senior year for 80 hours

- Resident Assistant for 2 years

- lifeguard and swim instructor for 3 summers (2 highschool, 1 college after freshman year)

- volunteered (non-clinical) with middle school as a student mentor, humane society, did flood relief trip freshman year for 1.5 weeks.

Schools

This I am not sure of. I will apply to about 15 only MD including my state school (which is notoriously hard to get into). I'd like recommendations for schools near my stats, a few safety schools, and a few top tiers but nothing too far outside my range.

So far I'm was thinking:

At my stats
U of Colorado
U of Minnesota
U of Iowa
U of Washington
U of Arizona @ Phoenix or Tucson (I'm worried about the hot climate though)

Top tier near stats
Mayo
Brown
Dartmouth
Georgetown (may no have appropriate english credits and am not Catholic...)
U of Chicago (way out of my stats but I did research there and was in a program with their med school so I am going to take my chances here)

I haven't picked safety schools yet. I've been using the MSAR but have been focusing on my app more than school selection at the moment which is why I'm here (I'm not that lazy, I promise). Any recommendations would be much appreciated. At the moment all I know is I'm interested in internal medicine, emergency medicine, and possibly general surgery. Last caveat is I'd prefer a cold climate the majority of the year which rules out Texas, Florida, etc...

Please excuse any typos, I wanted to submit my inquiry ASAP.

Thanks!

 

[494110]

I'd add Tufts, BU, Loyola, Rosy F, Rush, all schools in PA, U VT, MCW, SLU, Albany, Rochester, NYU, NYMC, Quinnipac, and Einstein. How's that for cold-loving schools?

Delete U WA..too competitive for an OOSer. Brown prefers their own UGs. Religion won't matter to Georgetown, so you're OK there, but I'd pick Loyola.

Thanks for the info, Goro. I updated my school choices and added almost all of the ones you suggested. I'd have to say that U VT is one of my top choices. I hope my late app won't be too much of a problem. I'm prewriting all my secondaries so I can submit them as soon as I get them.

 

[494110]

Out of curiosity, if I'm not accepted this year because I applied too late will I be penalized next year at the schools that I reapply to? I've read that the penalties refer to the people who submitted "bad" applications or didn't try to improve on shortfalls rather than those who submitted too late.

Thanks for the info!