MD 3.7 cGPA 3.7 sGPA 513 MCAT

[medemac]

Hiyo, appreciate any feedback.

Year in school Rising Senior

Country/state of residence US/CA

Schools to which you are applying: UC Davis, UCLA, UCSD, UCI, UCR, UCSF, Stanford, USC, Northstate COM, Yale, Columbia, Harvard, Texas schools, Geisel, Perelman, Duke, Creighton, Emory, Icahn, Loma Linda, Ohio State, Brown

Cumulative GPA 3.692

Science GPA ~3.7

MCAT Scores 513 (128/127/128/130)

Research – Few hours in a High Altitude Medicine lab studying effects of Drosophila heart size under hypoxic conditions. Many hours working in a Spinal Cord Injury lab studying viability of stem cell implants on rats following injury. Have my own project testing effectiveness of certain behavioral conditioning.

Volunteering (clinical) – Medical assistant at the Markleeville Death Ride, an endurance race held at high altitude. Learned a lot about altitude sickness and ended up in the Hypoxia lab for this reason. Around 45-50 hours including prep time and the event itself. Worked a blood pressure cuff/glucose meter at multiple health fairs in underserved communities.

Physician shadowing – 100 hours shadowing an Emergency Room Physician as well as the PAs and radiologists; pretty much anything around the emergency department

Non-clinical volunteering - A lot, I work with two non-profit organizations that benefit the communities of San Diego, Northwestern Mexico, and rural areas of Vietnam

Extracurricular activities - I listed piano and running as they are my main stress relievers but I keep busy

Employment history - Worked as a tutor and peer mentor for the success center at my university as well as tutoring a 4th grader in mathematics

I have been involved in some sort of activity for every semester/quarter since the summer of my first year.

Immediate family members in medicine? (y/n) Father, grandmother, great aunt

Specialty of interest teaching/neurology/neurosurgery/radio-oncology

Interest in rural health (y/n) Nope

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[anonymoose1640]

You have strong ECs but the schools you listed are a lot of reaches as opposed to target schools. Some reaches are fine, but I'm not so sure that list will bring you a lot of IIs unfortunately.

Some comments:
California Northstate - has made it difficult for students to get federal loans, a lot of people on this site don't condone applying there
Texas schools - someone with your stats is unlikely to matriculate OOS to a TX MD school unless you have significant ties to Texas (i.e. you went to one of the undergrads, you grew up there and went to high school there, your spouse lives there)
Loma Linda - has very strict religious standards, make sure you align with them before applying
Brown - prefers their own undergrads above anyone else
UCR - prefers students to be from the Inland Empire, if you aren't from there don't apply

Schools I would suggest:
Loyola
Tulane
Rosalind Franklin
Rush (if you have the service hours)
VCU
Drexel
Jefferson
Temple
NYMC
Georgetown
GW
Wake Forest
EVMS
UVM
Arizona
SLU

If you haven't already, purchase MSAR to help you decide a more reasonable school list. Hope that helps, good luck!!

 

[Faha]

Your OOS schools such as Yale, Columbia, Harvard, Texas schools, Perelman, Duke, Emory, Icahn, Brown are all reaches. You can apply to them but add the schools on the list of @anonymoose1640 and consider also Oakland Beaumont, Medical College Wisconsin, Western Michigan, Quinnipiac.

 

[medemac]

You have strong ECs but the schools you listed are a lot of reaches as opposed to target schools. Some reaches are fine, but I'm not so sure that list will bring you a lot of IIs unfortunately.

Some comments:
California Northstate - has made it difficult for students to get federal loans, a lot of people on this site don't condone applying there
Texas schools - someone with your stats is unlikely to matriculate OOS to a TX MD school unless you have significant ties to Texas (i.e. you went to one of the undergrads, you grew up there and went to high school there, your spouse lives there)
Loma Linda - has very strict religious standards, make sure you align with them before applying
Brown - prefers their own undergrads above anyone else
UCR - prefers students to be from the Inland Empire, if you aren't from there don't apply

Schools I would suggest:
Loyola
Tulane
Rosalind Franklin
Rush (if you have the service hours)
VCU
Drexel
Jefferson
Temple
NYMC
Georgetown
GW
Wake Forest
EVMS
UVM
Arizona
SLU

If you haven't already, purchase MSAR to help you decide a more reasonable school list. Hope that helps, good luck!!

Thank you for the response. With respect to Brown, I am seeing that 10 alumni/students matriculated to Warren Alpert from 2005-2009 on their website. Have they changed their approach from 2010 onwards?

Your OOS schools such as Yale, Columbia, Harvard, Texas schools, Perelman, Duke, Emory, Icahn, Brown are all reaches. You can apply to them but add the schools on the list of @anonymoose1640 and consider also Oakland Beaumont, Medical College Wisconsin, Western Michigan, Quinnipiac.

Thank you for the response.

 

[Faha]

Brown has a class size of 145. Approximately 60 come from their special programs (mainly their own undergraduates). The additional 10 you are referring to are those accepted through the 85 AMCAS slots.

 

[anonymoose1640]

@Faha took the words right out of my mouth. If you love Brown, by all means apply. But just know that you're trying to get one of those 75 seats, not one of 145. Hope that was helpful, good luck!