3.8/3.8 GPA 33S MCAT California

[Chunkle]

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I'm looking for some help in getting a school list together. My GPA is 3.8/3.8, and my MCAT is 33S (10 V, 10 PS, 13 BS ... the PS was highly disappointing considering I was averaging 12-13 on it.)

I'll be applying to all the UCs + USC, and thinking of the following out of state schools:

BU
Wake Forest
Temple
Jefferson
Einstein
Rosalind Franklin
Rush
Loyola

so far.. I'm hoping to get into one of the Los Angeles schools, and if not, looking to travel east. I've been at Cali my whole life.

I've done a hospital based clinical internship for a year, and have volunteered at a free clinic for 2.5 years now. I've got 2 years of research experience, but I'm not doing any original research. I pretty much help the professor with his work. I've shadowed a neurologist, rad onc, and an IM. I also volunteered at a community soup kitchen for a summer.

TLDR:

3.8 GPA
33S MCAT
2 years volunteer+research
60 hrs shadowing

Need help with a school list.

I honestly don't really care where I get into. Do I have a shot at a top 20 though? I was also considering applying to DO programs as Osteopathic Manipulative Medicine seems like something I'd enjoy, but my friends and family seems to be against it since I have a chance at a MD.

Thanks for the help. 🙂

 

[JackieBrown13]

Competitive scores, and I would say definitely a shot at the top 20... but then again, what do I know?

Do the DO route if you like it better! I am trying to decide that myself... Ultimately, what will you be happiest with? And if you can't decide.... It's not always about making the best decision, but making the best of the decisions you make.

 

[Chunkle]

Competitive scores, and I would say definitely a shot at the top 20... but then again, what do I know?

Do the DO route if you like it better! I am trying to decide that myself... Ultimately, what will you be happiest with? And if you can't decide.... It's not always about making the best decision, but making the best of the decisions you make.

True True. I'll shadow a DO sometime, and maybe apply to a couple of those.

 

[gyngyn]

You are a perfectly average CA matriculant. About 2/3 of similarly qualified applicants don't get accepted in CA, though. You should get at least a couple of interviews from your OOS list but that's more than my risk tolerance!

 

[Chunkle]

You are a perfectly average CA matriculant. About 2/3 of similarly qualified applicants don't get accepted in CA, though. You should get at least a couple of interviews from your OOS list but that's more than my risk tolerance!

Yeah, I'm not relying on CA schools too much... So looking for some good OOS schools to apply to.

 

[flodhi1]

VCU has a good proportion of California residents.
NYMC lives Cali applicants too.
Drexel
Albany

 

[Chunkle]

VCU has a good proportion of California residents.
NYMC lives Cali applicants too.
Drexel
Albany

I'll definitely be adding NYMC. Seems like a nice place.

 

[urkillingme]

I'm in a similar situation......33Q (the dreaded 33 mcat) with 3.9.

Applied to about 4 top twenty schools. Vandy and UCSF rejected. The others treating me like I have leprosy. Only one interview from a mid-tier to date, with the secondaries submitted in late August.

From what I have gathered, even the mid-tier schools prefer to offer their initial II's to the more accomplished mcat scores that have 3.7 plus gpa. This top 5% to 7% of students are in demand by the top forty schools, and they want to get them in for interviews. This amounts to roughly 2.500 to 3,000 students. With the average class being 150 students, and the average number of students offered a spot in each school around 325 students, we can see the numbers ultimately leave room for those in the eighty to ninety percentile of the mcat scores, assuming the gpa is above average.....3.75 or above.
I would imagine this group, considered accomplished to a certain degree, still has an appeal to the schools, but they still want to make an impact on the super stars to get their share.

As we get closer to late October, there should be more II's directed to the non-super stars. Adcoms understand the overlap in mcat scores, and how a 33 could easily have been a 35 (or a 31) but again, they initially, and understandably focus on the those who did earn the higher scores. Ignoring this group could be costly to a school.

If you are seriously uncertain about securing any reasonable number of interviews, it might make sense to extend the breadth of you applications. I am uncertain if it is too late. Some may consider it so, some may not. I will be sending out a couple more applications this week. I look at it this way.....if I don't send them out, I might regret it. If I do send them out, the adcom gods will surely see that my money is wasted and I receive the II's I am hoping for.

No doubt, stressful stuff. I wish you luck.

If anyone has bonafide info on the validity on letters of interest, please feel free to post.

THx..

 

[gyngyn]

I know of no admissions dean who includes LOI's as any part of an algorithm for an interview. LOI's may have some role after May 21st for waitlisters.