3.85/516 weak ECs

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mnasir94

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7+ Year Member
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Year in school: Rising Senior


Country/state of residence: VA


Schools to which you are applying:

* Albany Medical College

* Albert Einstein College of Medicine

* Baylor College of Medicine
* Cooper Medical School of Rowan University

* Duke University School of Medicine

* Eastern Virginia Medical School

* Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth

* George Washington University Sch of Med & Hlth Sci

* Georgetown University School of Medicine

* Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine

* Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine

* Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Scien

* Sidney Kimmel Medical College at Thomas Jefferson University

* Temple University School of Medicine

* The Commonwealth Medical College

* Tufts University School of Medicine

* Tulane University School of Medicine

* University of Chicago - Pritzker

* University of Maryland School of Medicine

* University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine

* University of Virginia School of Medicine

* Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine

* Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine

* Wake Forest School of Medicine of Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center
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Cumulative GPA: 3.86

Science GPA: 3.85

MCAT Scores: 516 (128 GenChemPhys 87%; 128 Verbal 87%, 131 BioBiochem 99%, 129 PsychSoc 87% -- Overall: 95%)

Research: ~800 hours volunteering in a basic sciences lab. No publications or authorships of any kind, unfortunately. No posters. :(. Was for two semesters and one summer working full time for pay.

Volunteering (clinical) – ~300 Hospital Volunteering Hours

Non-clinical volunteering: ~400 Disaster relief organization hours. Spent 1 year as a team leader. Basically did local community service and alternative holiday break trips to disaster stricken areas in the USA. Student run organization.

Immediate family members in medicine? (y/n): Y

Specialty of interest: Internal medicine, Surgery, Emergency med.

Shadowing experience: ~150 Hr. Shadowed cardiology, nephrology, pulmonology, general surgery, internal medicine.



What do you guys think about my school choices? Also I worry that my lack of EC's might hurt me -- I only filled out 6 work activities/experiences in my application.

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Your EC's cover what you need. They will suffice. Your PI rec letter will matter a fair amount for the research heavy schools.

This list is more or less fine. The only schools I would take out are probably a) Baylor(they can say what they want but there is IS bias) b) Dartmouth(you don't fit what they are looking for). c) Cooper and TCMC(there's no reason to apply to lower tier schools with significant IS bias). I'm not sure you are competitive enough for Chicago or JHU but it's your call what you want to do with those kind of reaches.

Eastern Virginia and VCU provide very solid safety nets. UVA gives out lots of interviews to VA residents with your stats at a fairly significant proportion(and if you get an interview as WedgeDawg says you have an 80% of getting in). You've got your basis fairly well covered being a VA resident.

I would also give some consideration to
Emory
Case Western
USC
Boston U
Hofstra
Rochester
Mayo(maybe)
 
Last edited:
weak ECs? You have better than most lol. What about your LORs?
 
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You're good. I would remove Cooper and maybe take out Pritzker, though that's up to you. @GrapesofRath gave out some good school suggestions too. Particularly look at Emory, Case, USC-Keck, and Hofstra.
 
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Thank you all for the school suggestions! After thinking about it you guys are right that I should tone down some of the reachier schools. With regards to me saying that my EC's were weak -- they are literally all I have. I listed 6 work experiences/activities on AMCAS. With regards to LORs, I'd say I have two 2 super stellar ones and 1-2 more that are okayish, but who knows.
 
You have to work on the self esteem. Your ECs are fine. The lack of research productivity might be an issue for some of the top schools.

I suggest:

* Albany Medical College
* Albert Einstein College of Medicine
* Eastern Virginia Medical School
* George Washington University Sch of Med & Hlth Sci
* Georgetown University School of Medicine
* Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Scien
* Sidney Kimmel Medical College at Thomas Jefferson University
* Temple University School of Medicine
* Tufts University School of Medicine
* Tulane University School of Medicine
* University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine
* University of Virginia School of Medicine
* Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine
* Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine
* Wake Forest School of Medicine of Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center
Drexel
BU
Hofstra
Emory
Keck
Creighton
U Miami
Loyola
EVMS
Rochester
Netter
 
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