3.92 cGPA, 3.94 sGPA, 35 MCAT

[tartandtangy]

Year in school: Junior at a small private university

State of residence: MA

Cumulative GPA: 3.92

Science GPA: 3.94

MCAT Scores: 12P/10V/13B for 35 total

Research: HIV related research for 1 year(~300 hours) however no publications. Started working in a bioinformatics lab this past semester and will have well over 500 additional hours by the time of application. Had the opportunity to present research at a huge IBM conference and will also have a poster presentation at my school, however no publications.

Volunteering (clinical): ~150 hours on the childrens intensive care floor in a hospital.

Physician shadowing: Will have around 50 hours shadowing a internal medicine hospitalist, a hematologist, and a pathologist

Non-clinical volunteering: Spent three months cumulative (~700 hours) over 2 summers volunteering as an elementary English teacher and doing childcare at an orphanage in Tanzania. Probably one of the best experiences of my life, and plays a large role in why I want to get into pediatrics. I also volunteer cooking and serving food to a local halfway house occasionally ~30 hours.

Extracurricular activities: I have spent 3 years serving on a committee that helps plan events to facilitate alumni-student interaction with 1 year as the chair of the committee. I work as a tutor with the America Reads program, serving at-risk local youth for ~800 hours over the past 3 years. I have been the lead tutor in charge of training and managing the other tutors for the past year.

Specialty of interest: I am heavily interested in pediatrics. I am not sure whether I want to specialize or be a primary care physician. In the future would be very interested in potentially doing pediatrics globally via organizations like Doctors w/o Borders and etc.

I currently have a pretty large list of schools going and would love for yall's advice in adding/removing schools, and I was also wondering specifically how my match/safety list looks?

School list(30):
Reach:
Stanford
Columbia
Yale
UMich
Harvard
Duke
Baylor
Mayo
NYU
UCSF
Johns Hopkins

Match/Safety:
Pitt
Einstein
Emory
SUNY Stony Brook
Tulane
Dartmouth
Ohio State
UMiami
Rochester
U VA
Case
Wake Forest
BU
Tufts
Keck
Mt Sinai
Colorado
UCLA
UCSD

- I understand that the three UC schools have very low OOS acceptance, I have just always wanted to go to California for school so I figured I might as well give it a shot.

I appreciate all the help!

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[WedgeDawg]

Everything looks pretty good app-wise.

I would consider Pitt, Emory, UVA, Case, Sinai, UCLA, and UCSD all in the reach category though.

Definitely throw in UMass - they only take MA residents and they have extremely low tuition.

If you're looking to remove some schools, consider removing one or some of [Emory, Baylor, UVA]. I would remove Tulane and Colorado (high volume of apps for first, very low OOS acceptance rate for second). You could consider removing Tufts and BU as well (same reason as Tulane), but since you're from MA, I can understand why you might want to keep them.

Other reaches to consider are Northwestern, Vanderbilt, Cornell and UChicago, but you're already pretty top-heavy, so I wouldn't try and remove any match/safeties to add these schools.

 

[Doug Underhill]

Ditch the CA schools and add UMass. Don't fall into the trap of thinking you're too good for them- you only scored a 35 and you don't have any publications.

 

[tartandtangy]

Thanks to @WedgeDawg and @Doug Underhill ,

I will definitely be adding UMass to the list, don't know what I was thinking leaving it off! As it stands right now incorporating yall's advice, my list is:

Reach:
Stanford
Columbia
Yale
Harvard
Baylor
Mayo
Johns Hopkins
Mt Sinai
UCSF
UCLA
UCSD

Target:
Einstein
Dartmouth
Ohio State
Wake Forest
BU
Tufts
Keck
UMass
Penn State
SUNY Stony Brook

I am still top heavy, and will probably end up cutting out 2-3 reach schools off my list. For now I am going to keep the California schools even though I know I have a very little shot at them being OOS. Do my targets look okay? I was also wondering if you all knew of any more safety schools I should consider because I am not sure I have enough. Thanks again!

 

[Goro]

You're golden. I suggest:


U Mass
Columbia
Duke
U AZ
U VM
Creighton
NYU
Pitt
Einstein
Emory
SUNY Stony Brook
Tulane
Ohio State
UMiami
Rochester
Case
Wake Forest
BU
Keck
Mt Sinai
Colorado
UCLA
UCSD
UCI
Loyola
Hofstra
Netter
U Cincy

 

[Doug Underhill]

You're just giving free $ to the UC system by applying there. You could replace the three with Harvard, Stanford, and Yale, and I'm pretty sure your odds of getting admitted to one of those are probably at least 50% better than SF/LA/SD.

 

[Yazo]

Best of luck to you in the admission process! What's your major?
I'm also in MA, will be attending a small private college (Western Mass). Can't wait!

 

[gyngyn]

You're just giving free $ to the UC system by applying there. You could replace the three with Harvard, Stanford, and Yale, and I'm pretty sure your odds of getting admitted to one of those are probably at least 50% better than SF/LA/SD.

We need the $ more!
OT: How did Doug do in the election?

 

[Doug Underhill]

It's true, I interviewed at UCSD for biology Ph.D programs back during some financial crisis (isn't there always a financial crisis for the UC system?) and there weren't even enough lunches for everyone due to budget cuts. They do need the money.

I am not the Escambia County commissioner. It's funny that he has a cheap pun for his real name, however.

 

[tartandtangy]

Will definitely proceed with caution with the UC schools. I know it's a long shot and potentially a waste of $, but I have just always wanted to live in California =/.

@Yazo , I am a biochemistry major!

 

[Yazo]

but I have just always wanted to live in California =/.

Especially after this winter we've had.

 

[Kaelis]

Especially after this winter we've had.

Hey, life isn't easy over here you know. It rained over two consecutive days this past weekend. It was terrible. but srs plzbringwater.