3.93 GPA, TBD MCAT, School list help please!

[Lunistrella]

Hi, I was hoping for some help on my MD school list.

I am an Asian male, with a home residence in Massachusetts. I am a rising senior in college so this is my first cycle applying. I'm majoring in biology as well as neuroscience.

cGPA: 3.93
sGPA: 3.93
MCAT: I took it in June so I don't have preliminary scores yet. On old practice tests, I was in the 33-34 range and on the 2015 practice tests, I was scoring around 509.

ECs:
Supervisor for my campus EMS corp (on call 72-96 hours/week) - strictly volunteer
- Also Director of Medical Operations for the EMS Corp
Research Experience (non clinical) - 300+ Hours
Research Experience (Clinical) - 200+ Hours
Shadowing - 300+ Hours in radiology, surgery, and emergency medicine
Certified CPR & First Aid instructor
Volunteer yearly at the Boston Marathon as an EMT
Dean's list every semester

Because I don't know my MCAT Score yet, I'm considering just applying very broadly. Here's my list (of about 30 schools) right now. I understand I have 7 high reach, top schools in here (*), but I figured why not give them a shot as the application fee isn't really an issue for me.

Edit: Bolded schools are the schools that remain on my list.

Boston U
Drexel
Eastern Virginia
Dartmouth
Harvard* (My PI is an associate prof. at Harvard Med, and she wrote me a rec)
Hofstra
Johns Hopkins* (will likely take this off)
Keck*
Loyola
MCW
NYMC
Quinnipiac
Rosalind
Rush
St. Louis U
Jefferson
Temple
U of Miami
UVM
Tufts
Tulane
UCSD*
Umass
U of Virginia
U of Washington
VCU
Wake Forest
Brown*
Cornell*
Yale* (will probably only apply to 1 of these 3 though just because)

Added:
WVU
Western Michigan

Still considering (with high enough MCAT):
Case Western
Rochester
NYU
Vandy


Also, I want to send in my primary ASAP, so should I just send in my application to get verified just to less competitive schools for me, and then wait for my preliminary MCAT score to submit to the rest?

Thanks in advance!

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[GrapesofRath]

For the sake of this I am going to assume 31-32 equivalent on the MCAT. You need to be able to highlight your altruism and while I would let someone in the know like Goro give their take I don't really see much in the way of traditional volunteering and serving the disadvantaged. That could be a real issue.

As is this list is way too top heavy. Going through every "Ivy" league name you can find isn't a smart strategy. Also applying to these public schools OOS like UCSD and Washington that favor the home team and you aren't competitive for isn't a good call either.

Here is one way I might do this

UMass
Boston U(depends on MCAT)
Drexel
Eastern Virginia
Loyola
MCW
NYMC
Quinnipac
Rush
Oakland
Jefferson
Temple
Hofstra(depends on MCAT)
Rosalind
Miami
Tufts
Tulane
VCU
Wake
Rochester(depends on MCAT)
Western Michigan
Penn State(maybe)
Va Tech(depends on MCAT)
WVU(maybe)
Georgetown
Einstein(depends on MCAT)
George Washington
Vermont
Any DO program

An MCAT score below 30 equivalent and I think you would have to re-consider things.

 

[Lunistrella]

Alright thanks for your input. Would you recommend holding off sending in the AMCAS until I get my preliminary MCAT percentiles in a little over a week? Also, would my GPA be considered a slightly redeeming factor if my MCAT is in the 509 range?

 

[GrapesofRath]

Alright thanks for your input. Would you recommend holding off sending in the AMCAS until I get my preliminary MCAT percentiles in a little over a week? Also, would my GPA be considered a slightly redeeming factor if my MCAT is in the 509 range?

Your best is probably waiting until your scores are official to send( if I'm wrong someone chime in)

32-33 MCAT isn't going to fly for your reach schools period regardless of your GPA. As is, your lack of traditional volunteering to highlight your altruism and to a lesser extent lack of significant research experience is a problem at these big name schools on your list regardless of MCAT.

 

[benjamin94559]

Dont quote me on this but I dont think UCSD UCLA or UCSF gives any preference to in/out state.

 

[GrapesofRath]

Dont quote me on this but I dont think UCSD UCLA or UCSF gives any preference to in/out state.

Correct I should have said instead OP is not competitive for UCSD.

 

[Lunistrella]

Thanks for the replies. Right now, I think I'll be sending my application to most of the schools on GrapesofRath's list (which is similar to my own after cutting out the top schools) so that my application can start getting verified, and if my MCAT scores are remarkably higher than anticipated (say around 515, which is a possibility as my standardized test scores tend to fluctuate), I'll tack on some of the higher schools. Does this sound reasonable?

 

[GrapesofRath]

Sounds logical. Although i'd still be somewhat hesitant to just go bombs away at top 20 schools even with a 35+ MCAT. Out of the ones you listed Brown, Washington and Dartmouth make no sense at all regardless of MCAT and JHU/Harvard/Yale are probably just fantasies. If you are looking for realistic reaches Emory/USC/Case Western are good places to look with perhaps maybe NYU/Mt Sinai/Vandy/Pitt also worth a look if we are talking 35+.