41R (15P 13V 13B), 3.66 Cum., 3.61 BCPM

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MonteCarlo said:
Applying for 2010.

Undergrad: Johns Hopkins (GPA's in the Title) Biomedical Engineering B.S.
Grad: 1 Year Masters in Bioengineering: BCPM: 3.48, GPA: 3.45; UC San Diego
Residency: California

Research Experiences: Extensive
Volunteering: Extensive: Habitat for Humanity, Cancer Society
Clinical Exposure: WEAK (will pursue this year, have done some shadowing)

Albert Einstein College of Medicine Regular M.D. No
Boston University School of Medicine Regular M.D. No
Columbia University College of P & S Regular M.D. No
David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA Regular M.D. No
Duke University School of Medicine Regular M.D. No
Georgetown University School of Medicine Regular M.D. No
Harvard Medical School Regular M.D. No
Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine Regular M.D. No
Keck Sch. of Med.University of Southern California Regular M.D. No
Mount Sinai School of Medicine Regular M.D. No
New York University Regular M.D. No
Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicin Regular M.D. No
Stanford University School of Medicine Regular M.D. No
Tufts University School of Medicine Regular M.D. No
UCLA/Drew Medical Education Program Regular M.D. No
University of California San Diego Regular M.D. No
University of California San Francisco Regular M.D. No
University of California, Davis School of Medicine Regular M.D. No
University of California, Irvine- College/Medicine Regular M.D. No
University of Chicago - Pritzker Regular M.D. No
University of Maryland School of Medicine Regular M.D. No
University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine Regular M.D. No
Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University Regular M.D. No
Washington University School of Medicine Regular M.D. No
Weill Medical College of Cornell University Regular M.D. No
Yale University School of Medicine Regular M.D. No
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Is this your tentative list or have you already applied?
 
mmmcdowe said:
Ouch, that drop in your Masters will hurt. Still, with your MCAT you should get in somewhere so long as you apply broadly.
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I don't think it'll hurt that much, because it is in BME. And like you said, that MCAT will cover any problems in that respect haha.
 
would it be so terrible to apply for 2011? clinical is really important (you are applying md and not md-phd, right?) and it may be worth taking a year to delve into. i think it would certainly make you more competitive at the schools you are applying to... your mcat rocks and that gpa from hopkins bme is great, but honestly these schools get tons of applications with high mcats and gpas so your ECs are really really important. just about everyone applying to top schools like hopkins will have a lot of research, volunteering and clinical and i woudnt apply with a glaring weakness in clinical (just remember that some of the schools you are applying to have acceptance rates under 3%).

btw how would you rate your essay/PS and LORs?

what do you plan on doing for clinical?
 
The numbers are great, but a lack of clinical experience could kill your application. Just how weak is "weak" clinical exposure.
 
Your list pretty reasonable given your application. The mid tiers tend to put a greater emphasis on clinical and other experiences, so I don't know that you will be better off adding such schools, but it wouldn't hurt to add some just to cover your bases.
 
MonteCarlo said:
The feedback is appreciated! Be honest about what I write below...

MY Lor's are all pretty strong. My clinical thus far has been shadowing, and one of the doctors I shadowed, a cardiologist who has known me since childhood, is writing me a strong letter. Another letter is from the chair of obstetrics at Hopkins who I performed my senior design project for.
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Interesting, an alarmingly high number of candidates have letters from some chairman. Not to downplay your letter, just giving you an honest view of it not being a stellar accomplishment to attain a chairman's letter.

The reason my clinical is weak is because I decided to pursue medicine late in senior year, and in San Diego I did not have a car and was traveling frequently. Starting next month, i will be settled and volunteering at a hospital ER and a Hospice. I have put these circumstances on my app. I also have 250 hospital hours from high school (I know, but still).
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I know you know, but the 250 doesn't mean anything.

Also, note that several adcoms do not like to see 'future' activities - and it sounds like you have mentioned volunteering at ER and Hospice as future activities. They want to see that you are already a strong candidate, and are not trying to blow up your application by adding stuff you haven't even done yet.


I have put emphasis on my younger brother's death (car accident-I was in the car as well) in my essay to show that I have been in such situations.
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This gives you an opportunity to write a truly compelling personal statement. Too many applicants write about someone dying, and that revolutionizing their life to try and get into medical school. But few of these
essays encompass actually experiencing a tragedy as you have. Write this well, and you should be able to grab a reviewer's attention, and reel them in.

I am not applying MD-PHD but research is the important factor for me, which is why these schools are strong.
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Why is research important to you? If you have no intention of pursuing MD-PhD, it shouldn't have any bearing on where you apply, because you can participate in research at any school.

Should I add lower tier schools like Drexel and Temple to the list? I am going for 2010 for sure though-I figure that by the time interviews come, I'll be able to talk about my ongoing clinical work.
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I support applying for 2010. I take it that you have not submitted your primary yet? Yes, you should add lower tier schools like Drexel and Temple. You don't need a lot, but you should have 4-5. In your current list, looks like Georgetown and Keck are your only non top tier schools. And I guess Davis and Irvine, relative to the other UC schools.
 
camaras2480 said:
Why is research important to you? If you have no intention of pursuing MD-PhD, it shouldn't have any bearing on where you apply, because you can participate in research at any school.
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Well, if you agree that the quality of research opportunities varies from school to school, I think it is a valid factor to consider when deciding where to apply MD, given that the OP is very interested in research. Sorry for contradicting, just saying that I see the OP's point.
 
camaras2480 said:
Yes, you should add lower tier schools like Drexel and Temple. You don't need a lot, but you should have 4-5. In your current list, looks like Georgetown and Keck are your only non top tier schools. And I guess Davis and Irvine, relative to the other UC schools.
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What about Tufts, UMD, Yeshiva? These are ranked below Gtown in U.S. news, or are you going by some other metric when classifying tiers?
 
adele87 said:
Well, if you agree that the quality of research opportunities varies from school to school, I think it is a valid factor to consider when deciding where to apply MD, given that the OP is very interested in research. Sorry for contradicting, just saying that I see the OP's point.
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haha no, i appreciate your view. I just think that as a medical student, there is very little time (usually 1 summer) to actually conduct meaningful research. It shouldn't really matter where you do those 3 months of research, since you probably won't have a chance to run with it long-term.

but i see your (and OP's) point as well.
 
camaras2480 said:
haha no, i appreciate your view. I just think that as a medical student, there is very little time (usually 1 summer) to actually conduct meaningful research. It shouldn't really matter where you do those 3 months of research, since you probably won't have a chance to run with it long-term.

but i see your (and OP's) point as well.
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you can always take a year or two off as well, if research is more your thing...
 
MonteCarlo said:
What about Tufts, UMD, Yeshiva? These are ranked below Gtown in U.S. news, or are you going by some other metric when classifying tiers?
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I actually totally missed Tufts in your list lol, sorry. Not that it is easy to get in, their numbers jumped last year - I think they averaged a 3.8/33.

Maryland is ranked below Georgetown yes, but note that they take a vast majority of in state candidates. You being a CA resident, it won't be easy getting in.

Einstein is actually quite tough to get in. Sure, it is not top tier per se, but it is just as difficult as Tufts.

I'm just saying it won't be easy. I won't be the slightest bit surprised if you get into all 3. But they will certainly be harder than Drexel and Temple.
 
so in your case i cant condone applying to a bunch of low tier schools because: A) you have great numbers and B) you have strong research experiences. i think it will be too obvious that they are your safties unless you can find legitimate reasons for applying to those schools.

also, you ideally want to be a great fit for the schools you apply to. if you want to do research i would suggest applying to more mid tier and slightly higher ranked schools that have higher acceptance rates. essentially, im saying apply to schools like case which i believe have good research opps. try and find schools that have the resources and opportunities you are looking for.

also, for your PS i want to say do your best to try and stay away from cliches like going into medicine due to a death or serious illness in the family, if you can.

and obviously be prepared to have great reasons as to why you are not applying md-phd because im pretty sure you'll be asked this at research intensive schools at interviews

and make sure you know the specific reqs for the schools you are applying to. i think you mentioned not having any social science courses? some schools require things like psych and some have credit requirements for humanities and social science courses.
 
camaras2480 said:
haha no, i appreciate your view. I just think that as a medical student, there is very little time (usually 1 summer) to actually conduct meaningful research. It shouldn't really matter where you do those 3 months of research, since you probably won't have a chance to run with it long-term.

but i see your (and OP's) point as well.
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well that depends on the school

going to schools like duke yale and stanford would offer you time to do research as part of the curriculum.. many students at these schools opt for 5th year of research and i think there are other schools which require a thesis as well (i know yale does, i think columbia, penn and duke do as well)

about umd: i thought maryland took a lot of oos applicants? several people got in out of state from sdn... besides, op went to school for 4 years in baltimore so he has strong ties to the area. i would definitely apply to umd.
 
man you have some stellar numbers.

the lack of clinicals is a concern though. id say you have to show a lot of maturity and understanding about the medical field in your ps/interviews to overcome this if you decide to apply as is (for regular MD). if you choose the md/phd route then its a little more understandable.

good luck!
 
bleargh said:
what MD PhD *doesn't* come in with significant research experience?
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Yeah, that's what I was getting at - many of them (perhaps even the majority, I don't have any official numbers) at least in the New England / New York area come in with that experience and put it to work, and pull it off in 7 years. I think it is those that go and start brand new projects (and maybe with a PI that is not very helpful lol) that end up going into the 8-10 year saga.
 
my opinion: you are going to get in to one of those schools, no problem. i dont think temple or drexel is really necessary for someone who scored 41, even if your gpa is a little low for top 20s.
 
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