MD 517 MCAT 3.66 cGPA 3.64 sGPA. Chances? Schools? Wait a year?

[bruno692693]

I am a white male, graduating from an Ivy. MCAT breakdown: 130/127/130/130

Upward trend

My current plan is to apply and work through the application cycle. I have my application ready to submit June 1st but could be convinced to wait.

ECs are as follows:

Research:
-2 years lab
-Wrote an honors thesis and currently writing 2 papers with the primary work, presented at major microbio conference in Boston and poster was selected for a press highlight due to the interest.
-Published 2 papers, one second author, one first author. Both in major surgical journals indexed to pubmed.

Teaching/mentoring:
-TA for 3 yrs for 2 large bio classes



Volunteering:
-EMT for campus EMS for 2 years
-Free clinic volunteer for 3 years.
-Habitat for Humanity member. Went on a build to El Salvador sophomore summer.

Leadership:
-President of premed society.

Shadowing:
200 hours of shadowing in clinic/OR. Interned sophomore summer with a surgical group, and the job was half shadowing, and half assisting with clinical research.

Miscellaneous:
-Nominated and inducted into Sigma Xi
-Will graduate with honors in bio despite semi-low gpa


-VERY strong letters.

List:


-Columbia
-Mt. Sinai
-USC
-Baylor
-Northwestern
-Rush
-Creighton
-NYU (fellowship is at Langone next year)
-Quinnipiac
-Tufts
-Duke
-Case Western
-Brown
-St. Louis
-Drexel
If not a top tier, would love to be in the midwest so would appreciate more suggestions.

Sorry for long post, I just feel my situation is a little out of the ordinary. Thanks for any input!!

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[Faha]

Other schools in the Midwest where you are competitive with your stats include:
Medical College Wisconsin
Rosalind Franklin
Loyola
Oakland Beaumont

 

[7331poas]

OP seems like a very good candidate for the top 10. GPA isnt great but the ECs are excellent.

 

[bruno692693]

@WedgeDawg @Goro

 

[tantacles]

I am a white male Minnesota resident, graduating from an Ivy. MCAT breakdown: 130/127/130/130

Unusual academic background. Started with a lot of Bs, finally got all A's including orgo 1 sophomore spring, but then had surgery the next fall and got a C in orgo 2. Started an upward trend including 9 A's in mostly upper level bio classes senior year (including molecular genetics, cell physio and biophysics, and bio of eukaryotic cell, all grad level classes here). Along with the A's I just found out I got a B in inorganic chem despite being right on the border (no pluses/minuses at my school). So a decent upward trend, but the C in orgo 2 is my main issue.

Because of the grade issues, my first question is whether I should take another year off? I have a high end clinical research fellowship with a trauma surgeon in NYC next year who put out 52 pubmed papers last year. Last year's fellow got her name on 13 of these in one year so there's potential to be very productive.

However, my current plan is to apply and work through the application cycle. I have my application ready to submit June 1st but could be convinced to wait.

ECs are as follows:

Research:
-2 years in trauma lab working on antimicrobial technology in surgery
-Wrote an honors thesis and currently writing 2 papers with the primary work, presented at major microbio conference in Boston and poster was selected for a press highlight due to the interest.
-Published a paper on antimicrobial technology in a major surgical journal on pubmed (second author). ----Recently submitted a review on patient specific implants to a major biomed engineering journal and will be notified of status soon (first author on this one so hopefully will be accepted).

Teaching/mentoring:
-Teaching has been a major passion of mine throughout UG. I TAd intro bio for 3 years, and TA'd genetics for 2 (including Head TA senior year).
-Large mentoring role through position as a peer advisor for the health career office.


Volunteering:
-EMT for campus EMS for 2 years (Took a semester off to recover from my surgery)
-Free clinic volunteer for 3 years. Did patient intake and was certified through the clinic's medical interpreter training in spanish
-Habitat for Humanity member. Went on a build to El Salvador sophomore summer.

Leadership:
-President of premed society. Lots of advising and event planning.
-Served on school's public safety oversight committee for 2 years. Was lone undergrad and role took on large responsibility after school-wide outcry for questionable actions in regards to campus public safety

Shadowing:
200 hours of shadowing in clinic/OR. Interned sophomore summer with a surgical group, and the job was half shadowing, and half assisting with clinical research. The project I helped on is still ongoing but likely won't be finished/publishable anytime during this app cycle.

Miscellaneous:
-Travel club baseball for 3 years.
-Nominated and inducted into Sigma Xi
-Will graduate with honors in bio despite semi-low gpa
-Faculty nominated for a class award in academic excellence in the biological sciences. This was largely for my teaching role throughout undergrad, and carries a large amount of prestige and recognition at graduation.
-HHMI summer scholar last summer. Funded to develop teaching materials for school's science courses, especially genetics.

-VERY strong letters. This will be by far the best part of my app. I have TA'd for three of my letters, and the other is my PI. Am extremely close with all 4, and all 4 have done incredible things in their field. Am also very close with my school's pre-health advisor who will write my committee letter. I asked him about taking a year off and he straight up told me I will have the absolute fullest support from him in my letter and he recommends I apply.

List:
-University of Minnesota Twin Cities
-Mayo (Rochester and Arizona). This is my absolute dream. Better chances here would be why I would consider taking another year off.
-Columbia
-Mt. Sinai
-USC
-Baylor
-Northwestern
-Rush
-Creighton
-NYU (fellowship is at Langone next year)
-Quinnipiac
-Tufts
-Duke
-Case Western
-Brown
-St. Louis
-Drexel
If not a top tier, would love to be in the midwest so would appreciate more suggestions.

Sorry for long post, I just feel my situation is a little out of the ordinary. Thanks for any input!!

In terms of Chicago area schools, I'd recommend UIC, Loyola, and Rosalind Franklin. Given your MCAT score, I think that Wash U would not be a terrible choice despite your GPA being slightly low for them.

In addition, I feel that with your stats, it would be wiser to apply to Jefferson and Temple than Drexel; you're actually a pretty high stat applicant for all three schools.

 

[bruno692693]

In terms of Chicago area schools, I'd recommend UIC, Loyola, and Rosalind Franklin. Given your MCAT score, I think that Wash U would not be a terrible choice despite your GPA being slightly low for them.

In addition, I feel that with your stats, it would be wiser to apply to Jefferson and Temple than Drexel; you're actually a pretty high stat applicant for all three schools.

Good advice, thanks! I'll add those. Iyo, is it worth applying to Mayo and some of the other top schools on my list with my gpa?

 

[WedgeDawg]

Your ECs are pretty good and your stats are okay, but whether you're competitive for top tier schools is debatable. I think it's worth applying to some of them, but your best chances are going to be in the mid tiers (Emory, UVA, Hofstra, Einstein, Rochester, Keck, etc). You should also apply to your undergrad's medical school (assuming you don't go to Princeton) and UMN, both of which you'll have a decent shot at too (unless it's a top 10 school, in which case, probably not as much).

For top schools, your best shots are the Ivies (they like to take other Ivy students, esp. Cornell, Columbia, maybe Yale; probably not Penn or Harvard), Vanderbilt, Northwestern, NYU, Sinai, Michigan, and Case. WashU is worth an app if you're looking to stay in the midwest, but don't expect too much. If you want to apply to Mayo, go for it, again, don't expect much. Duke is hit or miss, but I would probably leave out in favor of the other schools I mentioned. Baylor isn't worth an app here.

I don't know if you have the clinical experience for Rush - other posters may be able to weigh in with better information. I would leave out Brown unless you go there, but I might consider throwing in Dartmouth.

To sum up:

Your best shots are at USC-Keck, Hofstra, Emory, UMN, and your home school. You should also apply to Einstein, Rochester, and maybe UVA. If you want to apply to top schools, your best bets (based on location preference and who likes taking Ivy League students preferentially) are Cornell, Vanderbilt, Northwestern, NYU, Sinai, Michigan, Case, and Columbia (in no particular order). If you want to apply to WashU and Mayo, go ahead.

 

[theo177]

Will be attending Case, interviewed at Mayo, attended HYP undergrad myself with slightly better GPA/MCAT. Mayo seems to like high GPA and doesn't care too much about UG prestige. In this sense, you should consider taking off if your heart is set on it. But if I were you, I wouldn't wait. You have a decent shot at most of the other schools on your list.