518 MCAT, 3.82 cGPA, WAMC + School List

[Martin van Nostrand]

Here's a short summary of my application:

Demographics:

• White Male
• CA Resident
• Graduating from Top 25 Undergrad in May
• Psych major

Stats:

• cGPA: 3.82 (4.0 last two semesters)
• sGPA: 3.59 - 3.65, depending on what PSYC courses are counted (my sGPA is by far my biggest concern)
• MCAT: balanced 518

ECs (clinical):

• ~150 hours volunteering at city hospital
• ~120 hours volunteering at community medical clinic
• ~80 hours volunteering in school EMT org. (great patient contact, over 200 hours nonclinical, also hold an Exec position)
• ~60 hours split shadowing 3 different physicians, various specialities

ECs (nonclinical):

• Played a D1 sport freshman year
• ~550 hours split between 4 different psych based labs, 2 poster presentations (1 primary author, 1 secondary), one lab was a paid position at a T10 research school
• ~150 hours volunteering at a local homeless shelter (underserved community)
• ~75 hours at school's Red Cross Club
• ~25 hours as a PreMed "mentor" for underclassmen

~ Current School List ~

Harvard
Stanford
Yale
Columbia
Cornell
Duke
UCSF
Northwestern
Mt.Sinai
UCLA
U Pitt
USC
U Michigan
Case Western
Albert Einstein
U Miami
Tufts
Georgetown
Hofstra
Drexel
Emory
Dartmouth
George Washington
Kaiser Permanente
Rush
Brown
Tulane
UC Davis
UC San Diego
UC Irvine
UC Riverside
SUNY Downstate
Temple
Loma Linda
U Rochester
U Washington
California Northstate
California U of Science & Medicine


Final notes: I would really appreciate help with my school list (I'm worried it's too top heavy) and maybe some calming words to help me relax over my low(er) sGPA. I think the problem is as a psych major my 4.0 in all my psych classes isn't doing anything for my sGPA. Hopefully the cGPA and MCAT make up for this. Thanks for all the help.

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[vrazzles]

Your cGPA and MCAT are great. Your sGPA isn't stellar but I think any concerns with that would be mitigated (not removed) by your mcat score.

Neither your clinical nor nonclinical volunteering is particularly stellar but I think being a D1 athlete, ADCOMs will see that time was in short supply for you (especially if low grades are from freshman year - knowing a grade trend would help). The athletics is cool af IMO and should be fodder for some great essays.

Your research is good.

Do you have any primary care shadowing? If not, I would recommend getting some.

Overall, I think your chance of getting into Harvard/Stanford/Columbia/Yale schools isn't too high but you would be a competitive applicant at many 15-30 ranked schools. A lot of this will depend on how you sell yourself and your experiences.

I wouldn't be surprised if schools such as Georgetown and UMiami yield protected you unless you have a compelling tie to the area.

TLDR; you'll be fiiiiinnneeee

 

[Faha]

U Washington accepts less than 1% of applicants who are not from states in the Northwest. You should receive several interviews from your list.

 

[Goro]

Here's a short summary of my application:

Demographics:

• White Male
• CA Resident
• Graduating from Top 25 Undergrad in May
• Psych major

Stats:

• cGPA: 3.82 (4.0 last two semesters)
• sGPA: 3.59 - 3.65, depending on what PSYC courses are counted (my sGPA is by far my biggest concern)
• MCAT: balanced 518

ECs (clinical):

• ~150 hours volunteering at city hospital
• ~120 hours volunteering at community medical clinic
• ~80 hours volunteering in school EMT org. (great patient contact, over 200 hours nonclinical, also hold an Exec position)
• ~60 hours split shadowing 3 different physicians, various specialities

ECs (nonclinical):

• Played a D1 sport freshman year
• ~550 hours split between 4 different psych based labs, 2 poster presentations (1 primary author, 1 secondary), one lab was a paid position at a T10 research school
• ~150 hours volunteering at a local homeless shelter (underserved community)
• ~75 hours at school's Red Cross Club
• ~25 hours as a PreMed "mentor" for underclassmen

~ Current School List ~

Harvard
Stanford
Yale
Columbia
Cornell
Duke
UCSF
Northwestern
Mt.Sinai
UCLA
U Pitt
USC
U Michigan
Case Western
Albert Einstein
U Miami
Tufts
Georgetown
Hofstra
Drexel
Emory
Dartmouth
George Washington
Kaiser Permanente
Rush
Brown
Tulane
UC Davis
UC San Diego
UC Irvine
UC Riverside
SUNY Downstate
Temple
Loma Linda
U Rochester
U Washington
California Northstate
California U of Science & Medicine


Final notes: I would really appreciate help with my school list (I'm worried it's too top heavy) and maybe some calming words to help me relax over my low(er) sGPA. I think the problem is as a psych major my 4.0 in all my psych classes isn't doing anything for my sGPA. Hopefully the cGPA and MCAT make up for this. Thanks for all the help.

ECs are rather cookie cutter, and the sGPA may fall < 10th %ile for many of the Really Top Schools you're targeting. Brown and U WA will be donations. I can't recommend CNU. removed Loma Linda UNLESS you are SDA or a very devout Christian. Delete UCR if you have no ties to the Inland Empire.

Suggest getting in more service to others less fortunate than yourself.

You'll also need to figure out exactly what you sGPA is for us to help you better.

Did you have a rising GPA trend??

I'll be conservative and suggest:
ALL UCs, but UCR ONLY IF you're from the Inland Empire
Mt Sinai
U VA
Mayo (maybe)
U MI (maybe)
Case
U VM
U Toledo
Miami
St. Louis
Albany
Albert Einstein
Rochester
Rosy Franklin
NYMC
EVMS
Wake Forest
Jefferson
Temple
Drexel
Creighton
Tulane
USC/Keck
Seton Hall
MCW
Loyola
Emory
BU
Hofstra
Tufts
Oakland-B
Western MI
Uniformed Services University/Hebert (just be aware of the military service commitment)
Nova MD
CUSM
Kaiser
Touro-CA and Western IF you're desperate to stay in CA, AND you get no IIs by October.

 

[Martin van Nostrand]

ECs are rather cookie cutter, and the sGPA may fall < 10th %ile for many of the Really Top Schools you're targeting. Brown and U WA will be donations. I can't recommend CNU. removed Loma Linda UNLESS you are SDA or a very devout Christian. Delete UCR if you have no ties to the Inland Empire.

Suggest getting in more service to others less fortunate than yourself.

You'll also need to figure out exactly what you sGPA is for us to help you better.

Did you have a rising GPA trend??

I'll be conservative and suggest:
ALL UCs, but UCR ONLY IF you're from the Inland Empire
Mt Sinai
U VA
Mayo (maybe)
U MI (maybe)
Case
U VM
U Toledo
Miami
St. Louis
Albany
Albert Einstein
Rochester
Rosy Franklin
NYMC
EVMS
Wake Forest
Jefferson
Temple
Drexel
Creighton
Tulane
USC/Keck
Seton Hall
MCW
Loyola
Emory
BU
Hofstra
Tufts
Oakland-B
Western MI
Uniformed Services University/Hebert (just be aware of the military service commitment)
Nova MD
CUSM
Kaiser
Touro-CA and Western IF you're desperate to stay in CA, AND you get no IIs by October.

Thanks for the help. To answer a few of your questions, without any PSYC classes my sGPA is 3.59, including psych stats and abnormal psych it would be 3.65. Additionally I have gotten a 4.0 the last two semester, so yes, a bit of a rising GPA trend.

Also, by "more service to the less fortunate" is the 150 hours at a homeless shelter not good? Would you suggest volunteering more?

 

[Goro]

Thanks for the help. To answer a few of your questions, without any PSYC classes my sGPA is 3.59, including psych stats and abnormal psych it would be 3.65. Additionally I have gotten a 4.0 the last two semester, so yes, a bit of a rising GPA trend.

Also, by "more service to the less fortunate" is the 150 hours at a homeless shelter not good? Would you suggest volunteering more?

One semester doth not make a rising GPA trend, alas. Get in > 200 hrs. When you go big, you gotta go big. SDNers who get into Really Top Schools often report clinical and/or non-clinical hours in the hundreds, sometimes even in the thousands!