520 MCAT 3.7 GPA please advise!

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yungdoc

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  1. 3.7 and 3.7 but I BOMBED freshman year (2.2 GPA) and have had a 3.9+ for 5 years including a 3.93 over my 2 years at UC Berkeley)
  2. 520 (131,127,130,132)
  3. California
  4. Hispanic (Argentinean) I speak English and Spanish
  5. I went to a Cal State University then a Community College then UC Berkeley for my last 2 years
  6. 500 hours as a hospital volunteer, 1000 hours as a physical therapy aide
  7. 1 poster presentation at my community college, 70 hours as a research assistant at UC Berkeley where I mostly transcribed interviews of women with ADHD (an amazing experience but definitely not the strongest part of my app)
  8. 70 hours with an orthopedic surgeon and 70 hours with a neurosurgeon. I'm not interested in surgery and I felt like the 400 hours I spent in the ER volunteering was enough of a "shadowing experience."
  9. 120 hours in food pantries
  10. co-president of chess club for a year at my community college, orientation leader
  11. Phi Beta Kappa at UC Berkeley
  12. I am curious how schools will view my GPA. I bombed freshman year but maintained a 3.9+ for 5 years. I am definitely not the student I was at 18 (I'm 25 now). I also have over 1000 of just regular employment throughout college. I currently work at a preschool.
@Goro @Faha

Thank you so much!!

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  1. I am curious how schools will view my GPA. I bombed freshman year but maintained a 3.9+ for 5 years. I am definitely not the student I was at 18 (I'm 25 now).
You'll be fine. No school would hold your freshman grades against you unless you give them reason to. You might be asked about it on some interviews (e.g how did you turn things around so quickly, etc), so just have an answer prepared.

Your research is on the weak side, but by no means a deal-breaker. If you're interested in going to a research-heavy medical school, consider continuing research to accumulate additional experiences that can be used as an update down the road if needed. Either way, I think you'll have a fairly successful cycle as long as there are no glaring deficiencies such as poor LORs, poorly written essays, IAs, etc. Good luck
 
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@Goro @Faha

Sorry to be a bother, but I realized I never mentioned that I am looking for a list of schools to apply to because I really don't know where I stand
 
I suggest these schools:
All the UC's
USC Keck
Kaiser
California University
Boston University
Tufts
Brown
Hofstra
Einstein
Mount Sinai
NYU
Columbia
Cornell
Rochester
Pittsburgh
Case Western
Miami
Duke
U Chicago
Northwestern
Washington University
TCU-UNT
Baylor
Arizona (Phoenix and Tucson)
 
  1. 3.7 and 3.7 but I BOMBED freshman year (2.2 GPA) and have had a 3.9+ for 5 years including a 3.93 over my 2 years at UC Berkeley)
  2. 520 (131,127,130,132)
  3. California
  4. Hispanic (Argentinean) I speak English and Spanish
  5. I went to a Cal State University then a Community College then UC Berkeley for my last 2 years
  6. 500 hours as a hospital volunteer, 1000 hours as a physical therapy aide
  7. 1 poster presentation at my community college, 70 hours as a research assistant at UC Berkeley where I mostly transcribed interviews of women with ADHD (an amazing experience but definitely not the strongest part of my app)
  8. 70 hours with an orthopedic surgeon and 70 hours with a neurosurgeon. I'm not interested in surgery and I felt like the 400 hours I spent in the ER volunteering was enough of a "shadowing experience."
  9. 120 hours in food pantries
  10. co-president of chess club for a year at my community college, orientation leader
  11. Phi Beta Kappa at UC Berkeley
  12. I am curious how schools will view my GPA. I bombed freshman year but maintained a 3.9+ for 5 years. I am definitely not the student I was at 18 (I'm 25 now). I also have over 1000 of just regular employment throughout college. I currently work at a preschool.
@Goro @Faha

Thank you so much!!
I suggest:
NYU
Vanderbilt
WashU
Yale
JHU
U Chicago
U Penn
Northwestern
Columbia
Harvard
Stanford
Mayo
Cornell
Sinai
BU
U VA
Duke
Baylor
Case
ALL UCs , UCR (IF you’re from the Inland Empire)
U MI
Albert Einstein
Hofstra
Ohio State
Pitt
U Cincy
USF Morsani
Dartmouth
Rochester
USC/Keck
Western MI
Emory
Jefferson
Miami
SLU
Tufts
U IA
U VM
 
@Goro @Faha @Moko

So I know there's still plenty of time left, but I am beginning to worry A LITTLE that I have a bad school list. Should I add more schools or is it too late? (I submitted most of my secondaries in the last week of July)

Also, since applying, I have been an assistant preschool teacher for about 450 hours and will be going back to my old job as a physical therapy aide and should gain an additional 1500 hours there in the next year.

My list:

UCLA
USC
UC Davis
UCSD
UC Irvine
UCSF
Columbia
Cornell
Hofstra
Einstein
Sinai
Brown
Boston University (rejected)
Tufts
NYU
(hold)
U Chicago (rejected)
Northwestern
Wash U
Pittsburgh
(rejected)
Case Western
Dartmouth
Baylor
Rochester
Miami
Duke
Colorado
Vanderbilt
Yale
U Penn
U Michigan
U Virginia
Ohio State
U Cincinnati
Harvard
Johns Hopkins
Emory
 
You should receive several interviews from the schools you applied to. If you want to add more schools this week consider these:
TCU-UNT
Kaiser
California University
NOVA MD
Seton Hall
Quinnipiac
Loyola
Rosalind Franklin
 
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@Goro @Faha @Moko

So I know there's still plenty of time left, but I am beginning to worry A LITTLE that I have a bad school list. Should I add more schools or is it too late? (I submitted most of my secondaries in the last week of July)

Also, since applying, I have been an assistant preschool teacher for about 450 hours and will be going back to my old job as a physical therapy aide and should gain an additional 1500 hours there in the next year.

My list:

UCLA
USC
UC Davis
UCSD
UC Irvine
UCSF
Columbia
Cornell
Hofstra
Einstein
Sinai
Brown
Boston University (rejected)
Tufts
NYU
(hold)
U Chicago (rejected)
Northwestern
Wash U
Pittsburgh
(rejected)
Case Western
Dartmouth
Baylor
Rochester
Miami
Duke
Colorado
Vanderbilt
Yale
U Penn
U Michigan
U Virginia
Ohio State
U Cincinnati
Harvard
Johns Hopkins
Emory
I think you're that your list is fine, and you have to be patient. Do not fall into the Trap that many sdners make that they think they are God's gift to Medicine just because they have a 95th percentile in the MCAT
 
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Saw your post in the no ii thread. I think you have a really strong application. I truly hope you get some invites soon! Maybe it will all come at once!
 
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Just curious to those adcoms here. Is it normal to not have any II with 38 schools at this point? I mean it's 3 months away from July already. OP seems to have a very solid stats...
 
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Saw your post in the no ii thread. I think you have a really strong application. I truly hope you get some invites soon! Maybe it will all come at once!
Thank you! I am happy with my app and I think this will be my month! (although that's what I thought about September lol)
 
Just curious to those adcoms here. Is it normal to not have any II with 38 schools at this point? I mean it's 3 months away from July already. OP seems to have a very solid stats...
Technically it's "only" been a little over 2 months since I submitted most of my secondaries in the last week of July, but yeah I hope this isn't too abnormal.

please tell me this is normal
 
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Technically it's "only" been a little over 2 months since I submitted most of my secondaries in the last week of July, but yeah I hope this isn't too abnormal.

please tell me this is normal
I am no expert. Lol. In any case, what can you do anyway at this point? Keep your fingers crossed!
 
Hey @Goro @Faha

I got my first II today at UC Irvine!! Thank you for helping me with my school list and for calming my nerves before I started to panic!!
 
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