MD 521 MCAT, 3.7 GPA

[eb604]

GPA: 3.77 at a top 10 school (but a C+ in ochem II freshman year, not sure if that is relevant?)
MCAT: 521
Home State: Ohio
Ethnicity: Not URM
Clinical Volunteering: 140 hours
Non-clinical volunteering: 220 hours at non-profit, 100 hours as a volunteer coach (plus a few other random things with less than 50 hours)
Research: 600 hours (2 posters, presented at student research seminar)
Shadowing: 80 hours anesthesiology, 12 hours family practice, 10 hours peds emergency
Extracurricular Activities: Varsity cross country/track (captain for two years), tutoring in science courses

School List:

• In-State: Ohio State, U of Cincinnati
• Top-Tier: Yale, WashU, Northwestern, Hopkins, Virginia, Duke, Case Western, Harvard, UChicago, Michigan
• Others: Georgetown, Mayo Clinic, UNC, Wisconsin, Colorado

I honestly have no idea how competitive I would be for some of these top-tier schools. I also feel like I might need to add lower-tier Ohio schools as well. If anyone has input on that or other mid-tier schools I should consider please let me know! Thanks!

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[WedgeDawg]

Your stats are very solid (wouldn't worry about an isolated C+) and put you in contention stats-wise for any school in the country. Clinical volunteering is a little on the low side, though depending on what it was might not be a huge issue; non-clinical is good though not anything that stands out, and research and shadowing are okay too. Overall, your ECs are fine, but nothing that makes your application jump out by themselves, though the varsity track/XC is certainly interesting.

I think that applying to top schools is okay because you will probably snag a couple of interviews, but you'll probably have the most luck at the lower echelon of top schools and upper mid schools.

I would apply to every single school in Ohio. This isn't because your application is bad, this is just to maximize that chances that you get into med school at all. No matter who the applicant is, their best chances are almost always at their state schools because of how heavy in-state bias is.

After that, you can probably apply to any top schools you want, though I think your chances will be best at schools like Pitt, Sinai, Cornell, Case, Michigan, Emory, and Northwestern. I think that UVA is also a solid option, and throwing in some midwestern options like Wisconsin should also be fine. I am not going to lie, I think that UChicago, Duke, WashU, Hopkins, Yale, and Harvard are all going to be tough, especially the latter three. The applicants who get interviews there have not only the stats, but also strong ECs particularly with a lot of commitment to at least one thing. I do not think it is not worth it to apply to them, just that if you do, you shouldn't expect a ton of interviews from them (and it's possible that you might not get any).

It would be a good idea to round your list off with some solid mid-tier schools, especially because you're coming from a top 10 undergrad with an excellent MCAT. I would recommend USC-Keck, Rochester, Einstein, Hofstra, and Miami. If your undergrad has a med school, make sure that's included too (even if it's Harvard or something).

It's not necessary for you to apply to Georgetown unless you have a particular reason for doing so (such as wanting to be in DC). It is a low yield school with a ton of applicants and probably won't really affect whether or not you get into med school at all because 1) you have solid stats 2) you're coming from a great school and 3) you're from Ohio which has like 7 med schools. I would take UNC off the list because they are super heavily biased towards NC applicants and it would really be a waste to apply there without any ties. Colorado I'm not super familiar with, but unless you really want to be in Colorado or have a particular reason to go there, probably not something that needs to be on your list. Finally, Mayo is always a little funny with who it sends interviews to, but worth a shot if you're interested!

Overall, you have a very solid application and I'm sure will secure at least one acceptance. I'm just not sure how competitive you'll be for the top of the top, but if you're interested, it's definitely worth applying as long as the meat of your list is thick enough in the event that the Harvards and Hopkins don't work out.

Best of luck!

 

[Goro]

GPA: 3.77 at a top 10 school (but a C+ in ochem II freshman year, not sure if that is relevant?)
MCAT: 521
Home State: Ohio
Ethnicity: Not URM
Clinical Volunteering: 140 hours
Non-clinical volunteering: 220 hours at non-profit, 100 hours as a volunteer coach (plus a few other random things with less than 50 hours)
Research: 600 hours (2 posters, presented at student research seminar)
Shadowing: 80 hours anesthesiology, 12 hours family practice, 10 hours peds emergency
Extracurricular Activities: Varsity cross country/track (captain for two years), tutoring in science courses

School List:

• In-State: Ohio State, U of Cincinnati
• Top-Tier: Yale, WashU, Northwestern, Hopkins, Virginia, Duke, Case Western, Harvard, UChicago, Michigan
• Others: Georgetown, Mayo Clinic, UNC, Wisconsin, Colorado

I honestly have no idea how competitive I would be for some of these top-tier schools. I also feel like I might need to add lower-tier Ohio schools as well. If anyone has input on that or other mid-tier schools I should consider please let me know! Thanks!

Add the Manhattan Titans, Case, Emory, Vandy, NYU, U VM, U Miami, Keck, Rochester, Dartmouth, Pitt, Hofstra.

Delete UNC, U WI, U CO

 

[Walter Raleigh]

@Goro: with NYU being able to turn away Harvard-grade applicants, what's your rationale for including this school? OP has good ECs and excellent stats, but his ECs aren't anything jaw-droppingly impressive.