advice 16-17 cycle, med school list

[medic0114]

Hello,
I am new to this forum, and was looking for some advice on my chances of getting in and my medical school choices.

PA Resident
cGPA: 3.83
sGPA: 3.83
Non-traditional with a postbacc program (3.96 GPA)
MCAT: taken once with a 515

Graduated with my undegrad in 2014, completed a postbacc in 2015. Have been working as a paramedic for 4 years with 15-20k hours of experience.

School List:
Temple, Jeff, Pitt, Drexel, Penn State, UPENN, Johns Hopkins, USF, Harvard.

Just wondering how I compare, and how my experience as a paramedic looks to medical schools.

Thanks

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[GrapesofRath]

If you are a PA resident TCMC should definitely be on there. Same with Penn St. If you are from the central or western part of the state add WVU and Marshall. If your from the eastern half consider Maryland and USFs program on Bethelem/Lehigh(which it sounds like you have)

Right now you have 5 achools on your list you can go in saying you have a reasonable shot at getting a II at. In PA where there are no true state schools that's on the low side. Id go through MSAR and target about a half dozen more OOS friendly schools that get <11k apps wirh an MCAT median around 33-34(ie Einstein Miami Tulane etc)

 

[Goro]

I don't think that you'll have much luck with U Penn or Harvard.

I suggest the following. Nothing wrong with aiming high; the ones I have in bold are schools where your MCAT score is ~2-3 points below their avg, and your GPA is ~ the same as the school avg. Thus, proceed with caution on these, but I feel you're in striking distance for some.

Note: if you lack research experience, the powerhouses will be more problematic.


U VM

U Toledo

Miami

St. Louis

Albany

Albert Einstein

Rochester

Rush (note: very service/experience oriented with a 150hr service requirement. Avg student has 800 hours of community service, and >1800 hours of health care exposure.)

Rosy Franklin

NYMC

EVMS

Wake Forest

Jefferson

Temple

Drexel

Creighton

Tulane

USC/Keck

Dartmouth

MCW

Loyola

USF Morsani

Emory

BU

Mayo

Duke

Case

JHU

Pitt

Northwestern

NYU

Vanderbilt

Columbia

Hofstra
Oakland-B

Uniformed Services University/Hebert (just be aware of the military service commitment)

Hello,
I am new to this forum, and was looking for some advice on my chances of getting in and my medical school choices.

PA Resident
cGPA: 3.83
sGPA: 3.83
Non-traditional with a postbacc program (3.96 GPA)
MCAT: taken once with a 515

Graduated with my undegrad in 2014, completed a postbacc in 2015. Have been working as a paramedic for 4 years with 15-20k hours of experience.

School List:
Temple, Jeff, Pitt, Drexel, Penn State, UPENN, Johns Hopkins, USF, Harvard.

Just wondering how I compare, and how my experience as a paramedic looks to medical schools.

Thanks

 

[Val14]

Your lengthy work experience as a paramedic will be viewed as a great, longitudinal clinical experience. How would you rate your other non-academic experiences? Research, shadowing, non-clinical volunteering, etc.

 

[Cawolf]

I want to mention that listing 20,000 hours of paramedic work in four years seems falsified to me. I guess you may have worked 96 hours a week (during school or postbac??) for 4 years, with no time off, but maybe you are overestimating?

Then, to answer your question, having work experience as a paramedic will be a valuable part of your application.

 

[medic0114]

I want to mention that listing 20,000 hours of paramedic work in four years seems falsified to me. I guess you may have worked 96 hours a week (during school or postbac??) for 4 years, with no time off, but maybe you are overestimating?

Then, to answer your question, having work experience as a paramedic will be a valuable part of your application.

Well I was kind of estimating thats why I said 15k-20k. I was an EMT for 2 years prior to becoming a medic so total probably closer to 20K. I did work on average 70-80 hours a week during my postbacc and undergrad classes.

The issue with my extracurricular activities is that I have had to support myself and with work and school have not had many opportunities for other volunteer/shadowing experience. Although it may look good on paper, I feel shadowing would be kind of a step back where I would not be able to actually treat patients. I am in the process of obtaining employment in a hospital to gain more experience and be able to work side-by-side with physicians instead of shadowing.

 

[Cawolf]

Well I was kind of estimating thats why I said 15k-20k. I was an EMT for 2 years prior to becoming a medic so total probably closer to 20K. I did work on average 70-80 hours a week during my postbacc and undergrad classes.

The issue with my extracurricular activities is that I have had to support myself and with work and school have not had many opportunities for other volunteer/shadowing experience. Although it may look good on paper, I feel shadowing would be kind of a step back where I would not be able to actually treat patients. I am in the process of obtaining employment in a hospital to gain more experience and be able to work side-by-side with physicians instead of shadowing.

That makes more sense, I just thought I would point out inconsistencies I saw.

As a note, I matriculated this year as a 5 year medic with under 10 hours of shadowing, no research, and no volunteering. I used my experience in EMS to tell my story of service and commitment to medicine. So it is doable.

 

[medic0114]

That makes more sense, I just thought I would point out inconsistencies I saw.

As a note, I matriculated this year as a 5 year medic with under 10 hours of shadowing, no research, and no volunteering. I used my experience in EMS to tell my story of service and commitment to medicine. So it is doable.

Oh okay great thank you, I feel that I am a competitive applicant other than research/ shadowing experience and I just didn't want that to be a an automatic red flag for schools.

 

[Cawolf]

Oh okay great thank you, I feel that I am a competitive applicant other than research/ shadowing experience and I just didn't want that to be a an automatic red flag for schools.

It will be for some, but not all.