Advice and Opinions please! gpa: 3.8 MCAT:33N

[soccerboy2288]

Hi guys! I’m a Hawaii resident, graduated from Univ of Southern California (USC) as a biomedical engineer with the following stats:
cGPA: 3.8
sGPA: 3.9
MCAT: 33N (V: 8, PS: 14, BS: 11)
Outline of EC:
- About 400hrs of biological research (no pub)
- 400 hrs of an internship program that includes clinical research + some shadowing (very little shadowing...)
- 80 hrs of volunteer at hospital
- Community service at foreign nations: 1 week Honduras, 3 weeks Thailand
- Several leaderships: my fraternity (treasurer¸house manager), co-founder and coordinator of a community service org, captain of soccer team in high school, assistant coach for a soccer club, VP of Scholarship for USC’s Asian Greek Council.

I will also be getting a masters in Global Medicine at USC while I apply (hopefully this helps too)

I REALLY REALLY want to stay in California, even though I’m not a resident. My list so far is: USC, UCLA, UCSD, UCSF, UCI, Stanford, Columbia, cornell, NYU, Albert Einstein, BU, Univ of Hawaii. I know most of these are longshots. For me, its either any school in cali , an amazing school that’s not in cali, or just go back home to Hawaii. What do you guys think my chances are, especially for the cali schools? Also, any suggestions on boosting my EC throughout this year if I have to re-apply next year? Thanks!!

Oh, also, how is my MCAT?? overall is good but very unbalanced.... retake if I dont get in this cycle? this was my 2nd take at it. 29M at first

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[Catalystik]

I agree with your assessment of your MCAT score. I think that your VS of 8 may limit your chances in California and at other more-selectve schools. Great job raising your over-all score, though. I'd suggest that you add to your list a healthy number of schools where your VS is higher than the bottom tenth percentile that the school has accepted. You can get this data from a copy of the MSAR, available in your prehealth advising office or on-line for purchase.

Over the next year, it would be helpful if you engage in weekly nonmedical community service for 2-4 hours and also do something clinically-related as well. Augmenting your shadowing hours would also be wise. You can include your ongoing efforts in periodic update letters and in interview conversations.

 

[soccerboy2288]

thanks for the response! hmm does anyone have any recommendations that should be added or deleted from my list?

any other opinions/suggestions? (^ ^)

 

[soccerboy2288]

bump