MD Against all odds?

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MEDHEAD2024

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hello,

I would like to know my chances at the following schools. I am one of those low gpa/high mcat applicants ( problematic!) but am hoping my entire application will be convincing to secure a medical spot for the 2020 starting class.

My state of residence is Ca.

Stats : 3.42 Overall and sGPA with massive upward trend

MCAT: 524

ECs:
1 year Clinical Genetics research
3 years stem cell research
4 years at an infectious disease clinic ( medical assistant)
2 years work with a top nonprofit (organized curriculum/taught health topics in the housing projects to minority adolescents/set up events and fundraisers to help underserved community, etc)
150 hours at a homeless shelter
100 hours at Hospice

My lors should be strong to very strong ( 2 research mentors, 2 work mentors, 2 science, and 1 humanities rec)

Other background: experienced homelessness several times/welfare recipient at one point in my life. Parents were mostly unemployed during my childhood years. Received significant aid to top private school and worked 30+ hours a week to support family. I am applied as Socioeconomically Disadvantaged because of this.

I also have a chronic condition that heavily impacted my academics earlier on. The various changes in medications resulted in serious side effects that heavily affected my attendance and performance in several classes ( pre-reqs, etc); there were times where I was hospitalized every week for several months due to side effects of these medications. I was able to stabilize my condition and get the correct medical treatment and since then my grades and life have been very good. My rec writers will indicate these issues in my application and how I was able to recover academically.

Based on my application, I was hoping to apply to the following schools:

Harvard
Stanford
NYU
Columbia
UCLA
Einstein
USC
UCSF
Pritzker
Miami
Geisel
Yale
the SUNY med schools

Is this list unreasonable given my low gpa/high mcat? My mentor said to try for the top schools ( particularly Harvard, Stanford, and Columbia) as they heavily take into account life experiences and ECs.

I would be grateful for any help and feedback ( no matter how harsh!)

Thank you!

@Goro @LizzyM @Catalystik

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Are you URM or ORM?

Also, if you wouldn't mind could you PM me your MCAT study strategy!
 
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Are you sure you can have two states listed as a resident? Do you have the MSAR? If not you should get it and see where your GPA fits in with those schools you have listed! Your MCAT is amazing but your GPA is well below the average of accepted students nationwide. Check the GPAs between the 10-90 percentile for each of the schools you have listed. You also need to expand your list to include some mid tier and even low tier school that are more in line with your GPA.
 
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Did you already apply this cycle or are you applying next year? It's late for this cycle to be considering these things.

I'm not sure if I agree with the advice about applying to lower-tier schools but I also think Harvard/Stanford/NYU are donations. What you want is a school that is hungry for the 524 but will overlook the earlier GPA focusing on the later post-bacc credits.

I've seen others with 99th percentile MCATs and 3.4-3.6 GPAs get love from schools like UMiami, Tulane, Ohio State, Dartmouth, USC and similar. The lower-tier schools seem to screen out the 99th% MCATs probably for yield protection (an exception might possibly be someone's state school - though California is unlikely to be that type of exception and I don't know enough about NY to give advice). Look at MSAR and try to find schools with a 10th percentile close to 3.6 - midway between your undergrad and post-bacc averages.

Also, a lot of it also has to do with how you write your Personal Statement, your secondaries and how well reasoned you can make your arguments. Given your strong ECs and your upward trend you have a chance but hope that you're working on 2019-2020 cycle not this one.
 
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Are you URM or ORM?

I am an ORM but am applying as Socioeconomically Disadvantaged ( don't know if that counts as URM)..

I will pm you my study schedule shortly :)

Are you sure you can have two states listed as a resident? Do you have the MSAR? If not you should get it and see where your GPA fits in with those schools you have listed! Your MCAT is amazing but your GPA is well below the average of accepted students nationwide. Check the GPAs between the 10-90 percentile for each of the schools you have listed. You also need to expand your list to include some mid tier and even low tier school that are more in line with your GPA.

I was told that since I have 1+ year residence in NY that I qualify as a NYS residence. Also, since my permanent address is in Ca, I was told I could list that too

Did you already apply this cycle or are you applying next year? It's late for this cycle to be considering these things.

I'm not sure if I agree with the advice about applying to lower-tier schools but I also think Harvard/Stanford/NYU are donations. What you want is a school that is hungry for the 524 but will overlook the earlier GPA focusing on the later post-bacc credits.

I've seen others with 99th percentile MCATs and 3.4-3.6 GPAs get love from schools like UMiami, Tulane, Ohio State, Dartmouth, USC and similar. The lower-tier schools seem to screen out the 99th% MCATs probably for yield protection (an exception might possibly be someone's state school - though California is unlikely to be that type of exception and I don't know enough about NY to give advice). Look at MSAR and try to find schools with a 10th percentile close to 3.6 - midway between your undergrad and post-bacc averages.

Also, a lot of it also has to do with how you write your Personal Statement, your secondaries and how well reasoned you can make your arguments. Given your strong ECs and your upward trend you have a chance but hope that you're working on 2019-2020 cycle not this one.

I am applying the next cycle : for the entering class of 2020. I will definitely be targeting schools like UMiami ,Dartmouth ,etc. Do you really think i will be screened out at the top schools given my recent upward trend? I am also getting strong letters from high level faculty members at those top schools which is why I want to apply to those schools?

I wish my grades earlier on were not low ( nothing lower than a C). I mainly got those grades because i just found it super difficult to work 30+ hours a week while battling a chronic condition that was poorly controlled. If there were anyway I could go back and change that time, I would.

Do you suggest removing Harvard and Stanford? i want to apply mainly because I am a heavy research applicant ( heard stanford loves those types) and can contribute to the diversity of the student body.

Thank you all for your help! Any other advice/anecdotes, etc would be sincerely appreciated :)
 
Given your GPA I would make sure to apply to more midrange schools as well as all your in-states. Your application looks strong overall!

Would you also mind PMing me your MCAT study schedule? Thanks :)
 
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Given your GPA I would make sure to apply to more midrange schools as well as all your in-states. Your application looks strong overall!

Would you also mind PMing me your MCAT study schedule? Thanks :)


Thank you! I will definitely apply to more midrange schools given my GPA.

Do you think the other factors in my application ( applying as disadvantaged and applying early: first week of June) would help my chances of getting into the top schools? At the end of the day, I will be grateful for 1 or more acceptances anywhere but just want to see if I can get in to those schools as well.

Also do you recommend that I do anything in the meanwhile to boost my chances? I have taken too many upper division classes at this point ( mostly A's).

I am in the middle of writing up my MCAT study schedule and will send it soon.

Thank you once again :)
 
You have a type of academic dissonance that makes prediction quite difficult.
As long as you apply to all your state public schools (only one will appear as your state of residence on the AMCAS primary), you should be ok with that MCAT and explanation. I recommend NY.
You should apply to at least a dozen OOS privates with a median MCAT around 518.
 
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