also losing faith in the system--URM's?

[lakun]

Hi,

I'm an african american female with not so great stats and sorta playing my cards on having stellar EC's, coming from Williams, and having done a postbacc program at Columbia. My problem though is that i don't think I really picked my schools wisely:

Columbia
Cornell
Boston U
UMass
Tufts
Case
Meharry
Howard
Harvard
NYU
Drexel
Albert Einstein

I do have two interviews coming up at UMass and Meharry in Dec. but I fear that i should have probably applied to more lower tier schools. Any URM's or URM-friendly people out there that can give some advice based on their own (or other's) experiences in this rate race?

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[THE instiGATOR]

Yeah, you should have sought the advice of someone who has gone through the process before choosing the schools that you did. There are no "middle ground" schools in your list. I did something very similar the first time I applied (I'm not a URM, though). Hopefully you won't have to apply a second time, as I did. If you do, however, you'll know how to strategize. Knowing how to apply is probably as important in attempting to "get in" as your numbers are.

Good luck!

Med school sucks, BTW. The best time is the summer before you start classes. Can't wait to be finished with this hell (or at least start clinicals).

 

[Blitzkrieg]

Originally posted by lakun
Hi,

I'm an african american female with not so great stats and sorta playing my cards on having stellar EC's, coming from Williams, and having done a postbacc program at Columbia. My problem though is that i don't think I really picked my schools wisely:

Columbia
Cornell
Boston U
UMass
Tufts
Case
Meharry
Howard
Harvard
NYU
Drexel
Albert Einstein

I do have two interviews coming up at UMass and Meharry in Dec. but I fear that i should have probably applied to more lower tier schools. Any URM's or URM-friendly people out there that can give some advice based on their own (or other's) experiences in this rate race?

instigator is mistaken.

Tufts, Drexel, Albert Einstein, and Boston U are middle ground schools, while Meharry and Howard are lower tier. Maybe you could have shot for more, but you have plenty of low-middle schools in there. What are your stats?

Btw, how are you losing faith in the system? The title makes no sense.

 

[THE instiGATOR]

Perhaps I am mistaken. More appropriately, I should have said: there are too few "middle ground" schools in your list. It's all relative to where you are applying from, though. Tufts, for example, shows no love to UF graduates. Therefore, they are a huge stretch and a waste of $$$ for the likes of me. Drexel, on the other hand, I considered a safety school when applying. I really wouldn't consider Albert Einstein to be a middle ground school either.

Here's my advice:

2/10 of your schools should be huge reach schools

3/10 of your schools should be reach schools

5/10 of your schools should be schools with stats about equal to your own

 

[pathdr2b]

Hi Lakun,

Like you my undergraduate stats are not so great either and I'm applying next summer to many of the schools on your list as well, Cornell, Harvard, Howard, and Meharry.

Unfortunately, and I hope I don't offend you in ANY way, but I think you may have gotten caught up in the thinking that being a URM (I am one as well) will "make up" for weaknessness in your academic record/test scores. Even with great EC's, most every school is looking for a decent MCAT score of at the VERY LEAST 25T. Also, the URM average for acceptance into medical school is only a few percentage points higher than it is for everyone else so I think when it comes to statistics, it's best to be at the top of the game despite racial status.

Having been previously rejected many years ago, for me this meant that I needed to:

1) Get my GPA up (From 2.3 undergrad to 3.7 grad)
2) Get my MCAT up to at least 30 (I'll be applying MD/PhD and 24T isn't going to cut it!)
3) Get some recent volunteer work
4) Have exceptional EC's

I think if you can address your "stats" issues and assuming your application is outstanding in other ways, you'll be in a good position to get admitted! Good Luck and don't give up!

 

[lotanna]

path dr2b is right, said it well. I'm also a URM. Hang in there, my undergrad GPA was low, but i turned around and did great in grad school. Keep your options open, even if it means takin a yr or 2 to make yourself more competitive, its always good to have a plan B. Thats what I did, I was lucky to finish college early and young, but grad schl was the best thing I could have done, cause thinking back, I was not really ready for med schl.

By the way, u mentioned Williams, u might know a cousin of mine, he graduated from your school last year, Chido.

 

[Nirvana]

Lakun,

It's hard to advise you if you don't post your stats. Do you have a below average MCAT (25), good MCAT (27), great MCAT to get into a school like PITT or TEMPLE (30), or excellent MCAT to get into Harvard (33)?

Same with your GPA...

I will say this: Osteopathic schools are African-American friendly. It's not too late to apply to some of those. This way, if you don't get into one of the schools that you listed, you won't be sh*! out of luck.

Originally posted by lakun
Hi,

I'm an african american female with not so great stats and sorta playing my cards on having stellar EC's, coming from Williams, and having done a postbacc program at Columbia. My problem though is that i don't think I really picked my schools wisely:

Columbia
Cornell
Boston U
UMass
Tufts
Case
Meharry
Howard
Harvard
NYU
Drexel
Albert Einstein

I do have two interviews coming up at UMass and Meharry in Dec. but I fear that i should have probably applied to more lower tier schools. Any URM's or URM-friendly people out there that can give some advice based on their own (or other's) experiences in this rate race?

 

[lakun]

Hi everyone,

thanks for the advice. My stats are as such:
MCAT 25M

Williams undergrad GPA: 2.8
Columbia Postbacc GPA: (completed in the last year) 3.06

as for EC's:
MMEP program sponsored by AAMC
over 150 hrs of med volunteerism
shadowed doctors (anesthesiology, primary care, general surgery, etc)
two summers of research experience in biochem and neurology, one of which got published in The Biological Bulletin

Right now I'm also considering applying to foreign med schools. I'm considering two in particular that are located in the west indies.

I would really like to start med school next year but in the likelihood I don't, would any of you be able to suggest any interested grad programs?

I recall talking to the director of admissions at CWRU SOM and he thought that my MCAT score was good (if not mediocre) because most of the URM's applying and being accepted to med school have an avg MCAT of 24. So my only real worry is my GPA. But I sincerely hope that med school take into account that I went through a very difficult pre-med program.

Lotanna: yeah, I knew chido. It's not hard for all the Nigerian-americans to find each other on a small campus like Williams. Although we never hung out, Chido and I graduated the same year. What's he up to right now?....what a pleasant surprise!

 

[lotanna]

thats cool lakun, check your pm, I sent a message