American/Canadian Citizen, MCAT 36, cGPA 3.64, sGPA 3.62: School List and Next Steps

[Scorpi0]

-Graduated from undergrad in 2014.
-MCAT 36 (12/12/12). GMAT 770 (may apply for MD/MBA programs).
-cGPA 3.64. sGPA 3.62. Double majored in molecular biology and international relations at a top-3 university. I had an above-average course load with an above-average course difficulty but I know the GPA is not great.

-Shadowing: 60 hours with ophthalmologists in Honduras. 15 hours with breast cancer doctors. 15 hours in EMS. 30 hours in pediatrics. 30 hours in cardio/surgery. Will seek to do some more shadowing and volunteering this year in China and next year back in the U.S.
-Volunteering: Started at a hospice and at a student clinic in 2014. Will continue next year. Active in promoting and teaching public health to high school and college students through simulations and seminars.
-Employment: Worked as an administrative assistant back in college and in the chaplain’s office. Some work for the admissions office.

-Activities: Organized conferences for high school students in Europe and Asia, and on the Executive Board of the organization that deals with international relations on campus. Editor of the scientific magazine. Also wrote for other publications on campus.
-Research: 2000 hours research in 3 labs (in high school and at the start of college), and 2 publications (second and fourth author in open-access journals).
-Other internships (after wanting to try something other than research): summer in Rwanda doing development work. summer in Geneva at WHO.

Currently in China for a year on a Fulbright working on environmental health, then will be back in the U.S. for a year to finish an MPH in Epidemiology.

My great interest is in global health. It’s the reason I double majored, it’s the reason I am doing a Fulbright and getting an MPH, and at the end of the day it’s a big part of the reason I’m going into medicine. If there are schools that are especially good on global or public health, I’d be interested to know!

I will be applying in 2015 for matriculation in 2016. I would love some advice on starting to think about a realistic school list, and also on next steps, places where I could improve, etc.

Draft list:
Yale
Stanford
Mt. Sinai
Case Western
Cornell
NYU
Columbia
UVA
Emory
Dartmouth
Georgetown
USU (thinking about this, but need to do a lot more research)
Brown
VCU
GWU
UWash
McGill
UToronto
UBC
Eastern Virginia
BU
Tufts
Laval?
Sherbrooke?
Montreal?

Thanks in advance for all the help. I truly appreciate it.

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[gyngyn]

Time to buy the MSAR and do some research.

 

[Scorpi0]

Harsh, but easily the best (and most helpful) advice you could have given! I had already bought the MSAR but had not looked at it after getting my MCAT score.

I'll upload a draft school list soon.

 

[gyngyn]

Harsh, but easily the best (and most helpful) advice you could have given! I had already bought the MSAR but had not looked at it after getting my MCAT score.

I'll upload a draft school list soon.

We'll be here.

 

[Scorpi0]

Sorry for the delay. Edited above and thanks in advance.

 

[gyngyn]

Sorry for the delay. Edited above and thanks in advance.

There are more than a dozen schools on your list where you have a good chance at an interview!

 

[Scorpi0]

Thank you!

I am ashamed at how long it took me to reply with my school list given your fast turn-around. To be honest I was and am still insecure about my list but I'll feel better after more research and refinement.

If you don't mind...
Are there other schools that you might suggest adding or considering?
How can I improve my chances? I think the big one is clinical hours/shadowing/volunteering. I have done enough public health work to appreciate the need for medical training, but not sufficiently confirmed that through actual medical exposure, and I'll try to work on that this year.

 

[gyngyn]

Thank you!

I am ashamed at how long it took me to reply with my school list given your fast turn-around. To be honest I was and am still insecure about my list but I'll feel better after more research and refinement.

If you don't mind...
Are there other schools that you might suggest adding or considering?
How can I improve my chances? I think the big one is clinical hours/shadowing/volunteering. I have done enough public health work to appreciate the need for medical training, but not sufficiently confirmed that through actual medical exposure, and I'll try to work on that this year.

I hesitate to add more schools based on my personal preferences since my priorities are likely to be very different from yours. Your list is already long enough to get you into a fine school and you will be surprised how hard it is to maintain a high level of quality in response to so many secondaries. That said, I would delete GW and GT unless you have a strong reason to live in DC. I would add USC if you think you would like the Golden State. The U of WA is low yield due to a strong preference for WWAMI students (other than UIM). I presume from your list that you are a resident of VA. Tulane and Vandy are also good choices. The military is not for everyone.

It's not so much that you need more hours of clinical experience. You need enough exposure to have compelling things to talk about! The breadth of your current experiences indicates to me that you should have plenty by the time you apply.

 

[UCUCUC]

Are you a quebec resident? If not I would replace quebec schools with Ottawa and UWO, but keep Mcgill.
Also, have you calculated your weighted GPA for Canadian schools? ~3.6 prob won't cut it, but your MCAT is great.

Which state are you resident of? Don't forget state schools.

 

[johnlee2014]

Add Pittsburgh!

GL