An honest opinion please

[jmachu27]

Illinois Resident
Big 10 school
3.80 cGPA
3.75 sGPA

36R (PS: 12, V: 11, BS: 13)

volunteering in local hospital's ER (100+ hours)
shadowing a urologist (200+ hours)
chem TA for 2 semesters
MCB group tutor for 1 semester
research for 3 semesters and on-going

UIC
Loyola
Rush
Mayo
Vanderbilt
Case Western
Northwestern
U of Chicago
U of Michigan
Hopkins (I promised myself I would apply regardless of academic standing)
U of Iowa
U of Indiana

any other suggestions?

I appreciate your future input!

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[Drrrrrr. Celty]

Call me crazy, but you're a bit too top heavy.

 

[Eggs]

I'd add in a few somewhere in the middle. Are you looking to stay in the Midwest for the most part? If so, how about MCW or OSU.

 

[jmachu27]

Thank you for your responses. I will have to look into MCW and OSU. My list being too top heavy is my biggest concern and would appreciate to hear more suggestions (they don't have to be confined in the midwest either). Shouldn't I get at least an interview at Northwestern? According to their site, their accepting class of 2009 had a cGPA of 3.74 and sGPA of 3.64 with a 34+ MCAT. Or am I reading these numbers wrong?

 

[Catalystik]

What are your leadership activities and nonmedical community service? What about hobbies, artistic endeavors, sports? What makes you unique?

Top schools aim to train future leaders in medicine. Your chances of an acceptance by one of them lies with whether your application supports this potential, backed up by your LOR writers. Ways in which you can show this capability for making a difference might be with 2+ years of substantive research (possibly with publications), with strong community service, or with above-and-beyond leadership.

We don't know all the details of your past Experiences, so I 'd have to ask if you think your application will show that you are a desirable candidate for the most selective schools? Your stats say yes, but what about your activities?

From the comments you've made, I agree that your list is unrealistically top heavy.

 

[jmachu27]

In my personal statement I am going to incorporate that I am a black belt in Tae Kwon Do, I am an accomplished golfer as I got a "hole in one" when I was 15 and continue playing to this day (not competitively though), and I am also classically trained in jazz and blues guitar.

As for non medical community service, I plan on doing Relay for Life but I would also like any further suggestions on what I can do.

Leadership wise, I taught 2 semesters as a chemistry TA (2 sections each semester) along with being a group tutor every wednesday for a semester for an MCB class.

I appreciate the input, please keep it coming!

 

[Catalystik]

I would consider TA and tutoring to be Teaching activities.

Hands-on community service is preferred, examples being soup kitchen, homeless shelter, tutoring middle school kids, Habitat for Humanity, Humane Society. I'm not sure of the role you intend in Relay for Life, but if it were organizational, that could be Leadership. Future plans won't help much if you were planning to apply this cycle.

The Hobbies and Artistic Endeavors sound good.

 

[Holy Frans]

I would add 1 more shoe in. I think loyola and rush are great bet's as "shoe in's" but you never know. You have beautiful stats, your going to medical school somewhere, just be ready and practice interviewing skills.

 

[jmachu27]

Please correct me if I am wrong, but doesn't UIC have a more accepting trend rather than Rush or Loyola? And I also just volunteered for my first build site for Habitat for Humanity : D I hate putting a value on community service but how many hours do you think would be sufficient to show med schools I have contributed (100+ hours?)???

 

[Catalystik]

I'm not sure what you mean by "more accepting trend" but UIC is less-selective than the other two schools. It's also less expensive.

Loyola particularly values a humanistic bent in one's application. I don't think that last-minute volunteering will impress them. They'd want to see a consistent pattern of involvment over years on the application.

The only defined threshhold for volunteerism I've seen is Utah, which expects a minimum of 500 hours. Rather than a certain number of hours, more valued is consistency. For example, two hours per week for a year (100 hours) is more appreciated than 16 hours per week only in the summer months (160 hours).

H for H is usually active mainly in the summer months; you could find something less intense in the fall perhaps, close to your campus (or volunteer for an H for H committee leadership role, which does fund raising etc at other times of the year). I do think that 100+ community service hours would be very helpful to your application.

What is your expected timeframe for submitting to AMCAS?

 

[ThaliaNox]

Thank you for your responses. I will have to look into MCW and OSU. My list being too top heavy is my biggest concern and would appreciate to hear more suggestions (they don't have to be confined in the midwest either). Shouldn't I get at least an interview at Northwestern? According to their site, their accepting class of 2009 had a cGPA of 3.74 and sGPA of 3.64 with a 34+ MCAT. Or am I reading these numbers wrong?

Be careful of misconceptions like this. Just because your numbers are higher than average for a school doesn't mean they will even interview you. It is of course in your favor to be above their average stats, but schools are looking for other things too, and no two schools are completely alike. Some schools value research, others service, yet others leadership.

You have very competitive stats. Just don't shoot yourself in the foot by applying too top heavy.

 

[jmachu27]

I plan on submitting my application to the AMCAS May/June of NEXT year.

 

[Catalystik]

Excellent. You can do a lot of beefing up in 11 months.