Applying to schools

[triathludent]

---

Members don't see this ad.

I am a California resident. I heard that to be safe, I should apply to around 20 schools. I have not yet taken the MCAT, but I have a 3.6 GPA. I had a rough transition freshman year getting a 3.3 first semester and a 3.0 second semester. During my second semester of freshman year, I was in a bad biking accident that put me out of school for the last three weeks and required me to take my finals without being in class at all. Since then, I have had nearly all A's or A-'s. Here is a mini resume:

4 Year Divsion 1 NCAA Cross Country/Track Runner
Co-President of the Health and Human Science Society
President of Bible Study on campus
Member of TriBeta Biology Honors Society
Volunteer at Medical Center 50 hours
Shadowed an Orthopaedic Surgeon-Got to be in the OR and watch many surgeries
Shadowed an Anesthiologist- Got to see his perspective in the OR
Shadowed an ER Doctor
Spent a month in Africa with multiple Doctors helping provide medical aid and teaching
Spent a summer at UVA doing research

Some of these schools are very elite so I am not expecting to get. I am just applying because you never know what could happen when they are reviewing an application. I would love any feedback on additions or removals from this list.

1. Vanderbilt University
2. Duke University
3. Upenn
4. Stanford
5. UCI
6. UCD
7. UCLA
8. Loma Linda
9. USC Keck
10. UVA
11. U of Cincinnati
12. University of Washington
13. St. Louis University
14. UNC Chapel Hill
15. University of Arizona
16. Case Western Reserve
17. U Michigan
18. Northwestern Feinberg
19. University of Colorado Denver
20. Wake Forest

 

[red doctober]

Wrong place to post, buddy. Try this section: http://forums.studentdoctor.net/forumdisplay.php?f=418

 

[Nymphicus]

Moved to WAMC.

As for your questions, it is hard to say without a MCAT score to go on.

Regardless, for a 3.6 GPA CA resident, I would consider applying to more schools than you have so far in order to maximize your chances. Especially since you have a lot of highly competitive schools that you want to apply to.

 

[triathludent]

Sorry guys for the wrong section. Thank you for the help

 

[WilsonFan]

Many of those would not look seriously at a 3.6 GPA. (Vanderbilt, UPenn, Stanford, UWash, UMich, Northwestern) unless you aced your MCAT (36+). Your list is very top-heavy. Your ECs are strong, but ECs and "rough transition" stories are always kind of a long shot. So if you have the money, I'd say to apply to around 10 more mid tier schools (BU, Tufts, etc). If you don't have the money, I'd say don't apply to UPenn and UMich for example, you fall around the 10th percentile GPAs for these schools, and replace them with mid tier schools. Good luck!