between a rock and a hard place

[ChiTownGrrrl]

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my scores are thus: 10V/8P/10B = 28M
GPA 3.6 Cum/3.4 Sci . . . BUT I have more lab experience than many (incl. a summer at UCSF).
it's a long shot for MSTP, so what's the best I can do?
U. of Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota.
Should I even bother with U. of SoCal, Case Western,U of Wash.,UW Madison,SUNYSt.Brook, Tufts?
My goal is to get into the BEST NEUROSCIENCE program possible, given the above tragedy . . .

 

[dl2dp2]

you might want to retake the MCAT. Are you an URM? if you were, your chances are much better. As far as the selection of schools goes, I think it's fine.

Now as far as research exp., I've talked to a few MSTP candidates, they all seemed to have really great ones (i.e. 3 yrs at Mass Gen, 3 yrs at NIH etc etc) so watch out for that one too I'm just really really impressed by the caliber of kids on this board.

 

[jot]

yeah ****e, there are some really freakin smart kids here. kind of nuts.

i know very little about mstp admissions (doing it now myself), but it seems like they have some "threshold" (according to someone else) cutoff and then its all about research. thought the mcat seems a little low, the other stuff would siffice if you could back it up. someone said that the higher mstp averages etc... could be due to self selection, so i wouldn't discount yourself.
-jot

 

[atsai3]

ChiTownGrrrl,

Don't sell yourself so short. Your MCAT is on the low end for MSTP, and might cause you to drop below the radar for some cutoffs -- so if you think you can hit a 32-33 then you might consider retaking it. (But one of my classmates got into Hopkins regular-MD with a 28...) Depending on the quality of your research experiences to date, your application could still be pretty competitive. With medical school applications, "you never know", so if the application fees aren't a financial burden for you -- I say go ahead and apply to a few more MSTP programs, even ones you consider a reach.

Cheers
-a.