Cali Resident, 3.85GPA, 37R MCAT

[nicolemeooow]

Hey everyone please take a look =] I dont think I'm a very strong applicant =[ Should I add/subtract schools from the list? Thank you very much.

Undergrad: UCLA
Major: Math
Minor: Human Complex Systems (offered by dept of anthropology)
cGPA: 3.85
sGPA: 3.85
MCAT: 37R (PS-14 VR-10 BS-13) I know..VR is really low
Residency: California

ECs:
Clinical Volunteer, shadowing physicians and/or RNs in various departments -- 250+hours
Research, individual project in progress -- almost 1year
Tutor for the learning center at my community college -- 1.5 years
Teaching Assistant --0.5 year
Office Assistant in a trading company (probably not relevant?) --1.5 years
Non-clinical volunteer for AIDS Project LA -- starting very soon
Grader for the chemistry department -- 1.5 years
Dean's list, Key of knowledge, and several other awards

Schools:
UCSF
UCLA
UCI
UC-Davis
UCSD
Stanford
USC
UPenn
Johns Hopkins
Duke
Univ. of Michigan
Columbia
Univ. of Chicago
Cornell
Northwestern
Case Western Reserve
Univ. of North Carolina
NYU
Ohio State
Univ. of Wisconsin
Brown
Dartmouth
Univ. of Cincinnati
Georgetown
Tufts
Wake Forest
Jefferson
Univ at Buffalo-SUNY

I went to a community college for 2 years and then transferred to UCLA. I am a junior right now so that's why I have so little research experience(no research available in JC). I stopped tutoring/TAing/volunteering at hospital because I had to move close to campus. Is this going to hurt my chances?

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[maxx52188]

I dont think I'm a very strong applicant =[

Are you kidding me? I'm not even going to feed this statement. You know exactly where you are.

 

[WashMe]

Hey everyone please take a look =] I dont think I'm a very strong applicant =[ Should I add/subtract schools from the list? Thank you very much.

Undergrad: UCLA
Major: Math
Minor: Human Complex Systems (offered by dept of anthropology)
cGPA: 3.85
sGPA: 3.85
MCAT: 37R (PS-14 VR-10 BS-13) I know..VR is really low
Residency: California

ECs:
Clinical Volunteer, shadowing physicians and/or RNs in various departments -- 250+hours
Research, individual project in progress -- almost 1year
Tutor for the learning center at my community college -- 1.5 years
Teaching Assistant --0.5 year
Office Assistant in a trading company (probably not relevant?) --1.5 years
Non-clinical volunteer for AIDS Project LA -- starting very soon
Grader for the chemistry department -- 1.5 years
Dean's list, Key of knowledge, and several other awards

Schools:
UCSF
UCLA
UCI
UC-Davis
UCSD
Stanford
USC
UPenn
Johns Hopkins
Duke
Univ. of Michigan
Columbia
Univ. of Chicago
Cornell
Northwestern
Case Western Reserve
Univ. of North Carolina
NYU
Ohio State
Univ. of Wisconsin
Brown
Dartmouth
Univ. of Cincinnati
Georgetown
Tufts
Wake Forest
Jefferson
Univ at Buffalo-SUNY

I went to a community college for 2 years and then transferred to UCLA. I am a junior right now so that's why I have so little research experience(no research available in JC). I stopped tutoring/TAing/volunteering at hospital because I had to move close to campus. Is this going to hurt my chances?

Wait is this a joke? With that GPA and MCAT combo you'll probably get into a handful of "Top 20's". Also, being a Cali resident really helps you out. You'll likely get into multiple UC system schools, and OOS privates (and publics) love to scoop up Cali residents because they figure most will not stay in Cali.

 

[nicolemeooow]

Are you kidding me? I'm not even going to feed this statement. You know exactly where you are.

i mean, look at my ECs! i dont even have published research or any non-clinical volunteer hours (yet)!

 

[WashMe]

i mean, look at my ECs! i dont even have published research or any non-clinical volunteer hours (yet)!

Most people don't have any published research when they apply. And... when submitted my AMCAS, I had zero clinical OR non-clinical volunteering. You'll be fine

 

[nicolemeooow]

Most people don't have any published research when they apply. And... when submitted my AMCAS, I had zero clinical OR non-clinical volunteering. You'll be fine

wow I assume you have really good grades, personal statement, letters of rec, and interview then idk..im shooting for top 40's even if i have to apply a second time. I've only been in the united states for 3 yrs; and i spent 2 yrs in community college. dunno if thats gonna hold me back on the application :-\

 

[WashMe]

wow I assume you have really good grades, personal statement, letters of rec, and interview then idk..im shooting for top 40's even if i have to apply a second time. I've only been in the united states for 3 yrs; and i spent 2 yrs in community college. dunno if thats gonna hold me back on the application :-\

I can't say whether the CC time will be a factor. My grades were good (3.9+) and I think my PS and LOR's were strong. My interviewing abilities are just average.

Just make sure that, in the end, you don't give up on submitting secondaries early; plan on getting 18-24+ applications completed early and you'll probably get into some top schools.

 

[J ROD]

Your stats are great and your ECs are good enough.

now, stop acting like you dont have a chance....

 

[nicolemeooow]

Your stats are great and your ECs are good enough.

now, stop acting like you dont have a chance....

sorry guys...didnt mean to sound that way I just tend to get really paranoid esp when i see how great everyone else is doing

 

[nicolemeooow]

I can't say whether the CC time will be a factor. My grades were good (3.9+) and I think my PS and LOR's were strong. My interviewing abilities are just average.

Just make sure that, in the end, you don't give up on submitting secondaries early; plan on getting 18-24+ applications completed early and you'll probably get into some top schools.

I see. yea there's nothing I can do about my CC history anyways. Im going to turn in secondaries early. Is applying to 30 schools too much tho??

 

[WashMe]

I see. yea there's nothing I can do about my CC history anyways. Im going to turn in secondaries early. Is applying to 30 schools too much tho??

Only you can answer that. Obviously, it would make sense for a person to apply to every school in the country if he or she had unlimited money and was willing to fill out every secondary (which is probably a bigger issue than the money). Plenty of people apply to 30+ schools. I only applied to 8 early in the application season, then I added 3 more in December. Just don't under-apply like I almost did, that's the key.

 

[kenshin]

for those who don't go to ucla, it's understandable why you may think the poster is being slightly outrageous. the competition is pretty ridiculous, and there are plenty of 3.9+'s with 35+ on the mcat.

good luck!

 

[J ROD]

for those who don't go to ucla, it's understandable why you may think the poster is being slightly outrageous. the competition is pretty ridiculous here, and there are plenty of 3.9+'s with 35+ on the mcat.

as a fellow bruin, i think you have a good chance. granted, there's no gurantee and nobody can tell you you're a shoe-in for any california school (nobody is), but you have a strong application with great outside experience. write good essays, and simply hope for the best.

i'm also a fellow bruin, am an engineer, also have a 37R and am applying with a 3.8 GPA. my ec's and resume are comparable to yours, but with more medical-related ec's, less non-medical related ec's. we also have a comparable list of schools we are applying to. maybe we will catch each other at an interview!

good luck!

very true Cali is hard but still the numbers will get an OOS spot somewhere.

The other point I would like to make is make sure you apply to OOS friendly schools that have stats less than yours. Get a MSAR and plan accordingly.

 

[nicolemeooow]

for those who don't go to ucla, it's understandable why you may think the poster is being slightly outrageous. the competition is pretty ridiculous here, and there are plenty of 3.9+'s with 35+ on the mcat.

as a fellow bruin, i think you have a good chance. granted, there's no gurantee and nobody can tell you you're a shoe-in for any california school (nobody is), but you have a strong application with great outside experience. write good essays, and simply hope for the best.

i'm also a fellow bruin, am an engineer, also have a 37R and am applying with a 3.8 GPA. my ec's and resume are comparable to yours, but with more medical-related ec's, less non-medical related ec's. we also have a comparable list of schools we are applying to. maybe we will catch each other at an interview!

good luck!

*hand shakes* YESS thats what im talking about! glad that i met a fellow bruin, altho i know there r so many of us lurking in here haha! Engineering? we might have run into each other a million times w/o realizing haha. I study in boelter hall all the time. Yes lets pray for the best of luck for both of us

 

[nicolemeooow]

Only you can answer that. Obviously, it would make sense for a person to apply to every school in the country if he or she had unlimited money and was willing to fill out every secondary (which is probably a bigger issue than the money). Plenty of people apply to 30+ schools. I only applied to 8 early in the application season, then I added 3 more in December. Just don't under-apply like I almost did, that's the key.

thats true. I figured since i have the fee assistant thing i might as well apply more. I'll do some research this weekend and come up w/ a final list. Thank you so much

 

[nicolemeooow]

very true Cali is hard but still the numbers will get an OOS spot somewhere.

The other point I would like to make is make sure you apply to OOS friendly schools that have stats less than yours. Get a MSAR and plan accordingly.

by "stats less than yours", do you mean the median mcat composite score being less than mine? or all the break down scores? for examples, my PS and BS r higher than most school's median but my VR might be 1 point lower than top 20's median. should i hope for 2nd tier then?

 

[J ROD]

by "stats less than yours", do you mean the median mcat composite score being less than mine? or all the break down scores? for examples, my PS and BS r higher than most school's median but my VR might be 1 point lower than top 20's median. should i hope for 2nd tier then?

just your overall MCAT and GPA. I would add in more "2nd" tier.....

 

[gbu730]

if anything, not SUNY Buffalo, because they are big in recruiting students from and for western new york. try Stony Brook if you are considering schools from the SUNY system.

 

[nicolemeooow]

if anything, not SUNY Buffalo, because they are big in recruiting students from and for western new york. try Stony Brook if you are considering schools from the SUNY system.

ohh thank you for this info! yea i need to replan my list, haha

 

[WashMe]

by "stats less than yours", do you mean the median mcat composite score being less than mine? or all the break down scores? for examples, my PS and BS r higher than most school's median but my VR might be 1 point lower than top 20's median. should i hope for 2nd tier then?

VR is the least important subject, and you got the requisite "10" that most schools are looking for. Keep in mind that school selectivity does not necessarily correlate with school ranking, and also remember that the USNews rank list is not vox dei.

That said, if you want to look at rankings then I think something like this might work. Apply to:
5-8 Top 10 schools
5-8 Schools from ~11-30
5-8 Schools from ~31-60
5-8 Schools from 61-beyond

So you're looking at between 20 and 32 schools that fall in a broad range.

This scheme weights the higher ranked schools more heavily because you're applying to 50-80% of Top 10 schools, 25-40% of schools ranked 11-30, 17-27% of schools ranked 31-60, and only 7-12% of schools ranked beyond 60.

 

[NotAsking4Much]

*hand shakes* YESS thats what im talking about! glad that i met a fellow bruin, altho i know there r so many of us lurking in here haha! Engineering? we might have run into each other a million times w/o realizing haha. I study in boelter hall all the time. Yes lets pray for the best of luck for both of us

You guys all will be fine. Seriously.

 

[bannie22]

Wait is this a joke? With that GPA and MCAT combo you'll probably get into a handful of "Top 20's". Also, being a Cali resident really helps you out. You'll likely get into multiple UC system schools, and OOS privates (and publics) love to scoop up Cali residents because they figure most will not stay in Cali.

I wish that was true?

 

[WashMe]

I wish that was true?

bannie- you interviewed at Harvard, Duke, and WashU, and you still might get off the WL at WashU. Your numbers got you some great interviews, but it's up to an applicant to knock it out from there. Interviews are important; last year, I didn't even get into my state schools because the interviews didn't go well.

Some of your "struggling" was probably due to you being:
1) Asian
2) Canadian (foreign)

 

[nicolemeooow]

bannie- you interviewed at Harvard, Duke, and WashU, and you still might get off the WL at WashU. Your numbers got you some great interviews, but it's up to an applicant to knock it out from there. Interviews are important; last year, I didn't even get into my state schools because the interviews didn't go well.

Some of your "struggling" was probably due to you being:
1) Asian
2) Canadian (foreign)

yes..im Asian >.<

 

[WashMe]

yes..im Asian >.<

note that bannie had 2 "admissions strikes" and interviewed at Harvard. You only have one, so you should feel better

 

[NotAsking4Much]

bannie- you interviewed at Harvard, Duke, and WashU, and you still might get off the WL at WashU. Your numbers got you some great interviews, but it's up to an applicant to knock it out from there. Interviews are important; last year, I didn't even get into my state schools because the interviews didn't go well.

Some of your "struggling" was probably due to you being:
1) Asian
2) Canadian (foreign)

Welcome to the world of reverse discrimination...