cGPA 3.6, sGPA 3.3, MCAT 520: Help with schools list

[elliottlourdes]

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Hi everyone! I'm applying this upcoming cycle and could use some help with my schools list. In particular, I'm looking for schools that will be more of matches for me rather than reaches, but still will have a decent number of research opportunities and where the students are known to match into a wide range of specialties (especially where they regularly match into surgery or neurosurgery).

Major: Political science (with a thesis, don't know if this matters)
GPA: cGPA: 3.6; sGPA: 3.3. My primary concern in my app is here; have two C+s and one D on my transcript. Upward trend though, with my last three semesters getting all As.
University: Ivy League
MCAT: 520
Work experience: Spent 7 of my 8 semesters of college plus my gap year working (10+ hours per week).
Clinical: 120 hours shadowing in the general surgery department (got to scrub in on some pretty cool things); 1,600 hours working as an EMT for a volunteer service.
Research: 3 years research volunteer in the Department of Behavioral Medicine; 2 and a half years research assistant in the Department of Psychiatry. No publications though.
Volunteer: The 1,600 hours volunteering as an EMT.
Languages: English, Spanish, Russian.
Ethnicity: Not a URM or anything.

I know I don't really have a lot of schools on my list right now, so I'm open to adding a few more reaches but also those that I would match more closely with. (Because I'm concerned with residency placement, I'm only considering MD schools at this moment, but let me know if that's really ill advised considering my stats.) Any help is greatly appreciated!

Schools:
University of New Mexico (home school)
Case Western Reserve (probably my top choice right now)
Washington U — St. Louis
Quinnipiac
Creighton
Pittsburgh
Michigan

Thanks again!

 

[Goro]

I suggest the following:
U VM
Miami
St. Louis
Albany
Rush
Rosy Franklin
NYMC
EVMS
Wake Forest
Jefferson
Temple
Drexel
Creighton
Tulane
USC/Keck
Dartmouth
MCW
Loyola
BU
Mayo
Duke
Case
Columbia
Pitt
Hofstra
Oakland-B
Western MI
Uniformed Services University/Hebert (just be aware of the military service commitment)
Your state school

 

[elliottlourdes]

I suggest the following:
U VM
Miami
St. Louis
Albany
Rush
Rosy Franklin
NYMC
EVMS
Wake Forest
Jefferson
Temple
Drexel
Creighton
Tulane
USC/Keck
Dartmouth
MCW
Loyola
BU
Mayo
Duke
Case
Columbia
Pitt
Hofstra
Oakland-B
Western MI
Uniformed Services University/Hebert (just be aware of the military service commitment)
Your state school

Thanks for the thorough list! Just had a few follow-up questions: So you think it would be worth it to apply to places like Loyola, Drexel, etc., even though they already get so many applications? And that I would have better luck at some upper-tiered, private schools (such as Columbia, Mayo, Duke, etc.) rather than a public that accepts, say, around 30-35% of its applicants from out of state (mostly thinking about Iowa, Cincinnati, Ohio State, etc.)?

 

[calivianya]

Thanks for the thorough list! Just had a few follow-up questions: So you think it would be worth it to apply to places like Loyola, Drexel, etc., even though they already get so many applications? And that I would have better luck at some upper-tiered, private schools (such as Columbia, Mayo, Duke, etc.) rather than a public that accepts, say, around 30-35% of its applicants from out of state (mostly thinking about Iowa, Cincinnati, Ohio State, etc.)?

The top tiers have often have median matriculant sGPAs in the mid 3.8s and up range. I'm thinking your low sGPA would cause problems there.