MD cGPA: 3.87 sGPA: 3.92 MCAT: 36; Process making me sweat

[UCIpremed]

Hey guys!

-cGPA: 3.87
-sGPA: 3.92
-MCAT: 36
-Biomedical Engineering: Premedical major (if that matters)
-2 (and continuing) years of hospital volunteering at 4hrs/wk
-2 years of clinical research at 12hrs/wk (1 publication, 5 symposium presentations, and 2 fellowships awarded for grant funding)
-2 years work experience as a Community Assistant (like RA)
-Held leadership positions (President, secretary, co-founder of org, coordinator, and camp counselor) in several on-campus orgs
-Non-clinical community service through fraternity
-Currently volunteering in hospital, working sales in an office (gotta make $), and am an assistant high school cross-country/track coach

Medical schools applied to (sent secondaries back):
Yale
Columbia (Columbia-Bassett program)
Boston
USC (4-year MD/MPH program) (Only II)
Arizona - Tucson
UC Davis
Stanford
Perelman
John Hopkins
Harvard
UC Irvine (alma mater)
UCSF
UCSD
UCLA

All letters of recs and scores are in. Secondaries sent and completed from early Aug. to early Sept. (Arizona sent 2 days ago). Boston told me that a letter of rec didn't have a letterhead, and am working on that currently. Would this be a potential issue?

I know most of these schools (9 our of 14) are top 15, which concerns me. What are my chances/Am I being dumb by not applying to more schools? I am definitely tight on money, but obviously the investment is worth it IF necessary...hence my desire for feedback.

Thank you guys so much! I truly appreciate it, and good luck to everyone applying!

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[Goro]

Nothing wrong with aiming high, but I would have also tried schools like Vandy, Baylor, NYU, U VA, U MI, Pitt, etc.

Hey guys!

-cGPA: 3.87
-sGPA: 3.92
-MCAT: 36
-Biomedical Engineering: Premedical major (if that matters)
-2 (and continuing) years of hospital volunteering at 4hrs/wk
-2 years of clinical research at 12hrs/wk (1 publication, 5 symposium presentations, and 2 fellowships awarded for grant funding)
-2 years work experience as a Community Assistant (like RA)
-Held leadership positions (President, secretary, co-founder of org, coordinator, and camp counselor) in several on-campus orgs
-Non-clinical community service through fraternity
-Currently volunteering in hospital, working sales in an office (gotta make $), and am an assistant high school cross-country/track coach

Medical schools applied to (sent secondaries back):
Yale
Columbia (Columbia-Bassett program)
Boston
USC (4-year MD/MPH program) (Only II)
Arizona - Tucson
UC Davis
Stanford
Perelman
John Hopkins
Harvard
UC Irvine (alma mater)
UCSF
UCSD
UCLA

All letters of recs and scores are in. Secondaries sent and completed from early Aug. to early Sept. (Arizona sent 2 days ago). Boston told me that a letter of rec didn't have a letterhead, and am working on that currently. Would this be a potential issue?

I know most of these schools (9 our of 14) are top 15, which concerns me. What are my chances/Am I being dumb by not applying to more schools? I am definitely tight on money, but obviously the investment is worth it IF necessary...hence my desire for feedback.

Thank you guys so much! I truly appreciate it, and good luck to everyone applying!

 

[UCIpremed]

Nothing wrong with aiming high, but I would have also tried schools like Vandy, Baylor, NYU, U VA, U MI, Pitt, etc.

Thank you! And yea, I should've widened my scope...applying to new schools isn't really an option this late in the game, correct? I'm also waiting on a secondary from Washington, and am sitting on UC Riverside and Duke's secondaries but wasn't planning to submit them...is that wise?

 

[Goro]

Actually, my learned colleague @gyngyn suggests that it's NOT too late to submit now.

Are you a CA resident? If not, how would you meet UCR-specific mission?

Other schools that might be of interest are Hofstra, Northwestern, Emory, USC, Dartmouth, Cornell, and Mt Sinai

Thank you! And yea, I should've widened my scope...applying to new schools isn't really an option this late in the game, correct? I'm also waiting on a secondary from Washington, and am sitting on UC Riverside and Duke's secondaries but wasn't planning to submit them...is that wise?

 

[gyngyn]

Thank you! And yea, I should've widened my scope...applying to new schools isn't really an option this late in the game, correct? I'm also waiting on a secondary from Washington, and am sitting on UC Riverside and Duke's secondaries but wasn't planning to submit them...is that wise?

U of WA rarely interviews non-UIM CA residents.
I see 6 schools where you have a fair to good chance at an interview. I see you already have an II at one of them! That's usually a little scanty for CA. It not too late to add Tulane, Einstein and a few of @Goro's picks. I usually recommend at least 10 where your odds are fair to good.

 

[UCIpremed]

Actually, my learned colleague @gyngyn suggests that it's NOT too late to submit now.

Are you a CA resident? If not, how would you meet UCR-specific mission?

Other schools that might be of interest are Hofstra, Northwestern, Emory, USC, Dartmouth, Cornell, and Mt Sinai

I am a CA resident, and awesome I'll check some of those out!

 

[UCIpremed]

U of WA rarely interviews non-UIM CA residents.
I see 6 schools where you have a fair to good chance at an interview. I see you already have an II at one of them! That's usually a little scanty for CA. It not too late to add Tulane, Einstein and a few of @Goro's picks. I usually recommend at least 10 where your odds are fair to good.

Thank you for your input! I just submitted my secondary to UCR, so hopefully that can bump my 6 to 7!

 

[gyngyn]

Thank you for your input! I just submitted my secondary to UCR, so hopefully that can bump my 6 to 7!

Are you from the IE? It's a mission-based school.

 

[UCIpremed]

Are you from the IE? It's a mission-based school.

I'm unfortunately not from the IE. I grew up in the south bay, would this be a disadvantage?

EDIT: Just read another forum where you answered this. Looks like I just wasted $70.

 

[gyngyn]

I'm unfortunately not from the IE. I grew up in the south bay, would this be a disadvantage?

EDIT: Just read another forum where you answered this. Looks like I just wasted $70.

Sorry.