Chance me for top tier med schools

[ProdigyMed]

GPA: 3.86
BCMP: 3.94
MCAT: 40R
Maryland Resident

EC's: (I'll use hours because I'm more used to it)
Volunteering at Retirement Home: 200 hours
Volunteering/Shadowing at Maryland Hospital: 1000 hours (500 in radiology department and 500 as blood mobile)
Founder and President of Hematology Club: Introduce aspiring medical students to the more graphic areas of a potential cardiovascular career: 600 hours
Active Participant for MEDLIFE: 200 hours
Captain of Men's Volleyball Sports Club: 1000 hours (very random guess)
Vice President of Pre-Medical Society initiated by the school itself years ago to help pre med students: 300 hours
NIH Cardiovascular Disease Research Freshman Summer: 300-350 hours
EMT training as a freshman. I am an EMT-I and started during my sophomore year. I spent every saturday with a 24 hour work shift up until now (junior year): 2500 hours (big one for me I hope)
I spent 2 weeks shadowing a cardiothoracic surgeon at the end of high school which ultimately got me thinking about a medical career, more particularly one more vascular and heart oriented.

Applying to: Boston College, JHU, Cornell, Northwestern, Emory, UPenn, Washington Uni, Harvard, Dartmouth, NYU, Yale, Stanford, Duke, Uni of Maryland
I really feel like I could add more considering some of the amazing people that apply. How much more should I have done for research? Any ideas for me during the summer to boost some of this stuff? Some of my hours are short but I believe its quality and not quantity. With a full time college schedule and job as an EMT the only time I get is over the summer where I basically spend all my time in volunteering and community college courses (not science related). Plus can someone inform me more about which schools care significantly about state of residency? Please also suggest other schools that I would be a perfect fit for. Chance me on a scale of 1-10 (10 being definitely in, 1 being no chance), and thank you for taking the time to read all of this!

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[aSagacious]

As you already know, your GPA/MCAT are above average at every US med school. This, in combination with your good ECs, will make you competitive at most schools. However, I will never tell someone that they have 'a good chance' at a top school, because there is no such thing. There are simply too few seats and far too many quality candidates. Here's one of our members who has you beat on GPA/MCAT and still couldn't bust into a few Ivys:
http://mdapplicants.com/profile.php?id=19291

I am not saying this to discourage you, merely to wipe away any sense of entitlement you might bring into the application cycle (since it is often a random and unforgiving beast). While I encourage you to apply to any schools you find appealing, be sure to add a handful of safeties as well so you don't end up costing yourself a year.

 

[ProdigyMed]

Why thank you sir. This was useful. I had a feeling that there might be some uncertainty. I guess what I want to ask now is that is there a thing called a medical safety school? Secondly, if there are which ones do you recommend? Is there anyway I can strengthen my application? Is there something I'm not doing that Harvard and JHU admits are doing? Are they special regarding their app or is it because of the random selection process you get with thousands of other equally competitive applicants competing for a couple hundred seats?

 

[aSagacious]

I guess what I want to ask now is that is there a thing called a medical safety school? Secondly, if there are which ones do you recommend?

Yes, in your case there are. If you have not done so already, it would be wise to purchase a copy of the MSAR (medical school admissions requirements). A new copy is coming out in about a week, so hold off for the moment. This book has the 10th/50th/90th percentiles for GPA/MCAT at every school in the nation. Additionally, it lists the schools' 'mission statements,' which often give you a good idea of what sorts of applicants they are looking for (focus on primary care, or those that will stay in-state after graduation, or rural care physicians, or heavy research focus, etc).

A helpful tool that I used to construct my initial school list (before I whittled it down by other criteria) is the 'LizzyM' equation:
Lizzy score = (10*GPA) + MCAT
Now, compare your score to the average at each school under consideration. I break them down like this:
Safety + 5 < Your Lizzy score
In-range = Your Lizzy score +- 5
Reach > Your Lizzy score + 5

Is there anyway I can strengthen my application? Is there something I'm not doing that Harvard and JHU admits are doing?

Considering the fact that we are a mere two months away from the submission of your application, I'd say there's not too much more you can add between now and then. Perhaps continue to volunteer in some non-medical settings on a regular basis. More importantly, though, start looking at the AMCAS application and thoughtfully constructing your 'activity descriptions', primary statement, school list, etc.

Are they special regarding their app or is it because of the random selection process you get with thousands of other equally competitive applicants competing for a couple hundred seats?

I won't even pretend to know the answer to this one. If I did, I'd write a book about it and make millions .

 

[Catalystik]

How much more should I have done for research?

Any ideas for me during the summer to boost some of this stuff?

Top research schools tend to emphasize research. Another 1-1.5 years would have been helpful.

I don't see that you've shadowed a primary care doc. maybe you could spend a day with one prior to submitting your application to broaden your experience base.

 

[UbuntuGM]

GPA: 3.86
BCMP: 3.94
MCAT: 40R
Maryland Resident

EC's: (I'll use hours because I'm more used to it)
Volunteering at Retirement Home: 200 hours
Volunteering/Shadowing at Maryland Hospital: 1000 hours (500 in radiology department and 500 as blood mobile)
Founder and President of Hematology Club: Introduce aspiring medical students to the more graphic areas of a potential cardiovascular career: 600 hours
Active Participant for MEDLIFE: 200 hours
Captain of Men's Volleyball Sports Club: 1000 hours (very random guess)
Vice President of Pre-Medical Society initiated by the school itself years ago to help pre med students: 300 hours
NIH Cardiovascular Disease Research Freshman Summer: 300-350 hours
EMT training as a freshman. I am an EMT-I and started during my sophomore year. I spent every saturday with a 24 hour work shift up until now (junior year): 2500 hours (big one for me I hope)
I spent 2 weeks shadowing a cardiothoracic surgeon at the end of high school which ultimately got me thinking about a medical career, more particularly one more vascular and heart oriented.

Applying to: Boston College, JHU, Cornell, Northwestern, Emory, UPenn, Washington Uni, Harvard, Dartmouth, NYU, Yale, Stanford, Duke, Uni of Maryland
I really feel like I could add more considering some of the amazing people that apply. How much more should I have done for research? Any ideas for me during the summer to boost some of this stuff? Some of my hours are short but I believe its quality and not quantity. With a full time college schedule and job as an EMT the only time I get is over the summer where I basically spend all my time in volunteering and community college courses (not science related). Plus can someone inform me more about which schools care significantly about state of residency? Please also suggest other schools that I would be a perfect fit for. Chance me on a scale of 1-10 (10 being definitely in, 1 being no chance), and thank you for taking the time to read all of this!

......why are you hell bent on only applying to top 20s?

 

[reddoc]

No matter how good your application looks, you should always apply to some schools that would be considered "safety" schools. These are generally private and some public schools ranked in the mid range or below. However you cant just go by mcat scores since some schools seem to reject a lot of applicants with really high scores as they feel they are unlikely to attend (tufts, BU, gw, georgetown ) are good examples. Take a look at Miami, MCW, UVA, Vermont, and some of the new york schools. By the way, Boston College does not have a medical school.

 

[Catalystik]

If getting into a top research school is important to your happiness, consider getting another year of substantive research under your belt and submitting your application a year from now. Otherwise, you'll need to be more realistic about school choices, aside from BU and Maryland.

 

[bucks2010]

Might want to add a few that aren't quite as selective.

 

[ProdigyMed]

Well how do I add more 'research' onto my application. I never understood how you could get research 'published' either. I thought spending time at the NIH was the research I needed. By the way, I got admitted into the NIH summer program again. It's biomedical research. What more do I need - 2 summers spent researching with amazing professors. Do you guys have any suggestions as to what else I can do? Please be specific regarding how I can get a research opportunity - I hate vagueness.

 

[bucks2010]

Research = time spent in the lab working on a scientific project. Like you did at the NIH.

Published = writing about your work and having it accepted into a refereed scientific journal. Go to PubMed and type in your PI's name. Those are publications. Having authorship indicates significant contribution to a research project (over and above just running the experiments... I'm talking about intellectual contribution); it is considerably rare for an undergraduate to be listed as an author.

Btw regarding the 1-1.5 years, that is of course done on a part-time basis. Maybe you could find a lab at your school that the professor would let you be a part of for ~10 hrs/wk or so.

Honestly, 2 summers is a good amount of time. With your app as it is, you'll have a great shot at many fine medical schools where you can receive an excellent education. However, with the higher-ranked, more selective institutions, it takes a lot to set yourself apart from other applicants, and that's why these research suggestions are coming into play.

 

[nabeel76]

Your stats look impressive, although I would still advise application to a broad range of schools so that you at least get in somewhere, I do believe that if you apply to enough top 20 schools - research oriented or not - you'll get into at least one of them - if not several. That is assuming that you interview well and can adequately address your yearning for a medical career in your essays of course. Good luck!