chance me (top 20)

[josephsnider2017]

Undergrad: an Ivy in NYC
sGPA, cGPA: 3.74, 3.75
MCAT: 512 (129/124/130/129)
Race/ethnicity: Indian

Research (3+ continuous years):
- Two 1st author publications in surgery (clinical) research journals
- One 3rd author publication in clinical psychology research (alcohol withdrawal)
- Poster and podium presentation at an international surgery conference
- Two more manuscripts (surgery research) in preparation (both 1st or 2nd author)
- Two poster presentations at undergraduate symposium

Volunteer:
- Received fellowship to do public service project in the city (4 months)
- 200 hours volunteering at a nursing home, 100 hr shadowing
- Global Brigades @ South America (Establishing a self-sustainable clinic in rural areas)
- Fundraisers every summer: raised ~10k over two summers for children with mental disabilities

ECs:
- College band principal, captain of club sports team

My goal is to become a clinical researcher and I would benefit a lot from getting into a top research school but my MCAT... I want to retake the it but am also afraid that I might do worse. Should I retake

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[efle]

There are a handful of research powerhouses with MCAT ranges that span down pretty low (like UCSF, or Duke). For most a 512 is very low though.

I'd only retake if your AAMC official practice exam scores were higher.

 

[mydogmolly]

My 2c is basically worthless, but I would say not to get all that fixated on top 20. It's probably a huge bonus to a research career, but I do clinical research at a top 5 med school, and the heads of all the major research programs within my department (which is a huuuuuge department) all went to top fellowships, but came from mostly mid tier schools (Jeff, Indiana, OSU, SUNY, and Duke).

 

[LoveBeingHuman:)]

I think with a few months of very hard work you can increase CARS from 124 to 127 or 128 and increase your C/P to 130+.

It's worth it

 

[Pleides]

My 2c is basically worthless, but I would say not to get all that fixated on top 20. It's probably a huge bonus to a research career, but I do clinical research at a top 5 med school, and the heads of all the major research programs within my department (which is a huuuuuge department) all went to top fellowships, but came from mostly mid tier schools (Jeff, Indiana, OSU, SUNY, and Duke).

Duke is very much not a mid tier school

 

[mydogmolly]

Duke is very much not a mid tier school

"all went to top fellowships, but came from mostly mid tier schools"

did I say it was?

 

[Gurby]

15%

 

[WedgeDawg]

1. "Undergrad: an Ivy in NYC" why not just say Columbia, it's easier to type

2. Moving to WAMC

3. You have a relatively strong app ECs wise, but the combination of your GPA and MCAT means you're pretty far down the ladder for top 20 schools, most of whom have MCAT medians of 517-519 and GPAs of 3.8+. Your ECs are likely not going to be strong enough to make up for this deficit. If you want, you can selectively target top schools with lower MCAT medians and then apply to your state schools + many mid tiers, but I can't promise you'll have top tier luck. You can reasonably become a clinical researcher from most MD schools in the US, so you don't have to attend hopkins or yale to do this. You should be a good candidate for MD overall.

Top tiers to target include Case Western, Duke, UCLA, and Pitt. You might get some luck at mid tiers with your research profile where your MCAT will still be below average but not super low (Emory, USC-Keck, UVA, Rochester, Einstein, Hofstra, Miami, SLU, etc).

What state are you a resident of?

 

[josephsnider2017]

1. "Undergrad: an Ivy in NYC" why not just say Columbia, it's easier to type

2. Moving to WAMC

3. You have a relatively strong app ECs wise, but the combination of your GPA and MCAT means you're pretty far down the ladder for top 20 schools, most of whom have MCAT medians of 517-519 and GPAs of 3.8+. Your ECs are likely not going to be strong enough to make up for this deficit. If you want, you can selectively target top schools with lower MCAT medians and then apply to your state schools + many mid tiers, but I can't promise you'll have top tier luck. You can reasonably become a clinical researcher from most MD schools in the US, so you don't have to attend hopkins or yale to do this. You should be a good candidate for MD overall.

Top tiers to target include Case Western, Duke, UCLA, and Pitt. You might get some luck at mid tiers with your research profile where your MCAT will still be below average but not super low (Emory, USC-Keck, UVA, Rochester, Einstein, Hofstra, Miami, SLU, etc).

What state are you a resident of?

i am a resident of NJ

 

[WedgeDawg]

i am a resident of NJ

Add all 3 NJ schools and maybe some of the new york ones too (Downstate, Upstate, etc).

 

[josephsnider2017]

Add all 3 NJ schools and maybe some of the new york ones too (Downstate, Upstate, etc).

thank you so much for your feedback! Do you think a retake is worth it if it results in a similar MCAT score but has more even distribution of points? The 124 CARS really is pulling me down and i am not sure if i will get 129/130 again in other sections

 

[WedgeDawg]

thank you so much for your feedback! Do you think a retake is worth it if it results in a similar MCAT score but has more even distribution of points? The 124 CARS really is pulling me down and i am not sure if i will get 129/130 again in other sections

A similar mcat total score on retake would be bad regardless of subsection changes