Chances of getting into MD/PhD programs?

[notavailabledarn]

Demographic Information: Asian female, 22, US citizen, NC resident, 1st generation college student
Education: state school, majors in chemistry and computer science; minor in math

Stats:
MCAT: 521
Cumulative GPA: 3.82
Science GPA: 3.89
It should be noted, however, that I have several W's from sophomore year, having withdrawn from most of my classes due to personal difficulties after having experienced sexual assault. This is the part of my application I'm most worried about. I feel like my application would be a lot stronger if this hadn't happened, and I'm not sure if I should mention it in my applications.

Research:
I was in multiple labs during undergrad and got some publications in a few of them:
-Lab 1 (cancer lab): 1 first author publication in Biomaterials, 1 2nd author publication in Nanoscale
-Lab 2 (neuroscience lab): one 3rd author publication in Science
-Lab 3 (biomechanics lab): two 2nd author publication in Journal of Experimental Biology

A few abstracts/posters at conferences:
-Lab 3: poster at a computer science conference
-Lab 4 (environmental engineering): abstract submitted for an undergraduate engineering conference

Recommendations:
-recommendations from 4 PI's (should I reduce this and/or increase to include other PI's I've worked with?)
-computer science professor with whom I also went to the White House for a competition and had as an advisor for a club I'm the president of
-sociology professor who also wrote me a recommendation for a scholarship that I ended up receiving

Extracurriculars:
-Head of Technology Committee and member of Sustainability Committee in student government
-President of a club that teaches computer science to middle/high school students with low college matriculation rates and computer applications to refugees

Jobs:
-Interned at Oracle one summer
-Interned at IBM one summer
-Part time, remote job with Google for 3 years

Awards/Honors:
-Generation Google Scholarship
-Buick Achievers Scholarship
-university-related scholarship for high achievers in science/technology
-Dean's list
-Phi Beta Kappa honors society

Volunteering/Clinic Experience:
-Shadowed an oncologist for 50 hours
-Volunteered in oncology and ICU for 300 hours total
-Volunteered in a free clinic

Schools I'd like to apply to:
-Duke
-UNC
-Wake Forest
-Harvard
-Johns Hopkins
-UPenn
-Yale
-Dartmouth
-Northwestern
-Icahn
-Columbia
-Stanford
-Brown
I'll add a few safety schools after researching them better, but this is my tentative list. I may also apply to some PhD programs, since research is so important to me. I do hope to be a physician one day, but I'd like to get a PhD from a good program, and a lot of other schools with MD/PhD programs aren't as strong in the PhD fields that I'm considering.

Can anyone give me any suggestions as to what other schools I should think about adding/dropping? Also, how will the W's from my sophomore year look to admissions committees? Do I have a chance at these schools? Any advice would help. Thanks!

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[eteshoe]

How many W's?

Why did you work in so many labs? Are you counting summer research experiences or just strictly at your UG?

 

[notavailabledarn]

How many W's?

Why did you work in so many labs? Are you counting summer research experiences or just strictly at your UG?

I had 7 W's. I dropped most of my classes sophomore year, which is my biggest worry. I'm counting all of my labs, both summers and during school years

 

[eteshoe]

The number of W's is a bit worrisome, but not much can be done about that at this point (I had 3 W's and was fine)

The publications will help you out (be able to talk intelligently about your contributions).

What do you want your PhD in?

 

[notavailabledarn]

The number of W's is a bit worrisome, but not much can be done about that at this point (I had 3 W's and was fine)

The publications will help you out (be able to talk intelligently about your contributions).

What do you want your PhD in?

Probably bme or biophysics; but I'm also considering doing something more translational to be more relevant to what I'd be doing as a physician.

 

[eteshoe]

Probably bme or biophysics; but I'm also considering doing something more translational to be more relevant to what I'd be doing as a physician.

BME can be quite translational depending on your project scope. Just make sure you can identify 3-5 PI's you can work with at each school you have (and add) to your school list. Other than that congrats on your academic performance thus far.

 

[nonamesleft]

I had 7 W's. I dropped most of my classes sophomore year, which is my biggest worry. I'm counting all of my labs, both summers and during school years

I think that you could address the 7W's somewhere. You have a legitimate reason for them, not because you were flaky.

 

[notavailabledarn]

BME can be quite translational depending on your project scope. Just make sure you can identify 3-5 PI's you can work with at each school you have (and add) to your school list. Other than that congrats on your academic performance thus far.

Do you have any suggestions on schools I should add?

 

[notavailabledarn]

I think that you could address the 7W's somewhere. You have a legitimate reason for them, not because you were flaky.

Should I address it somewhere specifically on the application or wait for them to ask me about it? I'm just worried that addressing it would draw more attention to it and/or make it sound like I'm making excuses.

 

[nonamesleft]

Do you have any suggestions on schools I should add?

You could probably poach off this thread: http://forums.studentdoctor.net/thr...-i-still-go-for-md-phd.1200404/#post-17760918

Should I address it somewhere specifically on the application or wait for them to ask me about it? I'm just worried that addressing it would draw more attention to it and/or make it sound like I'm making excuses.

I'm not positive where would be best.. I just think that 7W's may raise some eyebrows, but a good explanation (along with the GPA and MCAT you have) will help alleviate it. Perhaps @Fencer or @gyngyn could comment on it further?

 

[Fencer]

Your letters will be important. It would be helpful that one of them addresses the adversity that you faced at that time. Make sure that you also save a few sentences in the personal essay to address the event that led to the W's. A momentary halt on your academic progress shouldn't punish you too much as long as it is addressed as an event that didn't derail you from your career. Some committees will see it as a "proven" applicant who experienced adversity and overcame it; others, unfortunately, will take another candidate with no blemishes (but who never experienced obstacles). Add more schools, but don't take away from your dream choices....
You should be fine and you are likely to have multiple offers including a couple from your list.
To help you select additional schools and assess your current list, examine critically your choices of schools and research areas of interest using these links:
https://www.aamc.org/download/321544/data/factstableb8.pdf
http://www.brimr.org/NIH_Awards/2015/NIH_Awards_2015.htm

 

[notavailabledarn]

Your letters will be important. It would be helpful that one of them addresses the adversity that you faced at that time. Make sure that you also save a few sentences in the personal essay to address the event that led to the W's. A momentary halt on your academic progress shouldn't punish you too much as long as it is addressed as an event that didn't derail you from your career. Some committees will see it as a "proven" applicant who experienced adversity and overcame it; others, unfortunately, will take another candidate with no blemishes (but who never experienced obstacles). Add more schools, but don't take away from your dream choices....
You should be fine and you are likely to have multiple offers including a couple from your list.
To help you select additional schools and assess your current list, examine critically your choices of schools and research areas of interest using these links:
https://www.aamc.org/download/321544/data/factstableb8.pdf
http://www.brimr.org/NIH_Awards/2015/NIH_Awards_2015.htm

Should I tell one of my recommenders about what had happened? I'm not sure it's very appropriate (also, it's something kind of difficult to talk about especially to people who I know only in an academic context).

 

[Fencer]

It depends... If you are getting a school based packet, you should meet the Dean of Student Affairs and discuss the situation that led to the "W's". If you aren't, then you might approach your main supporter and consider disclosing the issue. The thing is, when there is a gap/halt of progress, typically this is overseen by someone in the Dean's Office who is trying to make sure that you succeed in the long run. If that didn't happen (which seems the case), you succeeded despite the lack of an apparent safety net. There is a greater validity if your LOR/school packet back you unconditionally despite the brief hiccup in your academic career. If you don't want or can't, just push forward. You are a strong candidate despite this small blemishes...