Chances to get into 1st-tier schools with top notch programs?

[Dr Poring]

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EDITED AGAIN for more detailed advices =) :

I've heard a lot of different opinions from my colleagues. I'm a senior college student who is graduating this May, so my GPA is almost finalized. I got a full time job in Cleveland Clinic as a research assistant, so I won't be going to Med school until 2010 (due to a financial reason)

I have two withdrawals in a row because I was having a hard time (I support myself 50/50 with my parents.. it's hard when you go to private school)

First, my cumulative GPA is 3.76 with major GPA 3.7. I have two minors. My GPA is a bit low compare to other competitive applicants (I'm getting B.S. in Biomedical Engineering)

I'm an active member in a sorority and I've held a few exec positions. I have several other clubs and organization that I am actively involved I'll say about 6.

I have 3 years of research experience (Biomedical Engineering, Molecular Biology and Neuroscience). I have one paper published after my Junior year, and I have two posters presented. I have 1 manuscripts coming out for my senior project and this will be published right after I graduate.

About my clinical experience so far~
I volunteered in a local hospital about 5 months, but it seemed like there wasn't that much clinical experience (I was stocking gloves, tissues in patients room etc) I'm actually plan to volunteer in the hospital where I am employed to make +100 hours. I was in EMS team as a first responder for about 1.5 years.
I did non-clinical community services with my sorority members, and I was in a community service club about 2 years.

One thing that I did not do yet is Physical shadowing, and I'm going to do that this summer.

I'm applying for medical school probably for 2011 earliest. Meanwhile, I'll be publishing more papers and studying MCAT to get about 35-36 to get into first-tier med schools. (my practice score was 33.. I need to study more) For my top choices, I'll probably use early decision / applying early methods (yes I know I have to choose 1 for early decision >.<) .

Other informations:

Teaching Assistant in Biomedical engineering sophomore course
Teaching English as Second Language (ESL) private tutor : paid job since 2003
Peer tutor paid job 2005-2008

Dean's high honors / honors list (straight)

Honors organizations: Golden Key national Honors Society, biomedical engineering honors society, greek honors society
member of society of women engineers


I need your honest comments and concerns. I would rather be realistic because it will save me from wasting more money that I'm supposed to!

My permanent address is in Maryland (MD), but I'll be staying in Ohio for my job (1.5-2 years I think)

My top 5 choices are Stanford, Johns Hopkins, Harvard, University of Washington (Seattle), and University of California - San Francisco.

I used the spreadsheet, but it only counts my GPA and MCAT score.. so I would like to have your onion.. I mean opinion!
I would like to know which schools that I have the low chances, medium, and high.

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My other choices are:

Other good med schools like Yale (CT), Wash U (MO), Vanderbilt (TN) -> maybe if I have enough money for applications!

Loma Linda (CA)
UC Davis (CA)
UCLA (CA)
UCSD (CA)



Rosalind Franklin U of Med (IL)
Loyola university of Chicago, Stritch SOM (IL)
U of Chicago, Pritzker SOM (IL)

U of Maryland (MD)

Mount Sinai SO (NY)

Baylor (TX)
Texas A&M (TX)

U of Virginia (VA)


If I get a chance to take Biochem (I did not take it for credit), I would like to apply:

U of Wisconsin, U of Michigan, Mayo
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I see a lot of money will be need just for applications.. ouch. (at least I have a job!!)


Do you see the possibility for me to get accepted (my top choices and also other schools) ??

Thanks for reading =)

 

[drizzt3117]

I finally joined the forum (yay!) I just learned about the forum, and decided to join.

I've heard a lot of different opinions from my colleagues. I'm a senior college student who is graduating this May, so my GPA is almost finalized. I got a full time job in Cleveland Clinic as a research assistant, so I won't be going to Med school until 2010 (due to a financial reason)

I have two withdrawals in a row because I was having a hard time (I support myself 50/50 with my parents.. it's hard when you go to private school)

First, my cumulative GPA is 3.76 with major GPA 3.7. I have two minors. My GPA is a bit low compare to other competitive applicants (I'm getting B.S. in Biomedical Engineering)

I'm an active member in a sorority and I've held a few exec positions. I have several other clubs and organization that I am actively involved I'll say about 6.

I have 3 years of research experience (Biomedical Engineering, Molecular Biology and Neuroscience). I have one paper published after my Junior year, and I have two posters presented. I have 1 manuscripts coming out for my senior project and this will be published right after I graduate.

I'm applying for medical school probably for 2011 earliest. Meanwhile, I'll be publishing more papers and studying MCAT to get about 35-36 to get into first-tier med schools. For my top choices, I'll probably use early decision / applying early methods.

I need your honest comments and concerns. My top 5 choices are Stanford, Johns Hopkins, Harvard, University of Washington (Seattle), and University of California - San Francisco.

Do you see the possibility for me to get accepted??

Thanks for reading =)

1) You can only apply early decision to one school.

2) You should apply to a lot more schools than that, no matter how strong you think your application is. If you did get a 35-36 (which is ~95th percentile, so it's not a given by any means) you would still be a below average applicant for the schools you indicated.

3) University of Washington is difficult if not impossible to get into from out of state unless you show a strong desire/credentials to help the underserved and/or are an underrepresented minority.

4) If you score well on the MCAT you will probably be successful in applying to med school but don't bank on the top tier. You also didn't mention clinical experience and you need quite a bit of that.

 

[Spiker]

BTw you can only put 15 experiences on the application so you might want to cut down on the random club involvement to give you more study time since i assume they are not even important enough to you to mention what they are lol.

 

[Mobius1985]

You are less likely to be admitted to any med school without a decent amount of community service, clinical experience, and physican shadowing. You look fine for research and leadership. The club involvement won't help you unless you have an officership, raised money for charity, or helped the people in the community in some way. Your GPA is just above the mean for accepted students (3.65). It's good you have over a year before you plan to apply, but you need to get these other activities going soon, as dedication to these activities needs to be evident on your application. Last minute expected activites won't make you look good.

 

[Dr Poring]

You are less likely to be admitted to any med school without a decent amount of community service, clinical experience, and physican shadowing. You look fine for research and leadership. The club involvement won't help you unless you have an officership, raised money for charity, or helped the people in the community in some way. Your GPA is just above the mean for accepted students (3.65). It's good you have over a year before you plan to apply, but you need to get these other activities going soon, as dedication to these activities needs to be evident on your application. Last minute expected activites won't make you look good.

I really appreciate all 3 replies. I just want to do my best without doing something unrealistic or silly. ;D

Ah, yes. I volunteered in a local hospital about 5 months, but it seemed like there wasn't that much clinical experience (I was stocking gloves, tissues in patients room etc) I'm actually planning to volunteer in the hospital where I'm employed to make +100 hours. As an undergrad (sophomore-junior) I was in an EMS team as a first responder for about 1.5 years.
I did non-clinical community services with my sorority members, and I was in a community service club about 2 years.

One thing that I did not do yet is Physical shadowing, and I'm going to do that this summer.

I'll edit my first post to include these facts!

Do I have a better chance now?

 

[talbo]

It seems like you are into research, why not MD/PhD and those emphasize a lot more on your research experiences and less so on your community/clinical involvement. It seems you have pretty good research experience with a pub, etc. Good luck.

 

[Dr Poring]

It seems like you are into research, why not MD/PhD and those emphasize a lot more on your research experiences and less so on your community/clinical involvement. It seems you have pretty good research experience with a pub, etc. Good luck.

Hello talbo,

Thanks for your comment. I used to be pre- MD/PhD, but after I got to talk to with one of my BME professors, I decided not to apply for MD/PhD because my GPA is too low to compete with other applicants.

Besides, MD/PhD program is way too long for me, I wouldn't be happy to stay in school that long 😛 even though tuition for the program would be all paid for me!!

If being a non-traditional applicant would consider consider my GPA a bit less, maybe I can shoot for a chance..

Hope everything goes well for you too! =)

 

[Mobius1985]

I'll edit my first post to include these facts!

Do I have a better chance now?

Much better!

 

[Handy388]

looks good, maybe we'll have another ONLYNEEDONEYES at hand.

where are you, onlyneedoneyes?

 

[Dr Poring]

looks good, maybe we'll have another ONLYNEEDONEYES at hand.

where are you, onlyneedoneyes?

? who's onlyneedoneyes?

I just need your comment, that's all ._.

 

[drizzt3117]

biomech E isn't a non-trad applicant. Your new school list seems much more reasonable. Get a MCAT score before you assume you can score any given score, though.