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Hi this is my first post, so it may be missing info.
Caucasian male, Ohio resident
cGPA: 3.89
sGPA: 3.85
MCAT: 34
Undergrad: Pitt
Major: Neuroscience/Biology Dual-Major
Minor: Bioengineering/Chemistry/Certificate in Leadership
LORs: Decent. 2 science professors , 2 doctors I shadowed or worked for.
Main ECs:
- 1 year: worked in a neuroscience research lab
- 1 summer: worked overseas as a phlebotomist
- 1 summer: worked in a neurology lab; also shadowed the neurologist
- 2 years: worked as a campus tour giver
- 4 years: Fraternity (held positions)
- 1 year: worked in cardiovascular research
- 3 years: member of various clubs (both medical related and not)
- 3 years: volunteer at local hospital
-1 summer: peace corps
-1 summer: Research at a local medical school
Clinical:
- Volunteering at local hospital
- spent 1 year as a phlebotomist at the hospital
- lots of patient interaction while researching over summer months
I can't really decide which schools I'm looking to apply to. I want to challenge myself academically. I just don't want to apply to a bunch of top tier schools and receive rejection upon rejection (this is what I did for undergrad). Could someone please give me a list of 5-10 Reach schools, schools I would likely get into, and schools I have a very high chance of getting into?
Thanks so much!
Challenging academics??Hi this is my first post, so it may be missing info.
Caucasian male, Ohio resident
cGPA: 3.89
sGPA: 3.85
MCAT: 34
Undergrad: Pitt
Major: Neuroscience/Biology Dual-Major
Minor: Bioengineering/Chemistry/Certificate in Leadership
LORs: Decent. 2 science professors , 2 doctors I shadowed or worked for.
Main ECs:
- 1 year: worked in a neuroscience research lab
- 1 summer: worked overseas as a phlebotomist
- 1 summer: worked in a neurology lab; also shadowed the neurologist
- 2 years: worked as a campus tour giver
- 4 years: Fraternity (held positions)
- 1 year: worked in cardiovascular research
- 3 years: member of various clubs (both medical related and not)
- 3 years: volunteer at local hospital
-1 summer: peace corps
-1 summer: Research at a local medical school
Clinical:
- Volunteering at local hospital
- spent 1 year as a phlebotomist at the hospital
- lots of patient interaction while researching over summer months
I can't really decide which schools I'm looking to apply to. I want to challenge myself academically. I just don't want to apply to a bunch of top tier schools and receive rejection upon rejection (this is what I did for undergrad). Could someone please give me a list of 5-10 Reach schools, schools I would likely get into, and schools I have a very high chance of getting into?
Thanks so much!
^ A 34 would put the OP closer to the bottom quartile of applicants at most of the top 20s... (Given that most of the top 20s seem to have 37 MCAT acceptance averages, with 33 being their 10% percentile).
Really? Wow, okay...well I still think that OP has a great chance at the top 20s...
Yep. I was shocked when I saw this year's MSAR also. (Because the 2012-2013 MSAR listed average MCAT scores as 36 for almost all the top 20s and the bottom 10% of all accepted was a 32). Accepted MCAT scores seem to be creeping up every year, and I wouldn't be surprised if MSAR listed a 37 for almost every school in the top 10 next year (with 38s for Pritzker and Penn)...
Yeah, I haven't really looked at those numbers in a year or two and I was looking at a 2011 version that my school had in the library - I think most top schools were averaging 35 and change at that time. I guess all those numbers will be useless soon anyhow with the new MCAT.
Yeah I think 2 years ago, most of the top 20s had 35s as their MCAT averages... Amazing how much things changed in 2 years time...
Yep, this was when I got my MCAT score and I was so stoked... fast forward two years aaaand .
Haha I remember when LizzyM wrote about a time when a 33 was a great score for her school...
Hehe there goes Goro again naming states and suggesting adding every single school in thosr statesHow about every school in OH, PA , IN, KY, and every private school in IL and MI? Try a couple of the Ivies for reach, maybe JHU, Pitt and NYU.
Suggest also investing in MSAR and targeting schools who numbers are close to your own.
As long as there is an artificial limit to the number of MD slots available, it will always be competitive. It's why even the 'lower tier' schools tend to still be pretty competitive to get into. The number of applicants increases every year it seems, and while new schools are being built, more than half of applicants still don't get in.Its unreal. I think that society and the economy are perfectly aligned right now in such a way to make med school really desirable to smart and ambitious college students. I wouldn't be surprised if the bubble bursts in 10 years and things become far less competitive. If I'm right I'm excited to see what our generation of physicians will accomplish! ...but I digress... Sorry OP!
Average stats does seem to go up every year, but thankfully not that quickly. When I was applying a few years ago I found a LizzyM spreadsheet with numbers from 2009, where most of the top 10 already had 37 medians. WashU had a 38 median, which seemed ridiculous. All the docs I've talked to that trained like a decade ago say that none of them would likely to have been accepted nowadays.Yeah I think 2 years ago, most of the top 20s had 35s as their MCAT averages... Amazing how much things changed in 2 years time...
"Every school in PA" is so much money, secondary-writing, and more schools than some people apply to in one cycle...
Maybe it depends on the state... most of my friends applied to at least 20 schools.