Curious where I should be applying!

[secondyrapp]

Advertisement - Members don't see this ad

I'm a recent grad from a top 10 science undergrad uni
Have a 3.63 cum with a science of 3.54, got a 32S on my first MCAT and a 38Q on my second.
I've done research and a couple hundred hours of shadowing and am currently mentoring 4th-8th graders in a rural area.

Any ideas about where I should apply? and what would be deemed stretches? How well does a good mcat cover an ok gpa? (and what do the schools do with 2 mcats? they were taken a year apart)

Thanks!

 

[Lucidity]

I recommend checking out an MSAR, your questions will be answered, I'd help you out but don't have mine in front of me.

 

[Lucidity]

Forgot to ask, how much clinical and non-clinical volunteering do you have?

 

[secondyrapp]

I have about 180 hours of shadowing MD, PA, FNP at a non-profit clinic that serves uninsured patients as well as a 40 hour week shadowing a hospitalist and a pediatrician.

Non-clincial, I've been a student athlete tutor during undergrad (so maybe 10hr/wk) and I've recently started with an AIDS clinic and mentoring (which I plan to do throughout my year off). The last two probably amount to ~40hrs.

I got a double degree in 4 yrs with two minors if that changes anything at all.

 

[Catalystik]

Some schools look at the most recent MCAT, some look at the best, and some average the scores. A few make a new composite score from the best subscores.

Your cGPA is just under to the mean for those accepted of 3.66. Your MCAT score is terrific. How is the year-by-year trend of your BCPM? Hopefully it shows a rising slope.

Numbers-wise, you can apply to any school you like, but personally I'd avoid those with a bottom tenth percentile for BCPM above a 3.5, like WashU, harvard, Hopkins, UChicago, Northwestern, UPenn.

EC-wise, we don't know enough about your experiences to judge if you have a solid application or not. Highly selective schools will be attracted to substantive research involvement 2+ years, strong leadership, prolonged involvement in hands-on, noncampus community service, and teaching, as well as unique activities. Clinical experience where you actively engage sick peopleis is an across-the-board expectation in general, though rarely someone seems to get an acceptance with none (they claim). It is wise to have physician shadowing as well and you appear to be well above average there (though it isn't clear how much is physician-only).

Double majors and minors have no impact.

 

[secondyrapp]

Yeah, My BCPM has been on the rise. I had a pretty rough freshman year fall and winter quarter which had a relatively big toll on my GPA in science (gen chem.....) I'm hoping that this will be taken into consideration? And does it matter what undergrad institute you went to? Is that also taken into consideration?

And most of my shadowing has been with MDs but there are outposts of the clinic that are so poorly funded they are only able to send an FNP.

Should I emphasize in my application that I'm taking a year off in order to get some more non-clinical and non-academic experience? Specifically with community outreach? Are you able to highlight that in a secondary even if you haven't started the work or are just starting (like mentoring junior high student which starts with this school year in September)

Sorry for the peppering of questions! And thank you so much for replying!

 

[Catalystik]

Rising grade trends are noted and are helpful.

It's fine to shadow other healthcare professionals, too. So, so far, your only clinical experience is with the HIV clinic (shadowing is considered a passive observership)? You said you plan to continue that through the next year. Do you have any other plans for personally interacting with patients? Are you not allowed to help out when you're in the nonprofit clinic?

You may not list in the Experiences section activities that have not yet begun, however many Secondaries ask about your plans for the next year. And another avenue to being sure your new activities are regarded is the Update Letter.

 

[secondyrapp]

So...
The list so far is:
Boston U
Emory
GW
Georgetown
USC Keck's
Loma Linda
Loyola
OHSU (OR resident)
Temple
UVM
Tufts
Tulane
UCol (stretch)
UMich (Stretch)
Wake Forest
UW
UA
UCSF (stretch)
drexel

anything glaring off? or anything I should add?

 

[Catalystik]

It depends on which UA you refer to.

Also, do you consider UW to be Oregon friendly?

 

[secondyrapp]

haha. No, not at all. But I went to undergrad there and wouldn't mind being in Seattle so I thought it was worth a try.

and looking at UA-Pheonix (based off the numbers on their website, looked like they had the highest percentage of out-of-state acceptances although the class size is much smaller than UA-Tuscon)

 

[Catalystik]

UArizona has recently decided to consider accepting up to 25% of their class as OOS. UArkansas and UAlabama would not be good choices.