First time post- Need your feedback!

[CaliforniaMan]

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Hi guys, this is my first post!😀 So here is my profile.

College: UC Berkeley traditional student
cGPA: 3.70
sGPA: 3.71
MCAT: 34S

EC: Reseach for about 2 years in Biochem lab- no pub. but starting Senior Honors Thesis next semester

Shadowing pediatric surgeon, pediatrician, urologist (I think I can get great letters of recommendation from them)

ER Volunteer close to 100 hours
1.5 week international medical trip in Honduras this past summer
Working in a free medical clinic as a lab technician

And bunch of other stuff like honors clubs, societies etc. I also helped find a informal rugby group that plays like once a week... don't know if that counts though.

My concern is instead of my GPA rising through 1st, 2nd, and 3rd years, they have been falling. Mostly due to doing increasing numbers of ECs that I have been doing and the notoriously competitive upper division courses in Berkeley.🙁
Would that look really bad in adcoms' eyes?

What are my chances at some California schools and other private schools elsewhere in the country? I've been specifically looking at UC Davis, UC Irvine, and USC. Is my profile competitive at these three places and other schools?
Thanks all!

 

[WeAreNotRobots]

your stats are solid, and along with your EC's (depending on the time commitment (hrs/wk) of your research, length of time in the clinic, and quality of your LOR's and "other stuff") you look like you'll be a fairly competitive applicant at most schools. the numbers you bring are about average/SLIGHTLY above average for the 3 schools you mentioned. even so, within CA it can be a shot in the dark for almost any applicant, so definitely apply out of state.

as for the "downward GPA trend": i think this is only a concern when there is a significant change in grades over time. you may have dipped slightly, but with a 3.7, you're probably talking about a 0.2-0.4 point change...no big deal. if, on the other hand, you had the 3.9 for your first year and a half, then the next year or so started averaging B/B-, then that would be a concern.

 

[CaliforniaMan]

thanks for the reply. Anyone else want to comment on my situation?

 

[confusedchild]

I think you should be fine as long as your dip isn't significant...with a 3.7 GPA, your dips can't be that huge and i'm sure they'd understand that as you take harder classes it makes perfect sense for GPA to take a small hit. We have pretty similar stats (i go to UCLA). Umm like the poster said above, california is a crapshoot no matter what kind of stats you have. I've seen people with 36MCAT 3.8GPA not get an interview at any of the UCs but then again I've seen lots with barely a 30+ get one. Write a really good personal statement and try to stand out and I think you will be fine. Us californians have it harder than other states when it comes to getting in state schools.

 

[CaliforniaMan]

Thanks.
Please anyone else, please give me some feedback.

 

[Mobius1985]

What are my chances at some California schools . . . ? I've been specifically looking at UC Davis, UC Irvine, and USC.

Here is some good advice from another thread that I think is also relevant to you:

Cali is rough. Do as well as you can on the MCAT but realistically a 35 on the MCAT won't serve you as well in Cali as impressive and interesting ECs will.

You need something that stands out. Now it could be a 45 on the MCAT but who can count on that? It could be a passion that shows through in your extra curriculars, it could be passion for an under represented minority group or underserved community. It could be a serious interest in research. As long as it makes you a little different so you can stand out.

People say Cali schools are especially a crap shoot but I don't necessarily agree. Its just they're not looking for what premeds think they're looking for. For some reason there is this very common misconception that there is a neat and tidy checklist to get into medical school (good GPA, good MCAT, some volunteering, some clinical experience, some research). But the fact of the matter is that if thats all you do then you won't stand out and you will have a hard time at a lot of schools - especially the highly competitive California schools.

Make yourself different and you'll do well. But follow some imaginary premed checklist and you'll be pretty disappointed.

 

[CaliforniaMan]

How do I stand for out of state schools, like Emory, Vanderbilt, NYU, Case Western, Mt.Sinai, Mayo, Tufts, U of Mich, U of Chicago, etc?