Given my stats, what are my chances?

[Zanshia]

ACADEMICS:

GPA 3.35
MCAT 32Q, 34N

P9 B11 V12 (first attempt)
P12 B12 V10 (second attempt)

EXTRACURRICULARS:

1. University judicial council chair
2. University student body vice president
3. Sat on 8 student committees (academic and non-academic)
4. Peer tutor in literature and composition
5. Winner of four writing prizes
6. Winner of leadership award
7. T.J. Watson fellow
8. Clinical preceptorships in 9 hospitals in USA, China, South Africa, UK
9. Clinical preceptorships in series of rural clinics in China, South Africa
10. Pre-medical volunteer in South African townships
11. Internship with South African ambulance service
12. Certified EMT
13. Clinical research in anesthesiology
14. Clinical research in bioethics of organ transplantation
15. Clinical research in pediatric pulmonology
16. Public health research in human resources at WHO

My question is, do my extracurriculars compensate for my academics enough for me to apply to first-tier medical schools (Harvard, Johns Hopkins, Duke)? Or should I stick mostly to second-tier (Emory, Mayo, Pittsburgh), just in case?

I'm having a really hard time putting a list of schools together, so I'd really appreciate any advice. Thanks!

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[ChubbyChaser]

ACADEMICS:

GPA 3.35
MCAT 32Q, 34N

P9 B11 V12 (first attempt)
P12 B12 V10 (second attempt)

EXTRACURRICULARS:

1. University judicial council chair
2. University student body vice president
3. Sat on 8 student committees (academic and non-academic)
4. Peer tutor in literature and composition
5. Winner of four writing prizes
6. Winner of leadership award
7. T.J. Watson fellow
8. Clinical preceptorships in 9 hospitals in USA, China, South Africa, UK
9. Clinical preceptorships in series of rural clinics in China, South Africa
10. Pre-medical volunteer in South African townships
11. Internship with South African ambulance service
12. Certified EMT
13. Clinical research in anesthesiology
14. Clinical research in bioethics of organ transplantation
15. Clinical research in pediatric pulmonology
16. Public health research in human resources at WHO

My question is, do my extracurriculars compensate for my academics enough for me to apply to first-tier medical schools (Harvard, Johns Hopkins, Duke)? Or should I stick mostly to second-tier (Emory, Mayo, Pittsburgh), just in case?

I'm having a really hard time putting a list of schools together, so I'd really appreciate any advice. Thanks!

Troll???

Honestly, You probably arent very competitive for any of those schools.

 

[154465]

Make sure you add schools all the way to the 6th tier, you need to be careful with you GPA.

Dont bother with schools in tiers 7-13, they will probably reject you cause your stats are too high.

 

[ChubbyChaser]

Make sure you add schools all the way to the 6th tier, you need to be careful with you GPA.

Dont bother with schools in tiers 7-13, they will probably reject you cause your stats are too high.

I disagree...I would say tiers 10-15 are right down his alley....damn why not just make 125 tiers...op apply to tiers 70-125

 

[AlexMorph]

what people are trying to say is...you are overestimating your competitiveness

and pitt and mayo arent second-tier (people can argue that tiers dont really apply to med school anyways)

apply broadly because you never know, which means look at other schools which arent super competitive

 

[ChubbyChaser]

what people are trying to say is...you are overestimating your competitiveness

and pitt and mayo arent second-tier (people can argue that tiers dont really apply to med school anyways)

apply broadly because you never know, which means look at other schools which arent super competitive

booo for serious post thumbdown

 

[AlexMorph]

booo for serious post thumbdown

sorry

 

[HumidBeing]

It's not an either/or situation. Your best chance is to apply to a broader range of schools, with an eye to more than rankings. That will give you a much better opportunity to find a 'best fit'.

 

[Zanshia]

Ok, I get the picture. I'm a newbie, so you'll have to cut me some slack. I probably shouldn't have used the word "tier" at all, so I'm sorry if I came off sounding like yet another pretentious idiot (God knows there's enough of them). Let me try this again:

It seems to me that GPA and MCAT matter more than anything else in the applications, to the point that there is next to nothing that can compensate for low numbers. If this is the case, then I definitely won't be applying to any of the schools I mentioned. But if there's any chance that clinical experience or research or any other EC can tip the scale, then I feel like I should give it a shot. And yes, I'll be applying to a range of schools, and no, rank is not the only thing that matters.

What do you think? I'm just trying to give hope to all of us out there that don't' have a 4.0 and a 38 but did all they could to make up for it.

Thanks again.

 

[ChubbyChaser]

Ok, I get the picture. I'm a newbie, so you'll have to cut me some slack. I probably shouldn't have used the word "tier" at all, so I'm sorry if I came off sounding like yet another pretentious idiot (God knows there's enough of them). Let me try this again:

It seems to me that GPA and MCAT matter more than anything else in the applications, to the point that there is next to nothing that can compensate for low numbers. If this is the case, then I definitely won't be applying to any of the schools I mentioned. But if there's any chance that clinical experience or research or any other EC can tip the scale, then I feel like I should give it a shot. And yes, I'll be applying to a range of schools, and no, rank is not the only thing that matters.

What do you think? I'm just trying to give hope to all of us out there that don't' have a 4.0 and a 38 but did all they could to make up for it.

Thanks again.

Your MCAT is solid, its your GPA thats holding you back..with the average matriculants gpa at 3.7 a 3.35 is low....Y ouhave solid ECs, but that wont overcome the low GPA. Apply broadly to a wide range of schools...and maybe emory or pitt, etc. will come through for you.