Good schools, good chances?

[2015istheYear]

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So I am applying to med school this year, first time applicant from Illinois.
I would REALLY appreciate input on the schools I have selected so far. Thank you times a million!

STATS:
cGPA: 3.45 sGPA: 3.88 Post-Bacc GPA: 3.93
MCAT: 30 (PS: 9 BS: 10 VR:11)
I have a BS in business management and am a semester away from earning a BS in Biology.

ECs:
I've been a full-time restaurant manager since 2007.
I have research experience (3 yrs genetics/molecular bio lab) and 2 summers in a row paid competitive research internship at my university. I have presented my research in posters at 2 Natl conferences and 3 oral symposia.
I have about 600 hours as hospital volunteer (Did clinical work here, spending time with inpatients registering them for patient portal) and primary care clinic triage volunteer, in America's largest free health clinic.
I am a paid organic chemistry peer leader, teaching weekly seminars for the chemistry department at my university. I also tutored inner city schoolchildren in an after school program.
I have spent about 120 hours shadowing physicians in various specialities.
I led weekly activity nights at a Stroke Rehab at a hospital for about a year. The list goes on and on.....

SCHOOLS: (fyi, I REALLY REALLY want to stay in Chicago)

I picked them based on 10th percentile GPA & MCATs as well as IS/OOS ratios on MSAR.

* Albany Medical College
* Eastern Virginia Medical School
* Georgetown University School of Medicine
* Indiana University School of Medicine
* Loyola University Chicago
* Medical College of Wisconsin
* New York Medical College
* Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine
* Oakland University William Beaumont School of Medicine
* Oregon Health and Science University
* Quinnipiac University SOM
* Rush University SOM
* Saint Louis University School of Medicine
* Southern Illinois School of Medicine
* University of Chicago - Pritzker (this and NU are my long shots)
* University of Illinois at Chicago
* University of Louisville School of Medicine
* University of Missouri - Kansas City
* University of North Carolina School of Medicine
* University of Rochester School of Medicine
* University of Wisconsin
* Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine
* Western Michigan University Homer Stryker M.D. School of Medicine
* Wright State University Boonshoft School of Medicine

 

[Hospitalized]

I'd ditch OHSU and UNC (Low OOS yield), add Rush (In chicago) and Creighton. Permitting you have a religious background, maybe add Loma Linda as well. Could also try U of Kentucky at Lexington. Overall I think you have a good shot. Hope the cycle goes well for you!

Edit: I've also heard OHSU has a beastly secondary, so that's another reason to leave it off as an OOS applicant.

 

[2015istheYear]

I'd ditch OHSU and UNC (Low OOS yield), add Rush (In chicago) and Creighton. Permitting you have a religious background, maybe add Loma Linda as well. Could also try U of Kentucky at Lexington. Overall I think you have a good shot. Hope the cycle goes well for you!

Edit: I've also heard OHSU has a beastly secondary, so that's another reason to leave it off as an OOS applicant.

Thanks! I will add Creighton for sure. Not sure how it slipped through the cracks.
Rush is one of my top choices, somehow left it off there.

 

[2015istheYear]

Dumb question maybe but... if a school's 10th percentile MCAT AND GPA is higher than yours, is there a point in applying?

 

[2015istheYear]

Thanks! I will add Creighton for sure. Not sure how it slipped through the cracks.
Rush is one of my top choices, somehow left it off there.

Man, the numbers are truly staggering on some of these schools for OOS applicants, take Eastern Virginia for example, only 396 out of 5,574 OOSer's got interviewed, and of those 396, half (195) got acceptances. Should I spend my time and money on secondaries for a 3.5% chance???

EDIT: Well, maybe that's the idea with applying to ~20 schools. You can compound your chances of getting in by applying widely... right?

 

[Hospitalized]

Dumb question maybe but... if a school's 10th percentile MCAT AND GPA is higher than yours, is there a point in applying?

Meh, probably not. People who are under that are usually outliers, peace corps volunteers, athletes, etc. Although, your EC's are pretty good. Can't be excluded but I think there are enough schools out there that you can land between the 10th and 90th for all of your choices with just a few reaches.

Man, the numbers are truly staggering on some of these schools for OOS applicants, take Eastern Virginia for example, only 396 out of 5,574 OOSer's got interviewed, and of those 396, half (195) got acceptances. Should I spend my time and money on secondaries for a 3.5% chance???

EDIT: Well, maybe that's the idea with applying to ~20 schools. You can compound your chances of getting in by applying widely... right?

Yep! Someone has to get those interviews and acceptances. Why can't you have one? Sure, there's 5,500 applicants. It's the east coast. But, I bet you at least 3,000-4,000 get screened pretty quick. Don't let the numbers intimidate you.

 

[Jagon]

Add CCOM

 

[Catalystik]

Add Wayne, which will judge you by postbac GPA and not undergrad GPA. And RFU in North Chicago.

 

[Catalystik]

People who are under that are usually outliers, peace corps volunteers, athletes, etc.

Other possible mitigating factors: Special Masters program completion with a GPA>3.7, membership in an scarse population group, interest in rural med or inner-city med, first family member to attend college, economic disadvantage, people with PhDs, ex-military, participants in Teach for America.

 

[2015istheYear]

Other possible mitigating factors: Special Masters program completion with a GPA>3.7, membership in an scarse population group, interest in rural med or inner-city med, first family member to attend college, economic disadvantage, people with PhDs, ex-military, participants in Teach for America.

Well, I am an economically disadvantaged, first generation college student with an interest in urban medicine.

 

[resiroth]

Well, I am an economically disadvantaged, first generation college student with an interest in urban medicine.

All those are good, and may allow you to get an acceptance despite being below their average..but to be in the bottom 10% of BOTH GPA and MCAT is unusual. To start, people in the bottom 10% of GPA are often not in the bottom 10% of their MCAT. Think someone that went to MIT and had a 3.2, but 38 MCAT.

To be blunt: most medical schools want to avoid a class that is 50% Asian and 50% white, so academic standards are different based on race. This doesn't mean that they don't belong there, just that they're willing to cut them slack academically to avoid a homogenous class. AA is not really needed to balance gender ratios for medical school, but if a women's college goes co-Ed and is finding trouble filling their class then standards are lowered for males. Is it fair? No, but I can see why they do it.

So a decent chunk don't overlap, a decent chunk are under-represented, and a very very small % have done something incredible like they're an Olympic athlete or started a multimillion dollar non-profit or invented something that saved thousands of lives in Africa. The last category increases in % as you get to top schools.

So the short answer is no, it doesn't make sense to apply because unless you're URM or something that is recognized on a national level or a 45 MCAT and a 3.3 GPA this bottom 10% category represents very different people than your average applicant.

 

[2015istheYear]

All those are good, and may allow you to get an acceptance despite being below their average..but to be in the bottom 10% of BOTH GPA and MCAT is unusual. To start, people in the bottom 10% of GPA are often not in the bottom 10% of their MCAT. Think someone that went to MIT and had a 3.2, but 38 MCAT.

To be blunt: most medical schools want to avoid a class that is 50% Asian and 50% white, so academic standards are different based on race. This doesn't mean that they don't belong there, just that they're willing to cut them slack academically to avoid a homogenous class. AA is not really needed to balance gender ratios for medical school, but if a women's college goes co-Ed and is finding trouble filling their class then standards are lowered for males. Is it fair? No, but I can see why they do it.

So a decent chunk don't overlap, a decent chunk are under-represented, and a very very small % have done something incredible like they're an Olympic athlete or started a multimillion dollar non-profit or invented something that saved thousands of lives in Africa. The last category increases in % as you get to top schools.

So the short answer is no, it doesn't make sense to apply because unless you're URM or something that is recognized on a national level or a 45 MCAT and a 3.3 GPA this bottom 10% category represents very different people than your average applicant.

Totally makes sense, thank you for answering. I'm all about applying to the schools I have the most likely chance of getting into.

 

[2015istheYear]

***UPDATED Med School App. list:*** I am still open for advice, thanks!!

* Albany Medical College
* Creighton University School of Medicine
* Eastern Virginia Medical School
* Georgetown University School of Medicine
* Indiana University School of Medicine
* Loyola University Chicago
* Medical College of Wisconsin
* New York Medical College
* Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine
* Oakland University William Beaumont School of Medicine
* Quinnipiac University SOM
* Rosalind Franklin Chicago School of Medicine
* Rush University School of Medicine
* Saint Louis University School of Medicine
* Southern Illinois School of Medicine
* University of Chicago - Pritzker (this and NU are my long shots)
* University of Illinois at Chicago
* University of Kentucky College of Medicine
* University of Louisville School of Medicine
* University of Missouri - Kansas City
* University of Wisconsin
* Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine
* Wayne State University School of Medicine
* Wright State University Boonshoft School of Medicine
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