GPA 3.88, MCAT 37N, Various ECs. Thoughts?

[Triathlete234]

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After looking through old threads, I guess it's time to ask for your advice:

Here are my stats:
--Graduating from a top CA public university with high/highest honors. Memberships in Phi Kappa Phi, Phi Sigma. Department citation award for independent research and academic achievement.
--Overall GPA 3.88, not sure about the science v. humanities breakdown, but mostly science (bio related major).
--MCAT 37N: 14PS, 13BS, 10VR (ran out of time on the essays/figured they didn't matter as much as the other sections).
--2 quarters, 40hrs each (so 80hrs total) in an orthopedics clinic at a major hospital: volunteering, shadowing the docs, greeting patients, helping the nurses. Got to help make a cast. Got to sit in on physician conferences, saw how the team of physicians make decisions. Saw lots of x-rays/MRIs.
--1 quarter, 40hrs, in the orthotics/prosthetics department of the same major hospital: helped the orthosists (sp?) around the hospital, helped put orthoses on patients, saw/interacted with patients from several department in the hospital.
--1 yr working on my own independent research project based on an upper division class in my major. Research is on athletes, so I went through the process of getting my project approved by the IRB for human subjects research. I'm running this mostly on my own. Recently started collecting data, will be finishing over the summer/fall if necessary. My faculty advisor should be able to write me a solid LOR.
--3 yrs of tutoring engineering-level physics and math: first year with a private company, last two years for my university.
--Taught anatomy with cadavers for 1 quarter at my school this last year. AMAZING experience. Offered once a year. I'm going to be it teaching again next near.
--2 yrs on the triathlon team at my school. Held 2 leadership positions on the team this year: travel coordinator and sponsorship coordinator. Great experience in organizing large groups of people and communicating with a wide variety of people. Large time commitment. Completed 2 half-Ironmans this year, considering training for an Ironman in my year off.
--4 yrs in the school marching band (trombone!), but most involved my first 2 years.
--Will be teaching MCAT classes for Kaplan starting in fall.

I figure my hospital/volunteer work is a little light, so I've been debating between taking another year to get more experience and just applying with what I have now. Perhaps my research and tutoring/teaching experiences could help offset this?

What schools do you think I'd have a good chance at getting in to? I'm figuring mid-teir is within reach, though I need to buy the MSAR to figure out which schools exactly. Might I have a shot at some top-teir schools like UCLA/Stanford/Harvard? I figure not without some (a lot?) more medical experience.

Thank you for your honest opinions.

 

[dodobird1]

Did all the checklist items, decent stats as well. I would apply very broadly in the top 20, then a few safeties below. Really can't guarantee you anything at this point but I think you're obviously in good shape (don't expect anything though).

 

[Whatyousay]

Just do some volunteering during the summer at your local hospital to build up clinical experience.

With your stats, I couldn't imagine a good reason for you to defer a year. You might be a little light on research for the research-heavy schools, but then again, how "much" research is enough is anyone's guess. You seem like a well-rounded, competitive applicant.

I'm not sure how California views clinical experience, but in terms of pure stats, you have numbers that most applicants would kill for (obviously, check the requirements for Cali schools on their websites to get a better feel of how your clinical experience stacks up with their requirements).

 

[raltima07]

I like you research!

 

[gerrymcgraw]

Sounds like an insane resume to me. Top tier is so demanding!

 

[Catalystik]

After looking through old threads, I guess it's time to ask for your advice:

Here are my stats:
--Graduating from a top CA public university with high/highest honors. Memberships in Phi Kappa Phi, Phi Sigma. Department citation award for independent research and academic achievement.
--Overall GPA 3.88, not sure about the science v. humanities breakdown, but mostly science (bio related major).
--MCAT 37N: 14PS, 13BS, 10VR (ran out of time on the essays/figured they didn't matter as much as the other sections).
--2 quarters, 40hrs each (so 80hrs total) in an orthopedics clinic at a major hospital: volunteering, shadowing the docs, greeting patients, helping the nurses. Got to help make a cast. Got to sit in on physician conferences, saw how the team of physicians make decisions. Saw lots of x-rays/MRIs.
--1 quarter, 40hrs, in the orthotics/prosthetics department of the same major hospital: helped the orthosists (sp?) around the hospital, helped put orthoses on patients, saw/interacted with patients from several department in the hospital.
--1 yr working on my own independent research project based on an upper division class in my major. Research is on athletes, so I went through the process of getting my project approved by the IRB for human subjects research. I'm running this mostly on my own. Recently started collecting data, will be finishing over the summer/fall if necessary. My faculty advisor should be able to write me a solid LOR.
--3 yrs of tutoring engineering-level physics and math: first year with a private company, last two years for my university.
--Taught anatomy with cadavers for 1 quarter at my school this last year. AMAZING experience. Offered once a year. I'm going to be it teaching again next near.
--2 yrs on the triathlon team at my school. Held 2 leadership positions on the team this year: travel coordinator and sponsorship coordinator. Great experience in organizing large groups of people and communicating with a wide variety of people. Large time commitment. Completed 2 half-Ironmans this year, considering training for an Ironman in my year off.
--4 yrs in the school marching band (trombone!), but most involved my first 2 years.
--Will be teaching MCAT classes for Kaplan starting in fall.

I figure my hospital/volunteer work is a little light, so I've been debating between taking another year to get more experience and just applying with what I have now. Perhaps my research and tutoring/teaching experiences could help offset this?

What schools do you think I'd have a good chance at getting in to? I'm figuring mid-teir is within reach, though I need to buy the MSAR to figure out which schools exactly. Might I have a shot at some top-teir schools like UCLA/Stanford/Harvard? I figure not without some (a lot?) more medical experience.

Thank you for your honest opinions.

If you are ambitious for a top tier school, then for a better chance, wait to get another year of research under your belt before you apply, and maybe start some nonmedical community service on a weekly basis, besides broadening your clinical experience and shadowing to include a primary care environment.

If you are in a hurry, with your stats and current ECs, you'll get in somewhere if you apply now, but I'd suggest including a number of non-top twenties that aren't so focused on research and where your year of research is of an average duration. You have enough excellent ECs that a more selective school might bite anyway. And if you do apply now, let schools know if you make improvements in your clinical hours, nonmedical volunteering, and shadowing in update letters, in Secondary essays, or during interview conversations.

 

[Triathlete234]

Thank you all for your opinions. I'm flattered that you think highly of my resume. I've decided to apply this round and hope for the best. I'm thinking of applying to 10 top-twenty schools, 8 mid-tier schools, and 2 lower-tier backups. 1) Does this breakdown seem smart? 2) Which schools in each catagory do you think will like my ECs and research focus the best? I'm going to buy the MSAR today or tomorrow and start my search. Though I'm open to all specialties at this point, I'm interested in sports medicine, orthopedics, radiology, and surgery of various types. I'm told Colorado is great for sports med/ortho.

As a side note, my final grades for this quarter will not be on my transcript for about another month. One of those grades is for my last of 3 quarters of english/writing. I expect to get a 4.0 this quarter. Should I wait as late as early July to have my transcript sent to AMCAS, or should I have my current transcript without those finals grades sent ASAP?

Thanks!

 

[thespazz]

As a side note, my final grades for this quarter will not be on my transcript for about another month. One of those grades is for my last of 3 quarters of english/writing. I expect to get a 4.0 this quarter. Should I wait as late as early July to have my transcript sent to AMCAS, or should I have my current transcript without those finals grades sent ASAP?

Thanks!

thats what update letters are for. send it now.

 

[Catalystik]

Enter the third quarter of English into the AMCAS transcript as a Future course so schools know you've done it. Don't wait a month for the grade to be available.

 

[Triathlete234]

Enter the third quarter of English into the AMCAS transcript as a Future course so schools know you've done it. Don't wait a month for the grade to be available.

Thanks for the advice. I had my college registrar send my transcripts about a week ago.

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I'm in the thick of figuring out my school list, but I need some help. I'm a CA resident, just graduated (woohoo!) from a UC. Here is the list I have now, ranked by a list I found here: http://www.studentdoc.com/component...re&Itemid=362&view=medschoolrank&ranktype=mix

1. Johns Hopkins
2. Washington U in St. Louis
3. Stanford
4. Harvard
5. UCSD
6. U Penn
7. Yale
8. UCSF
9. UCLA
10. Dartmouth
11. Cornell (Weill)
12. Columbia
13. U Pitt
14. Mount Sinai
15. Case Western
16. U of Rochester
17. NYU
18. U of Chicago
19. U of Colorado
20. Ohio State
21. UC Irvine
22. Wake Forest
23. U of Cincinnati
24. Brown
25. Penn State
26. UC Davis
27. Boston U
28. U of Arizona
29. Stony Brook U
30. Georgetown
31. Oregon HSU
32. USC
33. Virginia Commonwealth
34. Jefferson
35. Tufts
36. Drexel
37. Temple
38. Albany
39. George Washington

I'd prefer not to pay $1,376 just for primary apps. Ideally, I'd like to apply to 30 schools at max. Which schools would you recommend deleting? Please take a look at my brief resume, above. I'm down to live in any of these school's locations, as far as I know.

I just want to be sure I have a good shot at getting in somewhere. Thanks for your educated opinions!

 

[Triathlete234]

Bumping. Thanks for your advice!