GPA: 3.92 MCAT: 513 School List Help?

[mistblue]

Hi everyone, I was wondering if I could get some help with forming a school list for the upcoming cycle and any tips on how to improve my application.

Background: Asian male, current senior
State of Residence: CA
School: Top 30 CA public school
sGPA/cGPA: 3.91/3.92
MCAT: 513 (127/125/130/131)
- Unsure if I should retake because of CARS, but currently studying for a retake registered for April
- Only considering a retake because I am an ORM in CA and am in a better state of mind than when I first took it. Had a pretty bad study plan the first time around too.

Clinical Experience:
1) 250 hours as hospital volunteer in various departments
2) 100 hours in ED working with patient experience to ensure adequate treatment and escalate any issues to doctors and nurses
3) 100 hours shadowing (neurosurgeon and geriatrician)
4) 50 hours giving free health checkups at health fairs in under-served communities around school

Research Experience:
1) 800 hours of clinical research working with SCI patients, 1 poster presentation (no basic science research), no publications

Non-clinical Volunteering:
1) 200 hours helping to cook and feed homeless/veterans
2) 100 hours teaching health at elementary schools
3) 50 hours as a TA for an anatomy course
4) 2 weeks teaching English to rural elementary schools in Taiwan

Work Experience:
1) 100 hours as Lab Assistant in same clinical research lab
2) 250 hours customer service on campus store
3) 50 hours as part time piano and violin music teacher

Other Extracurricular Activities:
1) Captain of IM dodgeball team for 3 years
2) Training coordinator for the ED volunteer (no other leadership)

Awards and Certificates
1) School scholarship
2) EMT certified, was planning on working as EMT during upcoming gap year

I have spent some time going through the other WAMC threads, but this is my first time getting advice for myself so I am not sure what to expect. Any input and suggestions for schools as well as advice for my MCAT situation would be greatly appreciated! Also just to add, I would ideally like to remain in California for school but I know that this is not up to me. Thank you again!

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[tantacles]

Hi everyone, I was wondering if I could get some help with forming a school list for the upcoming cycle and any tips on how to improve my application.

Background: Asian male, current senior
State of Residence: CA
School: Top 30 CA public school
sGPA/cGPA: 3.91/3.92
MCAT: 513 (127/125/130/131)
- Unsure if I should retake, but currently studying for a retake registered for April
- Only considering a retake because I am an ORM in CA and am in a better state of mind than when I first took it. Had a pretty bad study plan the first time around too.

Clinical Experience:
1) 250 hours as hospital volunteer in various departments
2) 100 hours in ED working with patient experience to ensure adequate treatment and escalate any issues to doctors and nurses
3) 100 hours shadowing (neurosurgeon and geriatrician)
4) 50 hours giving free health checkups at health fairs in under-served communities around school

Research Experience:
1) 800 hours of clinical research working with SCI patients, 1 poster presentation (no basic science research), no publications

Non-clinical Volunteering:
1) 200 hours helping to cook and feed homeless/veterans
2) 100 hours teaching health at elementary schools
3) 50 hours as a TA for an anatomy course
4) 2 weeks teaching English to rural elementary schools in Taiwan

Work Experience:
1) 100 hours as Lab Assistant in same clinical research lab
2) 250 hours customer service on campus store
3) 50 hours as part time piano and violin music teacher

Other Extracurricular Activities:
1) Captain of IM dodgeball team for 3 years
2) Training coordinator for the ED volunteer (no other leadership)

Awards and Certificates
1) School scholarship
2) EMT certified, was planning on working as EMT during upcoming gap year

I have spent some time going through the other WAMC threads, but this is my first time getting advice for myself so I am not sure what to expect. Any input and suggestions for schools as well as advice for my MCAT situation would be greatly appreciated! Also just to add, I would ideally like to remain in California for school but I know that this is not up to me. Thank you again!

My strong suggestion is to start by looking at MSAR and select a list of 15-20 schools that you plan to apply to. Then, post them here so that we can help you edit rather than starting from scratch. If your only wish is to stay in California and you have no other geographic preferences, it's hard for us to come up with a school list for you without more guidance, and it seems like a fool's game in any case.

So first, might be good to make some choices re: big city or rural area? North or south? Coastal or midwest? Then choose schools that fit your qualifications and we can help with additions and revisions.

 

[mistblue]

My strong suggestion is to start by looking at MSAR and select a list of 15-20 schools that you plan to apply to. Then, post them here so that we can help you edit rather than starting from scratch. If your only wish is to stay in California and you have no other geographic preferences, it's hard for us to come up with a school list for you without more guidance, and it seems like a fool's game in any case.

So first, might be good to make some choices re: big city or rural area? North or south? Coastal or midwest? Then choose schools that fit your qualifications and we can help with additions and revisions.

Hi tantacles thanks for the reply. I actually had a list of schools that I was planning on applying to. Here is the list so far:
UC Davis
UC Irvine
UCLA
UCR (went to high school in inland empire)
UCSD
UCSF
California University of Science and Medicine
Keck
Drexel
Georgetown
Ohio State
Case Western
Einstein
Penn State
New York Medical College
NYU
Stony Brook
Rochester
Hofstra
Rush
Thomas Jefferson
Pitt
Brown
Dartmouth
Tufts
Boston University
Tulane

Not sure if I should apply to more reach schools due to my MCAT score, so any advice is greatly appreciated.

 

[Faha]

NYU, Pitt, Case Western, UCSF are reaches with your MCAT. I suggest adding these schools:
Kaiser (when it opens)
Miami
Temple
Eastern Virginia
Virginia Commonwealth
George Washington
Western Michigan
St. Louis
Loyola
Rosalind Franklin

 

[chlorocruorin]

Also add TCU (new school)

 

[tantacles]

Hi tantacles thanks for the reply. I actually had a list of schools that I was planning on applying to. Here is the list so far:
UC Davis
UC Irvine
UCLA
UCR (went to high school in inland empire)
UCSD
UCSF
California University of Science and Medicine
Keck
Drexel
Georgetown
Ohio State
Case Western
Einstein
Penn State
New York Medical College
NYU
Stony Brook
Rochester
Hofstra
Rush
Thomas Jefferson
Pitt
Brown
Dartmouth
Tufts
Boston University
Tulane

Not sure if I should apply to more reach schools due to my MCAT score, so any advice is greatly appreciated.

I like your list. You're already pretty top heavy, so you don't need to add any more reach schools, but given your GPA, even with your MCAT score, you could add a couple more if you wanted to and could afford it. That being said, you have a pretty diverse spread and overall should have a good shot.