Help making school list

[chemist13579]

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HI everyone! I am worried that I have high stats but below average ec's, so I would appreciate any help in deciding where to apply.

IL resident

GPA~3.96
MCAT 521

research for 2 years (no publications, but 1 local poster presentation at my university)
volunteer at free clinic for the past year~150 hours
scribe job over the past 3 summers~450 hours
EDIT- I meant about 450 hours per summer!

20 shadowing hours
co-president of a campus club (created an outreach program to local schools)
Studied abroad
nonmedical volunteering at a local childrens organization~200 hours
Other than that I am in band and I also volunteer to lead sectionals at a local high school band once a week.

Please help me!

 

[RedPanda55]

Use this! You could apply pretty much anywhere but having a balanced list is highly recommended.

 

[chemist13579]

Use this! You could apply pretty much anywhere but having a balanced list is highly recommended.

Thank you so much! Just a quick question-this link said I should not apply to rush or Rosalind franklin since they are low yield, but they are also in-state for me. Should I add them to my list?

 

[RedPanda55]

Thank you so much! Just a quick question-this link said I should not apply to rush or Rosalind franklin since they are low yield, but they are also in-state for me. Should I add them to my list?

Add them if you'd like! The Wedge system is merely a guide. It will tell you what sort of schools you should be applying to based on your stats and the range of schools you should apply to in certain tiers but you don't have to follow it to the "T."

 

[thegrind33]

Jesus man I can't believe some of the things I read here about "below average ECs", your ECs are above average man. Go for those ivys

 

[LoveBeingHuman:)]

ECs are below average: even with scribing, the volunteer, both clinical and non clinical are perhaps average or a little low. For ivy, they are mediocre. However, I also suspect the OP is not expressing them as well as he/she could

@LizzyM has previously stated that 150 hours of clinic/non-clinical volunteering (EACH) are and I quote, "decent"

 

[ciestar]

@LizzyM has previously stated that 150 hours of clinic/non-clinical volunteering (EACH) are and I quote, "decent"

Likely not for top schools.

 

[ciestar]

OP, be aware of Rush’s volunteering requirement. I believe the average matriculant enters with over 1000 hours of community service.

 

[LizzyM]

HI everyone! I am worried that I have high stats but below average ec's, so I would appreciate any help in deciding where to apply.

IL resident

GPA~3.96
MCAT 521

research for 2 years (no publications, but 1 local poster presentation at my university)
volunteer at free clinic for the past year~150 hours
scribe job over the past 3 summers~450 hours
20 shadowing hours
co-president of a campus club (created an outreach program to local schools)
Studied abroad
nonmedical volunteering at a local childrens organization~200 hours
Other than that I am in band and I also volunteer to lead sectionals at a local high school band once a week.

Please help me!

@LizzyM has previously stated that 150 hours of clinic/non-clinical volunteering (EACH) are and I quote, "decent"

And I'd say that taking all this together, the applicant has a decent chance just about any school. Holistically, all the boxes are checked and there is the band angle including community service to the local HS band which is not a common activity. That said, too little clinical experience for a school like Rush.

 

[LizzyM]

If you have a 3.96/521 and you can make eye contact and speak in coherent sentences, some schools won't care about anything else. #gradewhores.

 

[LoveBeingHuman:)]

If you have a 3.96/521 and you can make eye contact and speak in coherent sentences, some schools won't care about anything else. #gradewhores.

What’s your view on the general 520+ applicant category? How many would you say are reasonably social? How many would you say don’t have any EC’s? How many would you say have outrageous EC’s? How many would you say come off as pretentious?

 

[Goro]

@LizzyM and I are in agreement on this that 150 hours each are reasonable baseline for solid candidates. I as said in first my posting this OP had average for those hours, but overall ECs were not particularly impressive, certainly not outstanding for an ivy. When I see an academically outstanding candidate but the rest is not impressive on paper, am I seeing someone who did nothing but study for 4 years? But I also said I would say this OP isnt expressing ECs as well as he/she could

I agree with the wise LizzyM that there are indeed stat ***** schools, I have disagree with my learned colleague gonnif that the OP has mediocre ECs. 450 hrs of scribing x 3 summers is a ton of clinical experience. Keep in mind that this is also employment. Work experience is a good thing. the two years of research might satisfy Stanford and their ilk. My take of SDNers who get into really Top Schools is that quality tops quantity, even though quantity has a quality all of its own. In addition, these rock stars tend to have hundreds, even thousands of hours of clinical and/or service experiences.

Hence, OP, I suggest aiming high:
Yale
WashU
Vanderbilt
NYU
U Chicago
U Penn
Northwestern
JHU
Harvard
Stanford
Sinai
Cornell
Columbia
Duke
U VA
U MI
BU
Case
USC/Keck
Mayo
U Cincy
Pitt
USF Morsani
U WI
Ohio State
Hofstra
U IA
UCSF
UCSD
IU (maybe)
Albert Einstein
Emory
Rochester
Dartmouth
Miami
Western MI
Jefferson
U VM
U IL
SIU IF you're from southern IL
U IL-Carle

 

[LizzyM]

What’s your view on the general 520+ applicant category? How many would you say are reasonably social? How many would you say don’t have any EC’s? How many would you say have outrageous EC’s? How many would you say come off as pretentious?

I'd say that 5-10% of the folks in that upper right hand cell of the famous AAMC grid are not social enough to do well in medicine and are turned down in favor of candidates with lesser stats but better social skills. I suspect that a relatively small proportion are lacking in 2 of the 4 things the committee wants to see: 1) research, 2) community service, 3) medical exposure, 4) teamwork or leadership. That might account for another 3-4% of the folks in the top corner who end up with no offers. It is hard to say how many have "outrageous" ECs. I suspect that it may be < 10% of the pool in that top cell.

In my experience, only a small proportion, 1-2%, are pretentious.

 

[LoveBeingHuman:)]

I'd say that 5-10% of the folks in that upper right hand cell of the famous AAMC grid are not social enough to do well in medicine and are turned down in favor of candidates with lesser stats but better social skills. I suspect that a relatively small proportion are lacking in 2 of the 4 things the committee wants to see: 1) research, 2) community service, 3) medical exposure, 4) teamwork or leadership. That might account for another 3-4% of the folks in the top corner who end up with no offers. It is hard to say how many have "outrageous" ECs. I suspect that it may be < 10% of the pool in that top cell.

In my experience, only a small proportion, 1-2%, are pretentious.

So I’m gathering that most of them have cookie cutter EC’s just like the rest of us?

 

[LizzyM]

So I’m gathering that most of them have cookie cutter EC’s just like the rest of us?

Yes, I'd say that 85% of the candidates in that upper corner of the grid have the usual ECs, 10% have something exceptional, and 5% are seriously lacking in that regard.

 

[chemist13579]

Thank you everyone for your help! @LizzyM would be able to look over my tentative school list and let me know what you think?

Northwestern
Stanford
Baylor
Boston University
UCSF
Rosalind Franklin
UChicago
Duke
Minnesota
Emory
Harvard
UIC
UTsouthwestern
Dell med
U of Michigan
Indiana
Loyola
U of Rochester
U of Wisconsin
SLU
WashU
Case
Keck