HELP! Which schools to apply to...

[Cactus3]

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[WashMe]

I'm applying this cycle and I'd like to get some feedback from the good people of Student Doctor Forums. Here are my stats:

-Class of 2009 from a top 20 university
-3.90 cGPA, 3.86 sGPA, 34O MCAT (PS 11, V 11, BS 12), summa cum laude
-2 Publications in peer-reviewed journals (one of which I am a second author)
-Currently a research technician in a lab (a ton of research experience and my "selling point" as I want to continue research)
-Average clinical exposure (volunteered in ER, cancer center, shadowed a few doctors, but nothing to write home about)
-Substantial non-clinical volunteer experience
-Great recs from PIs
-I am planning to retake the MCAT in July for hopefuly 35+.

So here are the questions:

1) Which schools should I apply to? And how many?
2) What are my chances at top 10 schools? top 20? (My dream schools are Duke, Vanderbilt, and Emory)
3) What would be the best usage of my time to perhaps improve my app at this time? More clinical work? Does that even matter at this point?

Thanks everyone! 🙂

1) Apply to your in-state schools, then go from there. Aim for 16-24 completed applications, and shoot more on the higher end of that number if you really have your heart set on going to a top school (it sounds like you might). I suggest you apply to 8-12 schools in the Top 20, then 16-12 schools ranked below #20 (for a total of 24 applications-- if you do fewer, I would take out some Top 20 schools).

2) You have a great chance at Top 20 and Top 10 schools. It is impossible to predict which ones will interview or accept you, so apply to many of them if prestige is really important to you. You have a good chance at any of your 3 aforementioned dream schools-- Duke would obviously be the most unlikely, unless you have some connection there already (e.g. undergrad).

3) Clinical work is always good. Also, brush up on all of the details of the research you've done because you'll be asked about it when you interview in a few months. Don't retake the MCAT unless you are at least 118% sure you'll score significantly higher (37++); a 34 is good enough. Retaking and scoring a 34-35 wouldn't just be neutral, it would look bad. Scoring worse would be... unthinkable, and unforgivable!