Help with school List, cGPA 3.45, MCAT 33 (9/13/11)

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_Panacea_

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Hi Guys,

I posted in this thread a while ago, but I was wondering if you guys wouldn't mind commenting on my school list.

I am a CA resident, and graduated from UC Berkeley in 2013 with a 3.37 gpa; including cc math I took in hs and some courses I have taken in the past two years at UCSD (where I work), my gpa bumped up a little.

I'm classifying myself as disadvantaged as well (due to low-income single parent/food stamps/medicaid etc. as a child - I had health care under my father's insurance, but my mother never did which has a big impact on my choice of medicine)

Extracurriculars:
Been doing research for 7 years -
- in high school for two summers at Salk institute working in Neurobiology with schizophrenia - have one 2nd author paper (in Nature)
- at Berkeley working in Immunology/ was also a lab helper (work/study)
- I'm currently a tech at UCSD doing RNA biology/sequencing tech stuff - no pubs yet but a few are soon to be submitted (sadly not til after i'll submit primary)

Clinical - volunteering in a hospital (basically working as a CNA) changing departments every 3 months. - 150 hrs
- volunteer in a small free clinic, currently around 40 hours, will start shadowing one of the doctors as well soon, continuing with this through next year

Leadership:
- was a dance assistant teacher on the Ballroom team
- Music Manager of my Jewish a cappella group for 1 year
- was on the executive board for my sorority (Risk management - planned health workshops for the chapter and made sure there were safety measures in place during high risk events)
- was on the board of a club called "Meal points for the Homeless" that aimed to collect excess food from students' meal plans to donate to homeless shelters
- was a leadership intern at Hillel designed to create programs that would serve a larger number of people. Through this, I organized a very successful Blood drive to take place in the Hillel building.

Recommendations - I will have very strong recommendations from 3 research profs, one from a neurochem course I took (but i don't know him that well), one from a medical anthropology professor, and one from the physician who's clinic I volunteer at (who I will also be shadowing)

My school list - i'd like to narrow it down some more because its so pricey, but I have my heart set on new york schools so its hard to let go of those even though they're a huge long shot.

Thank you so much for your input!!!

Mehary Medical College
Tulane University School of Medicine
Albany Medical College
Eastern Virginia
UC Davis
wake forest
NY Medical College
Drexel U
Loyola University Chicago Stritch
Chicago Medical School Rosalind Franklin
SUNY downstate
UCLA
Hofstra North Shore
Georgetown
Tufts Univ
Rush Univ (chicago)
Jefferson Med college (pa)
BU
Stony Brook
UCSD
Case Western
Einstein
UCSF
Columbia
Mt Sinai
NYU
Rochester

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are you URM? if not you can likely delete meharry, case, and the manhattan schools
 
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No i'm not... their website said they didn't choose based on race tho - just socioeconomic... is that not true? and what do you mean the manhattan schools?
 
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I think your list looks pretty good so far, but could be better if you switch out your reach schools with "safety schools." Using the MSAR will help.
Also make sure you fit the LOR requirements for each school e.g. Drexel and Jefferson.
 
Are you guys implying that Case in particular wants URM students?
 
no, just that a white applicant with a 3.4/33 is not very competitive for case
 
So being white negates being disadvantaged?
 
So being white negates being disadvantaged?

Yes. URM has a very technical meaning. But don't worry—there's an app (section) for you, too. AMCAS has a section where you can describe particular disadvantages that contributed to your performance.
 
Yes. URM has a very technical meaning. But don't worry—there's an app (section) for you, too. AMCAS has a section where you can describe particular disadvantages that contributed to your performance.

From what a former adcom I know irl has told me, schools actualyl crunch the income and education level stuff and spit out a 'score.' How much does that help? Is that true everywhere?
@LizzyM @Goro @gyngyn
 
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Right off the bat I can recommend taking off Georgetown, UCSF, Columbia, Rochester, NYU, Mt Sinai,

I would also definitely consider dropping Mehary, SUNY Downstate, UCLA, BU, Stony Brook, Einstein and Mt Sinai

This will definitely cut your list down but that is kind of the point. At 3.45/33, even from Berkeley, this list seems a tad bit top heavy.
Here some others to consider to replace some of the ones you remove
Medical College Wisconsin
Loma Linda(if you know nothing about it at least read about it and see if it might fit with you)
Temple
Western Michigan
Oakland
Qunnipac
Creighton(maybe)
VCU
 
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I'm sure this was asked before, but how important is it to have very accurate information for parents incomes? My family moved from a poor country to the US when I was 8 and struggled for a few years but both parents had a high level of education and have since then done well. Is it ok for me to make an informed estimate or should I be doing calculations to try to average it all out?
 
Parents income doesn't factor into EO. I haven't seen my adcom make much of family income. You can always chose not to report it because it varied so much over time.
 
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Thank you all for the help!

I've dropped Meharry and NYU, considering dropping BU and Rochester; might add Medical College Wisconsin

I'm keeping Case and Mt. Sinai because I know faculty in the med schools there (one of my LORs is at Mt. Sinai) so I figured that might help a little? And i'm too attached to columbia to let that one go.

Not sure why @GrapesofRath suggested I drop Georgetown? their 10th is a 2.29, 29. Anything I'm missing about that one?

As for LORs, I was under the impression that the Jefferson requirements were basically a suggestion? My school doesn't do committee letters and dont even come close to those reqs

My LORs are this:
- my high school mentor - faculty at Mt. Sinai
- undergrad research PI - faculty at berkeley
- neurochem prof at berkeley
- med anthro prof at berkeley
- my current PI at UCSD where im a tech
- physician who's clinic i work at/shadow

Thank you again to everyone! Hoping to submit on Monday or Tuesday :)
 
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To follow up on my wise colleague's comment, it's harder to get into Gtown than into Harvard.

So, when is it ever a good idea to apply to Gtown? I understand their acceptance rate is extremely low, but surely if more followed this advice, Gtown wouldn't have such a high application pool. What separates applicants who should go for it and those who are almost certainly just wasting money?
 
So, when is it ever a good idea to apply to Gtown? I understand their acceptance rate is extremely low, but surely if more followed this advice, Gtown wouldn't have such a high application pool. What separates applicants who should go for it and those who are almost certainly just wasting money?

Those who are on the low end of the statistical spectrum are the ones who it is best for them to apply to. When you are on the low end and gunning for any MD acceptance you can find it's in your best interest to apply to as many schools as possible where your stats are within some range of the schools matriculants. It doesn't make sense for 3.8/34's to spend time and money on Georgetown. Georgetown also being a Jesuit school will show appreciation towards those who have heavily been involved in service so those who fit the category might feel like they want to throw an application their way.
 
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Those who are on the low end of the statistical spectrum are the ones who it is best for them to apply to. When you are on the low end and gunning for any MD acceptance you can find it's in your best interest to apply to as many schools as possible where your stats are within some range of the schools matriculants. It doesn't make sense for 3.8/34's to spend time and money on Georgetown. Georgetown also being a Jesuit school will show appreciation towards those who have heavily been involved in service so those who fit the category might feel like they want to throw an application their way.

I was the one who told you you could remove Georgetown. I meant it because you are trying to narrow down your list for finances. You are one of the people I described above though who's stats are on the lowish end and whom it would make sense to apply to as many schools as possible where your stats might work. But if you are on a budget and can only apply to a certain amount of schools and need to remove some, a school like Georgetown with its 14K applications is a good place to start.

Thanks for the thorough response! It's on my list, but one of the first to go in favor of a more realistic school.
 
So, when is it ever a good idea to apply to Gtown? I understand their acceptance rate is extremely low, but surely if more followed this advice, Gtown wouldn't have such a high application pool. What separates applicants who should go for it and those who are almost certainly just wasting money?
People who attended Catholic school or live in D.C.
 
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