Help with school list please

[tpham1030]

I would greatly appreciate thoughts and comments on my school list. I applied last year but I made the mistake of not applying broadly enough and I want to make sure i do so this time

About me:
CA Resident
Graduating from UCSD in June with major in bioengineering

3.68 cGPA, 3.86 sGPA, 34R MCAT (10 B, 12 P, 12 V)
Clinical Experience: Volunteer in emergency room for the last three years (4 hours a week)
Global Medical Brigades to Honduras: spring break of sophomore year we went to Honduras to set up a traveling free clinic in the rural areas of the country. I shadowed doctors, worked in triage and pharmacy
Leadership: I have been a TA for a biology class for the past three years. (I started sophomore year and have done it for 9 quarters now)
Tutor/mentor for high school near campus for half a year
Worked as a private tutor for a year
Research: Worked for a year as a lab assistant doing basic lab maintenance stuff (making solutions, autoclaving etc.)
Started working in research lab last summer doing actual research with C Elegans and lifespan pathways
No publications or posters =(

I chose my OOS state schools based on their OOS numbers but not whether some schools only take OOS from certain states so if anyone has any info on that it would be great.

UCSD
Tufts
Vanderbilt
Dartmouth
Einstein
Rochester
Ohio State
USC Keck
UCI
UCLA
Boston
Cincinnati
Saint Louis
Wake Forest
U of Wisconsin
UC Davis
Creighton
SUNY Upstate
OHSU
Jefferson
Vermont
MC Wisconsin
Buffalo
Temple
Illinois
Drexel
Iowa
Miami
UMDNJ-RWJMS (maybe)
Penn State (maybe)
Connecticut (maybe)

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[bravofleet4]

does your school have a list of where UCSD students applied to last year and we're accepted? UCI i think compiles this list indirectly from the LOR service they offer and what schools the students ask they send the letter packet to.

you could add suny downstate and virginia

 

[canjosh]

Looks like a good list. You could possibly add Emory and those schools bravo mentioned. I was rejected by Vandy with a slightly higher GPA/same MCAT. Nice job on the VR, by the way. I had no research,, which may have done me in for Vandy and Mayo.

Good luck.

 

[dragon529]

close to 30 schools? writing all those secondaries will take a lot of time.

 

[tpham1030]

Yea but I don't want to make the same mistake as last time and not apply broadly enough. Haha i think a fair amount of those schools don't have secondary essays though

 

[alibai3ah]

Looks like a good list. Although how many interviews did you have in the past cycle? I would make sure that there are no other holes in our app, just b/c u seem to be a pretty strong applicant on paper.

 

[canjosh]

close to 30 schools? writing all those secondaries will take a lot of time.

This is advisable as a CA resident. 25-ish is a good number.

 

[tpham1030]

Looks like a good list. Although how many interviews did you have in the past cycle? I would make sure that there are no other holes in our app, just b/c u seem to be a pretty strong applicant on paper.

I had 5 interviews this cycle. I'm currently on 3 waitlists but I want to plan ahead for the worst I think my biggest problem was that i retook my MCATS in August so my file wasn't complete until september. I haven't been able to obtain much feedback from the schools that rejected me. Some of them told me to contact them again in June so I'm not sure what the biggest weaknesses in my application are.

 

[tpham1030]

Any other advice?

 

[canjosh]

Albany and EVMS perhaps? The 0 for 5 on this year's interviews is a bit disturbing though--assuming you don't get off the WL. Do you have trouble with interviews?

 

[metallica81788]

Good list. Maybe look into UVA, VCU, Tulane, and Loyola. Maybe take off the NJ school and Uconn for OOS numbers purposes.

 

[tpham1030]

Albany and EVMS perhaps? The 0 for 5 on this year's interviews is a bit disturbing though--assuming you don't get off the WL. Do you have trouble with interviews?

Well I know my first one at UCSD was bad because I was too nervous. But I thought my others went well overall.

My interviewer at OSU said that I really sold him and he thought I would be a great fit for the program and he would 'fight' for me to get in....lol so I guess he lost the fight?

At Georgetown my interview went for about an hour and a half so I thought we connected well...and they ended up rejecting me outright post-interview...so i just don't know

 

[tritoneye]

Hi roommate. Hopefully you get accepted off the waitlist.