Help with school selection please

[eembzee]

Hey guys, I need some help narrowing down my schools to 20 (that's a good number right?), and also I have tons of questions!!!

some stats:
CA resident
3.74cGPA, 3.82sGPA
1st MCAT --> 31, PS:9 VR:11 BS:11 WR
2nd MCAT --> 34, PS:11 VR:11 BS:12 WR:Q
~100 hrs clinical experience at the VA
~100 hrs clinical internship --> i basically worked right underneath the nursing staff, great hands-on experience
~60 hrs shadowing primary care physician, neurologist, and a pediatric anesthesiologist
~1 year at a clinical research lab where i take measurements from patients, hand-on experience
~2 yrs at a sensory biophysics lab --> no publications tho
Officer for a student org
involved in various service clubs
biology TA for 3 quarters
worked as a food service worker --> is this important to note on the amcas?
sunday school teacher --> should i list this too?

i think that's it, my concern is my clinical experience and shadowing hours are a bit low from what i've seen on sdn, and also i've only been working at the hospitals for ~1 year

since im a CA resident, i think ill apply to all the CA schools:
UCSF
UCLA --> i've heard they dont give preference to CA residents, should I even bother?
UCSD
UCI
UCD
USC
Stanford --> i've heard that stanford is really into research, with no pubs should I even bother here too?

from the OOS schools, ill list from reach to safety
Vandy
Cornell
Mt. Sinai
Emory
Virginia --> since im OOS and right at the average for this school, should i still apply?
NYU
Ohio st.
Rochester
Boston
Dartmouth
OHSU
Einstein
Georgetown
Wake Forest
Tufts
Vermont
GW
Loyola
Mich st. --> im only applying here b/c i lived in MI for a while, do you guys think its a waste?
NYMC
Rosalind Franklin
Penn st.

I think i have 29 schools so far, and I think i want to cut that down to 20. I'm open to all suggestions on which schools i should drop or add!!!

Thanks for all the help!!!

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[Catalystik]

List everything.

The hospital volunteering, clinical research (if with sick folks), and the internship will all be looked at as clinical experience, so you're fine there. The shadowing is fine, the three years of research are fine, and you have teaching and leadership. If you have any nonmedical/noncampus community service, be sure to list that too. Food service worker employment should be listed so adcomms know how busy you were.

Vandy, Mt Sinai, Cornell, and UMichigan are on the reachy side, but it's OK to add a few dream schools. I don't find any of the schools completely unreasonable, so you might want to get an MSAR and eliminate some based on other factors: cost, distance from home, weather, safety, curriculum type, population of city, etc.

 

[eembzee]

thanks for the input!!!

i think i might take off mt. sinai and ohsu (just cuz they dont accept that many oos). should I keep virginia on there?

 

[canjosh]

Yes, keep Virginia. I'd recommend 25 schools for CA residents. Also consider Albany, Creighton, Tulane, and the SUNY schools.

 

[eembzee]

thanks for advice, i think ill add a couple more safety schools and remove some reach schools...do you guys think this list is too top-heavy? im just really afraid of not getting in anywhere this cycle

 

[OGMD]

I applied with similar stats to you and from CA this last cycle and just ended up with two waitlists. I'm not trying to discourage at all, but if I could start over, I would definitely add more safety schools. Just something to consider.

 

[eembzee]

I applied with similar stats to you and from CA this last cycle and just ended up with two waitlists. I'm not trying to discourage at all, but if I could start over, I would definitely add more safety schools. Just something to consider.

ohh man, so i checked your stats (a little stalker-ish, i know) and that is really unfortunate i think im definitely gonna add more lower-tier schools

 

[eembzee]

okay, so this is what i have:

UCSF
UCLA
UCSD
UCI
UCD
USC

Vandy
Cornell
Emory
NYU
Rochester
Boston
Dartmouth
Einstein
Georgetown
Wake Forest
Tufts
Temple
Vermont
Jefferson
George Washington
Creighton
Loyola
NYMC
Penn State

How does that look? Any other suggestions? Thanks

 

[Catalystik]

I think you should put RFU back on the list and remove GW that gets >13,000 applications per year.