High Stats/Mediocre ECs (Help trimming down school list)

[smh2291]

State/Country of Residence: Canada, but an American citizen so im OOS everywhere

Ties to other States/Regions: Born in Baltimore, raised in NYC and left for Canada before middle school.

Year in School: Graduated 2021, Would be 25 at entering class if I matriculate this cycle
Undergraduate Major(s)/Minor(s): Psychology

Cumulative GPA: 3.96

Science GPA: 3.96

MCAT Score(s): 521(130, 129, 130, 132)

Research/Lab Experience:

• 160 hours of doing basic lab work
• 404 hours clinical research under a neurologist + 392 anticipated hours (Working on my own study atm but not pubs yet)

Clinical Experience (paid or volunteer):

• 384 hours + 200 anticipated hours volunteering at local hospital
• 77 hours volunteering at local clinic

Physician Shadowing: 54 hours virtual shadowing multiple different specialties

Non-Clinical Volunteering:

• 227 hours as a tutor for my university
• 225 hours as online chat responder/ended up getting promoted to a supervisor position

Employment History: 144 hours as a first and second year physics lab assistant

Hobbies: History/geopoltics enthusiast (2700 hours since highschool) + Weightlifting(900 hours)

Immediate family members in medicine? (Y/N): N

Specialty of Interest (if applicable): Neuro/Psychiatry but very open to change

Red Flag:

• Completely screwed my first year due to a medical issue and had to repeat it when I transferred Unis. At the time I was advised to drop out and focus on my health, but I was scared of “wasting” a year and stayed (Something I very much regret). Long story short, I couldn’t finish my courses and ended up petitioning the Uni for extenuating circumstances which they accepted because I had two doctors write a letter on my behalf. One course ended up as a late withdrawal, one ended up being only credit given with no grade shown and 2 others ended up with an “estimated grade”. Differences are due to different department policy for each course.
• Because of this I lost my scholarship so I ended up transferring to a Uni near my home as I don't have a lot of money. My new university (understandably) didn’t accept estimated grades and credit only courses so I had to repeat first year.
• TLDR I had to repeat my first year of Uni due to medical issues and I'm not sure how adcoms will see this.

This is also the last year I can apply with my MCAT score, so I kinda went overboard looking at schools I can apply to.

Albert Einstein College of Medicine
University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry
Weill Cornell Medicine
Tufts University School of Medicine
University of Vermont College of Medicine
George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences
Sidney Kimmel Medical College at Thomas Jefferson University
Boston University School of Medicine
Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell
Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania
Duke University School of Medicine
Washington University in St. Louis School of Medicine Northwestern
New York Medical College
Albany Medical College
Vanderbilt University School of Medicine
Case Western
Ohio State
Cincinnati
U Michigan
Pittsburgh
Emory University School of Medicine
Miami
U Virginia
USC Keck
Kaiser
NYU
Columbia
Dartmouth
Western Michigan
Mayo (both schools)
USF Morsani
Creighton University School of Medicine
Drexel University College of Medicine
Frank H. Netter MD School of Medicine at Quinnipiac University
Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth
Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine
Georgetown University School of Medicine
Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine
Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University
New York University Long Island School of Medicine
Northwestern University The Feinberg School of Medicine
Saint Louis University School of Medicine
Stanford & Yale (would these be too much of a reach for me?)
The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University
University of Chicago Division of the Biological Sciences The Pritzker School of Medicine
University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health
USF Health Morsani College of Medicine
Wake Forest University School of Medicine

Any advice to help trim this down a bit? I am really worried about my first year and my mediocre ECs, so I applied to a lot of "safety" schools. Any suggestions would be great!

Thank you so much!

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Is 3.96 your AMCAS GPA? Did you still have to repeat an entire year of A's?

 

[smh2291]

Is 3.96 your AMCAS GPA? Did you still have to repeat an entire year of A's?

For my first year, I have one course that's a W and 3 full year courses that are classified as incomplete with estimated grades(2 B+s and 1 A+). One full year course that I only got a credit for with no grade(different department policy). But yea after my first year I transferred Unis and they didn't accept the courses with estimated grades or the course with no grade so I had to repeat.

For the GPA calculation, I wasn't sure whether to include the incomplete course grades or not.

 

[Faha]

Some of the schools on your list will "yield protect" with your stats. I suggest these schools from your list:
Albert Einstein College of Medicine
University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry
Weill Cornell Medicine
Tufts University School of Medicine
University of Vermont College of Medicine
George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences
Sidney Kimmel Medical College at Thomas Jefferson University
Boston University School of Medicine
Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell
Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania
Duke University School of Medicine
Washington University in St. Louis School of Medicine Northwestern
Vanderbilt University School of Medicine
Case Western
Ohio State
Cincinnati
U Michigan
Pittsburgh
Emory University School of Medicine
Miami
U Virginia
USC Keck
Kaiser
NYU
Columbia
Western Michigan
Mayo (both schools)
USF Morsani
Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth
Georgetown University School of Medicine
New York University Long Island School of Medicine
Northwestern University The Feinberg School of Medicine
Saint Louis University School of Medicine
Stanford
Yale
The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University
University of Chicago Division of the Biological Sciences The Pritzker School of Medicine
University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health
USF Health Morsani College of Medicine

 

[smh2291]

Thank you Faha!

Would I still have to worry about Yield Protection even if my ECs aren't that great? One of my concerns is that there's nothing really outstanding about them that would catch the "higher" tier schools' interests.

@Faha

 

[Faha]

Thank you Faha!

Would I still have to worry about Yield Protection even if my ECs aren't that great? One of my concerns is that there's nothing really outstanding about them that would catch the "higher" tier schools' interests.

@Faha

Your ECs are not weak. The GPA-MCAT grid shows you have a greater than 90% chance for a MD acceptance. There are at least 12 schools on that final list that would not be considered "high tier".

 

[Mr.Smile12]

For my first year, I have one course that's a W and 3 full year courses that are classified as incomplete with estimated grades(2 B+s and 1 A+). One full year course that I only got a credit for with no grade(different department policy). But yea after my first year I transferred Unis and they didn't accept the courses with estimated grades or the course with no grade so I had to repeat.

For the GPA calculation, I wasn't sure whether to include the incomplete course grades or not.

I just want to be sure that no actual letter grades are awarded on the transcripts from your previous institution. Application GPA's count all A-F grades taken including those that registrars will usually forgive or not consider. Incompletes or withdrawals do not figure into the GPA. All your transcripts from higher educational institutions will need to be submitted for verification and GPA calculation.