List of prospective schools. Chances?

[ShowandTell]

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Hello,
I would like some advice on if the schools I'm applying to are appropiate based off of my stats. This is for the summer 2014 cycle of applications. I'm a URM and economically disadvantaged applicant. GA resident.

Sgpa: 3.43
Cgpa: 3.39
Major: Physics, graduated in May 2013.
MCAT: 29 (9/12/8 PS/VR/BS)
Member of local chapter of national physics honor society( Sigma Pi Sigma) for top 33% of physics students in our class (gpa in major >3.5)
Recepient of 2 national summer research fellowships designed to encourage URM to apply to graduate/medical school

EC's:
- Research in a subset of Physics for 2.5 years and counting. One third author publication currently and soon to be(before applying) one first author publication. Several posters and oral presentations performed at conferences.
- Paid Calculus/Physics Tutor for school-funded organization
- Taught physical science for 5 hours per week at a middle school to underpriveleged youth for one semester
- Volunteered at local hospital 8hrs/week for 6 months
- Upcoming shadowing opportunity with a specialist, hope to also be able to shadow a PCP as well soon.
- Taught two introductory Physics labs

School list:
University of Washington- Seattle
U.Chicago- Rosalind Franklin
UC Davis/LA/SD/Riverside
University of Alabama
Medical College of Wisconsin
New York Medical College
Drexel University
Stony Brook
Albany
NYU (Reach)
Emory (Reach)
Cornell (Reach!!!, research advisor is an alumni and strongly encouraging me to apply)
Loyola
Temple
U.Arizona- Phoenix
Mercer
Cooper
MCG
U. Missouri- Columbia
Rutgers

From my own thoughts, I think U.Washington-Seattle would be a great fit for me, as I'm interested in helping underserved populations, not necessarily rural however. Overall, how does the list look, should I add more safeties and/or reaches?

 

[Euxox]

Hello,
I would like some advice on if the schools I'm applying to are appropiate based off of my stats. This is for the summer 2014 cycle of applications. I'm a URM and economically disadvantaged applicant. GA resident.

Sgpa: 3.43
Cgpa: 3.39
Major: Physics, graduated in May 2013.
MCAT: 29 (9/12/8 PS/VR/BS)
Member of local chapter of national physics honor society( Sigma Pi Sigma) for top 33% of physics students in our class (gpa in major >3.5)
Recepient of 2 national summer research fellowships designed to encourage URM to apply to graduate/medical school

EC's:
- Research in a subset of Physics for 2.5 years and counting. One third author publication currently and soon to be(before applying) one first author publication. Several posters and oral presentations performed at conferences.
- Paid Calculus/Physics Tutor for school-funded organization
- Taught physical science for 5 hours per week at a middle school to underpriveleged youth for one semester
- Volunteered at local hospital 8hrs/week for 6 months
- Upcoming shadowing opportunity with a specialist, hope to also be able to shadow a PCP as well soon.
- Taught two introductory Physics labs

School list:
University of Washington- Seattle
U.Chicago- Rosalind Franklin
UC Davis/LA/SD/Riverside
University of Alabama
Medical College of Wisconsin
New York Medical College
Drexel University
Stony Brook
Albany
NYU (Reach)
Emory (Reach)
Cornell (Reach!!!, research advisor is an alumni and strongly encouraging me to apply)
Loyola
Temple
U.Arizona- Phoenix
Mercer
Cooper
MCG
U. Missouri- Columbia
Rutgers

From my own thoughts, I think U.Washington-Seattle would be a great fit for me, as I'm interested in helping underserved populations, not necessarily rural however. Overall, how does the list look, should I add more safeties and/or reaches?

I'd recommend applying to more DO schools. West Virginia, PCOM, and LECOM seem like good options. There are also a couple of schools that I think are such long shots that you shouldn't bother applying:

University of Washington: They take few students outside of the WAMI (Washington-Alaska-Montana-Idaho) area. This, combined with the fact that your stats are much lower than the average makes it very unlikely that you will get in.

Rutgers and Cooper: The New Jersey state schools only ever take 1-2% out-of-staters, and those lucky few are usually people who were born and raised in NJ but moved elsewhere for college or employment. Since you are a Georgia resident, I doubt that you will get in.

The UCs, MCW, Loyola, Stony Brook, NYC, Albany: Apply by all means, but I notice that you didn't mark these as reaches. They are definitely reaches for you because they all have average LizzyM scores that are at least 7 - 8 points higher than yours. Your URM status will definitely help, but quantifying the effect of the URM "boost" is difficult.

My advice: Focus on your extracurriculars. It looks like the only thing that you've done for more than one or two semesters is research. If that is the case, you may want to spend the next year doing a longer term community service commitment. Something in a clinical setting would be great because it looks like you are a bit light on clinical exposure at the moment.

Retake the MCAT if you are confident that you can put the time in to get a better score. If not, you should still be okay for the upcoming cycle with just your current score.

I hope that help. Good luck with your applications!

 

[gyngyn]

UCR is mission based. Their 25 nonUCR spots are for people with a validated commitment to the inland empire.
You are a good candidate for the prime programs, Drew and USC since you want to apply in CA.
If you have a rural background you have a better shot at UCD.

 

[ShowandTell]

For the DO schools, I'm not necessarily a firm advocate of the osteopathic perspective on medical treatment although I realize my knowledge of it is very limited. Would it still make sense to apply regardless?

I'd recommend applying to more DO schools. West Virginia, PCOM, and LECOM seem like good options. There are also a couple of schools that I think are such long shots that you shouldn't bother applying:

I looked at the mission statement and various information on their website, stating that outside of the region, the students they generally take are those from disadvantaged backgrounds and so I thought that would be a plus for me. As well on their own site, they say a 9 MCAT(9/9/9) and 3,5 gpa would be considered competitive. The only reason I argue is because I indeed like what I've read of the school from the site, but you could be right.

University of Washington: They take few students outside of the WAMI (Washington-Alaska-Montana-Idaho) area. This, combined with the fact that your stats are much lower than the average makes it very unlikely that you will get in.

I see, removing both of them then.

Rutgers and Cooper: The New Jersey state schools only ever take 1-2% out-of-staters, and those lucky few are usually people who were born and raised in NJ but moved elsewhere for college or employment. Since you are a Georgia resident, I doubt that you will get in.

Thanks, definitely did help and as for the clinical EC's, yes I realize and I'm putting in the work to enhance that part currently. I'm really hoping to get admission in a ranked(USNEWS) research school, and that's the reason for the highflier's.

The UCs, MCW, Loyola, Stony Brook, NYC, Albany: Apply by all means, but I notice that you didn't mark these as reaches. They are definitely reaches for you because they all have average LizzyM scores that are at least 7 - 8 points higher than yours. Your URM status will definitely help, but quantifying the effect of the URM "boost" is difficult.

My advice: Focus on your extracurriculars. It looks like the only thing that you've done for more than one or two semesters is research. If that is the case, you may want to spend the next year doing a longer term community service commitment. Something in a clinical setting would be great because it looks like you are a bit light on clinical exposure at the moment.

Retake the MCAT if you are confident that you can put the time in to get a better score. If not, you should still be okay for the upcoming cycle with just your current score.

I hope that help. Good luck with your applications!

 

[ShowandTell]

For Keck, why would you advise that I apply there, as it seems to be more difficult than any of the other California schools. Thanks for the info on UCR, will remove that now. The prime program looks interesting, reading up on it now. I've only checked the individual sites of U.Washington-Seattle, NYU, and Albany thus far, so you guys are giving me info on all these places. MSAR gives a very brief synopsis.

UCR is mission based. Their 25 nonUCR spots are for people with a validated commitment to the inland empire.
You are a good candidate for the prime programs, Drew and USC since you want to apply in CA.
If you have a rural background you have a better shot at UCD.