MD reapplicant school list advice

[capsomere]

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Hello interwebs,

I am a reapplicant this cycle after receiving only one interview last cycle. I applied to about 18 schools and my primary was officially complete in September (late, I know). I'm in the process of receiving feedback from schools that I applied to last time, but for the most part it seems like they aren't REALLY even looking at my application when I talk to them. I'm debating if I should apply to too many of the same schools I applied to last year.

Here are my stats (Yes, this is similar to a post I made this January. If the mods would like to merge them, please do so):

California resident, non-URM

Graduated from a top 25 in December 2011:
cGPA:3.77, sGPA 3.67, MCAT 31O (13 BS, 9 PS, 9 VR)
3 BAs (neuroscience, psychology and Japanese )
AA in liberal studies (2004)


Research:
-6 months of full time research in a neuroscience lab (no publications/presentations b/c the research is nowhere near being completed)~800 hours
-Scholarship to study abroad in Japan for one year (conducted some personal research which later became the basis of my senior thesis)


Clinical (definitely my weakest area):
-Nurse assistant training (~50 hours theory, ~100 hours on-site clinical)-->passed the state exam a few weeks ago and am looking for work as a CNA
-Formal hospital volunteering program but only have about ~70 hours so far
-Shadowing anesthesiologist ~30 hours
-Clinical research coordinator ~180 hours


Community service:
-4 months as a tutor/classroom aid at a domestic abuse shelter ~30 hours


Paid employment/random volunteering/random ECs:
-10 months working full time as an assistant editor ~1500 hours
-1.5 years as art director of small beauty products company ~2000 hours
-2 full-time customer service jobs (summer only, about 2 months) ~350 hours
-3 years working/volunteering at my school’s photo lab ~2000 hours
-About a year as a camera operator, assistant camera operator, gaffer, and also cinematographer on a short film (all separate projects), and shadowing the director of a TV show (I have no idea how I would calculate the hours for this) I listed the short film as a leadership project (it was six months long and I was one of the 3 main collaborators)
-Had my artwork shown in 3 separate exhibits (went to a top tier art school for a year)

---------------------------
I'm not sure if I want to should lengthen or shorten my list, but here it is so far:

1. UC Irvine
2. U of Arkansas
3. U of Utah (although I’m not sure I meet the LOR requirement)
4. VCU
5. RFU
6. U Nebraska
7. Creighton
8. Drexel
9. Indiana
10. Vermont
11. EVMS
12. GWU
13. Georgetown
14. MC Wisconsin
15. U Cincinnati
16. U Colorado Denver
17. U Iowa Carver
18. Oakland
19. Carilion
20. Hofstra
21. Cooper
22. Albany
23. U Maryland
24. U Oklahoma
25. Toledo
26. Rush
27. Wake Forest
28. Commonwealth

(As much as I want NYMC to be on this list, I don’t meet the LOR requirement). My big problem is I seem to be out of range for many of the privates, and my list seems really public heavy to me. I tried to keep it to schools in the 8%+ OOS range, but even then the list looks a little thin to me.

Any advice or comments would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you all in advance...

 

[Goblue89]

Hello interwebs,

I am a reapplicant this cycle after receiving only one interview last cycle. I applied to about 18 schools and my primary was officially complete in September (late, I know). I'm in the process of receiving feedback from schools that I applied to last time, but for the most part it seems like they aren't REALLY even looking at my application when I talk to them. I'm debating if I should apply to too many of the same schools I applied to last year.

Here are my stats (Yes, this is similar to a post I made this January. If the mods would like to merge them, please do so):

California resident, non-URM

Graduated from a top 25 in December 2011:
cGPA:3.77, sGPA 3.67, MCAT 31O (13 BS, 9 PS, 9 VR)
3 BAs (neuroscience, psychology and Japanese )
AA in liberal studies (2004)


Research:
-6 months of full time research in a neuroscience lab (no publications/presentations b/c the research is nowhere near being completed)~800 hours
-Scholarship to study abroad in Japan for one year (conducted some personal research which later became the basis of my senior thesis)


Clinical (definitely my weakest area):
-Nurse assistant training (~50 hours theory, ~100 hours on-site clinical)-->passed the state exam a few weeks ago and am looking for work as a CNA
-Formal hospital volunteering program but only have about ~70 hours so far
-Shadowing anesthesiologist ~30 hours
-Clinical research coordinator ~180 hours


Community service:
-4 months as a tutor/classroom aid at a domestic abuse shelter ~30 hours


Paid employment/random volunteering/random ECs:
-10 months working full time as an assistant editor ~1500 hours
-1.5 years as art director of small beauty products company ~2000 hours
-2 full-time customer service jobs (summer only, about 2 months) ~350 hours
-3 years working/volunteering at my school’s photo lab ~2000 hours
-About a year as a camera operator, assistant camera operator, gaffer, and also cinematographer on a short film (all separate projects), and shadowing the director of a TV show (I have no idea how I would calculate the hours for this) I listed the short film as a leadership project (it was six months long and I was one of the 3 main collaborators)
-Had my artwork shown in 3 separate exhibits (went to a top tier art school for a year)

---------------------------
I'm not sure if I want to should lengthen or shorten my list, but here it is so far:

1. UC Irvine
2. U of Arkansas
3. U of Utah (although I’m not sure I meet the LOR requirement)
4. VCU
5. RFU
6. U Nebraska
7. Creighton
8. Drexel
9. Indiana
10. Vermont
11. EVMS
12. GWU
13. Georgetown
14. MC Wisconsin
15. U Cincinnati
16. U Colorado Denver
17. U Iowa Carver
18. Oakland
19. Carilion
20. Hofstra
21. Cooper
22. Albany
23. U Maryland
24. U Oklahoma
25. Toledo
26. Rush
27. Wake Forest
28. Commonwealth

(As much as I want NYMC to be on this list, I don’t meet the LOR requirement). My big problem is I seem to be out of range for many of the privates, and my list seems really public heavy to me. I tried to keep it to schools in the 8%+ OOS range, but even then the list looks a little thin to me.

Any advice or comments would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you all in advance...

I think your list looks pretty solid. I would probably drop Utah, Indiana and Colorado though, unless you have ties to those states. What about UC Davis? I would consider adding SLU and Loyola to give you some more private schools. The SUNYs are generally pretty welcoming for CA residents as well!

 

[capsomere]

Thank you for your suggestions. I have struck those schools off my list and added SLU and Loyola. I was waiting for some SUNY feedback from last year before adding any of them to my list. As for UC Davis, I talked to the admissions director and he basically said that if he were me he would wait two years before applying again. That was a polite way of telling me to not waste my money...

Okay so here is the list then:

1. UC Irvine
2. U of Arkansas
3. U of Utah --->SLU
4. VCU
5. RFU
6. U Nebraska
7. Creighton
8. Drexel
9. Indiana ---> Loyola
10. Vermont
11. EVMS
12. GWU
13. Georgetown
14. MC Wisconsin
15. U Cincinnati
16. U Iowa Carver
17. Oakland
18. Carilion
19. Hofstra
20. Cooper
21. Albany
22. U Maryland
23. U Oklahoma
24. Toledo
25. Rush
26. Wake Forest
27. Commonwealth

More schools? Fewer? Or am I good?

 

[Mazdave]

You have some really OOS-unfriendly schools on your list. Arkansas, Nebraska and Oklahoma are unlikely to consider you unless you have some compelling ties to the state or other reason why you would be likely to stay in the state to practice after graduating. 8% is a low threshold for OOS-friendliness; Catalystik recommends 15%. Also, you probably don't have nearly enough community service to get Georgetown's attention. Since you have a fair amount of research experience, you might look into adding a few research-oriented schools that have a lower-end median MCAT.

 

[capsomere]

You're right, 8% is a rather low threshold, but I just arbitrarily chose 8% because it was on the higher end of schools that would consider someone with my LizzyM...

I guess I would need to crunch some more numbers to add research schools. Which stats do you think are more trustworthy MSAR or USNWR? I would assume MSAR, but it seems like the data they use is a little bit older (two cycles instead of 1)? I'm trying to figure out how they get such different numbers...

 

[Mazdave]

You're right, 8% is a rather low threshold, but I just arbitrarily chose 8% because it was on the higher end of schools that would consider someone with my LizzyM...

I guess I would need to crunch some more numbers to add research schools. Which stats do you think are more trustworthy MSAR or USNWR? I would assume MSAR, but it seems like the data they use is a little bit older (two cycles instead of 1)? I'm trying to figure out how they get such different numbers...

MSAR does Applied/Interviewed/Matriculated while USNWR does Applied/Interviewed/Accepted. Personally, I think the MSAR is much more helpful and matriculation stats give you a better idea of what the class breakdown actually is. The acceptance numbers are good for getting a rough idea of what your chances are for acceptance once a school invites you to interview, but are otherwise not that helpful since that number includes a lot of people who aren't attending that school.