MDPhD Reapplicant (524, 3.8); help with school list?

[moggat]

I applied to ~20 MDPhD programs last year but didn't get accepted at any (interviewed at one), and I think the biggest contributing factor was a low MCAT (33) and the fact that I didn't apply broadly enough and late in the cycle.

I was planning to apply to a lot more second/third tier programs (not that those really exist for MDPhD) but I retook the MCAT and ended up doing massively better - 524 ( 132/131/132/129) and now I'm trying to figure out where the heck to apply.

Other stats: 3.8 cGPA, 3.6 sGPA from top 10 UGrad, 5000+ hrs research with pending publication (4.5 yrs total, 2 full time), 1000+ hrs leadership, ~200hrs shadowing, ~200hrs volunteering (I know it's low), and a double major in bio/humanities.

I'm a CA resident so I was thinking basically all the CA schools, but I'm having a hard time deciding on how to pick OOS schools. I don't know how much MDPhD programs will care about my improved MCAT; if I should stick to more 2nd tier schools or go for the big top tier research programs again, even though they all rejected me last time around.

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[anonymoose1640]

Your MCAT has increased substantially and I imagine the hours for all of your ECs have increased as well since your last application. In my (not super educated) opinion, you should be fine as long as you apply broadly, like you said. I honestly don't know how reapplicants to MD/PhD programs are perceived by the admissions directors for those programs, so someone more educated will have to chime in to reassure you about those concerns.

Here's a list you could look at to consider:
UCLA
UCSF
UCSD
UCI
Stanford
Harvard
Yale
Penn
Duke
JHU
Emory
Duke
Northwestern
UChicago
Michigan
Mayo
WashU
Columbia
Mt. Sinai
NYU
Cornell
UPitt
Iowa
Tufts
Einstein
Rochester
Case Western
Cincinnati
Vanderbilt

That's a big list, so consult MSAR to narrow it down. How many of those schools will you be a re-applicant to? Highlight them, and you can use that information to pick and choose a healthy list of re-apps and new schools.

Hope that helps, good luck!!

 

[eteshoe]

Top CA schools + 10-15 schools which have 3-5 PI's doing research in the area you'd like to get your PhD in.