Need help narrowing down my school list

[welp_thatsucks]

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So in the event of a possible reapp I want to get some advice on my school list

Stuff in brackets is new stuff since last cycle

Stats: 513/3.9 , had to retake mcat (previously 500)

State- MO

No IAs or legal issues

Research – 1 pub . clinical research with anxiety/depressed patients, multiple poster and oral presentations at national/regional conferences, worked in about 4 labs

clinical – working with kids at children's hospital, clinical research with mental illness patients [have been working with autistic kids since then and am looking into childrens hospital volunteering again]

Physician shadowing – (80 hrs), Infectious disease specialist, cardiologist, OB/GYN

Non-clinical volunteering- over 500 hours of helping out in community at various organizations (too many to list) for several years, also cofounded 2 organizations - one to help kids in underserved regions get into STEM fields and the [other to help combat the stigma of mental illness]

Extracurricular activities- AED, Residence hall association, intramurals, rock climbing, teaching, dancing etc.

Employment history- job at gym since freshman year, TA, tutor [currently working at a job in research at a top 10 school]

I'm at about 40 schools and I'm aiming for ~20-30

Last cycle - Einstein, loyola, mayo, oakland, ohio state, penn state, slu, cinny, iowa, mizzou [on waitlist] , pitt, vcu [on waitlsit] , wake, seton hall (still waiting) , oklahoma , baylor, rochester, umichigan, indiana,

Was rejected from all but 3 (WL for 2, possible II at Seton Hall)

New list - Albany , Einstein , BU. Brown , Case Western , Rosalind Franklin , Cooper , Creighton , Dartmouth , Drexel , Eastern Virginia , Emory , George Washington , Georgetown , Hofstra , Loyola , Mayo Clinic School of Medicine (MN/AZ), Medical College of Wisconsin Oakland Beaumont, Ohio State , Penn State , Quinnipiac , Rush ,SLU, Temple , Geisinger Commonwealth , Thomas Jefferson University Sidney Kimmel Medical College , Tufts, Tulane , University of Cincinnati , University of Colorado , University of Iowa, University of Miami Miller ,Mizzou, Pitt, Rochester , University of Vermont, vcu, Wake Forest, Wash u

 

[ilovegrapesoda]

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[welp_thatsucks]

Sorry for the unrelated question, but how much time did you take between your two MCATs?

A couple of months I think

 

[scribbles&rambles]

Is there any location on that list that you're not particularly fond of? Or anything in terms of curriculum model that's a slight turn-off? Stats-wise, your list seems to be a good fit, but I don't have all the listed schools' median/average acceptance stats off the top of my head to know for sure.

 

[welp_thatsucks]

Is there any location on that list that you're not particularly fond of? Or anything in terms of curriculum model that's a slight turn-off? Stats-wise, your list seems to be a good fit, but I don't have all the listed schools' median/average acceptance stats off the top of my head to know for sure.

I guess WI or FL I wouldn’t be as fond of. I’m also debating on whether to get rid of all the schools on the list that require Casper but I don’t want to screw myself out of good schools either

 

[Gilakend]

Jefferson and Cincinnati both have an "official policy" of averaging MCAT scores so those might be useful to remove (I took MCAT twice too with huge jump too). Also your MCAT is below 10th percentile for Wash U so you could remove them (they are one of the biggest stat ****** in the country). Obviously you have some other reaches, but I would say have at least 20 schools where you have a good shot at and then whatever reaches you'd like. I just think at Wash U they care so much about stats it might not even be worth it.

 

[welp_thatsucks]

Jefferson and Cincinnati both have an "official policy" of averaging MCAT scores so those might be useful to remove (I took MCAT twice too with huge jump too). Also your MCAT is below 10th percentile for Wash U so you could remove them (they are one of the biggest stat ****** in the country). Obviously you have some other reaches, but I would say have at least 20 schools where you have a good shot at and then whatever reaches you'd like. I just think at Wash U they care so much about stats it might not even be worth it.

Oh didn't know that about cinny/jefferson. That probably explains why I was rejected from there. I applied to ~20 schools this cycle and got 2 II so I'm debating on whether I need to up the number this time around. I have ties to Washu which is really why I'm applying there. Worst case, I don't get in .

 

[Gilakend]

Oh didn't know that about cinny/jefferson. That probably explains why I was rejected from there. I applied to ~20 schools this cycle and got 2 II so I'm debating on whether I need to up the number this time around. I have ties to Washu which is really why I'm applying there. Worst case, I don't get in .

Did you use WARS to help with your list? Might give you a good idea of how to make a list

 

[welp_thatsucks]

Did you use WARS to help with your list? Might give you a good idea of how to make a list

Is that the same thing as Wedgedawg's calculator? I got and 'A rank' if that makes a difference. It seems like it needs an update tho since a lot of schools stats went up with the latest MSAR update so I don't know how reliable that is anymore

I actually used the medschooldirectory to get a starting list and then started narrowing it down from there

 

[Gilakend]

Is that the same thing as Wedgedawg's calculator? I got and 'A rank' if that makes a difference. It seems like it needs an update tho since a lot of schools stats went up with the latest MSAR update so I don't know how reliable that is anymore

I actually used the medschooldirectory to get a starting list and then started narrowing it down from there

When did you apply in the cycle?

 

[welp_thatsucks]

Submitted primary in June, just about all secondaries were done by august

 

[scribbles&rambles]

I guess WI or FL I wouldn’t be as fond of. I’m also debating on whether to get rid of all the schools on the list that require Casper but I don’t want to screw myself out of good schools either

Sorry for the late response, life got hectic real quick, so wasn't able to return to this forum until today. I've been told it's better to apply to more schools than less, so yeah, I don't think you should take out schools just because they require Casper. If we're discussing potentially stats-whoring schools, I have heard the same thing about Mayo from my advisers—just something to be aware of!

Checking your list against some of the schools that I have the median MCAT scores reported on MSAR, you do have some schools where your MCAT is a bit lower, so maybe you can cut out 1-2 that you're not particularly fond of? Of course, I defer opinions to the SDN pros, but just sharing some strategies I've heard from my advisers.