MD Need help w/ realistic school list (517 MCAT, 3.83 cGPA) + Avg EC's

[ToshStorm]

1) MCAT 517 - 96th Percentile
(129 PS / 130 CARS / 130 BS / 128 Psych)
2) 3.83 cGPA - 3.80 sGPA
3) Undergrad: UNC Chapel Hill
4) NC Resident
5) Asian

EC's:
A) Undergraduate Clinical Internship x 2
- NYU ED x 450 Hrs
- 3rd World Country Rural ED x 150 Hrs

B) Clinical Volunteering
- ED x 110 Hours over 3 years
- 3rd World Country Nursing Home (Leadership Position) x 185 Hours over 5 years

C) Research
- Bench research x 150 hrs (No pub or presentation)
- Clinical research in NYU's ED (Presentation but no publication)

C) Non - Clinical
- Worked with a startup educational non-profit x 400 Hours (Leadership Position) over 3 years
- Research in local farmers market analyzing social impact (Presentation but no publication)

D) Shadowing
- Neurologist x 20 hrs
- Cardiac surgeon x 40 hrs

E) EMT-B (Will be working by the time interviews roll around)

LORS: 2 Science, 2 Humanities, 1 Physician. All of them should be good.
Personal Statement: Passable and states an interest in undertaking entrepreneurship opportunities for improving rural healthcare in the US.
__________________________________________

My current list:

(All NC Schools)
UNC-CH
Wake Forest
ECU
Duke

U- Michigan
University of Wisconsin at Madison
Emory
UC - San Diego
UVA
VCU

Simply because of sheer interest:
Mayo
UC-SF
University of Washington (Seattle)

Apart from the NC schools I feel like this list is very unbalanced. Need help finding some good reach schools and some safety schools based on my stats. I would ideally like to pick schools that don't stress on research too much, especially since my primary interests lie in an MD/MBA rather than focusing on academia.
Thank you for the help!

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[Goro]

Zero chance at U WA since you're not from a WWAMI state.

I suggest the following, but you really need to beef up the ECs if you're aiming this high:

U VA
U MI
U Colorado
U VM
U WI
U AZ
Ohio State
Jefferson
U IA
U Cincy
U Toledo
Miami
Albert Einstein
Tulane
Loyola
Emory
BU
USC/Keck
JHU
Mayo
Pitt
Northwestern
NYU
Vanderbilt
Columbia
Sinai
Cornell
Duke
Case
Hofstra

Your state schools

 

[ToshStorm]

@Goro Thank you for your advice! I looked into the the schools you suggested and compiled a new list (after accounting for cost of attendance and a few other personal factors). Since I am applying this cycle I do not have the luxury of time to pull up my EC's, so with that in mind do you think this list is acceptable?

Going in ascending order of preference / reach:
Virginia Tech
U Cincy
Temple
Hofstra
Miami
T. Jefferson
U Rochester
Indiana U
Ohio State
U Colorado
UVA
UIA
U Wisconsin
UC-SD
Mount Sinai
Emory
BU
Yale
Columbia
Cornell
+ All NC Schools

 

[GrapesofRath]

You are quite likely to get into one of the schools in your state. You'll get IIs with at least two of them. I would only apply OOS to schools you know you would turn down for Brody's and UNCs absurdly cheap IS tuition. Would you really turn down those two for Colorado Temple Indiana or Va Tech types? If not delete them

 

[ToshStorm]

I really hope you are right but wouldn't it be risky to only pick OOS schools better than UNC or Brody?
Tuition wise most OOS are around 78K, and at that price I would only consider turning down a NC school for a top 20 school. Picking only such schools would not leave me with any safety schools.

 

[7331poas]

you seem like a lock at ECU based on who I have seen going there in the past.

 

[ToshStorm]

Sooo target and reach OOS only or keep at-least a few safeties (U-Cincy, Indiana & Rochester)?

I don't have any safeties that I "want" to go to but I still feel compelled to apply to some because I would rather go anywhere than have to reapply.

 

[GrapesofRath]

I really hope you are right but wouldn't it be risky to only pick OOS schools better than UNC or Brody?
Tuition wise most OOS are around 78K, and at that price I would only consider turning down a NC school for a top 20 school. Picking only such schools would not leave me with any safety schools.

You can pick some non top 20 OOS schools maybe I should soften that just a tad its just not very common for people with these stats who can interview reasonably to not get into UNC IS. You'll get interest from Brody as well although they are a bit more mission based. Wake also has a pretty decent chance of showing interest

I would probably go IS schools about maybe 6-8 OOS friendly schools that get <11k apps with an MCAT median around 33-34( ie Miami Jefferson etc) and then your top 20 reaches

 

[ToshStorm]

@GrapesofRath thank you! This gives me a clearer idea on what to do. For the OOS applications would you suggest I look at any public schools at all then? Don't imagine many state schools to be OOS friendly (although "friendly" is very relative here).

And just to clarify the <11K apps: on the MSAR thats almost every school I found. Even really bigs ones like UCLA and UCSF barely hit 10k. Am I looking at the wrong number here? (I looked at total verified apps)
Thank you, I really appreciate the great advice!

 

[7331poas]

@GrapesofRath thank you! This gives me a clearer idea on what to do. For the OOS applications would you suggest I look at any public schools at all then? Don't imagine many state schools to be OOS friendly (although "friendly" is very relative here).

And just to clarify the <11K apps: on the MSAR thats almost every school I found. Even really bigs ones like UCLA and UCSF barely hit 10k. Am I looking at the wrong number here? (I looked at total verified apps)
Thank you, I really appreciate the great advice!

There are schools that get way more apps than UCLA. Think Georgetown and Drexel