Need to Narrow my School List - Any Help Welcome!! (should I apply this cycle?)

[insocrat]

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Hi everyone, I'm an Illinois resident attending a large Big 10 university looking to apply this cycle. So far I have 33 schools that I'm applying to (27 targets, 6 reach), and I'd like some advice on what schools I should add/delete from my list.

I've got a GPA of 3.85c/3.83s with an MCAT of 514 (128/127/129/130), ECs are below average in my estimation

Research
-2 years in the same lab
-poster upcoming (likely one presentation, possibly two)
-one monetary scholarship
Clinical ECs
-certified EMT - 120 hours of volunteering at university events
-shadowing (pediatrics, internal, orthopedics, cardiology, pathology) - 124 hours
Non-clinical ECs
-Editorial staff member for a medical website mostly authored by med students/physicians - 10 "soft" -publications, ~75 upcoming; trained other writers as well
-volunteering for underprivileged individuals - 50 hours
-starting as a mentor for an underprivileged child, committed for the next year
-Started a band, played a few public events and house shows


School List (bolded what I think are reach schools)
Creighton, Omaha NE
Loma Linda, CA
Thomas Jefferson, Philly PA
Oakland University, Rochester MI
University of Cincinnati
St. Louis University
Tulane, New Orleans LA
Indiana University, Indy IN
Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee WI
Georgetown, DC
University of Iowa, Iowa City IA
Western Michigan, Kalamazoo MI
Rosalind Franklin, IL
Wright State University, Dayton OH
University of Wisconsin (maybe reach?) Madison WI
Hofstra Northwell, Hempstead NY
Drexel, Philly PA
Loyola University Chicago, IL
University of Illinois, IL
Wake Forest, Winston Salem NC
Temple, Philly PA
George Washington, DC
New York Medical College
Albany, NY
Southern Illinois University, IL
Wayne State, Detroit MI
Virginia Tech, Ronoake VA
Northwestern
University of Chicago
University of Pittsburgh
Mt. Sinai
Boston University

Thank you so much in advance for any help!

 

[Faha]

You have a good list and should receive several interviews if you apply to all those schools. Your reaches are not unreasonable so you could apply to those also.

 

[insocrat]

You have a good list and should receive several interviews if you apply to all those schools. Your reaches are not unreasonable so you could apply to those also.

Thanks for your response! I think I'm leaning towards applying to most if not all of my list

 

[insocrat]

@Goro @gyngyn @Faha Thanks for all that you guys do to help people like me with this process. I'd like to remove 5 schools from my list - which ones would you suggest I remove, and does it make sense for me to add more reach schools? If so, which ones would you recommend? Thanks again!

 

[Goro]

I have removed what I consider are unrealistic schools for you.

Loma Linda, CA
Thomas Jefferson, Philly PA
Oakland University, Rochester MI
University of Cincinnati
St. Louis University
Tulane, New Orleans LA
Indiana University, Indy IN
Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee WI
Georgetown, DC
Rosalind Franklin, IL
Wright State University, Dayton OH
Hofstra Northwell, Hempstead NY
Drexel, Philly PA
Loyola University Chicago, IL
University of Illinois, IL
Wake Forest, Winston Salem NC
Temple, Philly PA
George Washington, DC
New York Medical College
Albany, NY
Southern Illinois University, IL
Boston University

Thank you so much in advance for any help![/QUOTE]

 

[insocrat]

@Goro Thank you for your reply! May I ask why you considered some of the IL schools to be unreasonable? I am a downstate IL resident.

 

[Goro]

The higher up the pole you want to climb, the slipperier it gets. Especially with your ECs, I'm afraid.

Hence the conservative recommendations.

@Goro Thank you for your reply! May I ask why you considered some of the IL schools to be unreasonable? I am a downstate IL resident.

 

[tutumon77]

@Goro I see. Would you mind clarifying that statement just a little for me, please? Even my in state schools don't seem, in your opinion, to be worth applying? Thanks again for your help!

Edit- I guess my phone is logged into an old account, sorry for any confusion!

 

[Goro]

My apologies! I was working on my phone as well at the time.

Definitely keep U ILL!!!!!

@Goro I see. Would you mind clarifying that statement just a little for me, please? Even my in state schools don't seem, in your opinion, to be worth applying? Thanks again for your help!

Edit- I guess my phone is logged into an old account, sorry for any confusion!

 

[candbgirl]

If you thought Northwestern was a reach UofChicago would be a reach!


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