Non-trad URM c-3.99 s-3.98 34 - HYPS need to make my list

[albinopenguin]

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Go to an HYPS school, transferred in past year & will be applying next June to med schools. I want to start on my list as I just got my MCAT back the other day and was thrilled...was anticipating a 30-32. Not sure if I should lean top heavy or if I need more safeties...have a list of 8 right now

SC resident - URM-hispanic - non-trad (26yo) played pro baseball for 4 yrs directly from hs - never got higher than AA level

MCAT: 34 - B-11 P-11 V-12
GPA: C-3.99 S-3.98
Life ECs: pro baseball (4 yrs), army reserves/veteran (~3.5 yrs) still spending 2 weeks every summer on drill + 1 weekend a month, college marching band (1 yr)

Pre-Med ECs:
-200 ER hours @ the VA over 1yr (started an organization to recruit more volunteers to the VA from my undergrad/and I've trained up several of them as well) will add more this year. (aiming for 300-350 total)
-30 hrs shadowing Derm/FP/Orthopod (will try to get up to 50 total hrs over winter break)
-1.5 yrs providing free tutoring/academic counseling to many vets guiding them to aim higher in their academic goals
-1 yr paid chem, bio, o-chem tutoring
-Research 6 months medical physics lab at my old school + 5 months this past spring doing public health related work with a publication - lower authorship (looking for a new lab this year doing something clinical)
-50 hrs campus volunteer group doing various activities
-have military leadership being a squad leader (in charge of 20 men every day) at army basic/tech school for 9 months.

I feel like I have a pretty strong application particularly given my non-trad story. Looking to apply to 14-20 schools. Open to suggestions...financial aid/non-trad friendly schools are good as limiting debt is important to me.

definite list (8):
MUSC - my state school
Yale
UPenn
Stanford
UCSF
Vanderbilt
Georgetown
Miami

maybes by region:
SE: Emory, Duke, UNC, Tulane.....gap....WF, Florida schools, SC schools
NE: the Philly schools, Cornell, Columbia, NYU, Icahan, Brown, Harvard?
Middle: Baylor, UTSW, NW, Chicago, Case Western, Colorado
West: UCLA, UCSD, USC, Oregon, Mayo-Scottsdale (when is their 1st class?)

all my knowledge comes from message boards and not really sure where I sit and what a reasonable list would look like for me in terms of reaches/safeties

 

[TriagePreMed]

Just apply wherever you want to go. You'll be fine as long as you have a list of 10 or so colleges.

 

[mcloaf]

You should be good to go.

UMichigan has pretty generous merit and need-based financial aid, and is very OOS and non-trad friendly.

 

[albinopenguin]

so this is my list, very top heavy but have been fortunate to transfer into a top 5 school... given my hooks: URM, Veteran, former pro-athlete do I need more matches/safeties?

Reaches (12): UCSF, Stanford, UCLA, Harvard, Yale, Columbia, Cornell, Penn, Brown, Northwestern, U-Chicago, Vanderbilt
Matches? (3): Miami, Georgetown, USC-Trojans
Safeties (2): MUSC, USC-Greenville

I feel pretty safe in my home state, SC, given my veteran status and above average stats for our schools.
I do have some interest in research and so that coupled with better finaid has me skewing towards highly ranked privates....am I too top heavy?

maybe list: Michigan, UVA, UNC, Colorado, Wisconsin, Oregon, Baylor, Tulane, Drexel, Cincy

 

[Aerus]

You're definitely good to go. Best of luck. 😀

 

[NorthernMav]

Near perfect GPA, great MCAT score and ECs, URM, and you are asking what your chances are? I seriously hope you are trolling.

 

[albinopenguin]

no troll...i'm a fresh transfer so I have this c3.99/s3.98 from 2 yrs of previous work at an avg state school + will have my gpa here for the next 2 semesters...strangely outside of the hard sciences the classes/grading seem easier than at my state school...I'm taking 1 upper level bio next spring that shouldn't hurt my gpa, according the proportion of A's, then rolling the dice...not sure how I'm gonna look w/2 yrs at a more typical place then only 1 yr here to the top end research places that like name whoring from what I understand

 

[DokterMom]

You might want to apply in Texas. They have a STRONG in-state preference, but your numbers are great, URM Hispanic (speak Spanish? That's big here) -- Lot's of really good schools and the tuition can't be beat.

 

[TwinsFan]

I would apply to 15-20 schools with 3-4 safeties, 5-7 matches and the rest as reaches depending on your MCAT. Your list above is decent but I would add in a few more matches/safeties. You never know how things will go and you're better off turning down interviews than adding schools late to try an get them.

 

[rain4venus]

It looks like you're in great shape! Do you still have 1.5 years of school before graduating? Is your GPA above from the 2 years at your state school?