MD Please help me shorten my school list: 3.99 GPA 514 MCAT

[igotchabuddy]

1. sGPA: 3.99 cGPA3.99
2. MCAT: 514 (129/127/130/128)
3. California Resident
4. Ethnicity: Indonesian (not sure if this is ORM or URM pls let me know)
5. Undergrad: UCLA
6. Clinical Experience: Paid MA (560+ hrs), hospital volunteering (50 hrs)
7. Research: 1300+ hours at a cancer immunotherapy lab (2 pubs, 1 first author in prep, 2 in prep pubs in high impact factor journals (41-49 IF), 1 poster)
8. Shadowing: none, working on getting some
9. Non-clinical volunteering: vaccination clinic (150 hrs), crisis text line (100 hrs)
10. Extracurriculars: tutoring(830 hrs), working as a server (4000 hours)
11. Awards: Dean's honors all throughout, scholarship of $1000 received
12. Anything else: disadvantaged, moved out at 16 because of deported immigrant parents, financially independent
13. LORs: 1 DO, 1 PI, 1 Tutoring supervisor, 2 science professors

Reach:

1. Stanford
2. Mayo
3. Duke

Semi-Reach:

1. UCSF
2. UMich
3. UPittsburgh
4. BostonU
5. Kaiser
6. UCLA
7. UCI
8. UCincinnati
9. UCSD
10. Brown
11. Emory
12. Einstein
13. Keck
14. Dartmouth
15. Hofstra

Target:

1. Western Mich
2. Tufts
3. UColorado
4. CUSM
5. Loyola
6. Drexel
7. Medical College of Wisconsin
8. Georgetown
9. Penn State
10. Thomas Jefferson
11. Quinnipiac
12. George Washington
13. Saint Louis
14. New York Medical College
15. Tulane
16. Albany
17. Loma Linda
18. Temple
19. Rosalind Franklin
20. Vermont
21. Wake Forest
22. Oakland

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[voxveritatisetlucis]

I have updated the list with my assessment of each. There is no such thing as a safety in med school admissions. With a 514, you are below the 25th or 10th percentile for a lot of the reaches and high reaches.
You need more schools in your safety range (these are targets, not safeties)

Reach:

1. Stanford - high reach
2. Mayo - high reach
3. Duke - high reach
4. Northwestern - high reach

Target:

1. UCSF - high reach
2. UMich - high reach
3. UPittsburgh - high reach
4. BostonU - reach
5. Kaiser - high reach
6. UCLA - high reach
7. UCI - are you from inland empire
8. UCincinnati - reach
9. UCSD - high reach
10. UMass - reach (OOS)
11. Brown - reach
12. Emory - high reach
13. Keck - reach
14. Dartmouth - reach
15. NYU Long Island - reach
16. St Louis - target
17. UColorado - reach (OOS)
18. UMaryland - reach (OOS)

Safety:

1. Loyola - target
2. Drexel - target
3. Medical College of Wisconsin - target
4. Georgetown - target
5. Penn State - target
6. Thomas Jefferson University - target
7. Quinnipiac University - target
8. George Washington - target
9. Loma Linda - target if okay with strict religious guidelines
10. Tulane - target
11. Albany - target

 

[chilly_md]

Obtain 50 hours of shadowing before applying. If you are still working as an MA, you can ask around there. Or to whoever wrote your DO letter. Your limited non-clinical volunteering means you should avoid service oriented schools such as Loyola.

This is a more appropriate list:

UCLA
UCI
UCD (odds better if from Northern or Central CA)
UCR (only if from IE)
CUSM
Loma Linda (if you are a strict Christian)
Rochester
Einstein
Hofstra
NYMC
Albany
Hackensack
Quinnipiac
George Washington
Dartmouth
Wake Forest
Jefferson
Drexel
Temple
Vermont
Penn State
MCW
SLU
Nova MD
Rosalind Franklin
Colorado
VCU
Tufts
Miami

If you are interested in DO, you could add Touro CA, AZCOM, Touro NV and Western. That is not necessary, but Californians tend to like to stay close to home and may worry about their chances since in-state admission is very competitive.