Please...Help with School List

[RJ McReady]

I have posted this in WAMC thread but did not get a response so reposting here.... I would appreciate help in narrowing down my school list. Any input greatly appreciated! Thank you!!

Applying MD for entering class 2020
-Currently a junior at top 20 school in Midwest
-CA resident, ORM
-MCAT 516 (131/130/129/126)
-CGPA 3.92
-SGPA 3.95
-Research: 400 Hours, 2 publications (3rd author on both, clinical research not bench/basic science)
-Clinical volunteering: 200 hours at Children’s hospital
-Non-clinical volunteering-300 hours
-Medically related work experience: 650 hours as surgical support tech at outpatient surgery center
-physician shadowing: approx 100 hours to date, plan on another 20-40 hrs before app

Planning to apply to approx. 35 schools.
Tentative list below. Please help me narrow down. Thank you!!

Reach Schools: Columbia, Yale, NYU, Cornell, Penn, Dartmouth, Stanford, U Chicago, Northwestern, Duke, Wash U

ii. Reasonable schools: UCSF, UCLA, UC Irvine, USC Keck, UCSD, Emory, Pitt, Case Western, Boston U, Tufts, Vanderbilt, Mt. Sinai, Michigan

iii. Others: UC Davis, Georgetown, GWU, Rush, MCW, Miami, RFU/Chicago Med, Jefferson, Temple, Drexel, Tulane, St. Louis University, Loyola Chicago, Penn State, New York Medical College, Rochester, Einstein, Creighton, Univ. of Vermont, Ohio State, Wayne State

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[Gilakend]

You have greatly miscategorized some of your schools, but the complete list is good. You could remove schools like Vanderbilt, WashU, NYU and Penn if you wanted due to sky high MCATs.

Do you have MSAR?

 

[Goro]

I suggest:
Duke
Harvard
Sinai
Cornell
Stanford
U MI
U VA
BU
Case
Mayo
Pitt
UCLA, UCSF, UCSD, UCI,UCD, UCR (IF you’re from the Inland Empire)
Hofstra
Ohio State
U Cincy
USC/Keck
USF Morsani
Albert Einstein
Dartmouth
Emory
Rochester
Jefferson
Miami
U IA
U VM
Western MI

I think that 35 schools is overkill. Target 20-30

 

[RJ McReady]

Thank you @Gilakend and @Goro!
Very much appreciated!!
I do have MSAR and was trying to target schools I thought were within my range. The categories I listed were based on what I thought my chances would be for those schools. I’m sure many of them were miscartegorized though.

 

[DrFortiusNatando]

Agree with the recs for about 24-26 apps. I think that Wash U, NYU, Harvard, Cornell, Stanford, Columbia, Penn, Duke, and Yale unlikely if you are a traditional ORM applicant with your scores coming straight from undergrad, unless you provide some other type of interesting diversity or have experienced significant hardship. A lot of these schools take students with great stories, but they look to their traditional ORMs to have very high MCATs to help balance out the "great story applicants" with a 514. Brown is probably a no bc they have so many spots for their PLME's and they look to get some non-traditionals to balance out their class and you are too much like their PLME students. Maybe you will get some love from Wash U bc you are already in the Midwest. Remember to consider applying to both Mayo programs - MN and AZ are separate.

And remember next year, there is likely a new Kaiser medical school opening in Pasadena - will be tuition-free initially. Depending on your long-term goals, your financial situation, and how important it may be to stay in CA, you might want to at least investigate this as a possibility. I think that they will have the potential to graduate some very good clinicians, and they may even decide to partner with some of their residency programs, many of which are very good clinical training programs.

 

[RJ McReady]

Thank you for the input!
No, unfortunately I don’t have a compellling hardship story or special circumstances...
But like everyone else on SDN I am very hard working and dedicated and committed to a career in medicine. I will go through msar and hopefully make a list of 25-30 potential schools.
Thank you again for responding everyone!

 

[DrFortiusNatando]

Thank you for the input!
No, unfortunately I don’t have a compellling hardship story or special circumstances...
But like everyone else on SDN I am very hard working and dedicated and committed to a career in medicine. I will go through msar and hopefully make a list of 25-30 potential schools.
Thank you again for responding everyone!

You sound like you should have a successful application cycle. Of the "very unlikely" options I listed above, feel free to apply, esp the ones that GORO lists, bc some people with your stats will get in. But just good to have low expectations for these tippy top schools from the outset and make sure you keep an open mind for some schools that may pleasantly surprise you once you investigate how the schools differ. And make sure to spend the time to write an interesting and compelling primary and secondary application - that is how some people with your credentials will get II's at T20's even without a real hardship story.

 

[RJ McReady]

Thank you! I am hoping for the best but prepared for the worst...hence my neuroticism about applying to so many schools. I don’t want to apply too top heavy as honestly I would be happy to go almost anywhere, but I know in my heart I can be successful at a top tier school.

 

[gyngyn]

This thread can be followed here: MD - Chances Please! Thank you!