Please help with school list

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DrSmday

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Cali resident, UC Berkeley graduate (transferred from a community college)

Overall AAMC GPA: sGPA 3.70, cGPA 3.77, AO 4.00

MCAT: 29Q: BS10 PS10 VR9

EC:
1 year hospital volunteering (~500hrs)
2 years of tutoring/mentoring underachieving/low income students (~1500hrs)
2 summers (~300hrs) shadowing/volunteering at a general physicians office
1.5 years of work with the Journal of the American Chemical Society
1 year chair of cultural committee for a student organization at UCBerkeley
June '09 -now working on a 2 cancer research projects at UCI. no publications yet.
March ’10-now volunteering at a local senior citizen’s community (exercise classes ~40hrs up to now and still going)


I tried to pick schools that are within my range and accept ~30% or more OOS .... please help! anything I should add or remove? My target is 30 schools and I want to apply to UC schools as well just in case I get lucky.


1. George Washington University
2. Georgetown University
3. Morehouse School of Medicine
4. Loyola University Chicago
5. Rosalind Franklin University
6. Rush University
7. University of Illinois
8. University of Kentucky
9. University of Louisville
10.Tulane University
11. Boston University
12. Saint Louis University
13. Creighton University
14. Albany Medical College
15. New York Medical College
16. SUNY--Downstate
17. SUNY--Upstate
18. SUNY--Buffalo
19. University of Rochester
20. Wake Forest University
21. University of Toledo
22. Oregon Health & Science University
23. Drexel University
24. Jefferson Medical College
25. Commonwealth medical college
26. Pennsylvania State University
27. Temple University
28. University of Vermont
29. Eastern Virginia Medical School
30. Virginia Commonwealth
31. West Virginia University
32. Medical College of Wisconsin

Thanks a lot for your help!

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30 is a lot of schools! The only blemish on your application appears to be your MCAT score (and its not really that bad...plenty of ppl get in with sub 30 scores) Being a Cali resident will make it a bit harder for you, but it is what it is.

Personally I would chop University of Illinois off the list because it is quite expensive OOS and I believe its rather hard to gain admission being OOS. Boston University also receives many many applications and they reject quite a few applicants pre-interview so it may not be worth applying there bc of your MCAT score. Most other schools seem within reach...have you considered retaking your MCAT?
 
30 is a lot of schools! The only blemish on your application appears to be your MCAT score (and its not really that bad...plenty of ppl get in with sub 30 scores) Being a Cali resident will make it a bit harder for you, but it is what it is.

Personally I would chop University of Illinois off the list because it is quite expensive OOS and I believe its rather hard to gain admission being OOS. Boston University also receives many many applications and they reject quite a few applicants pre-interview so it may not be worth applying there bc of your MCAT score. Most other schools seem within reach...have you considered retaking your MCAT?

Thanks for the advice...

After a lot of contemplation, I have decided against retaking. I want to apply this cycle to schools that I think I still have a shot at... worse comes to worst Ill retake later and apply again next year...

any other schools that I should remove/add?? I really don't know how much lower than my stats I should go for "safety" schools and how much higher i should go for "hopeful" schools
 
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anyone else willing to offer some advice? pleaassseee? :)
 
I'm not a big fan of the DC schools. They receive wayyyy too many applications (>10000) so the interview rate is really low. Also the Kentucky schools, UK and UL have really really beastly secondaries if you are OOS. For example UK has like 7 essays as well as another personal statement if you are OOS.
 
Question: How Catholic are Loyola University and Creighton University?? I am not Catholic and am wondering if I should even apply. Do they have a friendly, "all religions are welcome" environment or is it like Loma Linda?
 
UIC took 27% OOS last year. Many of them were Californians. They often offer generous scholarships to OOS URMs.

SLU, Georgetown, Creighton, and Loyola are all Jesuit schools. They like to see a humanistic orientation in your ECs. I've read posts that they have very diverse class makeup and non Catholics attending have attested that they feel comfortable in the environment regardless of their religion, or lack there of.
 
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