Potential Ivy-Leaguer?

[DZT]

I just wanna know, what does it take to get into those IVY league med schools. I have a 3.75 GPA at a highly respected liberal arts school, myriads of extracurricular activities (e.g. Big Brothers/Sisters, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu,Hospice, Rugby Team, College Radio), research experience, abroad study of foreign medical systems, and from current MCAT trials I anticipate to get a 34 or 36. I dont want to sound like a braggart; a lot of you may smoke out my credentials. In my mind, I just feel that I just wont meet the standards for an IVY league school. I hear these stories of some John X or a Megan C out there who has a 4.5 GPA who won a Nobel Prize and nursed sick babies in Tanzania who got into the top schools. On the other hand, I see that places like Stanford or Yale have average GPAs of 3.7, which are withing reach. Who do I believe?
Guys, I know I sound like an idiot, tooting my horn here. All I ultimately care about is getting into med school in the US PERIOD, but I feel that medical schools reward geeky labrats who get 45's on MCATs and 4.0's rather than people who are not divinely gifted in academia, but have seen and experienced the medical profession for what it is.
My current plan is to apply to about 40-50 med schools and do research after graduation. Out of those, 15 will be "far reach schools." Guys once again, sorry for being so verbose and whinny, but if anyone feels the same way, speak up. Thanks.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[Scooby Doo]

Run Run!!!

Run away now before they attack!!!!

Watch out what you say!

Also, there are many top schools that aren't Ivy League. Why the hell do you care if it's an Ivy school anyways? If you really are insecure about your manhood, do something other than look for an ivy leauge medical school to go to

 

[idiot]

Where is your quote from?

 

[Darwin]

With that GPA and, assuming, a 34-36 on the MCAT you would be throwing away lot of time and money applying to 40-50 schools (Besides, have you seen how many essays you'll have to write? Arggg, I had no idea going into this process). Those stats are more than enough competitive for Ivy's (assuming the rest of your app. is strong). My MCAT is where you are predicting yours to be but my GPA is not even that high. I applied to 17 schools and have had 12 interview offers (one from the two top ten schools I applied to) and have two acceptences from ranked schools.

Believe me, if your goal is just to get into a good medical school, you do not need to apply to that many. You'll regret spending that much money as soon as you start realizing the success you will have. Take care.

PS - Read my post and then do as Scooby wrote...RUN! Don't read any more of the posts...LOL

 

[SMW]

Originally posted by nb81:
• I feel that medical schools reward geeky labrats who get 45's on MCATs and 4.0's rather than people who are not divinely gifted in academia, but have seen and experienced the medical profession for what it is.

My current plan is to apply to about 40-50 med schools and do research after graduation. Out of those, 15 will be "far reach schools."

All I ultimately care about is getting into med school in the US PERIOD•••

I think you're wrong about medschools rewarding geeky labrats. I think that, by and large, they try to screen those people out.

I never thought I'd be saying this to anyone, but I think you're planning on applying to too many schools. And usually I'm a big advocate of lots of apps (lots, like 20-25). First of all, you should choose the schools you apply to based on something other than numbers. That way you can be sincere about why you want to attend that school. Very important to adcoms. Plus, 40-50 applications would be hellish and very expensive to complete!

If your description of yourself is accurate, and your essays and letters of recommendation are good, then 40-50 schools is definitely overkill. I suppose if going to an IVY is that important to you, then it might have a smidgin of rationality to it, but I'd still advise against it. Especially as you say all you really care about is getting into med school anywhere in the US (make up your mind, is going to an IVY all-important to you or not? That statement conflicts rather glaringly with the title and overall tenor of your post!!).

Welcome to SDN, and best of luck to you!

 

[Scooby Doo]

Oh yea..practice MCATs tell you jack crap about what you will get on the test...
I was scored above 30 on most and got well below it on my first attempt.


Also, 40 to 50 schools...hope you don't have a life...oh wait, since your desire seems to be contigent on an Ivy League school, you probably don't. You'll be fine. I made the mistake of applying to too many schools this year (but not as many as you "plan" to)...trust me...it won't work..and it's not worth it...especially if you start getting a lot of interviews...Unless your daddy is rich and can sell your porsche to let you fly all over the country.

 

[Scooby Doo]

Originally posted by idiot:
•Where is your quote from?•••

It's from a song by the metal/punk band "26 Miles Per Hour"....they are more so of a local west coast band who should be a lot bigger than they are....

 

[none]

Some of the Ivy League schools are relatively easy to get into. You should never, ever choose a medical school based on its undergraduate reputation!!

 

[mdhopeful]

My only advice is to do the activities that make you happy. So many people spend so much time trying to look good for the admissions committees. If they only knew that the process is somewhat random and that all the good applicants are so similar in terms of GPA, MCATs, research, and extracurriculars. Of course there are a rare few applicants who have made landmark discoveries or done something very rare. But, in the end, most of the competitive schools will choose you based on whether you fit into their school's overall mission, student body, and diversity profile. A person can only be as unique as he/she really is. With those numbers, just do whatever holds your interest.

 

[DZT]

Whoa, whoa, whoa. Maybe I misconstrued my point; I would walk away complacently with an acceptance to ANY US med school, but subconsciously everyone wants to go to the best schools in the nation for the same price though it doesnt make a helluva lot of difference in the long run. That's all.
I know u guys have refuted my original post like crazy, but i know that you guys would like to go to a top notch school. Either way, I thank you guys for your advice; I frankly overestimated the difficulty of getting of med school (hearing of places that accept 1% of apps)and went overboard in my estimation of applications i should send out. <img src="graemlins/pissy.gif" border="0" alt="[Pissy]" />

 

[moo]

And I thought I applied to too many...

Trust me you don't want to be applying to 40-50 schools with your stats. I understand that you want to be accepted and with your stats, you WILL be. Bear in mind that each the primary app itself, applying to that many schools will cost you about 1500 bucks, plus if you decide to do all the secondaries you will be looking at another 3000-4000. Finally if you get interview invitations, and you're still in school next year, you're gonna have to actually take time out of your senior year to fly to these interviews. Fun when maybe you do this once or twice a month... not fun when you start missing so many classes that you are in danger of failing. Also, when you visit the school, you will ask yourself, do I think I can really live in state X and city Y for four years? For me, the answer was a resounding NO at a lot of places I visited. In addition think of the expenses involved... A lot of schools are bastardly in that they won't accommodate you (Gtown comes to mind). I think for someone like you 20 schools is good.. pick a couple in the top 10, research their curricula, ask yourself if you really want to live in that part of the country for four years, etc. etc.

 

[Scooby Doo]

Originally posted by nb81:
•Whoa, whoa, whoa. Maybe I misconstrued my point; I would walk away complacently with an acceptance to ANY US med school, but subconsciously everyone wants to go to the best schools in the nation for the same price though it doesnt make a helluva lot of difference in the long run. That's all.
I know u guys have refuted my original post like crazy, but i know that you guys would like to go to a top notch school. Either way, I thank you guys for your advice; I frankly overestimated the difficulty of getting of med school (hearing of places that accept 1% of apps)and went overboard in my estimation of applications i should send out. <img src="graemlins/pissy.gif" border="0" alt="[Pissy]" /> •••

Not a big deal

I told you to run!
you'll do fine. The best med school according to US News isn't necessarily the best school for you...

 

[UCLA2000]

Darwin Grats I just sent you a private message.

 

[CoffeeCat]

Wow, I'm impressed that this thread has not gotten out of hand! Good job SDNers