Ready to submit, last minute advice?

[PhiHal1010]

I have just finished the application and am almost ready to submit, but I would really appreciate some last minute advice. Specifically, I want to know if the 25 schools I am applying to are appropriate considering my credentials. Also, a large part of my clinical experience is being done this summer (shadowing a physician and volunteering at a hospital). The only place I mentioned it was as one sentence in my personal statement. I didn't think it would be appropriate to place in the activities section because I have just begun to do them. Thoughts?

Stats:
30S MCAT
3.78 GPA (last 2 semesters were 4.0s)
EMT-B certification and 1 year on a squad actively
Couple of years as a resident assistant, with promotion to a leadership position within the department
Strong letters (I think) and personal statement
A bunch of smaller campus leadership roles
A year of research and a poster presentation for it

Schools:
Albany (NY resident)
Boston U
Columbia
Drexel
George Washington
Georgetown
Jefferson
Medical College of Wisconsin
NY Medical College
Michigan State U
Pennsylvania State U
Rosalind Franklin
St Louis U
SUNY Downstate
SUNY Upstate
Stony Brook
U of Toledo
U of Vermont
Temple
SUNY Buffalo
U of Rochester
Tufts
Virginia Commonwealth U
Cornell
Wake Forest

Is that a good range or am I shooting myself in the foot by applying too narrowly or to too many reach schools? Thoughts?

Thanks in advance!

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[LateBl00meR]

Press hard on your NY state schools (i.e. send a good secondary and maybe a follow up letter). Some on them might take preference from a specific area of New York, im not sure. Leave the reach schools like Columbia if you have the money but your MCAT is certainly below average even fore mid-tier schools. Maybe throw in a D.O school or two?

 

[mdbound1987]

You obviously have good stats, but unless you forgot to list it, the fact that you have no community service (or shadowing yet) could really hurt your chances of getting accepted anywhere. Your mcat score is just ok (not bad, not great), but not high enough where it could offset what you are lacking in your app. I will say that you have a good range of schools though. You are not too top heavy.

 

[jbz24]

Agreed with above. You have a good range of schools. Don't expect anything from the top ones on your list but it's always nice to have reach schools. Your best bet will be the SUNYs.

 

[PhiHal1010]

As far as community service, I don't have anything like "100 hours serving food at a soup kitchen" or anything like that. Some of the leadership roles I mentioned are more aptly labeled as community service. For example, I am part of an organization that works to recognize people around campus, and one that puts on programs for students. Also, the EMT squad is all volunteer. I would consider those community service, since I do it to benefit the school, without any form of reimbursement.

I know my MCAT is a little lower than ideal, so I tried to include a lot of lower tier schools with only a few reaches.

 

[mdbound1987]

As far as community service, I don't have anything like "100 hours serving food at a soup kitchen" or anything like that. Some of the leadership roles I mentioned are more aptly labeled as community service. For example, I am part of an organization that works to recognize people around campus, and one that puts on programs for students. Also, the EMT squad is all volunteer. I would consider those community service, since I do it to benefit the school, without any form of reimbursement.

I know my MCAT is a little lower than ideal, so I tried to include a lot of lower tier schools with only a few reaches.

Ok that's good then. Since on AMCAS, you group your activities under specific categories, make sure you put the EMT work under community service. This way it will add to your lack of service and even though you didn't list it as clinical experience, they will see it as both community service and clinical experience, whereas if you list it under clinical experience, they will not know that it is also community service. You def did a good job choosing schools within and below your range. A few reaches never hurt either if money is not an issue. So it's good that you have Cornell and Columbia (reaches), and Georgetown and Tufts (moderate reaches).