Review my school list pretty please!

[sjrobinson]

I'm an Alabama resident with 3.86/3.80 amcas GPAs and a 36R MCAT. I have been in school for two years and am applying this cycle.

EC:I have 210 hours of volunteering with autistic kids, 65 hours with preschoolers, 300 hours of anthropology research (not published), 250 hours of leadership as VP of a 500+ member student organization, 28 hours of clinical volunteering, 85 hours of shadowing, 80 hours of other leadership things, and 900ish hours of choir (including high school). Not sure if you can tell by my ECs, but I want to be a pediatrician.

My current school list is:

Baylor
Emory
Johns Hopkins
Mayo
Mt. Sinai
NYU
Northwestern
St. Louis
Miami
South Florida
UAB
Central Florida
Florida
Louisville
North Carolina
Pittsburgh
South Alabama
Vanderbilt
Virginia Commonwealth
Wake Forest
West Virginia

And advice is greatly appreciated, but particularly about whether or not to keep West Virginia on the list. I think I will learn easier/better with system-based curriculum, and I am not related to Bill Gates, so more affordable is also better. Thanks!!

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[sjrobinson]

Does anyone know enough about West Virginia and my chances there and elsewhere to give me some advice?

 

[neuronerd24]

Take out any non-Alabama public schools. It's really hard to get into those from OOS. You have great numbers and might not have a problem, but I still wouldn't apply unless you love the school. You'll end up paying more to be with students less successful than you, honestly.

 

[sjrobinson]

Thanks for the advice. I grew up in Pensacola, FL and would love to be at any of the Florida schools on my list, but I'll probably get rid of WVU.

 

[mspeedwagon]

Short of blowing the interview, you are almost assured a spot in Alabama. You have great stats, I'd aim higher for OOS schools. Throw in Cornell, Columbia and the like, and realize you have Alabama to fall back on. I'd take out UNC and West VA and replace them with Ivy or schools you really, really like (if money is an issue, otherwise apply to all). Tufts and BU come to mind if you like the Boston area.

 

[sjrobinson]

Thanks for the advice. Several people have told me I'm almost guaranteed a spot at an Alabama school, but the almost part scares me! I've decided to eliminate WVU and UCF, the former because I have no desire to be there and the latter because I don't like the curriculum or the cost.

New school list:
Baylor
Emory
Johns Hopkins
Mayo
Mt. Sinai
NYU
Northwestern
St. Louis
Miami
South Florida
UAB
Florida
Louisville
North Carolina
Pittsburgh
South Alabama
Vanderbilt
Virginia Commonwealth
Wake Forest


Any more advice??

 

[mspeedwagon]

I have found that people within your stat range tend to have a lot of issues with interviews (check the re-applicant forum and those with high stats normally get interviews at a lot of places, but end up with flat out rejections after interviews).

I think this point is under-emphasized here on SDN, but start setting up mock interviews. Normally your undergrad will be happy to help you out. Contact any physicians and ask them if they will be able to interview you. If you absolutely have to, consider paying a professional service (though, use this as a last resort, b/c free is always better).

Go in to every interview confidently knowing that you are basically a shoe-in. All you have to do is:
1) Dress well
2) Show an interest in medicine (and specifically the school you are at).
3) Do not appear quiet (I struggled with this when I was younger. I always felt that people should ask questions and I answered them. And then there was awkward silence. This really is the fault of the person conducting the interview, but with practice you can learn to avoid this by moving the interview toward being more conversational).
4) Do not EVER from this day forward use "like" or "you know" or "hmm." They are not professional. You like, you know, won't be... hmm, admitted if you do.
5) Ask intelligent targeted questions at the end of the interview. Never say that you don't have any questions. I know this can be hard because you normally have read every thing about the school prior to the interview. But, remember, you can always ask about the interviewers impressions. What the person found has made people most successful in the program etc.

I did a lot of hiring at Stanford when I was the lead coordinator there. It is amazing how many people came to the interview dressed poorly, didn't say much when they were being interviewed, had no idea about the job or why they wanted to work at Stanford, used "like" every second word (especially a big problem among females in CA. Never heard the word "like" so over used in Boston). And then, they didn't have any questions. They were ALL not hired despite excellent resumes and a strong need for us to find someone ASAP at the time. Your stats are excellent with an outstanding interview, you'll be able to get in just about anywhere you want.

Again, you are a shoe-in for UAB. Think of the schools you really, really would like to go to and apply. Don't be scared. Be excited. You are an awesome applicant. And, I only hope that I can get my MCAT score as high when I apply (likely next year at this point).

Thanks for the advice. Several people have told me I'm almost guaranteed a spot at an Alabama school, but the almost part scares me! I've decided to eliminate WVU and UCF, the former because I have no desire to be there and the latter because I don't like the curriculum or the cost.

 

[sjrobinson]

Thank you so much! I generally interview well and seem to be better in person than on paper (I've only ever not-gotten one position I interviewed for, and the interviewer thought I had it in the bag while the person that chose only got my resume and chose someone else). My school does a committee letter with an interview and they're pretty good about giving constructive criticism after the interview and making you reschedule if it was awful. I will consider setting up another mock interview or two before the interview process actually starts though.

Also, I've looked into Boston schools and many others in the northeast, but I'm honestly not in love with the concept of living and working in a huge northern city. I know there can be much more opportunity, but I'm not ready/willing enough to abandon my current lifestyle (which would pretty much be necessary) and apply to more than a handful of schools in that region.

 

[October88]

Thanks for the advice. Several people have told me I'm almost guaranteed a spot at an Alabama school, but the almost part scares me! I've decided to eliminate WVU and UCF, the former because I have no desire to be there and the latter because I don't like the curriculum or the cost.

New school list:
Baylor
Emory
Johns Hopkins
Mayo
Mt. Sinai
NYU
Northwestern
St. Louis
Miami
South Florida
UAB
Florida
Louisville
North Carolina
Pittsburgh
South Alabama
Vanderbilt
Virginia Commonwealth
Wake Forest


Any more advice??

I think your list.looks goodd. Llnd the only reason people use maybe is that until you get that phone call nothing is guarenteed. But I'd be shocked if you didn't.

At this point I'd worry about writing the best best application you can and get it in on June 4 if you can also make sure you do your secondaries timely. Doesn't have to be the exact day you get them but within a week or so.

 

[sjrobinson]

Thanks! I've already got my primary application completed and ready to submit June 4th, but I'm waiting on one letter of recommendation and a committee interview still for the second part. I'll certainly aim to get those secondaries done quickly (and well).