School List Advice? 3.93 cGPA, 3.88 sGPA, 39 MCAT

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DamianKnight1994

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You have an excellent app. add whatever reaches you want.

UF is state biased. Georgetown gets way too many apps. You can remove those.

I'd look into Pitt, Chicago, WashU, Rochester, UVa, Duke.
 
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I've changed schools around to more accurately reflect where they should fall on the competitiveness scale:

Schools:
Reach:
-Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Columbia, Cornell, UPenn, Johns Hopkins, UCLA, UCSF, UCSD, NYU, Northwestern, Mt Sinai

Mid:
-Wake Forrest, Tufts, BU, Case Western, Emory, Albert Einstein, Georgetown, University of Colorado Boulder, USC, UCI, UCD

Low:
-Jefferson, Drexel, University of Florida, any other suggestions..?

---

I would remove Drexel, Tufts, BU, Jefferson, and Georgetown, unless you have compelling reasons to want to attend there. You are not an applicant that would benefit from applications to low-yield schools like these.

As the above poster said, I would look into Duke, Pitt, UChicago, WashU, Michigan, Vanderbilt, and UVA. You can afford to be reach-heavy.
 
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How the hell did you have the time to do all of that...
 
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You only have one science professor recommendation letter I believe. I don't have the specifics but there are definitely schools where your research coordinator won't count as a second science letter; they'll want an actual science teacher who's class you took. Again, I'm open to being corrected if mistaken(and I could easily be) but that was the first thing that stood out.

There is saying on here I think it might have been @gyngyn that while applicants usually don't get interviews for schools they are below the 10th percentile, they also likely won't get interviews for schools they are above the 90th percentile for. That 39 MCAT will put you above the 90th percentile for a number of low tier MD schools. This is even more true for those with top stats who went to top notch schools. That's why it's not worth submitting too many apps to low tier MD's. Submit a few if you like but that's not a major focus. If you are looking for some specifics to apply to from that batch consider Jefferson, Temple, Wake Forest, Tufts, Creighton, Saint Louis, and Loyola to name a few. Florida with its low OOS matriculate percentage is a poor use of an application fee.

So anyway here is a list I came up with the top of my head
Pick 2-4
Temple Creighton Wake Forest Tufts Saint Louis Loyla Jefferson

Your Cal State Schools: All of them are in play.

Pick 7: The last couple are probably a tad more competitive.
Colorado Miami Cincinnati Boston U Ohio State Maryland USC Mayo Einstein Rochester

Pick 5-7: The bottom ones are probably a bit more on the competitive side.
Case Western Emory NYU Vandy Mt Sinai
Northwestern Pitt Cornell Baylor Michigan

Pick as many as you want---the bottom ones are probably even a slight bit more competitive.
U Chicago Duke Columbia Yale Stanford
Harvard WashU Penn Johns Hopkins UCSF
 
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You have an excellent app. add whatever reaches you want.

UF is state biased. Georgetown gets way too many apps. You can remove those.

I'd look into Pitt, Chicago, WashU, Rochester, UVa, Duke.
Great, thanks! I don't think I'll have a great shot at Chicago cause I've never attended any information sessions when the rep came from Chicago and I've heard stories about how the interviewer will ask me if I ever went to those info sess and it's pretty much a rejection if you say you didn't go. I'll remove UF and Georgetown then.
 
I've changed schools around to more accurately reflect where they should fall on the competitiveness scale:

Schools:
Reach:
-Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Columbia, Cornell, UPenn, Johns Hopkins, UCLA, UCSF, UCSD, NYU, Northwestern, Mt Sinai

Mid:
-Wake Forrest, Tufts, BU, Case Western, Emory, Albert Einstein, Georgetown, University of Colorado Boulder, USC, UCI, UCD

Low:
-Jefferson, Drexel, University of Florida, any other suggestions..?

---

I would remove Drexel, Tufts, BU, Jefferson, and Georgetown, unless you have compelling reasons to want to attend there. You are not an applicant that would benefit from applications to low-yield schools like these.

As the above poster said, I would look into Duke, Pitt, UChicago, WashU, Michigan, Vanderbilt, and UVA. You can afford to be reach-heavy.
Okay, sounds good. Yes I'll add UVA, Duke, and WashU. Thanks for organizing my list!
 
How the hell did you have the time to do all of that...
Haha I live really close to home so on the weekends I just spend all my time volunteering consistently at the two different hospitals/clinics. Summer was for research and more volunteering. And my jobs were really not that time consuming (imagine 6 hrs/week at most). Practiced my sport only 3x a week. It's definitely doable, you'll just have very little time for socializing.
 
You only have one science professor recommendation letter I believe. I don't have the specifics but there are definitely schools where your research coordinator won't count as a second science letter; they'll want an actual science teacher who's class you took. Again, I'm open to being corrected if mistaken(and I could easily be) but that was the first thing that stood out.

There is saying on here I think it might have been @gyngyn that while applicants usually don't get interviews for schools they are below the 10th percentile, they also likely won't get interviews for schools they are above the 90th percentile for. That 39 MCAT will put you above the 90th percentile for a number of low tier MD schools. This is even more true for those with top stats who went to top notch schools. That's why it's not worth submitting too many apps to low tier MD's. Submit a few if you like but that's not a major focus. If you are looking for some specifics to apply to from that batch consider Jefferson, Temple, Wake Forest, Tufts, Creighton, Saint Louis, and Loyola to name a few. Florida with its low OOS matriculate percentage is a poor use of an application fee.

So anyway here is a list I came up with the top of my head
Pick 2-4
Temple Creighton Wake Forest Tufts Saint Louis Loyla Jefferson

Your Cal State Schools: All of them are in play.

Pick 7: The last couple are probably a tad more competitive.
Colorado Miami Cincinnati Boston U Ohio State Maryland USC Mayo Einstein Rochester

Pick 5-7: The bottom ones are probably a bit more on the competitive side.
Case Western Emory NYU Vandy Mt Sinai
Northwestern Pitt Cornell Baylor Michigan

Pick as many as you want---the bottom ones are probably even a slight bit more competitive.
U Chicago Duke Columbia Yale Stanford
Harvard WashU Penn Johns Hopkins UCSF

Hello! My bad, I neglected to make it clear--my academic advisor was my neuroscience professor as well so I'll have 2 science LOR's and 1 humanities LOR. Yeah, I've also heard that if my stats are out of the typical range I might not get anything from those schools. I guess I'm just worried cause med school is such a crapshot and I really wanted to cover all my bases and not be too reach-heavy.
 
Well, after listening to all your guys' wonderful advice, here's a new school list.

Schools:
Reach:
-Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Columbia, Cornell, UPenn, Johns Hopkins, all UC's, Mt. Sinai, Northwestern

Mid:
-USC, BU, Case Western, Emory, NYU, Albert Einstein, University of Colorado Boulder, UVA, Pitt, Duke

Low:
-Temple, Wake Forrest
 
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Well, after listening to all your guys' wonderful advice, here's a new school list.

Schools:
Reach:
-Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Columbia, Cornell, UPenn, Johns Hopkins, all UC's, Mt. Sinai, Northwestern

Mid:
-USC, BU, Case Western, Emory, NYU, Albert Einstein, University of Colorado Boulder, UVA

Low:
-Temple, Wake Forrest

Looks good. You could add even more top tiers if you like, but you should be good to go wherever you apply.
 
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Add Pitt, they love research.
 
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Well, after listening to all your guys' wonderful advice, here's a new school list.

Schools:
Reach:
-Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Columbia, Cornell, UPenn, Johns Hopkins, all UC's, Mt. Sinai, Northwestern

Mid:
-USC, BU, Case Western, Emory, NYU, Albert Einstein, University of Colorado Boulder, UVA

Low:
-Temple, Wake Forrest

Good list. Top heavy but you'll find something good just don't get attached to any one school that's what kills people in this game.
 
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You have an excellent application! High stats, research and an NCAA all American - as long as you can string together a coherent sentence you will be more than fine.

I would get rid of the lower tiers and add more top schools. UChicago, Wash U, and Duke come to mind.
 
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You have an excellent application! High stats, research and an NCAA all American - as long as you can string together a coherent sentence you will be more than fine.

I would get rid of the lower tiers and add more top schools. UChicago, Wash U, and Duke come to mind.
Yup, I just added some in. I still don't want to get rid of all my low tiers just in case something bizarre happens ... call me paranoid haha but I can't really help it
 
I think your list is very good now.
 
You're platinum... so aim high.

I suggest:

-Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Columbia, Cornell, UPenn, Johns Hopkins,

all UC's (but skip UCR if you're not from the Inland Empire). USC

BU, Case Western, Emory, NYU, Mt. Sinai, Albert Einstein, Northwestern, Duke

Loyola, Tulane, Hofstra, WashU, Baylor, U Chicago, U AZ, SUNY SB and DS, U VA, U MI, UTX SW, U IA
 
You're platinum... so aim high.

I suggest:

-Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Columbia, Cornell, UPenn, Johns Hopkins,

all UC's (but skip UCR if you're not from the Inland Empire). USC

BU, Case Western, Emory, NYU, Mt. Sinai, Albert Einstein, Northwestern, Duke

Loyola, Tulane, Hofstra, WashU, Baylor, U Chicago, U AZ, SUNY SB and DS, U VA, U MI, UTX SW, U IA
Thanks, I may add some, in the next two days.
 
But seriously, no disrespect and I'm not trying to say you didn't do all of these things, but how the hell do you even have time to sleep and eat? You're playing a sport really well and that takes a lot of practice unless you're some sort of wizard, you volunteer so much, and you must study a lot unless you're a magical genius ... guess I'm just saying I wish I had your stats but I messed up
 
I agree -- you are an animal. If you I were I would just apply to your "reach" schools and wait for the pre-interview acceptances to roll in.
 
But seriously, no disrespect and I'm not trying to say you didn't do all of these things, but how the hell do you even have time to sleep and eat? You're playing a sport really well and that takes a lot of practice unless you're some sort of wizard, you volunteer so much, and you must study a lot unless you're a magical genius ... guess I'm just saying I wish I had your stats but I messed up
I agree -- you are an animal. If you I were I would just apply to your "reach" schools and wait for the pre-interview acceptances to roll in.
Not to minimize OP's accomplishments at all, but he resembles the sort of high-achieving athletes at top schools all around the country. I knew a good number of them from college myself. Guys like him are not as rare as you'd think, especially if his LAC was DIII (still competitive, but 3 average days of practice is more than enough to stay on top if he was DII material out of high school already. Most of his ECs, while meaningful, don't suck time as much time as most people are thinking and looks pretty manageable. ~300 hours of volunteering over four years really isn't crazy if you do the math. College athletes with good grades are already time management experts, so yes, people like him really do exist and they're not weirdos/sleep deprived/crazy as people like to think.

OP – don't buy the hype about Chicago. wtf I bet it's just people who were butt hurt about not getting in and making conjectures about how that could have happened...no way is an interviewer going to as you about an INFORMATION SESSION at your small LAC in CA...add the top schools if you want. I'd do a 75/25 split towards the top schools. Lower-tier schools for you will also be lower yield unless you have good reasons to apply.
 
But seriously, no disrespect and I'm not trying to say you didn't do all of these things, but how the hell do you even have time to sleep and eat? You're playing a sport really well and that takes a lot of practice unless you're some sort of wizard, you volunteer so much, and you must study a lot unless you're a magical genius ... guess I'm just saying I wish I had your stats but I messed up

Hey, all the stuff didn't take too much time as The Real SVB pointed out. And dude don't give up hope, you can change your life =] If you messed up, don't do it again. Best of luck!
 
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I agree -- you are an animal. If you I were I would just apply to your "reach" schools and wait for the pre-interview acceptances to roll in.

Thanks for your encouragement, but I hardly doubt that'll be the case. Hopefully I'll get the schools I want!
 
Not to minimize OP's accomplishments at all, but he resembles the sort of high-achieving athletes at top schools all around the country. I knew a good number of them from college myself. Guys like him are not as rare as you'd think, especially if his LAC was DIII (still competitive, but 3 average days of practice is more than enough to stay on top if he was DII material out of high school already. Most of his ECs, while meaningful, don't suck time as much time as most people are thinking and looks pretty manageable. ~300 hours of volunteering over four years really isn't crazy if you do the math. College athletes with good grades are already time management experts, so yes, people like him really do exist and they're not weirdos/sleep deprived/crazy as people like to think.

OP – don't buy the hype about Chicago. wtf I bet it's just people who were butt hurt about not getting in and making conjectures about how that could have happened...no way is an interviewer going to as you about an INFORMATION SESSION at your small LAC in CA...add the top schools if you want. I'd do a 75/25 split towards the top schools. Lower-tier schools for you will also be lower yield unless you have good reasons to apply.

Hello, you basically know my life haha yeah I was able to play D1 actually but I didn't want to mess up my GPA and I wanted a STEM major so DIII I went. Yup, all my volunteering and stuff took place on the weekends and the summer and time management is key. Idk about Chicago, I don't think I want to spend 4 years there. Thanks for the advice though, appreciate it.
 
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