MD School List Advice? (524 MCAT, 3.91 GPA)

[FrenchPeach]

Just going to do an info dump here to give a rough picture:

• 524 MCAT (130/130/132/132, 100th percentile)
• 3.91 cGPA, 3.98 sGPA, majored in bio with a specialization in neuroscience (4.0 in my minor, statistics)
• Half Korean, half white woman from a rural town in upstate NY.
• Went to top 5 undergraduate school, graduated last year Phi Beta Kappa.
• Working as a data analyst (taught myself how to code, will be ~4500 hrs by the time I matriculate) and volunteering in a MICU (expecting at least 200 hrs before I leave) for my 2 gap years.
• A little nontrad: thought I would go into finance in spite of always wanting to be a Dr, worked at top 2 private equity firms for my two summers. Hated it, and have a compelling (family) reason for realizing that medicine was actually what I wanted to pursue.
• Was a part of my uni's shadowing program (they let us do 24 hrs total). Not that many hours, but it was an official program...? /shrug
• Some neuroscience research (100 hrs). No pubs. I think this is a real weak point of my application. I did additional biomolecular engineering research when I was in HS, which is not going on my app, but a large reason I thought I wanted to go into finance was because I didn't feel a pull to do research.
• Volunteered as a one-on-one English as a second language tutor for kids (kindergarten age) at our local public school through college (90 hrs).
• Co-president + fundraising chair of my school's Women in Business organization for my junior year.
• (Random one but has proven a really good talking point in regular job interviews): ran a marathon before going to college, finished first in my division.
• Finally, I'm the author of a food blog (I do all the cooking/recipe testing, writing, photography, and site design), which I've been doing for 6+ years. It has been fairly successful: I've been asked to write a cookbook and scouted for television (Food Network) shows, and this will be one of my most meaningful activities on my app.

OK sorry for the long-windedness (I am desperate for advice...!), here are my schools, in no particular order:
NYU
UVA
Tulane
Stanford
Vanderbilt
Harvard (both my parents went for undergrad)
Rochester
Tufts
Hopkins
Pitt
Einstein
Georgetown
UCSF
Cornell
SUNY Downstate (my mama went to med school here)
Brown
Penn
Northwestern (mom's residency)
BU
Yale
Mt. Sinai
Columbia
Duke
UChicago (extensive legacy)

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[Phile98]

+UMich
+WashU

 

[theKingLT]

Do you have any clinical experience (paid or volunteer)?

 

[FrenchPeach]

+UMich
+WashU

As for Vanderbilt, felt I had to share this as a fellow asian (and human being)

Thank you so much for your input! And that is seriously something, smh. Thank you for sharing; I would never have known... Good thing I didn't have my heart set on it whatsoever. Ew.

 

[FrenchPeach]

Do you have any clinical experience (paid or volunteer)?

Yes! I am currently volunteering in an ICU in a brand spanking new volunteering program. I will have 200+ hours before I matriculate (god willing, lol)

 

[theKingLT]

Yes! I am currently volunteering in an ICU in a brand spanking new volunteering program. I will have 200+ hours before I matriculate (god willing, lol)

Great, you should have a strong and unique application. I would add washu with their high stat emphasis and all the SUNY schools for in-state and a larger base of non-research oriented schools

 

[FrenchPeach]

Great, you should have a strong and unique application. I would add washu with their high stat emphasis and all the SUNY schools for in-state and a larger base of non-research oriented schools

Great advice. Thank you for your quick response!

 

[Faha]

Do you have any physician shadowing hours ? How many clinical volunteering hours do you have in the ICU as of this month ?

 

[sxullf]

+UCLA
+Johns Hopkins
- Vanderbilt

Sent from my SM-G950U using SDN mobile

 

[theKingLT]

Do you have any physician shadowing hours ? How many clinical volunteering hours do you have in the ICU as of this month ?

^^^ just realized OP said 200 hours before matriculation, not application. This could be a big problem if just starting in the ICU

 

[the Mannis]

your app is awesome

 

[FrenchPeach]

Do you have any physician shadowing hours ? How many clinical volunteering hours do you have in the ICU as of this month ?

Hi Faha! Yes, I was part of my school's shadowing program. I have 24 hours (12 each with 2 doctors). I have 40 hours as of this month. Thanks for reading!

 

[Goro]

Just going to do an info dump here to give a rough picture:

• 524 MCAT (130/130/132/132, 100th percentile)
• 3.91 cGPA, 3.98 sGPA, majored in bio with a specialization in neuroscience (4.0 in my minor, statistics)
• Half Korean, half white woman from a rural town in upstate NY.
• Went to top 5 undergraduate school, graduated last year Phi Beta Kappa.
• Working as a data analyst (taught myself how to code, will be ~4500 hrs by the time I matriculate) and volunteering in a MICU (expecting at least 200 hrs before I leave) for my 2 gap years.
• A little nontrad: thought I would go into finance in spite of always wanting to be a Dr, worked at top 2 private equity firms for my two summers. Hated it, and have a compelling (family) reason for realizing that medicine was actually what I wanted to pursue.
• Was a part of my uni's shadowing program (they let us do 24 hrs total). Not that many hours, but it was an official program...? /shrug
• Some neuroscience research (100 hrs). No pubs. I think this is a real weak point of my application. I did additional biomolecular engineering research when I was in HS, which is not going on my app, but a large reason I thought I wanted to go into finance was because I didn't feel a pull to do research.
• Volunteered as a one-on-one English as a second language tutor for kids (kindergarten age) at our local public school through college (90 hrs).
• Co-president + fundraising chair of my school's Women in Business organization for my junior year.
• (Random one but has proven a really good talking point in regular job interviews): ran a marathon before going to college, finished first in my division.
• Finally, I'm the author of a food blog (I do all the cooking/recipe testing, writing, photography, and site design), which I've been doing for 6+ years. It has been fairly successful: I've been asked to write a cookbook and scouted for television (Food Network) shows, and this will be one of my most meaningful activities on my app.

OK sorry for the long-windedness (I am desperate for advice...!), here are my schools, in no particular order:
NYU
UVA
Tulane
Stanford
Vanderbilt
Harvard (both my parents went for undergrad)
Rochester
Tufts
Hopkins
Pitt
Einstein
Georgetown
UCSF
Cornell
SUNY Downstate (my mama went to med school here)
Brown
Penn
Northwestern (mom's residency)
BU
Yale
Mt. Sinai
Columbia
Duke
UChicago (extensive legacy)

Add all SUNYs
BU
Hofstra
Mayo
CASE
KECK
Jefferson
EMORY
U Miami

 

[Faha]

Your GPA and MCAT are competitive for every school in the nation. However, your limited research and clinical volunteering and shadowing will limit the schools where you will receive interviews. I suggest these schools with your stats:
All 4 SUNY's
Hofstra
Einstein
Mount Sinai
NYU
Rochester
Case Western
Pittsburgh
Washington University
Cincinnati
Jefferson
Miami
Tulane
Duke
Tufts
Ohio State
You can also apply to your legacy schools.

 

[FrenchPeach]

^^^ just realized OP said 200 hours before matriculation, not application. This could be a big problem if just starting in the ICU

Yeah, hmmm. I agree that it makes it tough optically, even though this is a brand new program. Something I need to chew on. Thank you for your input, seriously!

 

[FrenchPeach]

Your GPA and MCAT are competitive for every school in the nation. However, your limited research and clinical volunteering and shadowing will limit the schools where you will receive interviews. I suggest these schools with your stats:
All 4 SUNY's
Hofstra
Einstein
Mount Sinai
NYU
Rochester
Case Western
Pittsburgh
Washington University
Cincinnati
Jefferson
Miami
Tulane
Duke
Tufts
Ohio State
You can also apply to your legacy schools.

Thank you for your advice, Faha! Really appreciate it

 

[FrenchPeach]

Add all SUNYs
BU
Hofstra
Mayo
CASE
KECK
Jefferson
EMORY
U Miami

Thank you! Based on lists from you and others, I definitely think I will add these, and maybe trim some so I'm not quite as top-heavy. Very grateful for the advice.

 

[theKingLT]

Yeah, hmmm. I agree that it makes it tough optically, even though this is a brand new program. Something I need to chew on. Thank you for your input, seriously!

The truth is with your stats and other EC's and the broader, updated school list, I would think that you can still get an acceptance without more clinical or shadowing than you have. Just know that your clinical hours will be a significant weakness in your app so be ready in your interviews to talk in detail about the shadowing and volunteering that you have done to show them you know what you're getting in to.

 

[thenucleusaccumbens]

Thank you so much for your input! And that is seriously something, smh. Thank you for sharing; I would never have known... Good thing I didn't have my heart set on it whatsoever. Ew.

maybe replace it with Mayo? ;-) I'm biased (Mayo student) but sounds like you might be a good fit (your background and activities are strikingly similar to one of my classmates)