School list comments please

[Ilikepi]

Ok, last time for me starting a thread here.

3.49 cgpa, 3.70 sgpa, 39Q MCAT, NC resident

Completed undergrad with a 3.21, took 6 years off working, 2 years post-bacc (including most prereqs) at 4.0.

-Research 1.5 years with 3 presentations and a pub getting ready to be submitted (once published I'll send in an update letter)
-Most of my volunteering is in hospitals, about 350 hours in two different EDs and in surgery.
-About 50 hours shadowing across several specialties
-Standard amount of club involvement, leadership, sports, etc.

School list I have at this point (* is already on AMCAS, adding the others soon)

*Johns Hopkins
Northwestern
*Brown
Dartmouth
*Ohio State
Pitt
Virginia
Case
*UNC
*Tufts
SUNY Upstate
*Wake Forest
*Boston University
Rosalind Franklin
Jefferson
*Penn State
*Vermont
Drexel
*Tulane
*ECU

I'd like to stay on the East Coast, N. Carolina or north of here. The ones that don't meet this criteria are schools I had a particular interest in. Am I broad enough? Or should I trade some of the more upper schools for schools such as NYMC or Albany?

Thanks for any input!

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[TriagePreMed]

Personally, I'd limit my top schools to 3 of them. Realistically those would be Dartmouth, Brown, and Pitt. I would factor out Rosalind and Drexel and instead apply to Albany and NYMC.

 

[Catalystik]

I'd keep all the reachy schools (because you'll never know if you don't try) and add a few more safer ones. NYMC and Albany would be fine.

 

[Ilikepi]

Thanks for the input! I was trying to keep it at 20 or less, so maybe I'll take another look at some of the reach schools and put in some lower stat schools. I had a hard time deciphering what was reasonable since my MCAT and GPA don't really match and the whole non-trad thing...

 

[Catalystik]

You might take out a few where your cGPA is the farthest below their bottom tenth percentile (except for JH, your dream school, of course).

 

[Ilikepi]

You might take out a few where your cGPA is the farthest below their bottom tenth percentile (except for JH, your dream school, of course).

Ha! I just sat down in the library with the MSAR to look at exactly that!

 

[Ride Big Sky]

I know they get loads of applicants, but you might check out BU. I'm guessing you're okay with Boston if you are already applying to Tufts so its worth a shot.

 

[sector9]

I know they get loads of applicants, but you might check out BU. I'm guessing you're okay with Boston if you are already applying to Tufts so its worth a shot.

BU is already on OP's "already applied to" list, isn't it?

 

[Ride Big Sky]

BU is already on OP's "already applied to" list, isn't it?

yup it is. my fault

 

[Ilikepi]

If nothing else was a factor, I'd be in Boston. I was born near there and still have some family nearby, and my sister did her Ph.D. work there so I got to see the city quite a bit in the last few years. Of all the places I've traveled, Boston and Seattle have been my favorites. Just wish there were more schools to apply to in those cities!

 

[Ilikepi]

Upon additional review, I think I'm going to remove Northwestern and UVA from my list and add Virginia Commonwealth and Albany. If someone knows of something I overlooked (like one of the schools on my list being bad for OOS or non-trads), please let me know!

 

[Catalystik]

Doesn't SUNY Upstate take less than 15% OOS matriculants, as opposed to Buffalo or SUNY Downstate which are more OOS friendly?

 

[Ilikepi]

Doesn't SUNY Upstate take less than 15% OOS matriculants, as opposed to Buffalo or SUNY Downstate which are more OOS friendly?

I don't have the MSAR in front of me, but according to SUNY Upstate's website (http://www.upstate.edu/com/admissions/class_stats.php), they have 30 matriculants from OOS and 130 IS, so just under 19% at that point. That is for class of 2012, however.

Anyone have more recent numbers?

 

[Catalystik]

12.5% from MSAR 2011-2012 (last year's edition).

 

[sector9]

12.5% from MSAR 2011-2012 (last year's edition).

It looks like it bumped up to 23% per the latest edition (online)
ETA: Oops sorry, I thought we were talking about downstate
ETAv2.0: Upstate is at 13.6% for the latest MSAR (online)

 

[BarcaBest23]

boooo... whats wrong with UVA?? lol... anyways I say keep the reachy schools, your gpa is not the best but the 39 MCAT imo more than makes up for an average gpa. I agree switch rosalind with albany/nymc and also add VCU if you'd like, I would think you have a great chance of getting interviews at these schools and hopefully the big hitters too. Gluck.

 

[Ilikepi]

12.5% from MSAR 2011-2012 (last year's edition).

It looks like it bumped up to 23% per the latest edition (online)
ETA: Oops sorry, I thought we were talking about downstate
ETAv2.0: Upstate is at 13.6% for the latest MSAR (online)

Thanks for the info, I believe I may rethink that one. My library's MSAR is an older edition (like 2008 or 9). I figured things would be close, but this one was borderline for my comfort level anyways.

boooo... whats wrong with UVA?? lol... anyways I say keep the reachy schools, your gpa is not the best but the 39 MCAT imo more than makes up for an average gpa. I agree switch rosalind with albany/nymc and also add VCU if you'd like, I would think you have a great chance of getting interviews at these schools and hopefully the big hitters too. Gluck.

Haha, nothing at all wrong with UVA. I just wasn't all that excited about Charlottesville and didn't think I could explain my motivation beyond "you're a great school and I thought I'd have a shot." Is there a particular reason I should drop Rosalind? I really liked what they had to say as far as mission statement and such goes...

 

[SeminoleVesicle]

It only take one acceptance to be a doctor. You have a 39 MCAT, you're gonna get in somewhere. Get outside and chill.

 

[Ilikepi]

Get outside and chill.

Probably the best advice

Especially since I live at the beach