school list help: 3.95 sGPA, 3.95 cGPA, 523 mcat

[blipdh]

Year in school: Senior

State of residence: CA

Major: Physiology

cGPA: 3.95

sGPA: 3.95

MCAT Scores: 523 (131/130/131/131)

Research: DMD research for 2 years (800 hrs)

Volunteering (clinical): 250 hrs at a mobile clinic for the homeless in west hollywood

Physician shadowing: 50 hrs ER, 70 hrs orthopedic surgery

Non-clinical volunteering: 900 hours writing/directing/editing short movies for a club that teaches science/molecular bio labs to inner city kids. Also about 50 hrs teaching elementary kids health topics.

Extracurricular activities: Mountain bike racing, IM sports, a little piano/guitar

Employment history: 10 hrs a week all 4 years as a student manager for ucla mens tennis team. Taught a class as an undergrad assistant (not paid or anything but didnt know where else to put it)

School List:

Reach: Harvard, UCSF, UPENN, UCLA, UW, Stanford

Target: UCSD, USC, UCD, UCR, UCI, washington st louis, baylor, unc, virginia, ohio state, colorado

trying to get some advice on more schools for target/safety range or just in general

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[giguerex35]

you have a 3.95 gpa and 523 MCAT are you just on here for compliments or do you really not understand that those are both at the top of the chart

 

[MusicDOc124]

Add WVSOM so you can go mountain biking

 

[coffeeandcodeine]

I would get rid of UW, and add Vanderbilt plus some more top 20s

 

[Toutie]

Remove UW, they select primarily for WWAMI schools. Remove UCR unless you are from the Inland Empire. UNC and Colorado are fairly low yield for OOS. Add more high and mid range private schools for your OOS choices, they will be much higher yield than OOS State schools.

Do you have the MSAR? If not, get it...as it will be a great help in choosing appropriate schools for your stats and state of residence.

 

[WedgeDawg]

1. There isn't really a "target"/"reach"/"safety" kind of set up for med school like there is for college. It's not like if you have a 4.0/2300 you'll get into to every school that has average stats of 3.5/1700 - most people with 3.9/39 who apply to schools with 3.7/32 medians end up rejected. The med school application cycle is all about fit - you want to target schools who take applicants similar to you.

2. Your best overall profile for application success is applying to schools with similar applicant profiles to you (top 20s), your state schools (CA), and 3-5 mid tiers (closer to 5 because you're from CA, a traditionally difficult state to get into med school from)

3. You have to apply to schools that are regionally favorable or neutral to you. A CA applicant applying to University of Washington is a waste of a couple hundred dollars. Baylor and UNC also have heavy in-state bias, so drop those schools too.

Here's what your list should then look like

16-18 of the top 20. I recommend Harvard, Stanford, UCSF, Penn, Hopkins, Columbia, Yale, Duke, Michigan, WashU, UChicago, Vanderbilt, UCLA, UCSD, Pitt, Cornell, NYU, and Sinai.

All of your state schools. In addition to the ones recommended above, that means UCD and UCI. If you are from the Inland Empire region of CA (if you don't know what this is, you're not from it), apply to UCR, but if you are not, do NOT apply.

Several mid-tier schools. I recommend USC-Keck, Rochester, Einstein, UVA, and Ohio State.

That's it. 25 schools and you should be good to go. I can pretty much guarantee you 8+ interviews with that list.

The thing I'm most concerned about is your ECs, particularly your research profile, isn't quite up to par with your stats (as in its slightly underwhelming for top schools), but they are acceptable enough that they won't hold you back. I'm not saying your ECs are inadequate, just that most people getting into top schools have stellar ECs. But this is a pointless discussion because it doesn't change what schools you should apply to. You're definitely in the running.

 

[Goro]

Nothing wrong with aiming high. I suggest:
Harvard
Wash U
Yale
Stanford
U Chicago
U Penn
U VA
U MI
U AZ
U Colorado
U VM
U WI
Ohio State
Jefferson
U IA
UCSF
UCLA,
UCSD,
UCI,
UCR (IF you’re from the Inland Empire)
U Cincy
Miami
Albert Einstein
Tulane
Loyola
Emory
BU
USC/Keck
JHU
Mayo
Pitt
Northwestern
NYU
Vanderbilt
Columbia
Sinai
Cornell
Duke
Case
Hofstra

Year in school: Senior

State of residence: CA

Major: Physiology

cGPA: 3.95

sGPA: 3.95

MCAT Scores: 523 (131/130/131/131)

Research: DMD research for 2 years (800 hrs)

Volunteering (clinical): 250 hrs at a mobile clinic for the homeless in west hollywood

Physician shadowing: 50 hrs ER, 70 hrs orthopedic surgery

Non-clinical volunteering: 900 hours writing/directing/editing short movies for a club that teaches science/molecular bio labs to inner city kids. Also about 50 hrs teaching elementary kids health topics.

Extracurricular activities: Mountain bike racing, IM sports, a little piano/guitar

Employment history: 10 hrs a week all 4 years as a student manager for ucla mens tennis team. Taught a class as an undergrad assistant (not paid or anything but didnt know where else to put it)

School List:

Reach: Harvard, UCSF, UPENN, UCLA, UW, Stanford

Target: UCSD, USC, UCD, UCR, UCI, washington st louis, baylor, unc, virginia, ohio state, colorado

trying to get some advice on more schools for target/safety range or just in general