MD School List Help (3.98 cGPA, 518 MCAT)

This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.

gatoradeco2019

Full Member
Joined
Jun 6, 2018
Messages
19
Reaction score
25
Hey everyone! I'm trying to get an idea of my chances of admission/ideal MD schools I'm applying to and would appreciate feedback on what you guys think!

Me: University of Florida student, Male, ORM, Florida Resident

MCAT: 518 (96th percentile)

Concerned because my C/P is pretty low (tried to self-teach myself Physics 2, wasn't comfortable enough with it on a physics 2 heavy MCAT)

cGPA and sGPA: 3.9+

Research:
- Research assistant/honor's thesis student since January 2018 in a Muscle and Cancer Genetics Lab; 200+ hours of research, expected to reach 800 hours by April 2019
- Received funding from UF for a project proposal I submitted
- Helping prepare a manuscript for publication (not first author); writing an honor's thesis that may be published in the university's undergrad research journal
- Scheduled for two presentations

Clinical experience (Volunteering/Shadowing):
- 4 month (~45 hours) of volunteering in a surgical clinic located at the university hospital
- 2 months (~60 hours) of volunteering at a hospital, mostly involved in post-op in-patient care
- Was able to shadow some during both of the experiences above
- Just started what I expect to be 100 hours of shadowing with a cardiologist at the VA

Non-clinical volunteering:
- 180 hours of volunteering through a pre-med honor society (2 years)
- 160 hours of volunteering with the Boys and Girls club as a tutor (two summers)

Other:
- Ongoing non-clinical employment of almost 3 years (1200 hours currently)
- Certification as a Biotechnician Assistant (certified by the University of Florida)
- Peer mentor/tutor in a variety of courses (since August 2015, 180 hours)
- Anderson Scholar with High Distinction Award (3.95-3.99 GPA)
- Health Science Honor's Program
- Weightlifting (very rough estimate of ~1000 hours)


- LoR's should be okay, maybe one weak science LoR; Strong research PI LoR

-I'm concerned about my lack of clinical experience and that I did not participate in research until this year.

Here's my current school list categorized by median MCAT scores (I'm applying to a lot of schools)

Reach/Hopeful (519+)
1) Johns Hopkins
2) Washington U in St. Louis
3) Vanderbilt
4) Duke
5) University of Virginia
6) Harvard

On Target (515-518)
7) Mayo
8) University of Michigan
9) UC- San Francisco (I know that the acceptance rate for OOS is low)
10) Pittsburg
11) Emory
12) University of South Florida
13) Ohio State
14) Brown

Others (no such thing as "safe") (<515)
15) University of Florida
16) University of Washington
17) University of Miami (Florida)
18) University of Maryland
19) Tufts University
20) Florida State University

I wanted to gauge my competitiveness at these schools.
Please let me know what you think, thank you for the help!

Members don't see this ad.
 
Last edited:
You stats are great, and the rest of your app seems good to me.

One mistake though on your school list is that I do not see all your state schools on the list. FL has as of now 8 medical schools you are missing FIU, UCF, FAU, and Nova). You should consider adding these to your list.

After including all your state schools you can really apply anywhere else in the country.

Some of the adcoms here would be able to give you the best advice. @Goro @Faha @LizzyM
 
Your low levels of clinical volunteering are at the barest of bare bones. You don't need 100 hours of shadowing. Make it 50 and get in more clinical volunteering.

I suggest:
NYU
Vanderbilt
WashU
Yale
JHU
Northwestern
U Chicago
U Penn
Columbia
Duke
Harvard
Sinai
Cornell
Stanford
U MI
U VA
BU
Case
Hofstra
Mayo
Ohio State
Pitt
U Cincy
USC/Keck
USF Morsani and all other FL schools
UCSF
Albert Einstein
Dartmouth
Emory
Rochester
U IA
Western MI
Jefferson
U VM
 
Don't apply to U Washington, it is a complete waste of money if you aren't from the state of Washington or one of the northwestern states that have preference there (Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, etc).

Don't waste your time with all 8 Florida schools... Frankly, with your numbers you should target not more than 5 reaches, 5 "safeties" and 5-10 in the middle. You won't need more unless you want to be on the road every week for 8 solid weeks in Sept-Oct.

All that said, you have far too little clinical exposure... I almost think that you need to wait a year. Crazy, I know, but they will ding you for this particularly if you also spent 1,000 hours on weightlifting.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 users
Top