School list help- any chance at top program?

[Vaseline]

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Hey all,

Would appreciate help assembling a school list... also, was curious if I have any chance at a top medical school (the likes of the Ivies, JHops, UMICH, Mayo, etc) despite being on lower range of most of their MCAT profiles and lacking significant research experience?

Academic Profile:
Biochemistry Major
Cum GPA: 3.99
Sci GPA: 3.98
MCAT: 34 (13/10/11) ... This was a tad lower than expected, but still pleased.

Research:
A full year of wet-lab research. Two presentations. No pubs.
Also served as a clinical research intern one summer, but my role did not involve actively conducting research, but rather managing aspects of various clinical trials. Still very interesting internship, though.

EC's:
3 years, 300 hours volunteering in patient transportation at local hospital
8 years, ? hours of coaching special olympics both in softball and basketball
2 years of mentoring freshman pre-health students
2 semesters as TA... one for orgo and the other for bio
Medical Mission trip
Week long service trip (Katrina Relief)

Shadowing:
Currently have around 75 hours. Plan to up that to 100-150 by the time I apply.

LOR:
I will have around 5 or 6 by the time I apply. Most will be solid, but two of them should be very strong.

I will graduate this coming May. I did not apply this cycle, as I chose the gap year option for personal reasons. I will most likely scribe in ER during this year. Thoughts on this?

Lastly, I am an Oregon resident and hence my top choice is OHSU. Absolutely fantastic school from what I've heard.

I want to apply to about 25-30 schools.

Tentative list:
OHSU (OR Resident)
Albany
Albert Einstein
Rosy F
Creighton
Drexel
GWU
G-town
Thomas Jeff
MCWisc
Rush
Temple
Commonwealth
Tulane
AZ x2
UMIAMI
Rochester
VCU
Wake Forest

I consider these 20 schools to be matches. Any other matches I should look at?

And then I am unsure of how many reaches I want to apply to. I was thinking maybe 8-10?
Johns Hopkins
UMICH
Mayo
Duke
Emory
Vanderbilt
Dartmouth
NYU
Virginia
Harvard or Stanford

Do I have any chance at these schools or will my MCAT + poor man's research keep me out?

THANKS ALL, YALL ARE WONDERFUL

 

[Goro]

I think you're fine and nothing wrong with aiming high. Your MCAT is fine for Stanford, for example, and you don't need pubs to get into the research-heavy top schools. See my suggested list below.


OHSU (OR Resident)
Albany
Albert Einstein
Rosy F
Creighton
Drexel
Thomas Jeff
MCWisc
Rush
Temple
Commonwealth
Tulane
AZ x2
UMIAMI
Rochester
VCU
Wake Forest
BU
Tufts
Penn State
U Penn


Johns Hopkins
Mayo
Duke
Emory
Vanderbilt
NYU
Stanford
Baylor
Pitt

 

[mcloaf]

I think you're fine and nothing wrong with aiming high. Your MCAT is fine for Stanford, for example, and you don't need pubs to get into the research-heavy top schools. See my suggested list below.


OHSU (OR Resident)
Albany
Albert Einstein
Rosy F
Creighton
Drexel
Thomas Jeff
MCWisc
Rush
Temple
Commonwealth
Tulane
AZ x2
UMIAMI
Rochester
VCU
Wake Forest
BU
Tufts
Penn State
U Penn


Johns Hopkins
Mayo
Duke
Emory
Vanderbilt
NYU
Stanford
Baylor
Pitt

Why'd you drop Michigan?

 

[Goro]

OPs MCAT score is two points below U MI's avg, and I feel that when applying to OOS public school, one needs to be > avg, lest it piss off the taxpayers supplementing the student's tuition.

Why'd you drop Michigan?

 

[mcloaf]

OPs MCAT score is two points below U MI's avg, and I feel that when applying to OOS public school, one needs to be > avg, lest it piss off the taxpayers supplementing the student's tuition.

Fair enough I suppose.

 

[Vaseline]

Thanks for the help, Goro.

How do my EC's look? After I typed them all out, I felt they were kind of average/ border-line weak?

As I stated in my original post, I will be taking a gap year. Right now I really want to scribe, as I heard it is a great experience and is looked upon favorably by admissions committees. Does this sound about right?

Any other things I can do to supplement my EC's?

Any insight is appreciated.

 

[darkjedi]

Provided you have a 'hook' you still stand a chance at getting into a top-tier. Definitely apply broadly, which it seems like you are doing. You should have a very good chance at getting in somewhere.

 

[Vaseline]

so i met with my advisor this week. she encouraged me to up my shadowing and community service.

i am looking around for a community service engagement and was wondering if anyone had any experiences with different programs they would recommend (big bros/ big sis, salvation army)?

she also told me to trim down on the reaches to about 4 or 5, that is unless i got dough to spend

 

[Goro]

I think your ECs are outstanding,especially the Special Olympics coaching. Scringing is fine and eyeopening.

Thanks for the help, Goro.

How do my EC's look? After I typed them all out, I felt they were kind of average/ border-line weak?

As I stated in my original post, I will be taking a gap year. Right now I really want to scribe, as I heard it is a great experience and is looked upon favorably by admissions committees. Does this sound about right?

Any other things I can do to supplement my EC's?

Any insight is appreciated.

 

[gyngyn]

she also told me to trim down on the reaches to about 4 or 5, that is unless i got dough to spend

She's right.

 

[Vaseline]

I have refined my list. The original goal of applying to 25-30 schools was a bit ambitious. I would like to cap it at 20. And without further adieu, here is the list of 20 I assembled:

Creighton
Drexel
MCWisc
VCU
Albert Einstein
Thomas Jeff
NYMC
OHSU* (OR resident)
UA-PHX
UA-Tucson
UMIAMI
Rochester
Wake Forest
Saint Louis
Tufts
Case Western
Emory
NYU
Northwestern
Duke

Is this list broad and strategic enough for the game of medical school admissions? Should I drop any? Or reconsider schools that are not on this list?

Thanks

 

[gyngyn]

It looks good.

 

[Goro]

Once again I strongly agree with my learned colleague

It looks good.