MD School List Help: GPA 3.36 & MCAT 2015 90-100%

[FHamati]

Hi everyone,

I was wondering if I could get some advice. I am looking to apply to M.D. schools and I wanted to list some of my stats and hope for some advice with regards to my chances at these schools or if there any recommendations. Particularly, I am looking for suggestions of schools to which I should apply. Thanks!

Here are my stats:

Non-traditional Applicant
Middle Eastern/US resident/unknown state of residence as I was born in Michigan and lived my entire life in Jordan.

Economically disadvantaged, household income >50,000 with 6 members all of which I have helped get into US colleges.

Top Liberal Arts College
- Graduated honors cum Laude with a thesis in biology
- 3.364 GPA (3.368 Sci-GPA)

I did poorly in sophomore year due to a very personal experience I wrote about in my PS. It entailed a very good friend of mine getting extremely ill and attempting to commit suicide.

Old MCAT:
-PS: 11
-Verbal: 7
-Bio: 11
-Total: 29
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2015 MCAT Preliminary Percentiles
- Chem: 92% - 97%
- CARS: 92% - 97%
- Bio: 85% - 100%
- Psych: 85% - 100%
- Overall: 90% - 100%

Tri-lingual: Arabic (mother language); English and Italian (functional)

Activities:
- presented a poster in McLean Hospital Research day in addition to Harvard Psychiatry Research Day. Will be presenting at the Society for Neuroscience conference this summer on a project I am a first/co-author on.

- Athletics: walked on as a diver for the swimming and diving varsity team during my freshmen year, and picked up wrestling during my junior and senior year. Named All-Academic

- Graduated Cum Laude after completing a senior thesis research. Was granted a biology department award for my work on the thesis in addition to a Summer Science Post-Baccalaureate Research Fellowship, a competitive research position

- Completed a thesis project during my senior year and used my fellowship funds to continue working the summer after my graduation, which culminated in a published review article I am a second author in.

- Pursued dancing and joined three different student groups doing salsa dancing, hip hop and breakdancing. Have been doing that since high school due to my 8 year background in gymnastics.

- Served as the treasurer of the entrepreneurship society and was on the eboard for two years. Started a chapter of Colleges against Cancer at my college and was the president of it senior year. I also co-led the salsa and ballroom club.

- Learned how to play the guitar, the piano, the drums, the electric bass, the darbuka, the alto saxophone, and the ukulele by watching videos. I performed as a baritone and the main beat boxer for an acappella group throughout my four years in college. I continue to play music in a band.


Volunteering (current):

- Clinical: Volunteer 4 hours/week at boston children's hospital.
- Cultural navigator at boston children's hospital, helping arabic speaking families.
- Volunteer at a homeless shelter 2 hours/week
- gymnastics coach at a special needs class 2hrs/wk



Current Job
Full time research job:
I currently conduct work in lab with both clinical and scientific aspects of research. I have my own project that I will first author/coauther two articles with in the soon future. Additionally, I recruit participants diagnosed with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder for a nasal biopsy procedure to acquire the olfactory epithelial tissue necessary for the study. I am responsible for scheduling interviews, explaining the risks, collecting consent forms, administering clinical smell tests, and attending the nasal biopsy procedure to obtain the tissue.
The nasal biopsy is conducted by a specialized surgeon and gives me a glimpse into the medical field.

- I am also the main dissectionist at a human brain bank. I dissect and freeze specific brain regions such as the amygdala and the olfactory bulb, which are later distributed to investigators throughout the world. What is interesting is that I actually acquire the tissue and process it for my own work in the lab

My job is all encompassing as I am able to acquire the tissue and study the pathology of the diseases, which I simultaneously study in a clinical setting.

Shadowing:

Shadowed an uro-oncosurgeon in Jordan during the summer of my sophomore year. Scrubbed-in and observed procedures like varicose (varicocele) ligations and open kidney tumor removal. Scrubbed-in with an orthopedic surgeon, during a partial hip replacement surgery. During high school I observed cardiac catheterizations and LASIK eye surgeries.

Employment during college:
- I tutored students in Arabic and I also developed a private summer course where I taught a visiting history professor in arabic. As a senior, I worked as a conversation partner in arabic.

- During my sophomore summer I worked as an academic assistant for History professors, compiling articles on American and Byzantine history into a digitized database. I also participated in a phonathon where I contacted alumni and solicited donations for the Alumni Fund.

During my junior year, I worked in my school's Natural History Museum as a Monitor for two years.
--------------

I have a solid set of ECs and really good LORs from professors and my current PI.
I'm a little hopeful after my MCAT scores came out and I improved my verbal drastically in addition to learning sociology and psychology from scratch as I haven't taken any psych classes at my school.

Here is the list of my schools that I am really hoping to go for, so please let me know what you think based on what I mentioned before and i'd be happy to hear any suggestions:

Tufts
Dartmouth
UVM
Temple
George Washington
Tulane
Loyola
Case Western
Emory
BU
U Chicago
Georgetown
Duke
Brown
Cornell
Columbia
Northwestern
Harvard
Yale
Wake Forest
Vanderbilt
Medical College of Wisconsin
Mount Sinai
Einstein
Rochester

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[Goro]

You'll need to target schools that take only the best MCAT score, and look more upon rising trends, which I assume you have? You will need some shadowing experience here the US, if you want to practice in the US, because you need to see what US doctor's day is like.

Your pubs won't count until they're in press. The research is laudable. How many hrs of clinical volunteering do you have so far? It should be > 100 hrs.


Thinking conservatively, I suggest:

U VM
USF Morsani (maybe)
Miami
St. Louis
Albany
Albert Einstein
Rochester
Rush
Rosy Franklin
BU
Hofstra
NYMC
VCU
EVMS
Wake Forest
Jefferson
Temple
Drexel
Creighton
George Washington
Emory
USC/Keck
Tulane
Loyola
Creighton
Any new MD school. Skip Central MI and the three new FL schools.
Your state school(s).

Add more top schools one you know your score, and if it's 515 or higher

 

[FHamati]

Add more top schools one you know your score, and if it's 515 or higher

Update: I received a 516, 95th percentile with
- Chem: 87%
- CARS: 87%
- Bio: 97%
- Psych: 97%
- Overall: 95%

Any recommendations for top schools with this improvement?
an increase of about 22 percentage points from previous exam.

 

[GrapesofRath]

Update: I received a 516, 95th percentile with
- Chem: 87%
- CARS: 87%
- Bio: 97%
- Psych: 97%
- Overall: 95%

Any recommendations for top schools with this improvement?
an increase of about 22 percentage points from previous exam.

Top schools? You have a 3.35. Forget about top tier, that's a GPA below the 10th percentile of many lower tier schools.

Instead of gunning for top schools consider yourself rather fortunate if you get an MD acceptance in general at any school(certainly quite possible but hardly some gurantee and an MD is a great thing regardless of where it comes from).

Goro's list is the move and I wouldn't really call it a conservative one either. Don't give Chicago, Brown, Cornell, Columbia, Harvard, Yale, Vanderbilt donations they don't need and save yourself a solid $800. Einstein, Mt Sinai Duke and Dartmouth are probably pushing things also(although they could be worth a flyer).

 

[FHamati]

Top schools? You have a 3.35. Forget about top tier, that's a GPA below the 10th percentile of many lower tier schools.

Instead of gunning for top schools consider yourself rather fortunate if you get an MD acceptance in general at any school(certainly quite possible but hardly some gurantee and an MD is a great thing regardless of where it comes from).

Goro's list is the move and I wouldn't really call it a conservative one either. Don't give Chicago, Brown, Cornell, Columbia, Harvard, Yale, Vanderbilt donations they don't need and save yourself a solid $800. Einstein, Mt Sinai Duke and Dartmouth are probably pushing things also(although they could be worth a flyer).

You don't suppose I at least have a shot with my diverse background and activities? I feel like I bring a unique perspective and more humanistic dimension to the schools. I hope I don't sound like I am aiming to get into top schools and like you said I would be very lucky to get into any of the schools I listed. These schools are in my list in case some of them see something different in my personal experiences that distinguish me as an application and an individual from the high scorers. Ultimately, you want a physician who knows how to communicate with the patients and provide a treatment that suits their personal/cultural needs. Sorry for rambling on, but I would just like to get your take on whether or not I would have a shot in these schools and if you have any recommendations, not just based on my scores, but also based on my multicultural experiences/skills/competencies...etc.

 

[GrapesofRath]

You don't suppose I at least have a shot with my diverse background and activities? I feel like I bring a unique perspective and more humanistic dimension to the schools. I hope I don't sound like I am aiming to get into top schools and like you said I would be very lucky to get into any of the schools I listed. These schools are in my list in case some of them see something different in my personal experiences that distinguish me as an application and an individual from the high scorers. Ultimately, you want a physician who knows how to communicate with the patients and provide a treatment that suits their personal/cultural needs. Sorry for rambling on, but I would just like to get your take on whether or not I would have a shot in these schools and if you have any recommendations, not just based on my scores, but also based on my multicultural experiences/skills/competencies...etc.

Alot of people think they are diverse and think the same way you do. But all that only takes you so far. The hooks that make the kind of difference you need you don't have( ie URM, marines etc). Also a 29 that was re-taken to a 35 is awesome but the 29 is still on your record and that won't be looked at quite the same as just a 35 taken once.

Like I said you need proper perspective. Many of these lower tiers you should apply to your GPA is below the 10th percentile for. Doesn't mean you can't get an MD acceptance, it just provides perspective on what you should be striving for which is an MD acceptance not the big names. Fortunately for you you do have residency in a favorable state in Michigan with a couple nice state schools like Central Michigan and Michigan State but there are no gurantees.

 

[Faha]

You have too many reach schools for a GPA of 3.36. Since you are a Michigan resident apply to Wayne State, Michigan State, Central Michigan, Oakland Beaumont, Western Michigan. OOS schools you should consider are:
Quinnipiac
Hofstra
NYMC
Albany
Drexel
Temple
Jefferson
Penn State
GW
Georgetown
Loyola
Rosalind Franklin
Rush
St. Louis
Creighton
Tulane

 

[FHamati]

Unfortunately for me I guess, I am not a resident of any state... I was born in Michigan, but lived in Jordan my entire life. Would I still be eligible to apply to these state schools? Do I even have a shot at UMich as a very high reach?

 

[Doug Underhill]

Notable SDN guru mimelim applied with 3.4/40 and got interviews at all of his reaches, except Vanderbilt.

Do you mean to say that your household income was less than $50,000? The federal poverty guidelines for Michigan in 2015 say that for a family of 6, the poverty line is set at $32, 570 USD. Greater than $50,000 is not particularly indicative of poverty.

http://aspe.hhs.gov/poverty/15poverty.cfm

You don't necessarily have to be under the federal poverty line to claim "disadvantaged" status, however. Having to work to support yourself, broken homes, food stamps, Pell grants, and other indicators are also indicative of it.

 

[md-2020]

Notable SDN guru mimelim applied with 3.4/40 and got interviews at all of his reaches, except Vanderbilt.

3.3/516 (second try, first=29) is quite a step down from 3.4/40. Also, med school admissions are increasing in difficulty every year, so what applied a decade+ ago is very far from the case today.

 

[FHamati]

Yeah, that's true. But I'm hoping it shows a strong work ethic and quick learning. So yes, my household income, not to mention the debts my family has. In terms of disadvantage, I have been on almost full financial aid (with no loans), with support from SEOG and federal pell grants. I am also the first person in my family to actually establish a life here, and I came with just two bags and a guitar. I also continue continue contributing to my siblings' eduction (3 of them) to help my family.

I agree with the difficulty of medical school admissions over the years, but I feel like the field of medicine needs people that have different and diverse experiences in addition to a humanistic side to them besides for the scientific drive (which I feel like I have). I'm not trying to force myself through the cracks here but I am just hoping to be able to pursue this dream of mine I have had since I can remember.

 

[GrapesofRath]

Yeah, that's true. But I'm hoping it shows a strong work ethic and quick learning. So yes, my household income, not to mention the debts my family has. In terms of disadvantage, I have been on almost full financial aid (with no loans), with support from SEOG and federal pell grants. I am also the first person in my family to actually establish a life here, and I came with just two bags and a guitar. I also continue continue contributing to my siblings' eduction (3 of them) to help my family.

I agree with the difficulty of medical school admissions over the years, but I feel like the field of medicine needs people that have different and diverse experiences in addition to a humanistic side to them besides for the scientific drive (which I feel like I have). I'm not trying to force myself through the cracks here but I am just hoping to be able to pursue this dream of mine I have had since I can remember.

You can do all of this at lower tier MD schools. Just don't look at exceptions to the rule of people with 3.3's getting into top schools and deal with the reality. Everybody thinks they have diverse experience and have a humanisitc side to complement their scientific drive as you say. You can definitely be competitive for lower tier MD's. You aren't for the big names. You aren't some gurantee for the lower tier MD's; it's not some kind of right. Your GPA is below the 10th percentile of many of these lower tier MDs. Be grateful you even have a chance at those. If you do get a lower tier MD acceptance be thankful, run with it and do everything you strive for in the field of medicine for the rest of your life. There are many people with far higher GPAs who also bring diverse experiences and have done alot of great stuff outside the class room who never get to be MD's. The vast majority of people with GPAs far far higher than yours with similar accomplishments never get into these big name schools you keep speaking of. Perspective is everything.

 

[FHamati]

I agree with that, I think you are mistaking me for someone who is trying to get into Harvard or Johns Hopkins with my mediocre GPA. I honestly am blessed to be deemed competitive for any MD school considering what I've been through grades wise. So don't take it like that's where I hope to go. I put a couple of these reach schools in my list (actual list after taking Goro's kind advice and recommendations, which I am highly thankful for) just in case the stars align.

Though, I have been really interested in Tufts as a school and my college has really strong ties with its adcom. Based on my information so far, do you think I have any chance of getting remotely close to interview there?

 

[GrapesofRath]

I agree with that, I think you are mistaking me for someone who is trying to get into Harvard or Johns Hopkins with my mediocre GPA. I honestly am blessed to be deemed competitive for any MD school considering what I've been through grades wise. So don't take it like that's where I hope to go. I put a couple of these reach schools in my list (actual list after taking Goro's kind advice and recommendations, which I am highly thankful for) just in case the stars align.

Though, I have been really interested in Tufts as a school and my college has really strong ties with its adcom. Based on my information so far, do you think I have any chance of getting remotely close to interview there?

It's worth the application. Chances at any one school will be low but if your focus is on schools like Tufts and not Northwestern your odds will be far better.