School list help!

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Soccerpolska1

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Hi all, been a long time lurker and ahead of my first application cycle I figured I'd turn to you guys for some advice on my school list.

Stats:
3.7 cGPA
3.63 sGPA
510 MCAT (127/127/128/128)
Year: Senior
Major: Microbio & History
WI Resident

Also am considered SES EO2 (not sure how much this matters)?

Work: Worked for 3.5 years for University Housing, 2 of them as a supervisor.
Every summer I work for a program that tutors middle school students (last 3 summers) as well as in my lab.

EC's:
~ 100+ Hours Clinical Volunteering over 3 years.
100 Hours Shadowing including 30 hours of primary care
2.5 years research position in a microbio lab where I'm contributing to a manuscript (not first author)
10 hours non-clinical volunteering tutoring at under-served schools (started recently)
20 Hours volunteered at a medical fundraiser

I'm most worried about my weak non-clinical volunteering. I only recently started since I usually worked outside of my lab and school for 3.5 years but I was able to financially afford cutting back on work this year.

Preliminary school list:
Case Western (Reach)
Rosalind Franklin
Drexel
Duke (Reach)
Georgetown
George Wash.
Loyola
Mayo (Reach)
MCW & Satellites (in-state)
Northwestern (Reach)
OSU
Oregon H&S
Penn State
U of Florida
U of Miami
U of Minnesota
UNC-Chapel Hill
Vandy (Reach)
UWSMPH (in-state)

I don't plan on adding any more reach schools besides the one's I've listed. Any advice on what to add/remove is much appreciated!!

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Last edited:
Hi all, been a long time lurker and ahead of my first application cycle I figured I'd turn to you guys for some advice on my school list.

Stats:
3.7 cGPA
3.63 sGPA
510 MCAT (127/127/128/128)
Year: Senior
Major: Microbio & History
WI Resident

Also am considered SES EO2 (not sure how much this matters)?

Work: Worked for 3.5 years for University Housing, 2 of them as a supervisor.
Every summer I work for a program that tutors middle school students (last 3 summers) as well as in my lab.

EC's:
~ 100+ Hours Clinical Volunteering over 3 years.
100 Hours Shadowing including 30 hours of primary care
2.5 years research position in a microbio lab where I'm contributing to a manuscript (not first author)
10 hours non-clinical volunteering tutoring at under-served schools (started recently)
20 Hours volunteered at a medical fundraiser in Poland (was visiting family for a month)

I'm most worried about my weak non-clinical volunteering. I only recently started since I usually worked outside of my lab and school for 3.5 years but I was able to financially afford cutting back on work this year.

Preliminary school list:
Case Western (Reach)
Rosalind Franklin
Drexel
Duke (Reach) --> very close to 10th percentile
Georgetown
George Wash.
Loyola
Mayo (Reach)
MCW & Satellites (in-state)
Northwestern (Reach)
OSU
Oregon H&S
Penn State
U of Florida
U of Miami
U of Minnesota
UNC-Chapel Hill
Vandy (Reach)
UWSMPH (in-state)

I don't plan on adding any more reach schools besides the one's I've listed. Any advice on what to add/remove is much appreciated!!
Stats are fine but the lack of non-clinical could possibly kill your app for mid to low tier schools that value service over research. Your list seems a little top heavy. Your LizzyM score is 68. Here are the rough lizzyM scores of your schools:

72 - Case Western (Reach)
65 - Rosalind Franklin
68 - Drexel --> low yield, receives ~14k apps
74 - Duke (Reach)
68 - Georgetown --> low yield, receives ~12k apps
67 - George Wash. --> low yield, receives ~15k apps
67 - Loyola
72 - Mayo (Reach)
68 - MCW & Satellites (in-state)
75 - Northwestern (Reach) --> you're below the 10th percentile for MCAT and close to the 10th percentile GPA
72 - OSU --> OOS matriculants usually have very strong stats (in general, above the median)
68 - Oregon H&S --> in state - bias, & I think has regional bias for OOS?
69 - Penn State
71 - U of Florida --> very strong IS bias
71 - U of Miami
69 - U of Minnesota --> strong IS bias but might be worthwhile given your proximity
69 - UNC-Chapel Hill --> very strong IS bias
75 - Vandy (Reach) --> you're below the 10th percentile for both MCAT and GPA
70 - UWSMPH (in-state)

I would recommend taking a gap year and get more non-clinical hours and maybe some more clinical. If you are dead set on this cycle, apply to schools that are either at or below your LizzyM score, with maybe a couple with 1 or 2 points above - but not schools that are greater than 71/72.

Consider maybe: Quinnipiac, Wake Forest, Oakland Beaumont, Virginia Tech, Western Mich, Eastern Virg, VCU
 
Your reach schools are unrealistic and U Florida, UNC, Minnesota and Oregon accept very few non residents with your MCAT. Consider adding schools such as:
Oakland Beaumont
Western Michigan
St. Louis
Creighton
Tulane
Quinnipiac
Vermont
NYMC
Temple
Jefferson
 
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Thanks for the reply guys, I appreciate your advice.
After the release of the new MSAR, I've tried to revise my school list to fall more around my LizzyM and I've removed
the higher reach schools. I've also tried to pick the more OOS-friendly schools, but let me know whether I may have picked schools that would be a bad bet (i.e. OOS applicants are picked with a regional bias).

Albany Med College
Rosalind Franklin
Creighton
Eastern Virginia
Florida International University
Quinnipiac University
George Wash
Georgetown
Indiana (reach)
Temple
Loyola
Mayo (reach)
MCW-Milwaukee & Regional Campuses (in-state)
Meharry
Michigan State
New York Medical College
Northeast Ohio Med University
Oakland Beaumont
Jefferson
U of Toledo
Tulane
UWSMPH (in-state)
VCU
Wake Forest
West Virginia
Western Michigan
 
Would cut:
Florida International University
Meharry-- unless URM
Michigan State--strong IS bias
Northeast Ohio Med University--very strong IS bias. Less than 50 direct entry seats per year due to linkage programs.
Western Michigan--median MCAT 514, need to be >avg if OOS
 
I would also cut WVU unless you have ties to the state or region. Sure, their stats are on the lower-side, but most OOS have higher stats, and, this isn't in the MSAR, but many of those OOS people have ties to the region, or make an extremely compelling case (previous applicant knowledge)...

Thanks for the reply guys, I appreciate your advice.
After the release of the new MSAR, I've tried to revise my school list to fall more around my LizzyM and I've removed
the higher reach schools. I've also tried to pick the more OOS-friendly schools, but let me know whether I may have picked schools that would be a bad bet (i.e. OOS applicants are picked with a regional bias).

Albany Med College
Rosalind Franklin
Creighton
Eastern Virginia
Florida International University
Quinnipiac University
George Wash
Georgetown
Indiana (reach)
Temple
Loyola
Mayo (reach)
MCW-Milwaukee & Regional Campuses (in-state)
Meharry
Michigan State
New York Medical College
Northeast Ohio Med University
Oakland Beaumont
Jefferson
U of Toledo
Tulane
UWSMPH (in-state)
VCU
Wake Forest
West Virginia
Western Michigan
 
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