School List Help!

[BogFrog]

Hey guys! I'm new to SDN and was hoping some of you kind veterans could help me out a little bit with my school list. I created my current list by adhering to what my friend (who is now in medical school) said: apply to schools in which you at least hit their 25th percentile for GPA. I was fine using this heuristic but then I saw some comments being made on a forum for low GPA/high MCAT students that said that lower stat schools might not take people whose MCATs are too high and higher stat schools might not take people whose GPAs are too low. As an unbalanced candidate, I've been using only my low GPA as a reference for which schools to apply to, without really factoring in my MCAT too much, and am now fearful that my MCAT may be high enough that lower stat schools won't look at me (is that possible)?

1. cGPA = 3.55, sGPA = 3.39
2. MCAT = 521 (first time, breakdown: 130/130/130/131)
3. EC's: probably mediocre to average (will elaborate on details if requested)
4. CA resident

School List
1. Albany Medical College
2. California Northstate University College of Medicine
3. Central Michigan University College of Medicine
4. Chicago Medical School at Rosalind Franklin University
5. Cooper Medical School of Rowan University
6. Drexel University College of Medicine
7. East Virginia Medical School
8. Florida State University College of Medicine
9. Frank H. Netter MD School of Medicine
10. Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine
11. George Washington University School of Medicine
12. Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine
13. Medical University of South Carolina College of Medicine
14. Michigan State University College of Human Medicine
15. New York Medical College
16. Northeast Ohio Medical University
17. Oakland University William Beaumont School of Medicine
18. OHSU School of Medicine
19. Rutgers, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School
20. Stritch School of Medicine
21. The University of Toledo College of Medicine
22. Tufts University School of Medicine
23. Tulane University
24. UC Davis
25. University of Arizona College of Medicine
26. University of Illinois College of Medicine
27. University of South Carolina School of Medicine Greenville
28. University of Southern California
29. University of Texas Rio Grande Valley School of Medicine
30. University of Utah School of Medicine
31. USF Health Morsani College of Medicine
32. Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine
33. Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine
34. Wake Forest School of Medicine
35. Wayne State University School of Medicine
36. Western Michigan University Homer Stryker M.D. School of Medicine
37. Wright State University Boonshoft School of Medicine

Are there any schools I should be adding or deleting? Should I be using my LizzyM score to make this list instead? Also, I'll be applying to DO schools too so if you want to recommend those that'd be great too. Thanks in advance!

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[Faha]

You have many state public schools on your list that accept few non residents with no connection to the state and your GPA so remove Utah, Texas Rio Grande, Wright State, Toledo, Northeast Ohio, Rutgers, Florida State, Geisinger, Virginia Tech, Cooper Rowan. I suggest adding these schools instead:
Vermont
Temple
Jefferson
Seton Hall
NOVA MD
California University
any new schools that open for 2019 (Kaiser, Roseman)
Do you have any shadowing or clinical volunteering hours?

 

[892002]

Unless you’re dead set on going to med school this year, I don’t think it’s a bad idea for you to do an SMP or some sort of other program to boost your GPA. Right now, the GPA sticks out and is a huge red flag, which your MCAT makes up for somewhat. But, you would be significantly more competitive if you’re able to show that you’re capable of obtaining a good GPA.
I don’t think you’re in that bad of a spot though. I’m also a somewhat unbalanced candidate and have received interviews at schools with average MCATs below mine and average GPAs much higher than mine. I would check the OOS acceptance rate for some of your public schools.

Also, I think with a 521, you should add some more reaches to your list. Duke, Michigan and Dartmouth are known to be more forgiving for those with low GPAs.

 

[BogFrog]

You have many state public schools on your list that accept few non residents with no connection to the state and your GPA so remove Utah, Texas Rio Grande, Wright State, Toledo, Northeast Ohio, Rutgers, Florida State, Geisinger, Virginia Tech, Cooper Rowan. I suggest adding these schools instead:
Vermont
Temple
Jefferson
Seton Hall
NOVA MD
California University
any new schools that open for 2019 (Kaiser, Roseman)
Do you have any shadowing or clinical volunteering hours?

Got it. Thanks! And yes I have 300+ hours as a clinical care extender with Cope Health Solutions and 25 hours of shadowing a nephrologist.

 

[BogFrog]

Unless you’re dead set on going to med school this year, I don’t think it’s a bad idea for you to do an SMP or some sort of other program to boost your GPA. Right now, the GPA sticks out and is a huge red flag, which your MCAT makes up for somewhat. But, you would be significantly more competitive if you’re able to show that you’re capable of obtaining a good GPA.
I don’t think you’re in that bad of a spot though. I’m also a somewhat unbalanced candidate and have received interviews at schools with average MCATs below mine and average GPAs much higher than mine. I would check the OOS acceptance rate for some of your public schools.

Also, I think with a 521, you should add some more reaches to your list. Duke, Michigan and Dartmouth are known to be more forgiving for those with low GPAs.

Unfortunately those GPA's I have listed are AFTER the DIY post-bacc I did recently to boost my GPA (I've already taken 2 gap years). And thanks for the recommendations, I will consider adding them!