MD School List/Overall Strength of Application

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ShoddySquare

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Hey Everyone! I made a school list of about 30 schools, and I need help adding some more. I would like to apply to about 35-40 schools. So far I have:

Harvard
Johns Hopkins
Stanford
Upenn
UCSF
Columbia
UCLA
Washington university st. louis
Cornell
Mayo Clinic
NYU
U of Washington
Duke
University of Pittsburgh
Yale
University of Michigan Ann Arbor
Vanderbuilt University
Mount Sinai
Northwestern
UCSD
Boston University
Ohio State
UC Davis
University of Colorado Boulder
USC
Brown
Albert Einstein
UCI
UC Riverside

I feel this list is a bit too top heavy for my application.

- MCAT: 517 (130/127/130/130), GPA: 3.75, sGPA: 3.75
- ORM

Clinical Experience:
About 400 hours volunteering in the ED taking notes on inclusion/exclusion criteria for stroke treatment clinical trials.
Roughly 500 hours volunteering directly with patients, helping them adopt healthier lifestyles.
Roughly 100 hours as intern for the "Nudge Unit" for the health system at my school

Shadowing:
About 80 hours shadowing a neurosurgeon in clinic

Research:
Roughly 800 hours between two labs (1 basic science and 1 clinical). No publications or presentations in the basic science. Currently working on a project I should be first author on in the clinical lab. Will be submitted, and (hopefully) accepted by secondaries/interview time. Also have 2 posters and 1 (submitted, not accepted) publication of clinical research for one of my clinical ECs.

I have no non-clinical volunteering.

Any help regarding my school list and feedback on my application (I am taking a gap year so I may be able to improve anything you see fit), would be greatly appreciated! Thanks everyone!!!

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U Washington accepts less than 1% of applicants who are not from states in the Northwest. You could add these schools:
Hofstra
Rochester
Jefferson
Cincinnati
Case Western
Western Michigan
Tulane
 
You need to add some non-clinical volunteering in your gap year. The baseline is 150 hours. At least you are aware you have a top heavy application list. You should fix obvious flaws if you're choosing to apply to schools like Harvard/Hopkins tier, who have their pick of the litter, friend. Recommend applying early since your stats are on the lower side for your reaches like NYU/Hopkins/WashU. Remember, service oriented is a common trait ADCOMs are looking for. Best of luck!
 
As someone with a similar app and zero non-clinical who applied this cycle, please get 100+ hrs non-clinical volunteering before you submit.

I underestimated the importance of this and may end up having to reapply because of it.

Also even if you’re pretty sure neurosurg is where you’d like to end up, it will help your app to shadow primary care or other specialties.
 
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