School List| sGPA 3.97, cGPA 3.96 |2015 MCAT

[catie_jane]

Hey everyone!

I am taking the MCAT this upcoming Saturday (7/18) but submitted my AMCAS during the first week of July with one school. I am planning on adding all of my schools as soon as my MCAT scores are released on 8/18. However, after my MCAT I want to get a head start on pre-writing my secondaries so I can submit them as soon as I get them.

So I was hoping you all could help me out with a preliminary school list just based on my ECs, LOR, and GPA. I will update with my MCAT score when I get them back in August.

Biology major/ Pysch minor - graduated 2015
-21 yo
-sGPA: 3.97 (Graduated valedictorian of my class ~550)
-cGPA: 3.96
-small liberal arts school in MA
-CT resident
-SES disadvantaged (government aid growing up, paid most of undergrad through scholarships and working 20+ hours a week)

RESEARCH
-Research assistant through Brown University. Worked on 2 NIH funded studies and worked with patients suffering from bipolar disorder and depression (~1 year)
-Presented poster as first author at national conference in Boston MA
-Co-author on peer-reviewed article published in Journal of Psychiatric Practice

-Granted a research fellowship at my undergrad and worked in a microbiology lab where I worked on characterizing new species of bacteria (~1.5 years).
Completed and defended and honors thesis
-Part of my fellowship I supervised and mentored 2 students in the lab who were transferring from CC to our undergrad
-Presented poster as first author at MassMyco Meeting
-Publication as 1st author currently in the works (hopefully submit sometime this month)

CLINICAL/SHADOWING
-Internship/Shadowing in the ED for 1 summer (~200 hours)
-Offered a scribe job by the hospital I shadowed at and have been working as an ED scribe (~2 years)
-Brief stint as a scribe in orthopedic surgery (~1 month)

VOLUNTEERING
-Volunteered in a locked psychiatric ward at the VA (~50 hours)
-Volunteered in a special needs classroom for 1 semester (~50 hours)
-Habitat for Humanity (~1 year) - but not on AMCAS application

OTHER EC'S
-Commuter rep on SGA Class of 2015 Committee (~2 years) - committee of the year both years. Took on a personal project where I worked with MassDOT to place crosswalks at entrances of school
-Tutor/TA/PLTL Leader for Cell Biology, Biological Principles, Orgo I and II, and General Chemistry II (~3 years)
-Worked at an animal hospital as a kennel attendent (~1 year)
-Assistant manager for the catering department for my schools food company (~3 years)

AWARDS
- 2015 Outstanding Biology Student
-Organic Chemistry Award

10 great LOR (PI's, science faculty, non-science, 2 physicians, and bosses) - will get a committee letter

My current school list:
Albany
Brown (not sure if my research/LOR from faculty there would help)
UCONN
NYMC
Loyola
Case Western
Tufts
GWU
Drexel
Temple
Hofstra
UVM
Jefferson
Mt. Sinai

Just curious which secondaries I should definitely spend time pre-writing. I know its hard without my MCAT scores but any advice would be greatly appreciated!

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[GrapesofRath]

There's no list without an MCAT score(and your score is kind of late as is). What I will say is a) cut Brown(your PI being a faculty there doesn't mean squat and that school heavily favors their own undergrads) b) for your list you should be hoping for 80th+ percentile for all your lower tiers(rough estimate anything 30+ equivalent with your GPA should suffice). For these bigger names such as Case and Mt Sinai(and Hofstra has a median MCAT of 34 so include it in this group regardless of its name brand) the goal has to be at least 90th+ percentile. Also alot of your lower tiers aren't particularly high yield schools. Jefferson, Temple, Drexel, GWU, Tufts, NYMC all get tons of apps. Perhaps replace a couple of these with Western Michigan, Eastern Virginia, VCU, Oakland, Quinnipac, Wake Forest type schoools. Again this is all MCAT dependent.

 

[Goro]

With your GPA, you should be aiming higher. MCAT, naturally, will make or break you. Good luck!

 

[GrapesofRath]

I will say with that research experience if you do indeed end up with 90th+ percentile on the MCAT top 20 schools are definitely within striking distance.

 

[catie_jane]

@GrapesofRath @Goro

Thank you! I suppose I will work on pre-writing my state school's secondary and some others that I know I am definitely applying to.

Should I definitely knock Brown off the list? Love the location, school, curriculum, etc. but if you don't think that the research/PI there will pull any weight I guess I shouldn't waste the money?

 

[Goro]

Of all the private MD school in the US, Brown has the highest rate of accepting it's own grads...up around 60% I think. If you ace MCAT (> 34), then it might be worth a shot.

@GrapesofRath @Goro

Thank you! I suppose I will work on pre-writing my state school's secondary and some others that I know I am definitely applying to.

Should I definitely knock Brown off the list? Love the location, school, curriculum, etc. but if you don't think that the research/PI there will pull any weight I guess I shouldn't waste the money?

 

[GrapesofRath]

What he said. Good luck!

 

[Banco]

Awesome activities. If you do reasonably well on the MCAT, you will have a good chance of getting accepted.