School suggestions, please? =)

[Accalia]

I've already applied to the schools with an asterisk. I was waiting until I got my MCAT score to apply to more, and I got my score on 8/16. Any help would be appreciated!

Majored in biology and psychology at a top school
cGPA: 3.61
sGPA: 3.53
MCAT: 35R, 12 PS, 12 VS, 11 BS

ECs

Clinical: EMT-B certification, volunteered as an EMT ~8 hours per week for 3 semesters, shadowing
Research: 2 summers of research, 3 independent projects, currently work as a research assistant at Harvard Med School
Tutored general chemistry and organic chemistry for 2 years, biology for 3 years
Various paid employment
Various volunteer work

I can give more details on any of the ECs if you want! I think my GPA is probably my weakest point.

Current school list:
Albany*
Albert Einstein*
Boston University*
Tufts*
UVM*
Dartmouth*
Brown*
University of Rochester*
NYU*
Mount Sinai*
Emory*
Loyola
Northwestern
Jefferson
USC
University of Connecticut
Georgetown
George Washington

Thoughts? Also--I'm from NH. We don't have a state school. =(

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[Catalystik]

I've already applied to the schools with an asterisk. I was waiting until I got my MCAT score to apply to more, and I got my score on 8/16. Any help would be appreciated!

Majored in biology and psychology at a top school
cGPA: 3.61
sGPA: 3.53
MCAT: 35R, 12 PS, 12 VS, 11 BS

ECs

Clinical: EMT-B certification, volunteered as an EMT ~8 hours per week for 3 semesters, shadowing
Research: 2 summers of research, 3 independent projects, currently work as a research assistant at Harvard Med School
Tutored general chemistry and organic chemistry for 2 years, biology for 3 years
Various paid employment
Various volunteer work

I can give more details on any of the ECs if you want! I think my GPA is probably my weakest point.

Current school list:
Albany*
Albert Einstein*
Boston University*
Tufts*
UVM*
Dartmouth*
Brown*
University of Rochester*
NYU*
Mount Sinai*
Emory*
Loyola
Northwestern
Jefferson
USC
University of Connecticut
Georgetown
George Washington

Thoughts? Also--I'm from NH. We don't have a state school. =(

Northwestern might be overly reachy, but a dream school is OK. I wouldn't add Loyola unless you have a fair amount of nonmedical community service to the poor. GT and GW get so many applications that sending one in this late in the cycle might be rethought (BU is similar, but you already applied). Instead, maybe Maryland, Wake, Cinncinnati? Otherwise, I think you have a nice mix of schools.

Leadership would make you more appealing to the more selective schools.
The teaching and research look good. Any publications or posters/presentations?
Though I see you have clinical patient experience, do you also have clinical environment experience (which an ambulance is not)?
What specialties did you shadow? Total hours?
Plans for the application year besides research assistant?

 

[Accalia]

Thanks for the suggestions! Northwestern isn't actually a dream school for me, though I appreciate how good it is. Brown is actually my top choice. For personal reasons (my boyfriend is applying to grad school for astrophysics, and his top choice is UMass-Amherst), I would like to stay in the New England area if possible. I do want to apply broadly however.

No publications or presentations from the research, unfortunately (other than presenting my work to classmates and colleagues, of course, but I assume you mean at conferences). But I did take a creative role in a lot of this research. For example, the projects I mentioned were essentially mini-theses. I did all of the background research, experimental design, data collection, data analysis, and writing either by myself or with a few partners.

I don't have clinical environment experience unless you count shadowing. I shadowed a pulmonologist for a month--probably around 150 hours total. I also shadowed an orthopedic surgeon, but that was only for a day.

I don't really have any other plans for the application year. The research assistant job is full-time. I may take a couple of classes at Harvard, but I haven't decided yet. As of right now, I haven't really had any extra time, between working, studying for the MCAT, and doing applications.

Oh, and I do have some community service with the poor, but it's from high school. I was in a group that raised a good amount of money (> $50,000) to build a school in the Dominican Republic, and I took a trip there in high school to help run a camp for the village kids.

ETA: I also have experience working with nursing home residents with cognitive disabilities such as Alzheimer's disease and dementia. One of my research projects involved this population. I saw you mention in another post that this counts as clinical experience.

 

[kpcrew]

looks like a decent list
i would have also taken out bu
maybe add wisconsin?

 

[Accalia]

looks like a decent list
i would have also taken out bu
maybe add wisconsin?

Aww, too bad about BU. I looked into Wisconsin and really like it. Thanks for the suggestion. =)

 

[Catalystik]

1) Brown is actually my top choice. For personal reasons (my boyfriend is applying to grad school for astrophysics, and his top choice is UMass-Amherst), I would like to stay in the New England area if possible. I do want to apply broadly however.

2) I did take a creative role in a lot of this research. For example, the projects I mentioned were essentially mini-theses. I did all of the background research, experimental design, data collection, data analysis, and writing either by myself or with a few partners.

3) I don't have clinical environment experience unless you count shadowing.

4) I shadowed a pulmonologist for a month--probably around 150 hours total. I also shadowed an orthopedic surgeon, but that was only for a day.

5) Oh, and I do have some community service with the poor, but it's from high school. I was in a group that raised a good amount of money (> $50,000) to build a school in the Dominican Republic, and I took a trip there in high school to help run a camp for the village kids.

6) ETA: I also have experience working with nursing home residents with cognitive disabilities such as Alzheimer's disease and dementia. One of my research projects involved this population. I saw you mention in another post that this counts as clinical experience.

1) In making a plan for this coming year, you might review Brown's selection factors, which include, "leadership, integrity, and compassion," and engage in activities you can report in update letters, Secondaries, and interview conversations that may have an impact on this school's (and others') decision on your file. I'd suggest taking on some hands-on service to the poor and possibly even a leadership role within the same organization (soup kitchen, homeless or womens shelter, Habitat for Humanity, Meals on Wheels, tutoring or coaching kids in a poor school district, crisis hotline, etc.)

2) Excellent. That's the type of involvement top schools will find appealing.

3) If you did your Alzheimer's work in a nursing home, that would count if it wasn't just a adaycare faciltiy.

4) If you could add a day with an office-based primary care doc, that would be nice to include in updates.

5) This was too long ago to have much impact now, unless it happened after HS graduation.

6) Yes, it's also clinical experience, if your application makes that clear, since you'd list is under Research.

 

[Accalia]

1) In making a plan for this coming year, you might review Brown's selection factors, which include, "leadership, integrity, and compassion," and engage in activities you can report in update letters, Secondaries, and interview conversations that may have an impact on this school's (and others') decision on your file. I'd suggest taking on some hands-on service to the poor and possibly even a leadership role within the same organization (soup kitchen, homeless or womens shelter, Habitat for Humanity, Meals on Wheels, tutoring or coaching kids in a poor school district, crisis hotline, etc.)

2) Excellent. That's the type of involvement top schools will find appealing.

3) If you did your Alzheimer's work in a nursing home, that would count if it wasn't just a adaycare faciltiy.

4) If you could add a day with an office-based primary care doc, that would be nice to include in updates.

5) This was too long ago to have much impact now, unless it happened after HS graduation.

6) Yes, it's also clinical experience, if your application makes that clear, since you'd list is under Research.

Thanks so much for your help! I had forgotten that I could add information in update letters. I will definitely look into those activities you mentioned. There are certainly plenty of groups in Boston that I could get involved with. I'm really interested in volunteering for a crisis hotline--thank you for the suggestion.

I'll ask my doctor if I can shadow her sometime.

 

[Catalystik]

Sounds good.

 

[Morsetlis]

I think you'll get in somewhere.