sGPA 3.8 MCAT 510 Please critique me as realistically as possible!

[jkfedfx]

Hello SDN,

I'm applying this year and it seems like most people on here are very helpful.

I am a California Resident; Asian Male.

Getting a B.S. Microbiology
cGPA 3.90, sGPA 3.76
(Unfortunately I couldn't balance college courses well in high school, so AMCAS put that into my science GPA as well. I really hope med schools ignore that and see that it has been 3.84, 3.88, and 3.9 for the following undergraduate years)

MCAT 510: Physical 128 CARS 125 Biological 131 Psych 126

Shadowing: 36 hours
Founder and President of my school's Premedical Club
Peer Tutoring: ~400 hours
Hospital Volunteer: ~500 hours
Phlebotomy: ~600 hours
Research on MRSA: ~1120 hours No publication, but one is under-revision and should be published rather soon.
There are a couple more, but I think those are really minor. This is the crux of my extra-curricular activities.

Dream school: UCLA
Applied to all UCs including UCSF
Albany Medical College
Albert Einstein
Baylor
CA Northstate
Temple
NYMC
Penn State
Quinnipiac
SUNY Upstate
TJU

DO Programs:
Michigan State University COM
Western University COM
Touro in Nevada COM

Please let me know what you guys think, critiques and all.

Thank you guys so much!

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[Hau5MD]

Wrong forum. Should be in WAMC.

That aside, good ECs (tons of hours), GPA and MCAT (though CARs score might be a little worrying). List seems reasonable enough to me in terms of state preference. However, if you're set on MD, you will need more schools to be safe. UC's make for terrible backup/safeties and based on your numbers (same as mine), you're at/above average for UCI and UCD. Also drop UCR unless you went to UCR or are from the inland empire.

 

[Lucca]

The CARS is low but not killer (it's about an 8 or 8 on the old scale).

GPA and ECs are fine.

wasn't CA Northstate one of the really shady schools SDN had a thread on? If not, carry on.

Drop some of the UCs that are not a good match and replace them with OOS friendly mid-tier MD schools and you should be fine. Don't neglect the other parts of your application.

 

[The Knife & Gun Club]

You should have some more md programs if finances allow. I would suggest:

Oakland
Wake
Hofstra maybe
Tcmc
Vcu
Homer Stryker
Mcw
Usf SELECT (no OOS bias in the select program)
Drexel

Oos state schools that are friendly:
Arizona (both)
U South Carolina greeneville
Wvu
Indiana

 

[jkfedfx]

The CARS is low but not killer (it's about an 8 or 8 on the old scale).

GPA and ECs are fine.

wasn't CA Northstate one of the really shady schools SDN had a thread on? If not, carry on.

Drop some of the UCs that are not a good match and replace them with OOS friendly mid-tier MD schools and you should be fine. Don't neglect the other parts of your application.

Oh I wasn't aware of Northstate's shady reputation... I will not apply there then... What do you mean by not a good match? UCSF?

Sorry for the barrage of questions. Thank you!

 

[jkfedfx]

You should have some more md programs if finances allow. I would suggest:

Oakland
Wake
Hofstra maybe
Tcmc
Vcu
Homer Stryker
Mcw
Usf SELECT (no OOS bias in the select program)
Drexel

Oos state schools that are friendly:
Arizona (both)
U South Carolina greeneville
Wvu
Indiana

Oh okay, I've been debating Drexel. What do you think about U of S. Florida vs U of C. Florida?

Thank you!

 

[The Knife & Gun Club]

Oh okay, I've been debating Drexel. What do you think about U of S. Florida vs U of C. Florida?

Thank you!

USF has a program called SELECT which exhibits almost no instate preference. They are also a bit more forgiving on the numbers than their standard program (CORE).

UCF exhibits significant instate preference but you can always try. They do take ~1/3 (I think) Oos.

 

[Lucca]

Oh I wasn't aware of Northstate's shady reputation... I will not apply there then... What do you mean by not a good match? UCSF?

Sorry for the barrage of questions. Thank you!

Similar to as what other posters have said, certain UCs have regional or mission-specific preferences you might not fit.

 

[brochacho123]

Your best chances IS are UCI, UC Davis, or Loma Linda (if you follow an Adventist lifestyle)
As a California resident, you need a broad list of OOS schools.

Here are other schools worth considering in addition to what @The Knife & Gun Club suggested:

SLU
Creighton
UIC
EVMS
Rosalind Franklin
Loyola
Rush

UIC, Oakland, and the Arizona schools are known to interview CA applicants