Typical my chances? But HELP with my school list of 20-30

[socal93]

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Hi everyone!

I am currently a pre-med sophomore student looking to apply summer of 2014. My question comes in three parts, and I will really appreciate everyone's honesty and educated advise towards my problems. First of all here are some of my credentials:

*Remember I'm still a sophomore so once i'm done with my last ochem semester, science gpa should sky high with all my bio upper division courses 🙂 (only have gotten a B in gen chem II, B+ in ochem I

MCAT N/A yet
Cumulative gpa 3.85
science/math gpa 3.7
nonscience gpa 4.0

currently employed since high school, and have moved up to an associate (work with kids)
international experience through work
president/founder of a club
currently on cabinet but will attain president or vp of pre-med org
national collegiate scholastic society member
biological honors society member
research for a year now, 2 abstract publications co-author
will present a poster at student research day
volunteer in country hospital since freshman year in orthopedics, emergency, pediatrics
intern in physical therapy office since high school
accepted and finished a prestigious summer grant funded medical program at a top medical school
international clinical apprenticeship in all specialties in a third world country province (my cultural background)
I am considered minority in health care field

My questions are regarding what else can I do to improve myself besides study/take/score high on my mcat? Should I shadow a specific doctor in addition to volunteering? shoot me some ideas please.

Also for my MCAT, my strategy is to use all examcracker and TBR books to study this summer and spring and take the test next January or February (i will take aamc, kaplan, and tbr cbts to practice). Any ideas to help me through this, or other strategies?

Okay here is my last question, I am currently looking through the MSAR and trying to see what schools to apply. The problem i have is that i feel every school i'm considering are all strong medical schools, and i cant find a middle ground or the traditional "back-up" schools. please help, here's my list i'm considering.

All UC medical schools (los angeles, davis, san diego, riverside, irvine, san francisco)
Stanford
USC
University of Arizona
All Illinois medical schools (Loyola, rush, chicago, illinois, northwestern)
University of Columbia
New York University
University of Maryland
University of Washington
Caribbean schools ?
Tufts
Boston University
Weill Cornell

How can I improve this list in making it broadly? I'm stressing out from hearing so many fiasco stories that people have applied too high and didn't get in to any of them. I'm looking at competitive strong med schools, but also having a strong middle ground where I see myself going?

As you can see and infer from my list of schools, I'm raised in city near the beach. I'm trying not to go to an Iowa or Wisconsin even though they are great schools. It's just the environment that doesn't interest me. But of course when it comes to med school one cannot be picky. Thank you for your input, everything is greatly appreciated 🙂

 

[skais595]

If you're currently a sophomore, and are taking four years to graduate college, you won't apply until next June. Wait and see what your GPA/MCAT are like, and then worry about your school list. If you care a great deal (as you apparently do) about location or other factors, it'll come together somewhat easily. In the meantime, focus on doing well in your classes, and consider some non-medical volunteering.

 

[Amba]

Best advice - stop stressing about school lists without an MCAT score. Keep your GPA up and rock the MCAT, then the purpose of this thread would be justified. Your school look will look drastically different with a 30 compared to a 37 on the MCAT, and you don't know where you'll be.

That being said, it looks like you're in decent shape for your current status. Keep it up.

 

[red doctober]

Stanford, UCLA, UCSF, NYU, Cornell, and.. wait for it... the Caribbean??? Talk about two ends of the spectrum right there. As Skais said, you shouldn't be worrying about a school list just yet. Next year when you're constructing a list, buy the MSAR. It contains the vital information about schools that will help you narrow down your choices such as Washington, which is very difficult to get in as a non-WWAMI resident. You'll find that after eliminating schools that aren't OOS-friendly, not in areas you desire, and are too-far of reaches, your list will be manageable.

 

[darkjedi]

Without an MCAT score, it would be very difficult to help you determine where you should apply to. With your stats, it will entirely depend on what you wind up with your MCAT. I've seen people with your stats with 37s wind up at top-tiers, but also people with 28's barely getting into low-tiers.

 

[socal93]

Thank you everyone above^^^ I will definitely consider some more non-medical volunteer work, and also just continue to focus on doing well and not stressing out about this topic so much yet. I was supported by your responses and needed to hear it from someone else, thank you. @skais595 @Bauman1535 @red doctober and @darkjedi

 

[mspeedwagon]

I don't mean any disrespect, but any effort to create a school list is absolutely futile. Basically your list would consist of any medical school you'd consider going go (could be 100+).

Your focus should not be on what schools to apply to. Instead, start studying for the MCAT. Don't even think about where you'll be going. Your MCAT will really narrow down your 100+ list to 20 or so schools. If you get a 37 on the MCAT it's worth applying to Stanford, with a 27, not so much.

There is NOTHING more beneficial you can do for yourself right now than continue to keep up your GPA and study hard for the MCAT.

 

[McNCheese]

Hi everyone!

I am currently a pre-med sophomore student looking to apply summer of 2014. My question comes in three parts, and I will really appreciate everyone's honesty and educated advise towards my problems. First of all here are some of my credentials:

*Remember I'm still a sophomore so once i'm done with my last ochem semester, science gpa should sky high with all my bio upper division courses 🙂 (only have gotten a B in gen chem II, B+ in ochem I

MCAT N/A yet
Cumulative gpa 3.85
science/math gpa 3.7
nonscience gpa 4.0

currently employed since high school, and have moved up to an associate (work with kids)
international experience through work
president/founder of a club
currently on cabinet but will attain president or vp of pre-med org
national collegiate scholastic society member
biological honors society member
research for a year now, 2 abstract publications co-author
will present a poster at student research day
volunteer in country hospital since freshman year in orthopedics, emergency, pediatrics
intern in physical therapy office since high school
accepted and finished a prestigious summer grant funded medical program at a top medical school
international clinical apprenticeship in all specialties in a third world country province (my cultural background)
I am considered minority in health care field

My questions are regarding what else can I do to improve myself besides study/take/score high on my mcat? Should I shadow a specific doctor in addition to volunteering? shoot me some ideas please.

Also for my MCAT, my strategy is to use all examcracker and TBR books to study this summer and spring and take the test next January or February (i will take aamc, kaplan, and tbr cbts to practice). Any ideas to help me through this, or other strategies?

Okay here is my last question, I am currently looking through the MSAR and trying to see what schools to apply. The problem i have is that i feel every school i'm considering are all strong medical schools, and i cant find a middle ground or the traditional "back-up" schools. please help, here's my list i'm considering.

All UC medical schools (los angeles, davis, san diego, riverside, irvine, san francisco)
Stanford
USC
University of Arizona
All Illinois medical schools (Loyola, rush, chicago, illinois, northwestern)
University of Columbia
New York University
University of Maryland
University of Washington
Caribbean schools ?
Tufts
Boston University
Weill Cornell

How can I improve this list in making it broadly? I'm stressing out from hearing so many fiasco stories that people have applied too high and didn't get in to any of them. I'm looking at competitive strong med schools, but also having a strong middle ground where I see myself going?

As you can see and infer from my list of schools, I'm raised in city near the beach. I'm trying not to go to an Iowa or Wisconsin even though they are great schools. It's just the environment that doesn't interest me. But of course when it comes to med school one cannot be picky. Thank you for your input, everything is greatly appreciated 🙂

Are you a California resident? If not, I wouldn't plan on applying to all of the cali schools. From what I understand, it's difficult even for in-state students to get into them.

As the others have said, it's too early to start thinking about your school list. Focus on getting the best grades possible and destroying the MCAT. Unless your clinical volunteering is spent side by side with a physician, I would get some experience in shadowing a few specialties. As another poster said, some non-clinical volunteering would be nice also. Everything you are doing looks pretty good, and your school list will depend on your GPA and MCAT. For MCAT prep advice, you might want to post in the MCAT study forum.

 

[mspeedwagon]

It is kind of pointless commenting about schools, but your partial list doesn't make too much sense since it's state schools from different states and has everything from Stanford to the Caribbean:
- University of Washington for example isn't worth applying to from out of state (unless you are from Wyoming, Alaska or Idaho or Montana (they have a very strong WWAMI bias)).
- University of Arizona, again, not really worth applying to OOS (though they are expanding some and opening a few seats to OOS).
- University of California... hell, most applicants with great stats from CA can't get in. In the words of my MCAT instructor (who had a 40/4.0 from an Ivy and was rejected from all UCs OOS... "unless you save three babies, while finding the cure to cancer and eradicating aids, it's not worth applying OOS").
- IL has a few schools that have a very strong in-state preference (some even as specific of which half of the state you are from).

You get the picture. You should focus on your in-state medical schools and other private schools. The SUNYs (in NY), EVMS, a few of the IL schools are OOS friendly. You can find previous threads about this. But, again, you are much too early for this stage. Stop reading the MSAR and start reading MCAT books.

Are you a California resident? If not, I wouldn't plan on applying to all of the cali schools. From what I understand, it's difficult even for in-state students to get into them.