MD WAMC: 3.93/517 School List Advice

[Bucky Dent]

Hey SDN! Can I get some advice about my school list?

1. cGPA: 3.93, sGPA: 4.00
2. MCAT: 517: 129,130,129,129
3. State: Louisiana
4. White/Panamanian
5. Chemical Engineering Major with Math/Biology Minor at State School
6. Hospice: 125 hrs, Muscular Dystrophy Camp: 180 hrs
7. ~2,000 hrs of Research: 2 pubs (3rd on the way), 4 posters (2 of them won 1st place at conferences), 1 oral presentation (runner up)
8. 50 hrs total with Primary Care, Emergency Medicine, Radiology, Pulmonology
9. NC Volunteering: Founded a STEM summer camp for low-socioeconomic minority students (50 kids total) that includes science demonstrations and presentations from minority industry leaders in various STEM careers over 3 days: ~50 hrs, Raising money for the American Heart Association: ~65
10. Hobbies: Performance Art, Powerlifting, Playing the Flute
11. Teaching: I was an instructor for a supplemental A&P class which was 4, 1 hour long lectures a week in addition to office hours (200 hrs)
12. Leadership: Board Member of Pre-Med club, Captain of Cheme Sports Team
13. Gap Year Plans: Scribing (>400 hrs), More Volunteering!

Here is my school list:
Reach

• Duke (518)
• Baylor (518)
• Columbia (520)
• Harvard (520)
• Mount Sinai (519)
• UCSD (517)
• NYU (522)
• UCSF (518)
• Boston University (518)
• Case Western (518)
• Yale (522)
• Cornell (519)

Fit

• Emory (515)
• Albert Einstein (516)
• Hofstra (517)
• Dartmouth (516)
• Jefferson (514)
• Michigan State (518)
• Tufts (514)
• UT Dell (516)
• Keck (516)
• Ohio State (517)
• Drexel (512)

More Safe

• LSUNO (510)
• LSUS (505)
• Tulane (512)

I would be honored to get input from @Goro and

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[Goro]

Hey SDN! Can I get some advice about my school list?

1. cGPA: 3.93, sGPA: 4.00
2. MCAT: 517: 129,130,129,129
3. State: Louisiana
4. White/Panamanian
5. Chemical Engineering Major with Math/Biology Minor at State School
6. Hospice: 125 hrs, Muscular Dystrophy Camp: 180 hrs
7. ~2,000 hrs of Research: 2 pubs (3rd on the way), 4 posters (2 of them won 1st place at conferences), 1 oral presentation (runner up)
8. 50 hrs total with Primary Care, Emergency Medicine, Radiology, Pulmonology
9. NC Volunteering: Founded a STEM summer camp for low-socioeconomic minority students (50 kids total) that includes science demonstrations and presentations from minority industry leaders in various STEM careers over 3 days: ~50 hrs, Raising money for the American Heart Association: ~65
10. Hobbies: Performance Art, Powerlifting, Playing the Flute
11. Teaching: I was an instructor for a supplemental A&P class which was 4, 1 hour long lectures a week in addition to office hours (200 hrs)
12. Leadership: Board Member of Pre-Med club, Captain of Cheme Sports Team
13. Gap Year Plans: Scribing (>400 hrs), More Volunteering!

Here is my school list:
Reach

• Duke (518)
• Baylor (518)
• Columbia (520)
• Harvard (520)
• Mount Sinai (519)
• UCSD (517)
• NYU (522)
• UCSF (518)
• Boston University (518)
• Case Western (518)
• Yale (522)
• Cornell (519)

Fit

• Emory (515)
• Albert Einstein (516)
• Hofstra (517)
• Dartmouth (516)
• Jefferson (514)
• Michigan State (518)
• Tufts (514)
• UT Dell (516)
• Keck (516)
• Ohio State (517)
• Drexel (512)

More Safe

• LSUNO (510)
• LSUS (505)
• Tulane (512)

I would be honored to get input from @Goro and

List is fine. Delete Drexel, MI State, and Dell.

 

[Bucky Dent]

@Goro Thanks for the feedback! I was worried about my volunteering hours, but I feel much better after you liked my list. Also, thanks you so much for putting in the time to help all of us stressed pre-meds.

 

[Bucky Dent]

@Faha Do you think that my low volunteering hours will greatly hinder my chances at Top 20 schools?

 

[Faha]

@Faha Do you think that my low volunteering hours will greatly hinder my chances at Top 20 schools?

No

 

[Bucky Dent]

Excellent! Thanks for the input!

 

[Bucky Dent]

Hey @Goro and @Faha sorry to bother ya'll again, but an advisor told me to skip this cycle and take another gap year in addition to this year's gap year. They said that since my gap year will be after my primaries, it will do little to no help to me. They also said that my top 20 chances are essentially 0%. While a realize that my reaches are a long shot, I think I have a pretty decent shot at schools like Emory/Hofstra/Einstein with what I have now (given MSAR data). I also don't think its exactly correct that my gap year will mean nothing. My judgement says that my advisor is wrong, but I wanted to get your opinion on this.

Also, my hospice hours are 180 not 125 and I had mistakenly put Mich state instead of U of Mich. Thanks for the help! I've greatly appreciated the advice so far.

 

[Bucky Dent]

Also, during my gap year. Between scribing, hospital volunteering, or more hospice volunteering, which would be more beneficial? Given each one is around 25 hours a week.

 

[Faha]

You are fine to apply next month. You are certainly competitive for your state public schools and should receive OOS interviews also.

 

[Goro]

Hey @Goro and @Faha sorry to bother ya'll again, but an advisor told me to skip this cycle and take another gap year in addition to this year's gap year. They said that since my gap year will be after my primaries, it will do little to no help to me. They also said that my top 20 chances are essentially 0%. While a realize that my reaches are a long shot, I think I have a pretty decent shot at schools like Emory/Hofstra/Einstein with what I have now (given MSAR data). I also don't think its exactly correct that my gap year will mean nothing. My judgement says that my advisor is wrong, but I wanted to get your opinion on this.

Also, my hospice hours are 180 not 125 and I had mistakenly put Mich state instead of U of Mich. Thanks for the help! I've greatly appreciated the advice so far.

Data point # 3032846505736536393 that most pre-med advisors are *****s.
The smart thing is not to listen to your advisor. The road to medical school is littered with the festering corpses of students who did and found out that the information they'd been given was lousy. The wise LizzyM