WAMC - cGPA 3.89, sGPA 3.82, MCAT 517

[hiitsme123]

GPA: strong upward trend of 4.0 the last 2 years of college
MCAT breakdown 517:
p/c: 130
cars: 127
bio: 131
psych: 129
Residency: Maryland
Undergrad: UMichigan
Asian, Female
Clinical exp: hands on volunteering with patients at michigan hospital for 1 year/4 hrs week, went abroad and shadowed and worked with patients for 3 months/40 hrs a week
Research exp: Undergrad research for 3 years, Post-bac at NIH for 1 year, 1 summer doing epidemiology at Johns Hopkins
Shadowing: Abroad and did one undergrad summer at Johns Hopkins shadowing transplant surgeries, also general GI shadowing
Non-clinical volunteering: 3 years of mentoring high school students in Detroit, MI, volunteering at community home for families in need for year, now working with children without homes in DC
Extra-curricular/awards: phi beta kappa, another honor society at school, dance marathon, relay for life

What are my chances at getting an interview at the top schools? On MSAR, it seems a lot of these school's median MCAT score has increased from ~518/519 to ~520/521 the past year.

• OSU
• Cincinnati
• Pitt
• Baylor
• Michigan
• BU
• Case Western
• Mount Sinai
• Stanford
• Cornell
• UVA
• Duke
• Columbia
• Harvard
• Uchicago
• Northwestern
• Upenn
• Vanderbilt
• NYU
• Yale

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[DubbiDoctor]

I think you have a strong chance, but don't limit yourself to the top schools. I know someone with around a 3.9/520 who did that and likely will have to reapply. I recommend applying to 15 of the 20 schools you listed along with 15 less stat-heavy schools. My recommendations are: Einstein, Temple, Jefferson, Hofstra, UMaryland, Emory, USC, Case, BU, Brown, URoch, Dartmouth, Umiami, Tufts and Georgetown. If 30 schools is too many, then do 10 and 10, making sure you apply to UMaryland.

 

[hiitsme123]

I think you have a strong chance, but don't limit yourself to the top schools. I know someone with around a 3.9/520 who did that and likely will have to reapply. I recommend applying to 15 of the 20 schools you listed along with 15 less stat-heavy schools. My recommendations are: Einstein, Temple, Jefferson, Hofstra, UMaryland, Emory, USC, Case, BU, Brown, URoch, Dartmouth, Umiami, Tufts and Georgetown. If 30 schools is too many, then do 10 and 10, making sure you apply to UMaryland.

Thanks!
And yes, I'm planning on applying to a lot of those schools you listed 🙂
Just wanted to see if it was worth applying to the top tier schools because my numbers are below their medians on MSAR.

 

[bubba21]

I was a pretty similar applicant to you and applied to many of the schools on your list without much luck. Luckily, my state school is also a very well respected program and I was able to get in there. If I was to do it again, I would cut down to only 5ish top tier schools to save money (applications are expensive!). You definitely have a chance, but with below-median stats, you will need to have a really "WOW" worthy EC or personal statement to get the adcoms attention. Even some of the less "stat-heavy" schools like Tufts, Miami, and Georgetown will be very difficult to get interviews at.

You're application seems very solid, and you should definitely get an MD acceptance if you apply broadly. I just wish someone had been a little more realistic with me about my chances of getting interviews at some of the schools on my list before I spent all that money on applications. Best of luck!!