WAMC- ORM, 3.63 cGPA, 3.597 sGPA, 526 MCAT

[hyoshin6913]

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1. cGPA and sGPA as calculated by AMCAS: 3.6 cGPA, 3.6 sGPA
   major upward trend freshman year --> senior year
   
2. MCAT score(s) and breakdown: 526
3. State of residence or country of citizenship (if non-US): Massachusetts
4. Ethnicity and/or race: ORM
5. Undergraduate institution or category: Ivy
6. Clinical experience (volunteer and non-volunteer):
   Paid medical scribe at academic hospital during gap year. Projected hours 1500 hours by the time of application.
7. Research experience and productivity:
   400 hours at Lab 1 l in nanotechnology.
   350 hours at Lab 2 in medical technology
   600 hours at a biotech start up.
   1 publication in high impact journal (IF=18)
   1 submission under review, Nature Biomedical Engineering
8. Shadowing experience and specialties represented:
   4 hours ENT.
   4 Hours Oral and Maxillofacial surgeon.
   4 hours reconstructive plastics surgeon.
   Possible OR shadowing in plastics and recon. surgery.
   Will be shadowing primary care physicians, gastroenterologist, bariatric surgeon, and microsurgery surgeon throughout the year.
9. Non-clinical volunteering
   600 hours working with at risk inner city youth running summer camp all throughout undergrad
   50 hours academic mentor to middle schoolers in Public Schools
   Currently involved with an organization that serves inner city youth + meals on wheels
10. Other extracurricular activities (including athletics, military service, gap year activities, leadership, teaching, etc):
    Study Abroad junior year at UCL, infection and immunity. Wrote a grant proposal as a semester project.
11. Relevant honors or awards
    Summer experience grant from ugrad
12. Anything else not listed you think might be important
    School's committee letter packet only allows maximum of 3 LOR. So far I have a LOR PI from lab 1, LOR from organizer for inner city volunteering, LORs from two science professors in undergrad, 1 LOR from supervisor from the biotech startup and 1 possible LOR from one of the surgeons I am currently scribing for. Which three should I submit to the committee?

Hi SDN, I'm having a hard time coming up with a school list because my GPA seems to be on the lower end of most schools on MSAR. What are some weaknesses to my application that I can improve within the next year and which schools would you recommend that I apply to? Thank you so much for your time!

 

[Faha]

You could do a DIY post bacc at a local college in the coming year. Take undergraduate level science courses and obtain an A in every course so you can increase your cGPA and sGPA before you apply. Increasing your GPA to 3.7 will give you more school options. Assuming your sGPA and cGPA are 3.7 by next June I suggest these schools:
UMass
Tufts
Harvard
Boston University
Dartmouth
Rochester
Hofstra
Einstein
Mount Sinai
Pittsburgh
Jefferson
Case Western
Ohio State
Cincinnati
U Virginia
Duke
Miami
USF Morsani
Vanderbilt
Washington University
Northwestern
U Chicago
Western Michigan
U Michigan
USC Keck
UCSF
Kaiser

 

[hyoshin6913]

You could do a DIY post bacc at a local college in the coming year. Take undergraduate level science courses and obtain an A in every course so you can increase your cGPA and sGPA before you apply. Increasing your GPA to 3.7 will give you more school options. Assuming your sGPA and cGPA are 3.7 by next June I suggest these schools:
UMass
Tufts
Harvard
Boston University
Dartmouth
Rochester
Hofstra
Einstein
Mount Sinai
Pittsburgh
Jefferson
Case Western
Ohio State
Cincinnati
U Virginia
Duke
Miami
USF Morsani
Vanderbilt
Washington University
Northwestern
U Chicago
Western Michigan
U Michigan
USC Keck
UCSF
Kaiser

Thank you for the input! Just a quick question: would a year worth of classes be enough to bring the GPA to a 3.7? Also, with costs associated with taking additional classes in mind, how would my school list change if I were to apply with my current GPA as-is? Would I no longer be competitive for MD programs? @LizzyM @Goro @gyngyn I'd love some input from you guys as well.

 

[LizzyM]

Be careful about taking courses at a school considered less competitive than Cornell as this can look like GPA padding.

Assuming that you have 30+30+15+30 credits contributing to your GPA (accounting for the quarter away) you have
105(3.63)= 381.15 quality points. If you were to take 30 credits and earn 4.0 that would add 120 quality points.
501.15/135= 3.71.

 

[hyoshin6913]

Be careful about taking courses at a school considered less competitive than Cornell as this can look like GPA padding.

Assuming that you have 30+30+15+30 credits contributing to your GPA (accounting for the quarter away) you have
105(3.63)= 381.15 quality points. If you were to take 30 credits and earn 4.0 that would add 120 quality points.
501.15/135= 3.71.

Would it be advisable to be applying to programs with the current GPA without a DIY post-bacc?

 

[TheDataKing]

respectfully disagree with doing a DIY postbacc... OP has a 526 on the MCAT and sure a 3.63 isn't a 3.7 or a 3.9 but it's not a HUGE difference like a 526/3.2 combo we often see. I'd target the same schools Faha mentioned with your current GPA/MCAT and your ECs are great.

 

[UnlimitedTraction]

Dont do a postbacc lol that's horrible advice. Your MCAT will get you in the door at top schools. I had a lower GPA (3.4/3.4) and similar MCAT and interviewed at multiple T20.

 

[Banco]

No need to do a post-bacc, your GPA is good and puts you in range for pretty much any school and your MCAT is sky high. Just apply wisely (all state schools, balanced list, ~30 schools etc.)

 

[LeaveNoTrace]

You have a 3.6 with an upward trend; a 3.6 will not keep you out of a medical school although it might keep you out of the top 20 schools. And your ECs and MCAT are excellent. @Goro has a list of top schools that reward reinvention; you should apply to those plus midtiers and your state schools. With the upward trend you probably don't need the postbacc. There won't be any doubts in adcoms' minds as to whether you can hack it.

Columbia should be on your list - they like reinventors.