WAMC/School List - 3.6sGPA, 521 MCAT

[pedroia151515]

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Hi everyone, was hoping to get some advice on my school list. Feeling like I’m in a weird spot due to the discrepancy between my MCAT score and GPA. Trying to be rather vague in certain sections for anonymity, hope you understand.

ORM, T10 undergrad, NY resident 521 MCAT, 3.6 BCPM GPA

Multiple gap years, humanities major

ECs: 1000+ hrs of research experience with a few pubs, a couple 100 hrs of volunteering, mental health focus with a humanities tie-in & full-time work for two years (think underserved populations, high stakes work). Significant passion/work/leadership in a creative field.

I don’t care too much about location, but am prioritizing schools that would let me end up in NYC for residency. (Probably psych.) I can’t tell if I should be going for higher ranked schools or if I need more “undershoots.” That being said, here’s my list:

1. UCSF
2. Yale
3. UChicago
4. Mt. Sinai
5. Emory
6. Columbia
7. Northwestern
8. Michigan
9. Cornell
10. UCLA
11. Pitt
12. Mayo
13. Brown
14. Vermont
15. Dartmouth
16. Temple
17. SUNY Downstate
18. Einstein
19. USC
20. Kaiser Permanente
21. Tulane
22. Miami
23. Temple
24. Jefferson
25. Drexel
26. Stony Brook
27. Georgetown
28. NYMC
29. Boston University
30. Case Western
31. Rutgers (both)
32. George Washington

Thanks!

 

[Faha]

Do you have any in person physician shadowing hours ? How many hours of clinical volunteering with patient contact do you have ?

 

[pedroia151515]

Do you have any in person physician shadowing hours ? How many hours of clinical volunteering with patient contact do you have ?

Yes to shadowing. 300+ hours of clinical volunteering in different settings.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

am prioritizing schools that would let me end up in NYC for residency

Training-wise it should not be that hard to wind up at NYC for residency or fellowship. It depends WHERE in NYC metro you want to be though.

By not providing more details, your chances of mission fit cannot be determined. So, apply to all the Northeast regional schools that make sense with your profile. By all means, pay attention to cost of attendance and debt number. You know NYC is not a cheap place to live. I would not include USC, UCLA, or Kaiser (I don't really know if they can get you back to NYC... but I guess you can look at a match list?). Do your homework on the medical humanities programs at schools on the list. You should have 150 hours of clinical and 150 hours of non-clinical service orientation activities to avoid getting eliminated at screening. Stronger candidates will have more depending on mission fit. Working with underserved populations is going to be expected of you if NYC is where you want to be. (This also means a suggestion for Iowa from me will be moot.)

Good luck on Casper or PREview, whichever is applicable.

 

[theoceanman]

Do you have community service hours and experiences? Many NY schools highly value this aspect of your application.

 

[pedroia151515]

Thank you for all the responses! To clarify, my app/work experience heavily emphasize service work for underserved populations, and I have ample clinical/non-clinical volunteering experience. I feel confident in my goals/vision as an applicant, and am wondering if my MCAT compensates enough for my GPA. in other words, is my school list too top-heavy?