WAMC & School List - 3.96/ 515, low CARs

[Iced Milk Tea]

Would like some advice regarding my school list given an unbalanced MCAT

1. cGPA: 3.96 sGPA: 4.0
2. 515 (129/126/130/130) -- was originally planning to retake, but not sure anymore due to MCAT cancellations
3. GA
4. Asian ORM
5. Decently ranked public engineering school
6. Clinical volunteering
   - 200 hours at a children's hospital
   
   
7. Research experience and productivity
   - 3000 hours in cell engineering research
   - 2 independent projects, several oral/ poster presentations, a bachelor's thesis, & a co-first author manuscript in revision
   
   
8. Shadowing experience and specialties represented
   - 80 hours (Heme-onc, EM, GI, A&I, Gen Surg)
   
   
9. Non-clinical volunteering
   - 300 hours with campus food recovery organization
   
   
10. Other extracurricular activities (including athletics, military service, gap year activities, leadership, teaching, etc)
    - 300 hours in leadership for above food recovery org. (VP, President); developed multiple campus initiatives like a food recovery program for the Greek community, low-cost cooking demonstrations, etc
    - 30 hours as a new student mentor
    - Started a student org. for temporary housing
    - Working at a biotech company for cell engineering during gap year
    - Many biomedical engineering design projects, planning to submit a provisional patent soon
    
    
11. Relevant honors or awards
    - Goldwater
    - Year long independent research fellowship, 2 institutional research awards
    - UN sponsored campus sustainability fellowship
    - Institutional funding for food recovery outreach programs

School list (as of September)

Reach: Cornell, Harvard (HMS & HST), Chicago, Columbia, Penn, Stanford, Duke, UCSF

Target: Emory, Case Western (UP & CCLCM), Boston, Virginia, Baylor, Pitt, Michigan, USC, UCLA, Carle Illinois, Tufts, Einstein, Ohio, Hofstra, Rochester

Safety: Wisconsin, Wake Forest, Connecticut, Alabama, Medical College of Georgia (State), Mercer (State), Morehouse (State)

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[ihoop24]

Do not retake your MCAT!

 

[Faha]

You do not need to retake the MCAT. You should receive several interviews from your list. You should add Carle Illinois.

 

[Iced Milk Tea]

Great, thank you! Should I be concerned regarding the region bias for UCSF & UCLA? @Faha

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Are you doing your Goldwater now or in the upcoming year? You may need to make some provisions to adjust to any interview schedule that may pop up.

 

[squids82]

Are you doing your Goldwater now or in the upcoming year? You may need to make some provisions to adjust to any interview schedule that may pop up.

The Goldwater is not a Fellowship rather a scholarship and award so luckily s/he doesn’t have to make any adjustments!

 

[Mr.Smile12]

The Goldwater is not a Fellowship rather a scholarship and award so luckily s/he doesn’t have to make any adjustments!

Well, yes and no. The Goldwater covers the natural sciences and seldom is applicable for medical school unless those qualifications changed recently. The intention is graduate study not professional school.

Sent from my SM-N960U using SDN mobile

 

[Iced Milk Tea]

Well, yes and no. The Goldwater covers the natural sciences and seldom is applicable for medical school unless those qualifications changed recently. The intention is graduate study not professional school.

Sent from my SM-N960U using SDN mobile

Yes, that is a valid point. I was awarded the Goldwater in 2019 - back then I wanted to pursue a MD-PhD, but I have since realized that the dual degree does not really align with my career goals.

 

[Faha]

Great, thank you! Should I be concerned regarding the region bias for UCSF & UCLA? @Faha

Yes, it is more difficult for non residents to be interviewed (only 5% of applicants).

 

[Iced Milk Tea]

@Faha thank you for your help earlier. Based on your suggestions and personally ranking schools based on fit, I applied to 30 schools (edited in original post).

Now that I've had a few weeks since I finished my secondaries, I'm starting to be concerned about my "safeties". I applied to schools such as Wisconsin, Connecticut, and Alabama that I now realize don't favor OOS applicants without ties. Do you (or anyone else) think that I should add more "safety" schools, and if so, which do you recommend?

My initial thoughts were Jefferson (low yield) and SLU. Again, thank you for your insight.

 

[Faha]

@Faha thank you for your help earlier. Based on your suggestions and personally ranking schools based on fit, I applied to 30 schools (edited in original post).

Now that I've had a few weeks since I finished my secondaries, I'm starting to be concerned about my "safeties". I applied to schools such as Wisconsin, Connecticut, and Alabama that I now realize don't favor OOS applicants without ties. Do you (or anyone else) think that I should add more "safety" schools, and if so, which do you recommend?

My initial thoughts were Jefferson (low yield) and SLU. Again, thank you for your insight.

U Wisconsin, U Connecticut and Alabama are only "safety" school for instate residents with your stats. If you want to add more schools consider these:
Jefferson
George Washington
Virginia Commonwealth
Oakland Beaumont
Medical College Wisconsin
St. Louis
TCU-UNT
NOVA MD
Miami
USF Morsani

 

[Iced Milk Tea]

Thank you for confirming @Faha ! I'll go ahead and look into some of the schools you listed

 

[Iced Milk Tea]

Hi everyone! Just wanted to circle back to provide an update on the results of my cycle. Hopefully this post can help applicants with a similar profile compile schools lists in the future.

I applied to 32 schools and received interview invites to the following programs:

• Stanford (PSTP)
• Harvard (HST)
• Pittsburgh (PSTP)
• Weill Cornell
• Ohio State
• Carle Illinois
• Medical College of Georgia

It's hard for me to evaluate my own application, but if I had to guess, I would say that my MCAT score in the context of my application precluded me from receiving more interviews. There were many other applicants with a similar background that had stronger scores and/or clinical experiences. I am blessed to say that I will be matriculating to a T20 program in the fall.

Thank you again to @Faha and everyone else for being invaluable resources to the Pre-Med community. You all have helped me tremendously in having a successful application cycle during the pandemic.

TLDR: The application cycle is competitive. An unbalanced MCAT with low CARs won't kill your application, but apply wisely based on fit. This process is long and hard so be kind to yourself and others.