WAMC School list help. Upcoming 2027-28 cycle (4.0/521;Solid EC's)

[szf615]

Advertisement - Members don't see this ad

1. 4.0 gpa
2. 521 MCAT (132/129/130/130)
3. NJ Resident
4. White
5. Private undergrad; not prestigious
6. 200 hours hospice volunteer and 200 hours ED volunteer
7. 450+ research hours. In the process of publishing first-author and second-author papers. I am optimistic they will both be published by the time I apply in the spring.
8. 150 hours shadowing (anesthesiology, general surgery, pediatric endocrinology, internal medicine, interventional radiology)
9. 125 hours soup kitchen volunteer, 75 hours science experiments for kids in public school/tutoring
10. minimal hours in peer tutoring and senior class representative (but maybe more as the year goes on)

My heavy preference is to stay in the NYC/tristate area. I understand that makes the application process much more difficult but I feel very strongly about this. If I would be forced to out of the area, I would probably prefer somewhere in the northeast in an established city (philly, boston, baltimore...).
As of now my prelimnary school list is all my state schools along with all NYC schools. My question is how many more schools do I need to apply to and what do you reccomend considering my contraints?

My current list is as follows:

1. Rutgers X2
2. Hackensack
3. Cooper
4. Einstein
5. NYU
6. Mt Sinai
7. Columbia
8. Cornell
9. NYMC
10. Hofstra
11. Stony Brook
12. SUNY Downstate

I think these are all of the NYC/NJ ones. I am considering Philly (Penn, Temple, Jefferson, Kimmel), Boston (Harvard, BU, Tufts) and Baltimore (Maryland, Hopkins) but unsure how many I need to add. I would appreciate any feedback. Thanks!

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Welcome to the forums.

Your metrics won't keep you from getting admitted. I don't think there's a problem with most of the schools on your list except for OOS unfriendliness (Stony Brook, Downstate). If you make it clear you want to stay close to NYC, go to recruitment events and make them want you.

Keep building your experience hours, and see if you can get more hospital experience outside the ED. Get your soup kitchen volunteering to 200-250 hours before submitting; every premed has tutoring/teaching, so increasing those hours has marginal impact.

I'd add the Boston and Philly schools; do the homework about the programs, but I'd focus on the schools where I want to attend.

 

[szf615]

Thanks for the advice, I appreciate!
If I were to add Boston/Philly would you recommend applying Harvard and Penn as well or I would just be giving them a donation and have no shot?

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Thanks for the advice, I appreciate!
If I were to add Boston/Philly would you recommend applying Harvard and Penn as well or I would just be giving them a donation and have no shot?

Most people donate to the Ivy schools in general (undergrad, law, med, etc.). I need your argument what you have done to make those schools want you as a student/future graduate. Metrics only goes so far in this process.

 

[Faha]

You could add these schools with your stats:
Jefferson
Pittsburgh
U Penn
Johns Hopkins
Yale
Brown
UMass
Boston University
Tufts
Harvard
Accumulate another 100+ hours at the soup kitchen if you want to be competitive at top tier schools.

 

[szf615]

Thanks for all the advice!
Do you think there's something specific that jumps off my resume that would need boosting during a gap year once I graduate?

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Thanks for all the advice!
Do you think there's something specific that jumps off my resume that would need boosting during a gap year once I graduate?

Didn't I just say...

Keep building your experience hours, and see if you can get more hospital experience outside the ED. Get your soup kitchen volunteering to 200-250 hours before submitting; every premed has tutoring/teaching, so increasing those hours has marginal impact.