What are my chances of getting into a top medical school?

[mitch8017]

Hello Everyone,

So I am hoping to get into a good medical school, with Mayo and Stanford being my preferred choices. I would also be very content with going to the University of Minnesota, Duke, or Wisconsin (I am a Minnesota Resident). During high school, I was a PSEO student and took my courses at our local community college to the tune of 61 credits and an AA degree. However, my GPA was less than perfect: 3.37 with C's in Calc 1, a European History Course, and Intro to Ethics (last 2 were both online) mainly due to a lack of effort. Since arriving at my 4 year university, I have gotten a 3.93 cGPA with my only 2 B's coming in the Fall of my Freshman Year in Fundamentals of Nutrition and an Honors course. I have received A's in all of my prereqs and have gotten a 4.0 for the past 5 semesters. I also scored a 518 on my MCAT. I am interested in how much this PSEO experience will haunt me in the long run or if I have shown enough of my true colors that it won't make much difference? Anyways, my credentials include:

3.37 PSEO cGPA; 3.93 University cGPA; 4.0 University sGPA

518 MCAT
-130 PS
-131 Bio
-129 CARS
-128 Psyc

Extra Curriculars/Work/LOR:
-Worked as a CNA in a nursing home to the tune of 1,071 hours (Many times 80-88 hours in the summer)
-Worked as a Research Assistant in a USDA Lab for 1,264 hours
-Elected and served as head of Membership Development in my Fraternity
-Leader in another student org
-Elected to my hometown's School Board
-Volunteered 40 hours in the EOD my Freshman Year
-Volunteered approx. 40 hours with Special Olympics
-60 hours of shadowing various doctors
-1 semester TA intro chemistry class
-Letters of Recommendation from my research mentor/scientist, 2 science teachers (1 I TA'd for), 1 non-science prof, Supervisor from the nursing home I worked at and a Physician who is a close family friend and who got me interested in medicine in the first place.

I may also consider taking one year off before applying and I haven't accounted for "to be completed" kind of things like more work hours, shadowing etc. during the next year. What are my chances with these credentials and what kinds of things can I improve on or do more of? What are my weak spots?

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[mitch8017]

Also I should note that with my PSEO years I will technically have been in college for 6 years by the time I finish. I am majoring in Biology and Honors and minoring in Psychology and Chemistry

 

[MaxPlancker]

Some more detail about your research would be helpful. Nobody is impressed you do 10000000 hours of research if you get nothing out of it so putting down hours for things aren't the most helpful for assessing chances.

I'd say your chances for Stanford are slim to none unless you have great research. Mayo seems to like applicants who have a big emphasis on service and have some unique life story.

 

[mitch8017]

For my research, I have worked in a USDA lab and worked with a lot of bench top work as well as well as some clinical testing with humans. I have been here for an entire study from start to finish involving receiving the mice, putting them on specific diets, breeding them, putting the offspring on a certain regimen and then euthanizing and excising various tissue of interest. I have then conducted a multitude of experiments from extractions to histology, pcr, assays, and what have you. I also finished writing a large thesis for the honors program detailing the research I have done and what has come of it. If I were to take this year off, I would work in the lab further with my own project that would run off of this thesis. I also have a strong tie to my hometown and hope to go back and practice there once it is all said and done. I come from a small community of around 6,000 people and the nearest hospital is about 10 min away in a town of roughly 15,000. We lack extensively in dermatologists (haven't even had one for more than one day a week over the past 4 years) and oncologists ( a field I am at this early stage very interested in). This sense of pride and a feeling of wanting to give back to the community that raised me is also what vaulted me to run for our local School Board, to attempt to help with the education system that I felt was lacking when I went to school there (the main reason I did PSEO). Also, I have a lot of service experience from my senior year of high school and I coached a little league baseball team the summer following high school graduation and before heading off the university, would this be valid to include in my application?

 

[MaxPlancker]

Valid to include the coaching if it is meaningful. The service from senior HS is a no-go unless you continued with the same team/org/place throughout UG.

 

[mitch8017]

Valid to include the coaching if it is meaningful. The service from senior HS is a no-go unless you continued with the same team/org/place throughout UG.

Thank You!

 

[mitch8017]

Also, how does it work with people including things that they are "going to do" or "scheduled to do" during the application process that they will be completing after submitting their application?

 

[The Knife & Gun Club]

I'm confused, did you produce any publications/posters/presentations at your lab? Stanford isn't out of the question but they're a research heavy school and not having any pubs could hurt a lot.

You've got a good app. You'll probably get in somewhere. Be careful not to get too caught up in the idea of going to a "top" med school, because you could be left very disappointed at no fault of your own. Admission at the very top (especially at mayo who's taking like 60 students) can be a seemingly random spattering of high stat people with no clear rhyme or reason. At that level the differences between applicants are insanely small.

 

[candbgirl]

So what is your cGPA? Not broken apart like you have it listed.


Sent from my iPad using SDN mobile app

 

[Goro]

Chances excellent! Aim high.

Hello Everyone,

So I am hoping to get into a good medical school, with Mayo and Stanford being my preferred choices. I would also be very content with going to the University of Minnesota, Duke, or Wisconsin (I am a Minnesota Resident). During high school, I was a PSEO student and took my courses at our local community college to the tune of 61 credits and an AA degree. However, my GPA was less than perfect: 3.37 with C's in Calc 1, a European History Course, and Intro to Ethics (last 2 were both online) mainly due to a lack of effort. Since arriving at my 4 year university, I have gotten a 3.93 cGPA with my only 2 B's coming in the Fall of my Freshman Year in Fundamentals of Nutrition and an Honors course. I have received A's in all of my prereqs and have gotten a 4.0 for the past 5 semesters. I also scored a 518 on my MCAT. I am interested in how much this PSEO experience will haunt me in the long run or if I have shown enough of my true colors that it won't make much difference? Anyways, my credentials include:

3.37 PSEO cGPA; 3.93 University cGPA; 4.0 University sGPA

518 MCAT
-130 PS
-131 Bio
-129 CARS
-128 Psyc

Extra Curriculars/Work/LOR:
-Worked as a CNA in a nursing home to the tune of 1,071 hours (Many times 80-88 hours in the summer)
-Worked as a Research Assistant in a USDA Lab for 1,264 hours
-Elected and served as head of Membership Development in my Fraternity
-Leader in another student org
-Elected to my hometown's School Board
-Volunteered 40 hours in the EOD my Freshman Year
-Volunteered approx. 40 hours with Special Olympics
-60 hours of shadowing various doctors
-1 semester TA intro chemistry class
-Letters of Recommendation from my research mentor/scientist, 2 science teachers (1 I TA'd for), 1 non-science prof, Supervisor from the nursing home I worked at and a Physician who is a close family friend and who got me interested in medicine in the first place.

I may also consider taking one year off before applying and I haven't accounted for "to be completed" kind of things like more work hours, shadowing etc. during the next year. What are my chances with these credentials and what kinds of things can I improve on or do more of? What are my weak spots?

 

[7331poas]

People here are being so picky. You should apply anywhere you want in the US and you have great chances. (excluding OOS public schools)

 

[mitch8017]

So what is your cGPA? Not broken apart like you have it listed.


Sent from my iPad using SDN mobile app

Sorry for taking awhile to respond, but my cGPA including community college is a 3.70 and my sGPA is 3.82 when you pull it all together.

 

[mitch8017]

I'm confused, did you produce any publications/posters/presentations at your lab? Stanford isn't out of the question but they're a research heavy school and not having any pubs could hurt a lot.

You've got a good app. You'll probably get in somewhere. Be careful not to get too caught up in the idea of going to a "top" med school, because you could be left very disappointed at no fault of your own. Admission at the very top (especially at mayo who's taking like 60 students) can be a seemingly random spattering of high stat people with no clear rhyme or reason. At that level the differences between applicants are insanely small.

Sorry for the late response, but I took a directed studies course essentially through my research job where I studied something on my own under the watch of both my scientist and a university professor. I made a poster and gave a presentation at a school conference at the end of that semester which basically all directed studies students do. I have typed up a paper for it, but that was only submitted a month and a half ago (so I've got maybe 5-12 months before I get it full feedback and/or find out if it will be published or not. I also have another project I am in the middle of that I hope to get a paper written and submitted for by December. This is part of the reason I may want to hold off one more year as I could potentially have 2 publications by the next cycle (along with other things I can accomplish during the next year) to include in my application whereas this semester I just have one paper pending.