Will I get into allopathic med school

[kushi88]

Here are a few details - WI Resident
I am currently senior and want to apply this year.
cGPA=3.79 sGPA=3.76 MCAT 32O.
Major Biology and minor Political Science
Bench research - 2yrs, Clinical research some patient contact 1 yr (no publications).
Volunteered in hospital (200hrs) and shadowed doctors (50 hrs)
Other volunteering 100 hrs
Peer mentor and premed club officer 2 years
Study abroad. Fluent in spanish.
Professional dancer/choreographer
I am worried about my verbal (9) and writing score. How many schools should I apply to and which tier schools.
How can I improve my application.
Thanks

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[thamsenman]

Here are a few details - WI Resident
I am currently senior and want to apply this year for 2011 entering class
CGPA=3.79 SGPA=3.76 from a big 10 Universty.
MCAT 9V 10PS 13 BS O Total 32O
Majoring in Biology and Political Science
Bench research - 2yrs, Clinical research some patient contact 1 yr (no publications) will be graduating with honors in research.
Deans list all semesters.
Volunteered in hospital past 7 summers (200hrs) and shadowed doctors 50 hrs
Other volunteering 100 hrs
Peer mentor 2 years
Officer in premed honor club 2 yrs
Study abroad. Fluent in spanish.
Interned in senators office 1 semester
Professional dancer. Dancing for 12 years.
I am worried about my verbal and writing score. How many schools should I apply to and which tier schools.
How can I improve my application.
Thanks

If you're a URM you can get into Harvard. If you're not, you may be able to get in SOMEWHERE if you apply broadly enough. Why?

MCAT > 30
Sufficient Extracurriculars
GPA > 3.6-3.7
Spanish Fluency.

Apply broadly. Then you're in.

 

[Catalystik]

I think you have a very solid application with a special "hook" of your dancing background. You'd have a good shot at your state school, which is fairly selective, and others of that ilk, like Mayo. Einstein, UNC, Case, UIowa, Tufts, UCinncinnati. UVirginia would be a bit of a reach, but possible. I'd add a few in the top 30 that are your dream schools, more in your range, and some safeties that you're over-qualified for.

Personally, I'd like to see another 10-20 hours of shadowing, especially if you don't have much variety in specialty, or if you don't have an experience with a primary care doc, but others will say you're fine as you are.

The 9 in VS might limit you at a few schools, and I wouldn't worry too much about the WS.

 

[Appless]

Your clinical stuff looks great. Not sure what 100 hours of other consists of, but hopefully one or so is a longer term experience. If i had to nitpick, maybe you could use a bit more community service (unless you did a lot of that as an officer in your pre med club) but even then i think you are probably fine. Everything looks great except the mcat (which is still fine). A 9 isnt a huge deal in verbal, and no one cares about writing. You have a good IS school at UW mad so that works for you also. Id apply to maybe 20+ schools depending on how much you can afford with of course applying to your IS schools. If you were doing 20 schools id say about 5 dream schools if you wanted (like case, mayo, pitt, etc etc...), 10 or so middle tier schools (schools around your average including your 2 state schools), and then 5 or so "Safety" (though i hate that term). Safety being maybe creighton, drexel, etc etc..schools that take a lower mcat score. If you could afford to apply to more id say add some more middle tier/safety schools. Really though there is no safety and above all dont make the mistake of applying to places as safeties, yet you would hate to attend there.

 

[J ROD]

very solid app...I think you will be a MD.

 

[tremulousNeedle]

I am from WI and I am graduating from a WI medical school in May. Your application makes you competitive in the 2 WI med schools.

The VR9 may keep you out of the top 5-10% of schools, whatever that means (I have visited supposed top tier residency programs and left being less than impressed, they are not in MY top tier). The same applies to medical school. If you apply broadly enough (and early enough), you'll probably get offered a spot from more than one med school (unless your application has some red-flags); make sure you pick the school that feels right (this shouldn’t rely solely on prestige).

Whether you have 50 or 70 hours of physician shadowing is not going to make or break you.
There are 4 main things you need to demonstrate on your AMCAS application:
1) Motivation for medicine - do you know what you are getting into?
2) Compassion for others - do you care?
3) Interests outside of medicine
4) Miscellaneous Well-Rounded Attributes (this category can blend with the top three): research, leadership, honors, awards, service, other employment, etc.

I would suggest continuing to strengthen your application, but in my opinion any other further extraordinary measures are not necessary (remember this forum is full of opinions, rarely facts).

- Senior medical student / admissions committee interviewer

Also, there is this rumor that the MCAT VR score correlates highly with the score that med students receive on their first licensing exam. I as well scored a VR9, but also scored in the top 10% of USMLE step 1, so the correlation isn’t all that strong. Good luck.