Wrapping up secondaries, time to worry.

[sparkmm]

So I'm getting the very last of my secondaries in this week. All of my top choices were submitted back in August before school started again, and now I have all of this lovely free time to drive myself crazy wondering who will take me. So here I am. Anyone wanna tell me what my chances are?

- cGPA: 3.53 sGPA: 3.4
- MCAT: 510 (128/128/127/127)
- Clinical volunteer - 1 year, 100 hours through my school's health center. Handle patient intake/vitals/chief complaint.
- Physician Shadowing: ~150 hours alternating between inpatient and primary care. 10 hours emergency. 20 hours dermatology. 5 hours psych. 40 hours geriatrics.
- Research: 1 year (50 hours) biomechanical engineering research on blast injury. Name not on any publications.
- Nonclinical volunteer activities: 100 hours TA for cell and molecular bio, 50 hours learning assistant for introductory physics.
- Employment: 9 months biology lab prep, 2 months summer undergraduate advisor, 3 months paid TA position, 5 months retail, 2 years restaurant hostess (high school).

And, I don't know if this is relevant, but the head of my school's pre-med advisory committee said my personal statement was one of the best he had seen this cycle, and he's not the type to sugar coat that sort of thing. So hopefully that'll help me stand out.

Schools: *Drexel, *Temple, *Penn State, Commonwealth, WVU, *UPenn, Pitt, UNC, Duke, Maryland, *Hopkins, *Rutgers, SUNY Stonybrook, Georgetown, Jefferson, Case Western, LECOM, PCOM
(* Top choices)

Thanks so much!

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[WedgeDawg]

Before I say anything else, what state are you from, what is your ethnicity, and what kind of undergraduate school did you come from?

 

[sparkmm]

Before I say anything else, what state are you from, what is your ethnicity, and what kind of undergraduate school did you come from?

PA, White, state school.

 

[WedgeDawg]

Okay, lets go through your application and list.

1. According to Table 24, you have around a 48% chance of being accepted to a medical school based on your stats alone (3.5/31).

2. Your ECs are alright, but nothing really stands out.

Drexel - low yield school, but fits your stats and in-state, can't really count on an interview though
Temple - same as Drexel
Penn State - same as Drexel
Commonwealth - same as Drexel
WVU - you're OOS here, but fits your stats, still can't really count on an interview
UPenn - you are absolutely not competitive for Penn in any way
Pitt - you are not competitive for Pitt (though to a less extent - barely - than Penn)
UNC - UNC takes OOS students in the single digits, don't count on an interview here
Duke - very unlikely to be competitive for Duke
Maryland - not very OOS friendly, don't count on an interview
Hopkins - same as Penn
Rutgers - you don't have the stats to make me confident about your chances as an OOS applicant here
SUNY Stonybrook - could go either way, but they get a lot of apps so I wouldn't count on an interview
Georgetown - same as Drexel
Jefferson - same as Drexel
Case Western - you're probably not competitive here, but it's a better shot than Duke or Pitt
LECOM - you're competitive here
PCOM - you're competitive here

You will likely not be getting too many MD interviews here based on what you've told me. Your best bets are Drexel, Temple, Penn State, Commonwealth, and Jefferson, but all of them get so many applicants that yours could easily be lost in the middle. I wouldn't hold your breath for Penn, Pitt, Duke, UNC, Hopkins, and Case at all. WVU, Maryland, Rutgers, Stony Brook, and Georgetown are probably not going to be great bets, though you never know.

In your shoes, I would probably apply to a few more DO schools just to be safe. An MD acceptance is not a sure bet, particularly since you've finished secondaries pretty late.

 

[sparkmm]

Okay, lets go through your application and list.

1. According to Table 24, you have around a 48% chance of being accepted to a medical school based on your stats alone (3.5/31).

2. Your ECs are alright, but nothing really stands out.

Drexel - low yield school, but fits your stats and in-state, can't really count on an interview though
Temple - same as Drexel
Penn State - same as Drexel
Commonwealth - same as Drexel
WVU - you're OOS here, but fits your stats, still can't really count on an interview
UPenn - you are absolutely not competitive for Penn in any way
Pitt - you are not competitive for Pitt (though to a less extent - barely - than Penn)
UNC - UNC takes OOS students in the single digits, don't count on an interview here
Duke - very unlikely to be competitive for Duke
Maryland - not very OOS friendly, don't count on an interview
Hopkins - same as Penn
Rutgers - you don't have the stats to make me confident about your chances as an OOS applicant here
SUNY Stonybrook - could go either way, but they get a lot of apps so I wouldn't count on an interview
Georgetown - same as Drexel
Jefferson - same as Drexel
Case Western - you're probably not competitive here, but it's a better shot than Duke or Pitt
LECOM - you're competitive here
PCOM - you're competitive here

You will likely not be getting too many MD interviews here based on what you've told me. Your best bets are Drexel, Temple, Penn State, Commonwealth, and Jefferson, but all of them get so many applicants that yours could easily be lost in the middle. I wouldn't hold your breath for Penn, Pitt, Duke, UNC, Hopkins, and Case at all. WVU, Maryland, Rutgers, Stony Brook, and Georgetown are probably not going to be great bets, though you never know.

In your shoes, I would probably apply to a few more DO schools just to be safe. An MD acceptance is not a sure bet, particularly since you've finished secondaries pretty late.

Thank you. Despite what the school's list may indicate, I have a pretty realistic idea of where I'm more competitive, but I was encouraged to apply above and beyond just where I thought I would be safe. Thanks for the affirmation!

 

[Lawpy]

- Research: 1 year (50 hours) biomechanical engineering research on blast injury. Name not on any publications.

Sure this isn't a typo?

 

[sparkmm]

Sure this isn't a typo?

Sorry, yes. It was really only one school year, and it was about 70 hours. We only met about 3 hours a week. Wasn't super involved.

 

[Lawpy]

Sorry, yes. It was really only one school year, and it was about 70 hours. We only met about 3 hours a week. Wasn't super involved.

By one school year, you mean roughly 8-9 months? I'm not upsetting you or anything, but 70 hours seem short to be any meaningful research experience. It's roughly 1-2 weeks of fulltime work.

 

[sparkmm]

By one school year, you mean roughly 8-9 months? I'm not upsetting you or anything, but 70 hours seem short to be any meaningful research experience. It's roughly 1-2 weeks of fulltime work.

It wasn't meaningful by any means, don't worry, you aren't upsetting me. The research was in its infancy and had no direct goals at the time. This is an issue I addressed in my application.

 

[Lawpy]

It wasn't meaningful by any means, don't worry, you aren't upsetting me. The research was in its infancy and had no direct goals at the time. This is an issue I addressed in my application.

Ah then you should be fine. Focus on the school suggestions provided by @WedgeDawg and aim to also apply to few more DO schools. You should be successful this cycle then, especially considering the DO cycle is a lot longer

 

[sparkmm]

Ah then you should be fine. Focus on the school suggestions provided by @WedgeDawg and aim to also apply to few more DO schools. You should be successful this cycle then, especially considering the DO cycle is a lot longer

Thanks very much!

 

[sparkmm]

Was sent an interview offer for WVU today. I submitted their secondary 2 days ago, so I'm not sure why the turnaround was so crazy fast. Not complaining. Super stoked!

 

[GrapesofRath]

Okay, lets go through your application and list.

1. According to Table 24, you have around a 48% chance of being accepted to a medical school based on your stats alone (3.5/31).

2. Your ECs are alright, but nothing really stands out.

Drexel - low yield school, but fits your stats and in-state, can't really count on an interview though
Temple - same as Drexel
Penn State - same as Drexel
Commonwealth - same as Drexel
WVU - you're OOS here, but fits your stats, still can't really count on an interview
UPenn - you are absolutely not competitive for Penn in any way
Pitt - you are not competitive for Pitt (though to a less extent - barely - than Penn)
UNC - UNC takes OOS students in the single digits, don't count on an interview here
Duke - very unlikely to be competitive for Duke
Maryland - not very OOS friendly, don't count on an interview
Hopkins - same as Penn
Rutgers - you don't have the stats to make me confident about your chances as an OOS applicant here
SUNY Stonybrook - could go either way, but they get a lot of apps so I wouldn't count on an interview
Georgetown - same as Drexel
Jefferson - same as Drexel
Case Western - you're probably not competitive here, but it's a better shot than Duke or Pitt
LECOM - you're competitive here
PCOM - you're competitive here

You will likely not be getting too many MD interviews here based on what you've told me. Your best bets are Drexel, Temple, Penn State, Commonwealth, and Jefferson, but all of them get so many applicants that yours could easily be lost in the middle. I wouldn't hold your breath for Penn, Pitt, Duke, UNC, Hopkins, and Case at all. WVU, Maryland, Rutgers, Stony Brook, and Georgetown are probably not going to be great bets, though you never know.

In your shoes, I would probably apply to a few more DO schools just to be safe. An MD acceptance is not a sure bet, particularly since you've finished secondaries pretty late.

Second this. There are tons of schools that are essentially a waste of an application fee like Duke, JHU, Penn, UNC and Pitt. Also you listed Rutgers as a top choice without realizing that they take maybe 2% of their class OOS.

PA is funny in that there is no official state school but there are a number of schools that show IS Bias and hence make it a very solid state to be a resident of

Your odds will clearly be best at WVU, Penn State, TCMC, Drexel, Temple and Jefferson.

Penn State, Drexel, Temple and Jefferson send an II to about 25-30% of PA residents depending on year. For comparison, lower tier OOS schools usually send about 3-5% of applicants II's. So your odds are BY FAR best here. These low yield schools like Drexel and Temple aren't low as a PA resident at all.

TCMC is where your odds will be best. 40% of IS applicants get II's and frankly that's a high number even by state school standards.

WVU gives a II to 20% or so of OOS applicants. But WVU looks for specific things in OOS applicants and one of them is regional proximity. You have that and hence your odds might even be a bit more favorable from that.

So I do think it is possible to maybe end up with a few II's this cycle as all those schools I listed give a fair number of II's to PA residents. That said, you really only have 7 realistic schools on your list. For a 3.5/3.4 31 applicant that's not alot. But let's see what happens. Given your primary is in it might be worthwhile to add more schools. I think specifically this is where your odds might be best at OOS.
NYMC
Albany
Quinnipac
Oakland
Western Michigan
Medical College Wisconsin
Rosalind Franklin
GW
Wake Forest
VCU
Eastern Virginia
Tulane

Maybe also consider Rush, Loyola, Creighton and Saint Louis.

There alot of low yield schools in this list, and your odds will definitely be better with those PA schools but I think given you are the definition of a borderline 50/50 type applicant adding these schools might make a difference. Even if you get 1 II out of these 14 schools, it'll be completely worth it. IF money is tight and you want to focus on a few, NYMC, Albany, Quinnipac, Oakland, Tulane and Wake Forest is where I would focus my time on.