MD 36 MCAT, 3.49 Undergrad / 3.92 M.S. GPA - Advice?

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Australopithekus

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You should be fine anywhere around the mid-low tier for schools, keep in mind that even at the schools with 3.7-3.8 avg gpa's, that is the average, not minimum. Your lower sgpa will make it more difficult, but I don't think your sgpa is going to kill your chances everywhere when you have already done better in your MS studies, and put forward a very solid MCAT score. I would do a bit more shadowing if I were you, but otherwise I suspect with a good school list that you should be able to get multiple interviews.
 
Definitely try:
All MI schools
All new MD schools
Any low-tier MD school
Any DO program



Thanks for looking.

I recently completed my M.S. degree at the University of Michigan with a solid GPA. Unfortunately, my undergraduate cGPA was a bit lower - approximately 3.5, and my undergraduate sGPA was around a 3.3 because I chose to work a lot rather than study. Sigh...

I just received a fairly balanced 36 on my MCAT. I also have one first-author publication, a second in submission, and numerous abstracts and posters at national and international conferences. I have about 150 clinical volunteering hours as an EKG technician, and I have done little physician shadowing.

I'm a Michigan resident and plan to apply to my state schools, a number of mid-tier schools, and maybe a few hopeful schools as well. Can anyone with some expertise give thoughts on my chances or point me toward programs that might be somewhat more forgiving of the low undergrad sGPA? Of course, baseless conjecture is welcomed as well! :)

Thanks for any help!
 
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I recalculated my science GPA- I was slightly off:
Cumulative Undergrad = 3.5
Science Undergrad = 3.4
Graduate School (MS, with some alternate PhD classwork... long story)= 3.92
MCAT = 36
Michigan resident
Strong research background, published 1st author, hopefully another very soon.
Strong volunteer background with high patient contact
Strong leadership (RA for 2 years, others)

Hushcom informed me in his AMA thread that he would "[rate me] quite strongly." I'm only planning to apply to MD programs as I want to maintain a strong translational research focus throughout my career, and funding for DO-led research is especially poor right now.

Would this look like a reasonable (and perhaps a bit hopeful) school list? Are there any others you would recommend? I suspect I have a reasonable chance at each of my less-competitive in-state schools, so I don't think it makes a lot of sense to apply to many OOS safety schools- I wouldn't go OOS unless the program was significantly stronger. So, I focused primarily high- and mid-tier OOS programs.

Reach: University of Michigan, Dartmouth, Mayo, Brown, Duke, Baylor, Northwestern, Vanderbilt, Georgetown, Case Western
Mid: Tufts, NYU, Einstein, Boston, Wake, Toledo, MC Wisconson, Wayne, Oakland, Western Michigan
Safety: Loyola, Drexel, NYMC, GWU, MSU

Thanks again!
 
I recalculated my science GPA- I was slightly off:
Cumulative Undergrad = 3.5
Science Undergrad = 3.4
Graduate School (MS, with some alternate PhD classwork... long story)= 3.92
MCAT = 36
Michigan resident
Strong research background, published 1st author, hopefully another very soon.
Strong volunteer background with high patient contact
Strong leadership (RA for 2 years, others)

Hushcom informed me in his AMA thread that he would "[rate me] quite strongly." I'm only planning to apply to MD programs as I want to maintain a strong translational research focus throughout my career, and funding for DO-led research is especially poor right now.

Would this look like a reasonable (and perhaps a bit hopeful) school list? Are there any others you would recommend? I suspect I have a reasonable chance at each of my less-competitive in-state schools, so I don't think it makes a lot of sense to apply to many OOS safety schools- I wouldn't go OOS unless the program was significantly stronger. So, I focused primarily high- and mid-tier OOS programs.

Reach: University of Michigan, Dartmouth, Mayo, Brown, Duke, Baylor, Northwestern, Vanderbilt, Georgetown, Case Western
Mid: Tufts, NYU, Einstein, Boston, Wake, Toledo, MC Wisconson, Wayne, Oakland, Western Michigan
Safety: Loyola, Drexel, NYMC, GWU, MSU

Thanks again!
I would add University of Cincinnati, OSU and CMU.
 
I meant to add CMU. Thanks!

EDIT: I removed it again. I'm hoping to supplement my career with translational research and work with close ties to a university. I just don't think my goals fit the CMU mission.
 
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Here is a revised school list. I felt the previous list was a bit top-heavy. I would really appreciate any additional comments or advice.

Again, undergrad GPA = 3.5, sGPA = 3.4.
M.S. Physiology GPA = 3.92
MCAT = 36
1
first-author publication
Good leadership experiences

Albany Medical College
Albert Einstein College of Medicine
Boston University School of Medicine
Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine
Columbia (big maybe... but perhaps another "reach" school here.)
Drexel University College of Medicine
Duke University School of Medicine
Georgetown University School of Medicine
Loyola University Chicago Stritch
Michigan State University
New York Medical College
Oakland University William Beaumont School of Medicine
Penn State
Rosalind Franklin
Rush Medical College
Temple University School of Medicine
The Ohio State Univ. Coll. of Med.
The University of Toledo College of Medicine
Tufts University School of Medicine
Tulane University School of Medicine
University of Michigan Medical School
Vanderbilt University School of Medicine
Wayne State University School of Medicine
Western Michigan University School of Medicine

Thanks!
 
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