bleh GPA, good MCAT, D1 athlete, 3 clinical gap years

[eaddie27]

Hi All- I'm looking to get some external reviews of my chances, planning to apply this summer, and I'm currently trying to narrow down a school list.

I went to a competitive private undergrad school where I played D1 basketball for 4 years. My first two years were tough to juggle bball, courses, and endless rehab hours from some nasty injuries. I ended with a strong upward trend in grades, but my cGPA was 3.38

After graduating, I began working full time as a Medical Assistant- I now have around 3000 hours of clinical patient care experience, and plan to work there for the next year. I also took 4 postbac science courses and got a 4.0, bring me to cGPA: 3.46, sGPA: 3.28

I took the MCAT this January for the first time and scored 520 (129/132/129/130).

Most of my time in college revolved around bball, but I do have ECs and volunteering during the year (student athlete advisory council, organizing charity drives, etc). I also made the most of my summers to get 100+ hours of clinical and surgical shadowing, plus a 10-week full time biomedical research internship where my work was published. Additionally, during the next year I plan to volunteer with a local outreach basketball organization.

Thanks for any feedback you have to offer!

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[eaddie27]

Any thoughts on "tiers" of schools that would be a good fit? Thank you in advance!

 

[Faha]

Where is your state of residence? Do you have any schools you are interested in attending?

 

[eaddie27]

Where is your state of residence? Do you have any schools you are interested in attending?

Hi Faha- I am an IA resident, and would be happy to attend U of Iowa or DMU. I am interested in quite a few schools both back home in the Midwest (Creighton, U of Minnesota, Mayo, Rush, Case Western) and out East where I went to school (Boston U, Quinnipiac, Tufts). Because my GPA and my MCAT seem to fit best at different "tiers" of schools, I'm getting stuck trying to narrow down my list

 

[Faha]

You have an excellent MCAT but your GPA is somewhat low so you will need to apply broadly to at least 20 schools. In addition to Iowa (where your best chances are) consider all of these schools:
Creighton
St. Louis
Rosalind Franklin
Loyola
Rush
Medical College Wisconsin
Indiana
Oakland Beaumont
Western Michigan
Tulane
Vermont
Quinnipiac
NYMC
Rochester
Drexel
Temple
Jefferson
Penn State
GW
Georgetown
Cincinnati
Miami

 

[Goro]

With the upward trend and the 520 MCAT (nothing to sneeze at), I also suggest considering Keck, Hofstra, Emory, Dartmouth, Albany, Western MI, BU, Wake, VCU and EVMS. Also, some DO schools. Start with DMU, CCOM and MUCOM.

You have an excellent MCAT but your GPA is somewhat low so you will need to apply broadly to at least 20 schools. In addition to Iowa (where your best chances are) consider all of these schools:
Creighton
St. Louis
Rosalind Franklin
Loyola
Rush
Medical College Wisconsin
Indiana
Oakland Beaumont
Western Michigan
Tulane
Vermont
Quinnipiac
NYMC
Rochester
Drexel
Temple
Jefferson
Penn State
GW
Georgetown
Cincinnati
Miami

 

[eaddie27]

You have an excellent MCAT but your GPA is somewhat low so you will need to apply broadly to at least 20 schools. In addition to Iowa (where your best chances are) consider all of these schools:
Creighton
St. Louis
Rosalind Franklin
Loyola
Rush
Medical College Wisconsin
Indiana
Oakland Beaumont
Western Michigan
Tulane
Vermont
Quinnipiac
NYMC
Rochester
Drexel
Temple
Jefferson
Penn State
GW
Georgetown
Cincinnati
Miami

Thank you for the feedback. I would certainly be happy to go to Iowa, and get the in-state tuition (and low cost of living in the Midwest). My advisor recommended applying to anywhere from 25-30 schools, so I just want to make sure that my "application investments" are smart ones

 

[eaddie27]

With the upward trend and the 520 MCAT (nothing to sneeze at), I also suggest considering Keck, Hofstra, Emory, Dartmouth, Albany, Western MI, BU, Wake, VCU and EVMS. Also, some DO schools. Start with DMU, CCOM and MUCOM.

Thank you for the additions. I have some of those on my list, and I'll take a good look at the others on the MSAR. I am planning to add in 3-5 DO applications as well- definitely DMU, still have to look at the others. My main concern is how much the disparity between GPA and MCAT will affect me (not that I'm unhappy about the MCAT!).

 

[LabTech12]

I had very similar stats, low GPA/high MCAT with an upward trend, took some post-bacc classes and have 4 years of clinical work. Also a D1 athlete I was successful at "low-yield" schools and some higher-tier schools. I think with this stat distribution you should pick some schools from each tier where you fit their mission and would be happy attending. I looked for schools with an above average MCAT and a wide GPA range, but of note I will be matriculating to and was accepted to a couple schools where I was below the 10th percentile for both cGPA and sGPA. I applied to 27 MD, got 10 II, and 3 DO apps with 3DO acceptances.

 

[eaddie27]

I had very similar stats, low GPA/high MCAT with an upward trend, took some post-bacc classes and have 4 years of clinical work. Also a D1 athlete I was successful at "low-yield" schools and some higher-tier schools. I think with this stat distribution you should pick some schools from each tier where you fit their mission and would be happy attending. I looked for schools with an above average MCAT and a wide GPA range, but of note I will be matriculating to and was accepted to a couple schools where I was below the 10th percentile for both cGPA and sGPA. I applied to 27 MD, got 10 II, and 3 DO apps with 3DO acceptances.

Good to know, that's reassuring Congrats on the acceptances! If you don't mind me asking, what did you consider your "low yield" schools? Also, out of curiosity, did you find your experience in athletics to be mostly beneficial, detrimental, or not a factor during your application and interview process?

 

[LabTech12]

Schools that get >10K applications. Georgetown, George Washington, Rosalind Franklin, Albany, NYMC, Temple etc. people tend to consider low-yield, because even though they might have a wider stat range, they get a crazy amount of applications for the seats they have.

I found my background in athletics to be super helpful! There are many common interview questions that I was easily able to answer with athletic examples, coupled with how that skill has then helped me in my clinical experiences.

Good to know, that's reassuring Congrats on the acceptances! If you don't mind me asking, what did you consider your "low yield" schools? Also, out of curiosity, did you find your experience in athletics to be mostly beneficial, detrimental, or not a factor during your application and interview process?

 

[eaddie27]

Schools that get >10K applications. Georgetown, George Washington, Rosalind Franklin, Albany, NYMC, Temple etc. people tend to consider low-yield, because even though they might have a wider stat range, they get a crazy amount of applications for the seats they have.

I found my background in athletics to be super helpful! There are many common interview questions that I was easily able to answer with athletic examples, coupled with how that skill has then helped me in my clinical experiences.

Thanks for the info! I've gotten mixed reviews on whether college athletics participation is an advantage for an application. Although it was tough to balance with being premed during my first few semesters, I found it definitely made me a better student and much more efficient with my study time by my upperclass years. Nice to know it was helpful for you during interviews!

 

[Gurby]

I think people are being way too conservative with their suggestions...

You have mediocre cGPA but a 4.0 post-bac GPA and 520 MCAT... A research publication, 3000+ patient care hours, some amount of volunteering already. Oh and you also played a D1 sport.

I agree with LabTech12 about applying to a handful of schools in each "tier". I wouldn't be surprised at all if you got into Harvard, but on the other hand I don't think it would be surprising if you got shut out of the top 20. It's hard to judge an application like this and I bet a lot comes down to luck and whether your app reviewer appreciates what it means to play a D1 NCAA sport. I would apply to 8 of the top 20, 8 schools in the 20-50 range, and 8 schools in the 50-unranked range that you identify with in some way (mission, location, etc).

 

[eaddie27]

I think people are being way too conservative with their suggestions...

You have mediocre cGPA but a 4.0 post-bac GPA and 520 MCAT... A research publication, 3000+ patient care hours, some amount of volunteering already. Oh and you also played a D1 sport.

I agree with LabTech12 about applying to a handful of schools in each "tier". I wouldn't be surprised at all if you got into Harvard, but on the other hand I don't think it would be surprising if you got shut out of the top 20. It's hard to judge an application like this and I bet a lot comes down to luck and whether your app reviewer appreciates what it means to play a D1 NCAA sport. I would apply to 8 of the top 20, 8 schools in the 20-50 range, and 8 schools in the 50-unranked range that you identify with in some way (mission, location, etc).

I appreciate the eval. That's what I'm having trouble with, is determining which schools are reaches vs good chances with my stats. I'm hoping that my application lands more on the end of being appealing to a wide range of schools, versus "falling through the cracks" between the tiers...

 

[eaddie27]

Hi All- I made an initial round of cuts and have a somewhat narrowed down list (apologies for the length)- any feedback on recommended cuts or good additions I didn't include? I'll probably apply to between 25-30. Thanks!

Albany
Boston University
Case Western
Rosalind Franklin
Columbia
Creighton
Drexel
Duke
Quinnipiac
Dartmouth
Georgetown
Harvard
Hofstra
Johns Hopkins
Temple
Loyola Chicago
Mayo
Wisconsin
NY Medical College
Feinberg
Ohio State
Pennsylvania State
Perelman
Rush
Thomas Jefferson
Brown
Tufts
Pritzker
Cincinnatti
Iowa
Michigan
Minnesota
Pittsburgh
Rochester
Vermont
Wisconsin
Vanderbilt
Wake Forest
Wash U
Weill
Yale

 

[LabTech12]

Hi All- I made an initial round of cuts and have a somewhat narrowed down list (apologies for the length)- any feedback on recommended cuts or good additions I didn't include? I'll probably apply to between 25-30. Thanks!

Albany
Boston University
Case Western
Rosalind Franklin
Columbia
Creighton
Drexel
Duke
Quinnipiac
Dartmouth
Georgetown
Harvard
Hofstra
Johns Hopkins
Temple
Loyola Chicago
Mayo
Wisconsin
NY Medical College
Feinberg
Ohio State
Pennsylvania State
Perelman
Rush
Thomas Jefferson
Brown
Tufts
Pritzker
Cincinnatti
Iowa
Michigan
Minnesota
Pittsburgh
Rochester
Vermont
Wisconsin
Vanderbilt
Wake Forest
Wash U
Weill
Yale

Wisconsin and Minnesota do not accept a lot of out of state students, I would delete them.

I would pick only 10 from this list of the top 20: Yale, Vanderbilt, Wash U, Pritzker, Perelman, Feinberg, Harvard, Columbia, Duke, Weill, Michigan, Pittsburgh, Johns Hopkins, Mayo.

Wisconsin is on your list twice, but I do not see Medical College of Wisconsin. I would add switch that.

From this list I would cut it down to 7 maybe: Albany, BU, RFU, GT, QU, NYMC, Drexel, Temple, Penn State, TJ, Tufts, Wake.

I think that gets you to 30

 

[Chromium Surfer]

@Willy38 was an athlete with a sky high MCAT as well. He might be able to chime in! Either way good luck OP, I think you will have a successful cycle!!

 

[eaddie27]

Wisconsin and Minnesota do not accept a lot of out of state students, I would delete them.

I would pick only 10 from this list of the top 20: Yale, Vanderbilt, Wash U, Pritzker, Perelman, Feinberg, Harvard, Columbia, Duke, Weill, Michigan, Pittsburgh, Johns Hopkins, Mayo.

Wisconsin is on your list twice, but I do not see Medical College of Wisconsin. I would add switch that.

From this list I would cut it down to 7 maybe: Albany, BU, RFU, GT, QU, NYMC, Drexel, Temple, Penn State, TJ, Tufts, Wake.

I think that gets you to 30

Whoops, one of those Wisconsins is the medical college- thanks for the feedback!

 

[eaddie27]

@Willy38 was an athlete with a sky high MCAT as well. He might be able to chime in! Either way good luck OP, I think you will have a successful cycle!!

Thank you!

 

[Willy38]

@Willy38 was an athlete with a sky high MCAT as well. He might be able to chime in! Either way good luck OP, I think you will have a successful cycle!!

I think the most recent list looks good. GPA prevents you from just applying to top 20 and calling it a day but I think you have a solid app with good coverage. Definitely take some shots at the top and middle level schools.

As for what to expect on the interview trail, I found people to either be really impressed and enthusiastic or completely disinterested and dismissive. Really depends on each interviewer and each school. Best of luck though! Let me know if you have any specific questions.

 

[eaddie27]

I think the most recent list looks good. GPA prevents you from just applying to top 20 and calling it a day but I think you have a solid app with good coverage. Definitely take some shots at the top and middle level schools.

As for what to expect on the interview trail, I found people to either be really impressed and enthusiastic or completely disinterested and dismissive. Really depends on each interviewer and each school. Best of luck though! Let me know if you have any specific questions.

Thank you! I actually have a question for you regarding the personal statement. I've have gotten advice from some of my advisors to tone down the talk about athletics in my PS, but then they also end their advice with a reminder to make my PS unique because there are so many applicants. That's pretty contradictory info for me- my attraction to medicine did start with an interest in science and helping people (and I'm sure no one writes a PS about those.... ). But it was really my athletic experiences, and experiences with injury, which drew my interest to musculoskeletal medicine (ortho, physiatry, primary care sports med) and in turn shaped a lot of my shadowing, research, and EC experiences. I don't know if it's more detrimental to write a PS with an athletic focus and risk getting an app reviewer who is unfavorable, or writing a more bland PS. Thanks for any input you can give!

 

[Willy38]

Thank you! I actually have a question for you regarding the personal statement. I've have gotten advice from some of my advisors to tone down the talk about athletics in my PS, but then they also end their advice with a reminder to make my PS unique because there are so many applicants. That's pretty contradictory info for me- my attraction to medicine did start with an interest in science and helping people (and I'm sure no one writes a PS about those.... ). But it was really my athletic experiences, and experiences with injury, which drew my interest to musculoskeletal medicine (ortho, physiatry, primary care sports med) and in turn shaped a lot of my shadowing, research, and EC experiences. I don't know if it's more detrimental to write a PS with an athletic focus and risk getting an app reviewer who is unfavorable, or writing a more bland PS. Thanks for any input you can give!

Don't write blandly. The only danger of writing about sports is if you do it to the exclusion of your interest in medicine. Sports are a huge part of who you are. The PS is who you are and why you are interested in medicine. If you can tie those in together like you did above then you are all set. Just be sure the focus is still directed at medicine. Athletic experiences are excellent insofar as they are supporting your explanation for why you want to be a doctor. Sounds like a solid app!!

 

[eaddie27]

Don't write blandly. The only danger of writing about sports is if you do it to the exclusion of your interest in medicine. Sports are a huge part of who you are. The PS is who you are and why you are interested in medicine. If you can tie those in together like you did above then you are all set. Just be sure the focus is still directed at medicine. Athletic experiences are excellent insofar as they are supporting your explanation for why you want to be a doctor. Sounds like a solid app!!

That's what I figured; better to write with some passion and risk alienating a few reviewers, versus writing blandly and boring all of the reviewers... I'm stuck around 35 schools for my app list, so I'll take a break from that to agonize over the PS for a while

 

[eaddie27]

So I'm down to 31 schools, and I might drop anchor here (plus 3-4 DO apps). Any feedback on overall list composition or any that stand out as particularly bad inclusions or exclusions? Thanks all!

1) Boston University
2) Case Western
3) Rosalind Franklin
4) Columbia
5) Creighton
6) Duke
7) Quinnipiac
8) Dartmouth
9) Georgetown
10) Harvard
11) Hofstra
12) Hopkins
13) Temple
14) Chicago Stritch
15) & 16) Mayo (MN and AZ)
17) Medical College of Wisc
18) NY Medical College
19) Ohio State
20) Perelman
21) Rush
22) Brown
23) Tufts
24) Cincinatti
25) Iowa
26) Rochester
27) Vermont
28) Univ of Wisc
29) Vanderbilt
30) Wake Forest
31) Wash U

 

[deev04]

So I'm down to 31 schools, and I might drop anchor here (plus 3-4 DO apps). Any feedback on overall list composition or any that stand out as particularly bad inclusions or exclusions? Thanks all!

1) Boston University
2) Case Western
3) Rosalind Franklin
4) Columbia
5) Creighton
6) Duke
7) Quinnipiac
8) Dartmouth
9) Georgetown
10) Harvard
11) Hofstra
12) Hopkins
13) Temple
14) Chicago Stritch
15) & 16) Mayo (MN and AZ)
17) Medical College of Wisc
18) NY Medical College
19) Ohio State
20) Perelman
21) Rush
22) Brown
23) Tufts
24) Cincinatti
25) Iowa
26) Rochester
27) Vermont
28) Univ of Wisc
29) Vanderbilt
30) Wake Forest
31) Wash U

I would take off Perelman (I haven't heard of them biting on any low GPA) and Brown (very, very low yield unless you went to Brown undergrad/come from postbacc linkage). USC loves high stats and has been more forgiving of low gpa, so I'd add them. If you were going to add back in some Top 20s, Michigan and Pittsburg make sense. Lower 10% GPA than a place like Penn, so probably more likely to be okay with overlooking your GPA.

 

[eaddie27]

I would take off Perelman (I haven't heard of them biting on any low GPA) and Brown (very, very low yield unless you went to Brown undergrad/come from postbacc linkage). USC loves high stats and has been more forgiving of low gpa, so I'd add them. If you were going to add back in some Top 20s, Michigan and Pittsburg make sense. Lower 10% GPA than a place like Penn, so probably more likely to be okay with overlooking your GPA.

Thanks for the input. I kept Brown on the list because my GPA is within their 10-90, but I'll definitely take another look at adding back Michigan or Pittsburgh (I'm trying to stay East Coast/Midwest area if possible). I kept Perelman only because they have some cool Ortho stuff in their curriculum, but I know my GPA is not a good fit there.

 

[deev04]

from the outside looking in they all look similar to me. I have to admit I don't use curriculum as a big factor other than being pas/fail

Thanks for the input. I kept Brown on the list because my GPA is within their 10-90, but I'll definitely take another look at adding back Michigan or Pittsburgh (I'm trying to stay East Coast/Midwest area if possible). I kept Perelman only because they have some cool Ortho stuff in their curriculum, but I know my GPA is not a good fit there.

You could always just apply to all of them and see, but if you were looking to cut down, I'd start with Penn and then Brown. Penn seems to only really take Top MCAT/GPA combos (even more so than Stanford/Harvard) and Brown since they have a BS/MD program (probably brings down their GPA) that takes up a lot of their seats and they have linkage agreements with a few postbacc programs (they also seem to favor their own undergrad in admissions). Since they're a small class, that leaves very few spots.

UPitt and UMich are both Top 20 schools with much more reasonable 10% GPA, which is your limiting factor here.

 

[eaddie27]

Hi All-

Just wanted to drop an early "thank you!" for everyone's help with the list.
So far in the cycle I've gotten 7 MD IIs, 3 DO IIs, and one MD and DO acceptance each.

Needless to say, I'm very happy/grateful/relieved to have such a good start to my app cycle- thanks in no small part to a solid app list. So thanks again for everyone who gave their input!!

 

[Walter Raleigh]

Does his lack of clinical volunteering kill his chances?

 

[Shotapp]

Does his lack of clinical volunteering kill his chances?

Read the post above your post...original poster has been accepted.

 

[eaddie27]

I did actually have some clinical volunteering hours from college, and extensive clinical employment hours.

I honestly expected to get dinged more for my volunteer hours- it may have lost me interviews at some schools, but has not actually come up during an interview.

Since my last "thank you" I've gotten IIs from two of my top schools, Mayo and Duke, and now have 2 MD and 2 DO acceptances, so extra emphasis on the thank you again

 

[eaddie27]

Final cycle update for anyone in the future with similar stats/circumstances.

With my list I ended up getting 9 MD IIs and 3 DO IIs.

From my 2 DO IIs attended I had 2 acceptances.

From my 7 MD IIs attended I had 4 acceptances, 2 waitlists, and 1 rejection.

Overall, I would say that my results from this school list almost exceeded my expectations, and I'm very happy with how my cycle went. Thanks again to those who helped!

 

[deev04]

congrats @eaddie27! Which MD schools offered interviews?

 

[eaddie27]

congrats @eaddie27! Which MD schools offered interviews?

Thanks!

Invites from Case Western, U Iowa, Medical College of Wisconsin, Mayo, U Cincinnati, U Vermont, New York Medical College, Duke, and Rosalind Franklin

 

[thenucleusaccumbens]

Thanks!

Invites from Case Western, U Iowa, Medical College of Wisconsin, Mayo, U Cincinnati, U Vermont, New York Medical College, Duke, and Rosalind Franklin

Awesome, congrats!

 

[eaddie27]

Awesome, congrats!

Thank you!! It's still sinking in, and I'm very grateful to have options. Gearing up for a big decision in April