My List too top-heavy for my stats?

[lawler4]

I have a 4.00 GPA from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (resident of Illinois) and a 35R MCAT (15Bio, 9VR, 11PS). I'm just looking for some tips/feedback for my list. I feel like it might be a bit top-heavy. Also, will having an imbalanced MCAT like that hurt me?

Also, my ECs are:

• Research for one year w/ poster presentation, symposium presentation, awards
• Clinical volunteering one year
• Tutoring
• PBK Junior Initiate
• Academic Scholarships
• Started undergraduate research group
• etc.

Anyway, here's my list in no particular order:

• UCSF
• UMich
• UIowa
• Wisconsin-Madison
• Harvard
• Hopkins
• Indiana
• Northwestern
• Darmouth
• Columbia
• UChicago Pritzker
• Vanderbilt
• Baylor
• Cornell
• Stanford
• Yale
• NYU
• Rush
• UIC
• Loyola
• Rosalind Franklin

Any feedback at all would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

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[MedPR]

No shadowing?

 

[lawler4]

No long-term shadowing of a single doctor, but the Hospital I volunteer at has me around doctors all the time, and I do help them.

 

[572776]

I would throw in more state schools

 

[Davidasaurus]

I would throw in more state schools

He has them all, with the exception of SIU, but they tend to favor residents in the nearby vicinity. Regardless, with his numbers he shouldn't have any problems snagging an acceptance from at least UIC/Loyala/Rush/Rosalind. UChicago/Northwestern are always a crapshoot regardless of stats.

Your list outside of Illinois schools is comprised mainly by schools that most people consider "reach" schools, but with your stats I don't blame you. It surely wouldn't hurt to add some more mid-tier schools if you're worried about the competitiveness of this cycle. I'd be surprised if you didn't get any love from the schools you've listed thus far though.

Your MCAT score is fine, I wouldn't worry too much about the 9 VR seeing as how your collective score is superb and a 9 isn't even all that bad anyways with how competitive the curve is for that section.

 

[Lomew22]

Your list outside of Illinois schools is comprised mainly by schools that most people consider "reach" schools, but with your stats I don't blame you. It surely wouldn't hurt to add some more mid-tier schools if you're worried about the competitiveness of this cycle. I'd be surprised if you didn't get any love from the schools you've listed thus far though

 

[jsmith1]

I was recently told by and adcom that schools often take the undergrad major into consideration when gpa's are above 3.9... Did you major in bio/chem, pysch, or basket weaving?

 

[Davidasaurus]

Your list outside of Illinois schools is comprised mainly by schools that most people consider "reach" schools, but with your stats I don't blame you. It surely wouldn't hurt to add some more mid-tier schools if you're worried about the competitiveness of this cycle. I'd be surprised if you didn't get any love from the schools you've listed thus far though

Thanks for copying and pasting my response, lol...

I was recently told by and adcom that schools often take the undergrad major into consideration when gpa's are above 3.9... Did you major in bio/chem, pysch, or basket weaving?

Regardless of his major, his GPA is flawless, and if it's a 4.0 including all the pre-reqs required for the school(s) he's applying to, he should be fine.

 

[lawler4]

Thank so much for the help guys.

He has them all, with the exception of SIU, but they tend to favor residents in the nearby vicinity. Regardless, with his numbers he shouldn't have any problems snagging an acceptance from at least UIC/Loyala/Rush/Rosalind. UChicago/Northwestern are always a crapshoot regardless of stats.

Your list outside of Illinois schools is comprised mainly by schools that most people consider "reach" schools, but with your stats I don't blame you. It surely wouldn't hurt to add some more mid-tier schools if you're worried about the competitiveness of this cycle. I'd be surprised if you didn't get any love from the schools you've listed thus far though.

Your MCAT score is fine, I wouldn't worry too much about the 9 VR seeing as how your collective score is superb and a 9 isn't even all that bad anyways with how competitive the curve is for that section.

Yeah I didn't put SIU on there because from what I've heard, it's impossible to get in there unless you're from southern Illinois. I'll definitely be adding some more mid-tiers though and taking out a few of the reaches that I think I have less a chance at. I'm currently in the process of just assembling a list of mid-tier schools that seem to be more OK with OOS applicants.

I was recently told by and adcom that schools often take the undergrad major into consideration when gpa's are above 3.9... Did you major in bio/chem, pysch, or basket weaving?

I majored in Molecular Biology with a minor in Chemistry.

 

[lawler4]

Alright, so i took out

• Baylor
• Cornell

and added

• Duke
• Wake Forest
• Temple
• Case Western
• U of Virginia
• St. Louis U

I'm hoping this is a little bit more broad. I may still need to take out a few reaches, but I'm have a tough time deciding which ones.

 

[lawler4]

Ok so here's my finalized list. I'd greatly appreciate if get some advice on if this is broad enough for my stats, too many reaches, not enough safeties, etc. before I commit to this list.

Reach Schools

• U of Chicago
• Northwestern
• Yale
• Johns Hopkins
• Harvard
• Columbia
• Duke
• Stanford
• U of Michigan

About even with my numbers Schools

• NYU
• Vanderbilt
• U of Virginia
• Dartmouth
• Boston University
• Iowa
• St. Louis U
• Rochester

Safety Schools

• Rosalind Franklin
• Loyola
• Rush
• U of Illinois
• Wake Forest
• Temple
• Indiana U
• U of Wisconsin

Thanks!

 

[linebacker57]

Why not WUSTL? they love midwestern kids

 

[lawler4]

Why not WUSTL? they love midwestern kids

Didn't even think I'd have a chance really. Plus they require shadowing hours. I just have clinical volunteering hours. I'll be shadowing soon, but I would imagine they require shadowing hours before I even apply.