Need safety/core schools. Any help would be appreciated though.

[3rdarmageddon]

I'm applying this June and so far most of the schools I've found are core/reach schools. I need to find some schools that are safer to apply to. I'm currently planning on becoming a surgeon if that helps at all.

My stats are:

Major: BS in Biology - neuroscience track
GPA: 3.83
MCAT cumulative: 36
VR: 10
PS: 12
BS: 14

Research Experience:
-110 recorded hours since November 2011 at the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute with additional undocumented hours since september 2011.
-Acknowledgement in a paper published in cancer research

Shadowing Experience:
-125 hrs with a gastroenterologist, plastic surgeon, colorectal surgeon, general practitioner, and a naturopath (80 hrs of this is considered medical volunteer work)

Other volunteer work:
-Served as a violinist/dancer in cultural festivals for a cultural group: 2005 - present
-Taught English in China: 1 month in 2008
-Served as Hawaii's youth delegate to an international conference on education: 2 weeks in 2005

Work Experience:
-Fencing Official: December 2011 - present
-Carpenter: 2005-2008

Leadership Experience:
-Vice president of my school's fencing club: 2010 - present

Hobbies:
-fencing: 2007 - present
-violin: 2000-present

Any suggestions for schools to apply to would be appreciated.

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[nadaba]

Do you have a current list of the schools you're interested in? What are your geographical restrictions? Are you a Hawaii resident?

 

[3rdarmageddon]

I am a hawaii resident, and while warmer climates are preferred, I care far more about the quality of the school. I also prefer more rural schools than schools at the hearts of cities.

My current list includes:

Columbia
Duke
Emory
Harvard
Johns Hopkins
Stanford
Tufts
UCSF - 1st choice
University of Chicago
University of Hawaii
Chapel Hill
University of Pittsburgh - near where I go to school
Vanderbilt
Boston University

However many schools are likely to be cut and others added.

 

[nadaba]

You're right, I think it would be best to add a few more schools to your list (almost all of your schools are top 20). Also, quite a few of those schools are in very urban areas if that matters (Columbia, Hopkins, Harvard, UCSF, Chicago, etc.)

Maybe think about: Saint Louis University, VCU, Stony Brook, Medical College of Wisconsin, Jefferson, Wake Forest, Temple, USC, Ohio State, Dartmouth (if rural is your thing).

If I could go back to last year and revise my school list, I would have thought a lot more about location. I really recommend doing some in-depth research on your schools to see if they're actually places you want to be for four years. Good luck!

 

[Mazdave]

Virginia is not a safety, but it's in a smaller town as opposed to a big city. Mayo is also definitely not a safety but maybe you would want to exchange it for one of your reaches that's in a big city. Penn State sounds like it would be a good addition to your list (more rural, lower stats). Also, I think UNC mainly takes NC residents only.

 

[3rdarmageddon]

Thanks guys, I appreciate all the help.

 

[Joe the Plumber]

I'm applying this June and so far most of the schools I've found are core/reach schools. I need to find some schools that are safer to apply to. I'm currently planning on becoming a surgeon if that helps at all.

My stats are:

Major: BS in Biology - neuroscience track
GPA: 3.83
MCAT cumulative: 36
VR: 10
PS: 12
BS: 14

Research Experience:
-110 recorded hours since November 2011 at the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute with additional undocumented hours since september 2011.
-Acknowledgement in a paper published in cancer research

Shadowing Experience:
-125 hrs with a gastroenterologist, plastic surgeon, colorectal surgeon, general practitioner, and a naturopath (80 hrs of this is considered medical volunteer work)

Other volunteer work:
-Served as a violinist/dancer in cultural festivals for a cultural group: 2005 - present
-Taught English in China: 1 month in 2008
-Served as Hawaii's youth delegate to an international conference on education: 2 weeks in 2005

Work Experience:
-Fencing Official: December 2011 - present
-Carpenter: 2005-2008

Leadership Experience:
-Vice president of my school's fencing club: 2010 - present

Hobbies:
-fencing: 2007 - present
-violin: 2000-present

Any suggestions for schools to apply to would be appreciated.

I'd leave this out.

 

[3rdarmageddon]

Would admissions committees really consider being widely exposed to medicine a bad thing? Sure the philosophies conflict, but having worked with a naturopath and applying for an MD program should show that I've tested and affirmed my desire to go into allopathic medicine.

 

[Mazdave]

Would admissions committees really consider being widely exposed to medicine a bad thing? Sure the philosophies conflict, but having worked with a naturopath and applying for an MD program should show that I've tested and affirmed my desire to go into allopathic medicine.

I would personally leave it out, especially if it's not a significant percentage of your shadowing hours (I'm not an adcom -- this is just my opinion). If it were a PA or NP or something like that and you could discuss why you picked MD over those that would be one thing, but I think quite a few doctors have pretty negative views of NDs and don't really consider them physicians (which in most states they actually aren't). Probably at worst you get an interview question about it, but at best it doesn't really add anything to your application and I don't think I would really want to say anything in an application read by medical school faculty that equated an ND with an MD or DO.

 

[Joe the Plumber]

Would admissions committees really consider being widely exposed to medicine a bad thing? Sure the philosophies conflict, but having worked with a naturopath and applying for an MD program should show that I've tested and affirmed my desire to go into allopathic medicine.

That's the point. You could shadow 17 different naturopaths for 4,000 hours each, and your exposure to the field of medicine would not have increased one bit.