School List Help / WAMC

[Kryptic123321]

1. 3.9 sGPA, 3.87 cGPA (College cGPA is 3.98, and sGPA is 3.99, high school credits brought both down significantly)
2. 511 (C/P: 130 CARS: 123 B/B: 130 PS: 128)
3. Indiana
4. White Male
5. Senior at Indiana University (taking a gap year), majoring in Medical Humanities, Biology, and Neuroscience
6. Clinical experience (volunteer and non-volunteer) (4,000 paid, 30 unpaid)
   1. 4,000 hours as a patient care technician between medical PCU/Cardiac ICU at a trauma 1 center, ensuring quality of life in their care directly with a very large population of underserved individuals in the downtown area.
   2. 30 hours volunteering at a free clinic
7. Research experience and productivity (1,400):
   1. 400 hours in an orthopedics lab, was given a grant to work under, 1 poster presentation
   2. 1,000 hours in a neuropathic pain/neurotrauma lab, with 3 publications upon applying (2 mid-authorship, 1 high-authorship), and at least 1 poster presentation
8. Shadowing experience and specialties represented (129 hours)
   1. 50 hours shadowing Internal medicine
   2. 26 hours shadowing cardiothoracic surgery
   3. 12 hours shadowing critical pulmonology
   4. 24 hours shadowing neurosurgery
   5. 8 hours shadowing gynecological surgery
   6. 9 hours shadowing lung/cardiac transplant surgeon
9. Non-clinical volunteering
   1. 70 hours as a volunteer chemistry tutor, spending additional time with chemistry students
   2. 100 hours as a volunteer with Big Brother Big Sister, where I spend time with my Little as a mentor/friend, giving them someone to spend time with
   3. 80 hours as a volunteer with HOPE mentoring, where I go to a local juvenile center and work with incarcerated children
10. Other extracurricular activities (including athletics, military service, gap year activities, leadership, teaching, etc)
    1. 1000 hours as a recitation leader for general chemistry 1 and organic chemistry 1
    2. 250 hours as a TA for organic chemistry 2
    3. 500 hours as a chemistry department coordinator, where I spend time hiring new teacher assistants, and ensuring that they are being trained properly and are comfortable in their position (has been a very meaningful leadership experience)
    4. 120 hours as a VP of service learning for a student led organization on campus
    5. 40 hours of intramural football/soccer
    6. Have been working out roughly 3 days a week since high school
11. Relevant honors or awards
    1. Top 100 student at my university as a junior (hopefully also as a senior)
    2. Civic engagement award
12. Anything else not listed you think might be important
    1. LORs will all be very strong.
    2. Currently learning Spanish, hoping to be a fluent speaker by next April/May.

School List (Still in it's early stages):

1. Indiana University
2. Michigan Ann Arbor
3. Michigan State University (MD)
4. Cincinnati
5. University of Missouri
6. University of Minnesota
7. Dartmouth
8. SUNY
9. University of Nebraska
10. University of Illinois
11. Virginia Commonwealth
12. Virginia Tech
13. Thomas Jefferson University
14. Drexel
15. University of Connecticut
16. University of Iowa
17. Saint Louis University
18. University of Tennessee
19. Vanderbilt
20. Duke
21. University of Maryland
22. Wake Forest
23. University of Colorado
24. Rutgers
25. Rowan University (MD)
26. Emory
27. Jacobs Buffalo
28. Loyola
29. Penn State
30. Tufts

I am aiming for a majority of my schools to be somewhat reasonable, with only a few far reaches (Duke, Vanderbilt, Ann Arbor, Emory, Dartmouth). If anyone has anything else that they would recommend for my gap year starting in May please let me know. Any recommendations to the school list are also appreciated!

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[Mr.Smile12]

First, check all of your OOS public schools, you might not have enough on metrics for a reasonable shot.

Second, mission fit. You obviously like working with children and youth, but there not enough to tell me how you are a mission fit with the remaining schools on your list. I can see with Indiana being in-state but every medical school will give you opportunities to work with kids in similar ways. That's great in one perspective but not so great in that you might not be able to argue a strong fit.

You may want to look at more Chicago schools like RFUMS, Rush, and Loyola though you will need a lot more nonclinical community service for Rush and Loyola. There are also other Northeast schools that might be better fits than your reaches.

 

[Kryptic123321]

First, check all of your OOS public schools, you might not have enough on metrics for a reasonable shot.

Second, mission fit. You obviously like working with children and youth, but there not enough to tell me how you are a mission fit with the remaining schools on your list. I can see with Indiana being in-state but every medical school will give you opportunities to work with kids in similar ways. That's great in one perspective but not so great in that you might not be able to argue a strong fit.

You may want to look at more Chicago schools like RFUMS, Rush, and Loyola though you will need a lot more nonclinical community service for Rush and Loyola. There are also other Northeast schools that might be better fits than your reaches.

Hey @Mr.Smile12,

Firstly thank you for your reply! I appreciate you taking the time to read what I have. I do have a couple questions:

In terms of your comment about having enough metrics, what was it that you meant by that? I attempted to pick many schools with an average MCAT around 512-514 in hopes of being close to their average, with some being lower and others being higher.

In terms of mission fit, I have not spent a great deal of time looking at that aspect yet, but I appreciate your insight into the importance of that. That is something that I will add next Spring as I finalize my application.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

In terms of your comment about having enough metrics, what was it that you meant by that? I attempted to pick many schools with an average MCAT around 512-514 in hopes of being close to their average, with some being lower and others being higher.

You need to look at the OOS acceptance stats for the public schools on your list outside of Indiana. Usually your metrics need to be higher than the average since fewer seats are available to OOS applicants. How many people from your state has each of those schools matriculated in the last few cycles?

 

[Faha]

You have many state public schools on your list that admit few non residents with a MCAT of 511 and no connection to the state.
I suggest these schools:
Indiana
Oakland Beaumont
Wayne State
Western Michigan
Medical College Wisconsin
Rosalind Franklin
Loyola
St. Louis
Creighton
TCU
Tulane
NOVA MD
Wake Forest
Virginia Commonwealth
Eastern Virginia
George Washington
Georgetown
Drexel
Temple
Jefferson
Penn State
Hackensack
New York Medical College
Albany
Vermont
Quinnipiac