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Help me narrow my list!


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Guest begaster

GPA ~= 3.83

MCAT = 36S (13P/12V/11B)

 

Lots of research. Fairly strong ECs/volunteer work/actual work.

 

* Harvard

* Hopkins

* Washington Univeristy (St. Louis)

* University of Pennsylvania

* Duke

* Stanford

* Yale

* Columbia University

* Pritzker

* Vanderbilt

* UNC - Chapel Hill

* Emory

* Northwestern - Feinberg

* Case Western Reserve & CCLCM

* Mayo

* Mount Sinai

* Brown University

* Dartmouth

* New York University

* University of Minnesota

* Yeshiva

* Georgetown

* Wake Forest

* Boston University

* University of Maryland

* Indiana University

* Tufts

* Medical College of Wisconsin

* University of Connecticut

* Stony Brook

* Tulane

* University of Vermont

* Albany Medical College

* Jefferson

 

 

So what are my safeties from this list, what are my reaches, and what are right on target? I want to bring it down to about 15-20 schools, preferably Northeastern region. Probably like 8 reaches, 9 targets, 3 safeties? My first choice for a school is a toss-up between Mayo and CCLCM at Case Western.

 

Any help much appreciated.

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*Harvard (Reach)

* Hopkins (Reach)

* Washington Univeristy (St. Louis) (Target)

 

* Duke (Reach)

 

* Yale (Reach)

* Columbia University (Reach)

* Pritzker 69.(Target)

* Vanderbilt (Target)

 

* Northwestern - Feinberg (Target)

* Case Western Reserve & CCLCM (Target)

* Mayo (Reach)

 

 

* Dartmouth (Target)

* New York University (Dunno)

 

* Yeshiva (Target)

 

* Wake Forest (Target)

 

* Tufts (Target)

* Medical College of Wisconsin (Safety)

 

* Stony Brook (Saftey)

 

* University of Vermont (Safety)

* Albany Medical College (Safety)

 

 

 

 

 

That's a good mix of reaches, targets, and safety's. I will assume that you have some EC's that are "clinical" in nature, volunteering in hospitals, working with "patients", shadowing (is good to have, but if you can't then you can't, I know it's not common for cdns to shadow docs, I contacted a ton and I only got one who accepted me, most found it weird) etc. The US schools pretty much require this.

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Hey - if you're EC's are exceptional, your LORs are great, and you interview well, then you have a decent shot at some of the targets and some of the reaches.

 

You'll really need to nail the interview, lors, and EC's though b/c the average applicant at the top 5 schools (and you have a few there like harvard, hopkins, duke, washU, etc) have MCAT scores that are 38, 39. I know, it's insane. A 36 is near the lower end of their MCAT spectrum for the elite schools.

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Actually, besides WashU (which was at 37), the median for the top-10s are all below 36 from what I've seen.

 

Thanks for labeling them, though. Just wondering, why would you consider WashU to be a Target? I figured that would be the biggest reach school for me! :)

 

I'd kill to get into CCLCM or Mayo. Would prefer those above most of the top-10 schools.

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Yeah, I thought WashU'd be a reach school too.

Their median MCAT last year was actually 38. (up 1 from the year before).

Maybe it'll be ...39 this year?

It's ridiculous.

 

Mayo seems a bit difficult though, doesn't it?

There's always a possibility ... but it's just so slim.

If they at least interviewed some international applicants,

I'd say there's some sort of a chance, but ..yeah...

I think Case Western may be a good bet.

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Mayo does, actually. I emailed them a bit back asking. Received a response:

 

Dear xxxxxxxx,

Thank you for your interest in Mayo Medical School. We do accept

international students. All students admitted to the program must have

a Bachelors degree from an accredited U.S. or Canadian institution. I'm

attaching our policy with regard to international students for your

review.

 

Our average G.P.A. is 3.8, and our average MCAT score is 33. Hopefully

this can help you to gauge your competitiveness. We do not save a

certain amount of seats for international students each year. This year

we have two international students that will be matriculating in July.

 

I wish you luck as you pursue a career in medicine.

Best,

yyyyyyyyy

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Okay, I guess it's not too difficult then,

especially considering that Mayo class sizes are smaller than most.

A research well done.

 

As far as I know, Mayo is the most difficult of them all. As I understand it, they try to find people with very unique life experiences and bring certain qualities to their program. The people with the experiences they are looking for are far fewer than those with loads of research and high MCAT scores.

 

Just my 2cents.

 

But you should still apply, your stats are great.

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Guest begaster
guys it has a 1.5% acceptance rate, making it the least likely school to get into.

 

 

Holy Christ, way to kill my hopes and dreams. :(

 

Your name isn't Deborah, is it?

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I'm new to this game (applying to the US) and would also appreciate some help narrowing down my list of schools.

 

GPA ~3.85

MCAT 36Q (15P/9V/12B)

Good clinical volunteer and other ECs

 

* Keck

* Loma Linda

* Stanford

* Yale

* George Washington

* Georgetown

* Howard

* Emory

* Rosalind Franklin

* Northwestern

* Pritzker

* Indiana U

* Tulane

* U of Maryland

* Boston U

* U of Minnesota

* Washington U

* Creighton

* Dartmouth

* Albany

* AECOM

* Columbia

* Mount Sinai

* SUNY Upstate

* Duke

* Wake Forest

* Case Western

* Jefferson

* Penn State U

* U of Penn

* Brown

* East Tennessee State U

* U of Vermont

* U of Virginia

* Medical College of Wisconsin

 

Thanks for any help you can offer!

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It seems like many people here applying this year have similar stats.

3.eighties and 34~37 MCAT.

 

Lol, we're all U of T rejects. :P

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I'm new to this game (applying to the US) and would also appreciate some help narrowing down my list of schools.

 

GPA ~3.85

MCAT 36Q (15P/9V/12B)

Good clinical volunteer and other ECs

 

* Keck

* Loma Linda

* Stanford

* Yale

* George Washington

* Georgetown

* Howard

* Emory

* Rosalind Franklin

* Northwestern

* Pritzker

* Indiana U* Tulane

* U of Maryland

* Boston U

* U of Minnesota

* Washington U

* Creighton

* Dartmouth

* Albany

* AECOM

* Columbia

* Mount Sinai

* SUNY Upstate

* Duke

* Wake Forest

* Case Western

* Jefferson

* Penn State U

* U of Penn

* Brown

* East Tennessee State U

* U of Vermont

* U of Virginia

* Medical College of Wisconsin

 

Thanks for any help you can offer!

 

Don't know if you still need this, but here it is....

 

I wouldn't bother applying to the ones in red, unless you really want to go there. I think you may end up there and some day think "I know I could've done better".

 

SUNY Upstate is usually a good safety for Canadians-- good to see you have it.

 

If you think you should add some safeties, also consider:

Michigan State University-CHM

Saint Louis University

Cornell

EVMS

 

Brown is almost certainly a waste of $30 (no hard feelings or anything to do with you, its the way of the school). I would recommend that you not waste your time, but the cost:opportunity rate is pretty small and may be worth the investment. It might be a better idea to switch Brown with one of the above safeties.

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I see that I might have come across as implying Cornell to be a safety when I said 'the above safeties'. Sorry for the confusion....

 

Cornell is definitely top notch. I think the general consensus for NYC is: Columbia=Cornell >(slightly) NYU > whatever.

 

Brown is very low chance just by the numbers, especially for Canucks. They also have a unofficial preference for taking their own students and ivy league stuff.

 

This is why I said the money might be better spent where you would have a better chance ie: SLU, MSU-CHM, etc.

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correct me if I'm wrong, but I think the reason Brown accepts so few Canadians is because they have this 7 year program for people right out of high school. I thought they got the majority of their students from that program.

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Guest begaster

36S, 3.8+ (with last two years being 3.9ish and 4), fair bit of volunteering, lots of research (though no pubs :( ).

 

I think I'm looking at:

 

1. Yale

2. Columbia University

3. Pritzker

4. Vanderbilt

5. Emory

6. Northwestern - Feinberg

7. Case Western Reserve

8. CCLCM

9. Mayo

10. Dartmouth

11. New York University

12. University of Pennsylvania

13. Albert Einstein

14. Rosalind Franklin

15. Georgetown

 

I didn't bother with Wayne State, or any of the lower tier schools, because I doubt I'd be happy going there and would probably just reject and do an MSc instead. Didn't bother with Hahvahd, JHU, and WashU because, really, I doubt I can get into any of them so why waste my time and money?

 

Any schools I should get rid of from here? Any schools I should add?

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1. Yale

2. Columbia University

3. Pritzker

4. Vanderbilt

5. Emory

6. Northwestern - Feinberg

7. Case Western Reserve

8. CCLCM

9. Mayo

10. Dartmouth

11. New York University

12. University of Pennsylvania

13. Albert Einstein

14. Rosalind Franklin

15. Georgetown

 

You have a nice selection of schools.

Since you are opting for top-tiered schools in general,

why don't you apply to Harvard and WashU as well?

I heard filling out their secondaries doesn't take too much time.

I don't even think there's a required essay for either school.

JHU does seem to have many questions they want to ask though.

It's just a couple hundred dollar more, which is very small compared to the tuition money you'll have pay once you get in.

 

And one thing about Georgetown is that they only take LOR's through AMCAS, which means the LOR writers have to send the letter twice (once to AMCAS and once to interfolio) instead of just once to interfolio. I mean, it's no big deal, but that just turned me off.

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From what I've understood (not much, mind you), Interfolio and AMCAS now work together, so that I can forward my letters from Interfolio straight to AMCAS.

 

I guess I will add those two if the secondaries aren't too brutal.

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