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School list help

Serendi

By Serendi,
in Applying to American Schools

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Serendi Newbie

Serendi

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Hey guys, 

Apologize if this isn't where I should be posting this! I'm a bit late on choosing schools, mostly because of getting MCAT score that was released just few days ago. My primary's in & verified, so I'm hoping that choosing schools this week and sending back secondaries within a week or so shouldn't be too much of a problem. My school sends out committee letter next week, so recommendations aren't even in as of now. 

Stats: 

- Did my undergrad @ US (PA), did 5 years undergrad instead of traditional 4 for getting double majors

- sGPA/cGPA both 3.77, including postbacc courses (4.0 there) 

- MCAT: Old MCAT of 34 (11/11/12) back in 2014 (expired now), new MCAT is 528 

- Reapplicant (applied back in 2015-2016, with 34 MCAT, 3.73 GPA, only 200hr Hospital EC, no publications - unsuccessful w/ 2 interviews)

- ECs: ~200hr Hospital volunteering, ~100hr volunteering in Hospital but in social support team (patient contact), ~100hr shadowing, ~50hr Community clinic, ~250hr Non-clinical volunteering at local shelter, ~3 years of Research. Three publications, just collaborating, no first or second. Working full time in research lab right now. 

 

Because my GPA and MCAT isn't really on the same range, I tried to some reach schools with my GPA above the 25% percentile, hoping that my MCAT score may somehow be able to offset the low GPA. I came up with following list: 

Upenn
Northwestern ??  
Yale
Pittsburgh
Columbia
Cornell
Duke
Sinai
Dartmouth (reapp)
Saint Louis (reapp)
Emory (reapp)
Mayo (reapp)
Maryland 
MCW (reapp)
Wayne State (reapp)
Kentucky (reapp)
Oakland (reapp)
SUNY Upstate (reapp)
Central Michigan (reapp)
Einstein (reapp)
Michigan State (reapp)
SUNY stony Brook
Boston (reapp)

 

I was considering applying to Virginia, Stanford, Baylor and NYU, that has 25% GPA that's just slightly higher than mine. 

 

What do you think? Do you think I should just scrap the idea of applying mid-to-high tiers with this score and add in some more mid tiers (Rosalind Franklin, NYMC, Virginia Commonwealth, Penn State, Georgetown, George Washington)? Any advice would be appreciated. Thank you so much in advance! 

 

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011235813 Newbie

011235813

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New MCAT is 528??!?!?!?!?!? Is that a typo?

If that's actually your score, why isn't Harvard on your list? Or Hopkins? Or Stanford? And I know they look at more than stats, they're "holistic" but I know of people who interviewed at places like Harvard and Yale with lower MCAT than you and less impressive EC's. Also remember, your GPA is above the Canadian accepted average, and that your EC's are fine. I would seriously focus on higher tier schools. A 528 MCAT is almost UNHEARD of and if that's your actual score, you shouldn't even be worrying about your GPA, which is fine for a US app. I would DEFINITELY apply to Harvard, Hopkins, Stanford, Upenn, Yale, Northwestern, Chicago Feinberg, Baylor, NYU, Columbia, Cornell, Boston (Not high tier necessarily but mid-high and VERY Canadian friendly), WASHU in St. Louis, and pretty much every high tier School. Also apply to some mid-high tier. I would not focus on mid tiers. Throw some in as backups, but focus on mid-high, and high tier. (Your Lizzy M score is INSANE BTW!)

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Serendi Newbie

Serendi

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6 hours ago, f011235813 said:

New MCAT is 528??!?!?!?!?!? Is that a typo?

If that's actually your score, why isn't Harvard on your list? Or Hopkins? Or Stanford? And I know they look at more than stats, they're "holistic" but I know of people who interviewed at places like Harvard and Yale with lower MCAT than you and less impressive EC's. Also remember, your GPA is above the Canadian accepted average, and that your EC's are fine. I would seriously focus on higher tier schools. A 528 MCAT is almost UNHEARD of and if that's your actual score, you shouldn't even be worrying about your GPA, which is fine for a US app. I would DEFINITELY apply to Harvard, Hopkins, Stanford, Upenn, Yale, Northwestern, Chicago Feinberg, Baylor, NYU, Columbia, Cornell, Boston (Not high tier necessarily but mid-high and VERY Canadian friendly), WASHU in St. Louis, and pretty much every high tier School. Also apply to some mid-high tier. I would not focus on mid tiers. Throw some in as backups, but focus on mid-high, and high tier. (Your Lizzy M score is INSANE BTW!)

 

4 hours ago, Monkey D. Luffy said:

Agree with f011235813.

Apply to every Ivy and top tier school. Even schools that traditionally don't accept Canadians may still interview you when they see your MCAT (and you did your undergrad in US to boot). Jesus.

Sorry for the late reply, and thank you so much guys. Reason why I wasn't adding JHU/Stanford/Harvard/WashU was because their 25th-percentile GPA was higher than mine, and I was thinking that even high MCAT cover that difference. I'll give them a shot. Thanks! Though not so sure about Northwestern/Chicago/Baylor - they've accepted 1, 0 and 0 international students last year, respectively. Wonder if they aren't as Canadian friendly.

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uncharted1114 Newbie

uncharted1114

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Northwestern is pretty friendly towards internationals. I was accepted there when I applied a couple of years ago, along with another Canadian friend of mine (both of us did undergrad in the US like you). Their FAQ page says that there are 7 international students matriculated into the first year class.

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Serendi Newbie

Serendi

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13 hours ago, uncharted1114 said:

Northwestern is pretty friendly towards internationals. I was accepted there when I applied a couple of years ago, along with another Canadian friend of mine (both of us did undergrad in the US like you). Their FAQ page says that there are 7 international students matriculated into the first year class.

 

1 hour ago, f011235813 said:

I know of a Canadian who also got into Northwestern. Didn't end up going though.

Thanks a lot guys. So international acceptance dropped from 7 for matriculating class of 2016 to 1 for 2017 (MSAR)...guess last cycle was harsh for internationals. I'll give it a shot! 

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011235813 Newbie

011235813

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4 minutes ago, Serendi said:

 

Thanks a lot guys. So international acceptance dropped from 7 for matriculating class of 2016 to 1 for 2017 (MSAR)...guess last cycle was harsh for internationals. I'll give it a shot! 

Remember, there's a possibility more Canadians got accepted and declined. AFAIK, that stat is the number who matriculated, not got accepted. I know of many Canadians who applied to the US as a backup and ended up staying in Canada.

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Serendi Newbie

Serendi

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1 minute ago, f011235813 said:

Remember, there's a possibility more Canadians got accepted and declined. AFAIK, that stat is the number who matriculated, not got accepted. I know of many Canadians who applied to the US as a backup and ended up staying in Canada.

You're right - thanks. I just realized that MSAR doesn't have numbers for offered students. 

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Serendi Newbie

Serendi

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3 hours ago, f011235813 said:

Would be a REALLY interesting thread. And you could provide some genuinely important insight.

Will love to do one if I can be of any help. Although I did see lots of similar strategies over at MCAT **DELETED**... 

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JohnGrisham Newbie

JohnGrisham

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Great stats. But being more pessimistic, I would say sure apply to all the top tiers BUT still also apply to all the mid tiers that take Canadians too. Apply to all the other schools that Canadians apply to and are repeatedly mentioned in this sub forum. Being an international, nothing is ever a guarantee. 

Dont cheap out on secondary applications. Go all out. You are also a bit late but your stats should compensate. 

 

Again, dont only apply to high tiers. Apply to mid tiers and as well any low tiers that take Canadians AS MENTIONED IN THIS SUB FORUM.  

 

Good luck

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Serendi Newbie

Serendi

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On 7/22/2017 at 0:15 PM, JohnGrisham said:

Great stats. But being more pessimistic, I would say sure apply to all the top tiers BUT still also apply to all the mid tiers that take Canadians too. Apply to all the other schools that Canadians apply to and are repeatedly mentioned in this sub forum. Being an international, nothing is ever a guarantee. 

Dont cheap out on secondary applications. Go all out. You are also a bit late but your stats should compensate. 

 

Again, dont only apply to high tiers. Apply to mid tiers and as well any low tiers that take Canadians AS MENTIONED IN THIS SUB FORUM.  

 

Hey, sorry for the late reply, and thank you so much for your suggestions. I will definitely consider mid-tiers that are discussed in this forum. As for being a reapplicant, am I still a reapplicant to those schools that I've never applied to before? Some told me that I'm not, some said I am. My pre-health advisor didn't really know, either. I understand that I'm a bit late - though even if I've submitted earlier, my committee letter won't even be in until beginning of August, so my application wouldn't have been complete anyways - nothing I can do about! 

I am definitely planning to apply to Canadian schools as well!

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slam95 Newbie

slam95

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I just looked at this after posting a thread seeking advice for my own situation. A 528 is amazing, I actually laughed when I saw that, GPA isn't a worry, you've passed the mark you have to. I can't say much about your chances, but I think I can say you don't have to worry about those two bringing you down. As for ECs, it's broad and one might say it might not show commitment, but if you stress the nature of your work and the time-commitment it requires, it's understandable. If you've done anything at work, like sit on a council or manage journal club activities, it would emphasise the quality of inquisitiveness or scientific curiosity etc. You can milk that a bit. Best of luck! 

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Serendi Newbie

Serendi

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On 7/28/2017 at 8:12 PM, slam95 said:

I just looked at this after posting a thread seeking advice for my own situation. A 528 is amazing, I actually laughed when I saw that, GPA isn't a worry, you've passed the mark you have to. I can't say much about your chances, but I think I can say you don't have to worry about those two bringing you down. As for ECs, it's broad and one might say it might not show commitment, but if you stress the nature of your work and the time-commitment it requires, it's understandable. If you've done anything at work, like sit on a council or manage journal club activities, it would emphasise the quality of inquisitiveness or scientific curiosity etc. You can milk that a bit. Best of luck! 

Thank you for your feedback! I don't know why premed101 doesn't shoot me an email whenever there's a reply. I just came by and saw the post. Thank you for your suggestions, and best of luck to you too! 

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