School List Help (3.68cGPA,URM)

[u/premed2026]

Hi y'all! I am hoping to apply this upcoming cycle and would greatly appreciate any help or thought on my school list. My stats are on the lower end (let me know if I should add some DO schools onto this list)

I know my list is kinda top heavy and I would like to cut it down as I know some of these are a hugeeee reach lmao. Please let me know if there are schools to add/remove. I used admit.org and the WARS sheet to help craft a preliminary list. Thank you all so much!

State of residence: TX

Ties to other states (if applicable): N/A

URM? (Y/N): Y (Black Female)

Undergraduate vibe: Ivy (not HYP)

Undergraduate major(s)/minor(s): Neuroscience

Graduate degree(s) (if applicable): N/A

Cumulative GPA: 3.68

Science GPA: 3.50 (As and Bs except a D in Orgo I, retook and got B+, C+ in Orgo II (¯_(ツ)_/¯ )

MCAT Score(s) (in order of attempts):  just took it in March, let’s say 515 +/- 2 (i know not having an actual score isn’t optimal for making a school list lol)

Institutional actions?: N/A

First application cycle? (If no, explain): Yes 

Research experience: 1040 hours (Anesthesiology department research since freshman spring with abstract accepted to IARS conference. Freshman year research lab)

Publications?: TBD may get one in during application szn (mid author). Small poster presentation at symposium

Clinical experience: 260 (paid ophthalmic tech), ~700 (optometric tech at home, started 2021 and do it when I am home for breaks), about 70 (sitting vigil and a patient support program at local hospital) 

• Side note: don’t know if this is clinical but I work as a study coordinator for a biotech lab at my school, I recruit breast milk donors (about 170 hours by time of application) 

Physician shadowing: 110 hours, Anesthesiology, Infectious Disease, Dermatology, Pulmonology, PA (critical care)

Non-clinical volunteering: about 60 (food bank and miscellaneous volunteering at school) 

Other: Teaching assistant for writing class, intro neuro tutor,  mentor for pre-health students and freshmen researchers (about ~210 hrs all together)

LOR: 1 from Orgo professor, 1 from neuro statistics professor, 1 from biochem professor, 1 from Anesthesiologist PI from research, 1 from writing professor who I was a teaching assistant for (i think LORs will be pretty good) 

School list: All TX schools (MD), Boston, Brown, Case Western, Emory, Georgetown, Howard, Rochester, Mt Sinai, Yale, Pitt, Cornell, Michigan, UVA, Wake Forest, Meharry, Morehouse, Tufts, Indiana, UCLA, Hofstra, Vanderbilt, Mayo, Northwestern, Dartmouth, Harvard, Stanford, Thomas Jefferson, Albert Einstein, WashU, NYU, Ohio State, George Washington, USC-Keck

[u/Pretend-Cicada-8649]

I am not a pro but your activities look really impressive. i wouldn't be surprised if this overshadowed a gpa that's on the mid-lower end. orgo is hard as F. Just curious what the process of becoming an ophthalmology tech was like?

[u/premed2026 → u/Pretend-Cicada-8649]

Thank you! It wasn’t too hard actually, my local hospital has a robust ophthalmology dept and they had a part time position that worked really well w my schedule (min 8 hours a week). I don’t have a certification but I think my prior experience with optometry helped. Feel free to ask me any questions:)

[u/nicolas1324563 → u/Pretend-Cicada-8649]

What makes activities impressive, no hate toward this brw

[u/premed2026 → u/nicolas1324563]

Great question (i'm personally not quite sure tbh lol)

[u/nicolas1324563 → u/premed2026]

Is uh summer research at mgh impressive lol, hope so

[u/Inner_Emu4716]

Hard to say without an MCAT score, but assuming it’s decent you can probably get in somewhere in Texas. As for out of state, it honestly comes down to how much money you’re willing to spend+how many secondaries you’re willing to write. Unless you really wanna be in NC wake forest lowkey isn’t worth, they’re low yield and their secondary is kinda long. Georgetown is also low yield, and Indiana might be tough as a TX resident. A lot of these schools will likely be reaches but I’m a big believer in Texas residents applying to OOS reaches if they can afford to because why not. Throw in Drew if you want another HBCU. You have a lot of OOS AMCAS schools so if you’re looking to narrow it down, I would say only apply to out of state schools you really wanna go to/schools whose mission you fit, because most of your target schools where you’ll have a good chance of admission are gonna be in Texas

[u/premed2026 → u/Inner_Emu4716]

Thank you sm! Do you happen to have any recommendations for OOS schools that may be closer to a target by any chance (I know it’s hard without an mcat score 🥴)

[u/Inner_Emu4716 → u/premed2026]

Honestly I really can’t give you anything without your mcat, pm me when you get your score back and I’d be happy to help

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[u/neurotic-premed-69]

I’d remove Rochester, Indiana, Wake Forest, and OSU. Rochester will probably have a hard time believing you’d to to basically Canada over warm Texas, IU and OSU are public, and wake is kinda weird since they have ED and take people with ties to the area.

Besides that it seems good. Add Columbia if u want but I know they have some problems.

[u/premed2026 → u/neurotic-premed-69]

Thank you so much! I didn’t think abt that for Rochester lol. Do you happen to have recommendations for schools closer to targets I should add? I feel like my list is on the top heavy side (ik it’s hard without my mcat)