How am I looking?

<p>Hey guys...I haven't been on here since high school...you all helped me out a LOT then, so I'm sure I'll get some great advice now as well.</p>

<p>So here is a quick version of my statistics..</p>

<p>3rd Year African American UVA Student...around a 3.3-3.4 Cumulative undergrad GPA (Science GPA not as high but around 3.2-3.3)...Leadership position in an honor premed society and a medical volunteer program...What type of MCAT score will land me in a medical school?</p>

<p>Is there any other information I should add?</p>

<p>Thanks</p>

<p>Your GPA is quite weak (bottom 5-10% of applicants); however, as a URM student you can probably get into a lower-tier and/or HBC school (such as Howard) w/ a 27-29 MCAT score. If you want to go somewhere else, you’re going to need a 29+. Basically, if you play the African American card and show an intent to return to an underserved community, your chances with that GPA are quite good (84% at at a 3.2-3.4 GPA and 27-29 MCAT). You will need to play the URM card well, though. If you lacked it, your chances would drop quite dramatically (down to 27% with the same stats).</p>

<p>You didn’t mention any research experience or details about the clinical/volunteer experience or shadowing. Most applicants will have 40-100 hours of shadowing, 150-500+ hrs clinical, and 100-250 hrs volunteer experience. Many also have at least 3-6 mos research and some have publications and/or presentations. Do you have add’l leadership experience. Not sure what your position right now has you doing but some club “leadership” positions are dubious (while others can be a great experience – it just varies in my experience).</p>

<p>African American male is pretty much the most desired demographic.</p>

<p>I’d say if you can get 26 or above, you will get into an allopathic med school.</p>

<p>33 or above, you can pretty much get into any med school in the country.</p>

<p>When I was applying, there were a couple of African American female applicants on SDN (one had 3.5/35 and one had 3.1/35ish) and both got into multiple top 20 med schools (not just your typical top 20 med school; we’re talking Hopkins, Harvard, Upenn). There was also a guy (African American male) with 2.7/30 kinda stats who got flamed like no other because he was getting into top schools with full rides. He was legit but his constant boasting of his results brought a lot of animosity upon himself.</p>

<p>Anyway, African American males are around 2x as rare as AA females so you can imagine that you will get a sizable boost when you apply.</p>

<p>Thanks a lot for the advice. Any other insight?</p>

<p>With your GPA, I don’t think that a 33 would cut it to get into any medical school in the country, even with your URM status. A shot yes, but I wouldn’t only apply to top 10 schools.</p>

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<p>I agree with NCG’s assessment (if anything I think he’s pessimistic), but nonetheless this is good advice from McD.</p>

<p>This is a <em>very</em> imprecise comparison (it doesn’t control for which schools we’re talking about), but [African Americans](<a href=“http://www.aamc.org/data/facts/applicantmatriculant/table25-b-mcatgpagridblack.pdf”>http://www.aamc.org/data/facts/applicantmatriculant/table25-b-mcatgpagridblack.pdf&lt;/a&gt;) between 3.2-3.4/33-35 have a 93% chance at admissions. (Midpoints: 3.3, 34). For [url=<a href=“http://www.aamc.org/data/facts/applicantmatriculant/table25-w-mcatgpagridwhite.pdf]white[/url”>http://www.aamc.org/data/facts/applicantmatriculant/table25-w-mcatgpagridwhite.pdf]white[/url</a>] or [url=<a href=“http://www.aamc.org/data/facts/applicantmatriculant/table25-a-mcatgpagridasian.pdf]Asian[/url”>http://www.aamc.org/data/facts/applicantmatriculant/table25-a-mcatgpagridasian.pdf]Asian[/url</a>] applicants to have a 93% chance, they have to have a (midpoints) 3.9/37. For reference, [url=<a href=“http://www.aamc.org/data/facts/applicantmatriculant/table25-h-mcatgpagridhispnic.pdf]Hispanics[/url”>http://www.aamc.org/data/facts/applicantmatriculant/table25-h-mcatgpagridhispnic.pdf]Hispanics[/url</a>] have a 93% chance of admissions when they hit 3.7/34.</p>

<p>So if the OP applies with a 3.3/33, that effectively becomes a white applicant with a 3.9/36, which is usually top-ten material. That’s not even correcting for gender, which probably magnifies the gap.</p>

<p>^^^^^^</p>

<p>BDM, do you think those tables are still a good frame of reference, seeing as they are from 2005-2007, or has possibly the URM boost lessened?</p>

<p>I can’t see why things would’ve changed in the past two years. Why?</p>

<p>No particular reason, I was just wondering if the URM applicant pool had possibly increased/strengthened therefore decreasing the gap. I just find it annoying when it is hard to find more current statistics of things than is generally available.</p>

<p>My background reading on the subject suggests that affirmative action for blacks is becoming a stronger and stronger factor over time. In contrast, the boost is decreasing for Hispanics. Twenty or thirty years ago (maybe even ten or fifteen), the boost was about the same size. Now it’s approximately half.</p>

<p>Hispanics do substantially better than blacks (3 pts better on the MCAT?) so it’s understandable that they would receive less of a boost than blacks.</p>

<p>My understanding is that that wasn’t always the case, however.</p>

<p>thanks for the advice, everyone. i’ve been studying for the mcat and i am hoping, praying, dreaming about getting a 30+. What schools should I apply to? Rank doesn’t really matter to me, I just want to go somewhere where it will be challenging…but I can still have fun some of the time as well!!</p>

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<p>Ask this question once you have an MCAT score. Without one, it’s very hard to say where you should apply.</p>

<p>those affirmative action statistics are frightening.</p>

<p>Question for Bluedevilmike:</p>

<p>For the GPA’s you speak of…are they science or overall GPA’s?</p>

<p>Probably overall. But I linked to the sources so you can see for yourself.</p>

<p>If only I wAs black…</p>