Screwed up 1st semester

<p>So I "screwed" up my first semester. I took way more classes than I should have because I was a hotshot at my highschool and for some reason thought it'd be the same in college. Obviously it wasn't. My first semester in college I got a 3.42 but the second I got 3.74. I'm pretty sure I'll be getting around a 3.8+ for the next semesters till I apply. </p>

<p>I obviously can't predict my MCAT scores now but I think I can say mid 30's (i'll work/study hard enough).</p>

<p>So my question isn't can i get into medschool, I know I can. But can I get into the uber competitive medschools like Johns Hopkins Harvard Washington University in St Louis?</p>

<p>And please, don't lecture me about how getting into a medschool is good enough and i shouldn't care about where i want to go. I've heard it all before.</p>

<p>AND EC wise: I have leadership in the one club i'm involved in, i do public health and biomedical research, volunteer at a hospital, shadow doctor, and have clinical internship.</p>

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<p>according to:

it sounds like you still are one.</p>

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<p>Lol. Hotshot.</p>

<p>Realistically speaking. With my GPA about a 3.7 I can get into medschool. My concern and I am really concerned is about where that medschool will be. And I don’t want a lecture, because thats not going to qualm my fears at all.</p>

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<p>The fact that you actually “FEAR” not getting into an “elite”/top 10 med school speaks volumes.</p>

<p>If anyone would actually like to give me some advice, I would appreciate it.</p>

<p>My first semester in college I got a 3.42 but the second I got 3.74. I’m pretty sure I’ll be getting around a 3.8+ for the next semesters till I apply. </p>

<p>So after year 1 you have a 3.58. After final grades junior year IF you get a 3.8 for those 4 semesters you’ll have a 3.726. </p>

<p>While not disqualifying you from acceptances, it does put you behind the 8-ball at the schools mentioned on that measure.</p>

<p>Your MCAT assumptions express a great deal of …let’s call it confidence. Good luck.</p>

<p>Keep it mind there are lots of other measuring sticks. ;)</p>

<p>CF, you want a nice answer or a frank answer?</p>

<p>The truth is, it’s going to be tough. You started out on a bad foot. Sure, if you do well (3.7-3.8 every semester) from here on out, you’ll probably be quite competitive at a mid-tier school and somewhat competitive in the top 3rd of schools. If you manage a 3.7 and end up in the top 15% of MCAT examinees with a 30, you’ll have a 78% chance of getting in somewhere. Of course, that’s assuming you have average experience in the areas of clinical, research, volunteering, etc. (Remember, nothing from HS counts any more, so when you say all those things you’ve done, realize you can’t include anything prior to the start of your freshmen yr – that does give you an opportunity to catch up…)</p>

<p>FYI, for Harvard, to be an average applicant with a 3.7, your MCAT would need to be about a 36 (35 is their average, the +1 point would compensate for your GPA being .12 below their average), which means you’d have to be in the top 3.8% of test-takers. Of course, the MCAT has diminishing returns at this level of score and, while Harvard and similar schools may require MCAT scores in this kind of range, Harvard isn’t really just looking for a “smart kid.” They’re looking for someone special. You need to be more than a perfect MCAT & GPA to even get an interview, much less an invitation to attend. It’s noteworthy that of the 583 objectively near-perfect (39+ MCAT/3.8+ GPA) applicants last year, 32 (5.5%) were rejected!</p>

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<p>I assume these are nationwide numbers, not numbers at any given medical school? A 95% acceptance rate at any particular medical school would be ridiculously high. Not to mention that admitted 450 kids gives you a gigantic class.</p>

<p>In other words: those 5.5% were rejected at every school they applied to?</p>

<p>There were a couple of those students (41 MCAT 4.0 GPA) who got rejected at my school (Berkeley). I remembered a seminar where deans from several prominent med schools (Duke, WUSTL, Stanford) gave a lecture and even mentioned rejecting those applicants. They unanimously justified their decision by pointing out that everyone of the rejectees were overly confident, and it showed in their mediocre essays and sub-par LOR. </p>

<p>@Chemfreak. Sometimes you need to know when to keep your mouth shut.</p>

<p>Rereading my post I need to do a rewrite:</p>

<p>"5.5% were rejected? That sounds ridiculous low. I would have expected a lot more of them to be rejected at HMS. Not to mention that if HMS admitted 550 of thoes kids, that gives you a gigantic class.</p>

<p>Surely you mean that they were rejected at every school in the country, not just at HMS."</p>

<p>bluedevil, i think you are confused. He meant that out of the high stats individuals with those respective scores he stated, 5.5% of those applicants were rejected from Harvard. He was only talking about that pool of individuals that fit that score and gpa range.</p>

<p>And I’m telling you that’s impossible. HMS doesn’t admit 550 students per year, much less 550 students from a particular score bracket. Moreover, HMS is very difficult to get into no matter what your stats are – a 95% admissions rate, even at 39/3.8, is way too high to be an accurate estimate at HMS.</p>

<p>Therefore, he must mean that those 5.5% were rejected everywhere, not just at HMS.</p>

<p>Yeah, that poster is making reference to ALL students in the 3.8+ 39+ bracket. Harvard accepts about 1.75 students for every 1 spot that they have. It is unlikely that every one of these students applied to Harvard, though I bet a very large chunk of those who did apply got interviewed. Here is similar data for a three year period:</p>

<p>[FACTS</a> Table: MCAT and GPA Grid for Applicants and Accepted Applicants to U.S. Medical Schools](<a href=“http://www.aamc.org/data/facts/2008/mcatgpa-grid-3yrs-app-accpt.htm]FACTS”>http://www.aamc.org/data/facts/2008/mcatgpa-grid-3yrs-app-accpt.htm)</p>

<p>88% of the top bracket were accepted. The other 12% that didn’t get accepted probably mostly just shot themselves in the foot by applying to only top 10 schools or withdrew for some reason.</p>