r/mdphd•
apmlcured

School list feedback / retake MCAT advice?

Can only apply to basically any school in the Northeast / California only since my dad has to continue treatment and stay with me if I matriculate, if not I'll reapply the following year. Am willing to retake MCAT ASAP if it means I get to stay in these regions to take care of my father.

  • 517 MCAT, 4.0 GPA from random state college (ORM: indian)
    • Dad had cancer for past 2 years but did not disclose despite being the majority of the reason for pursuing medicine, because it felt like I would be making use of his story and jinxing his health if that makes any sense
    • Took MCAT right after having serious hospitalization for 2~3 months and working 2 jobs while dad was in bad shape but decided not to retake given I might risk scoring lower and would need to quit my job to study full time (not sure if I should retake it now, but friends that got in T5s this cycle say it's my MCAT thats dragging me down)
  • 3 gap years if I matriculate this upcoming cycle
  • Had a couple of MD only interviews last cycle but all WL->R, probably wasn't in the best state of mind and too research heavy?
  • HHMI Nobel laureate PI with strong letter saying I'm more efficient and driven than the postdocs in our lab and that I directly work under him (1 school accidentally sent me all my LORs last cycle)
    • 1 letter from old PI saying the same thing but not as strongly worded
    • 2 science + 1 non-science letter along the lines of saying I'm the best student or something along the lines they've had in 30 years
  • DACA, so didn't have green card/permanent residency last cycle to apply to many MD/PhD programs, so it was hard explaining why I was applying to MD only during interviews on top of that
  • Research: 6k hours (3k extra projected)
    • Publications (all basic science): 1 x second author IF10 (published), 1 x middle author (in revision), 2 x co-first author & 1 first-author ~IF5 (all submitting by end of year, probably wont make it in time for update letters since we're waiting for collaborator final figures but mentioned by PI)
    • 10 posters, 1 best poster award national conference
  • Shadowing: 400hrs (primary care, heme onc, medical onc, anesthesia, gen surg, path) - took some clinical stuff I saw during oncology clinic & started a basic science project surrounding it)
  • Clinical: foreign military medic 6k hrs with medal of honor equivalent (for non-medical project)
    • Additional 800hrs scribing + ER volunteering in the US
  • Non-volunteering: 600hrs (tutoring kids & some policy stuff back in my home country
  • Interested in structural bio/drug development for grad school, would appreciate any school list feedback

School list:

  1. Stanford
  2. Temple
  3. Duke
  4. Rochester
  5. UMass
  6. Columbia
  7. Kaiser
  8. UChicago Pritzker
  9. SUNY Upstate
  10. Harvard
  11. RWJMS
  12. Emory
  13. UCSD
  14. Northwestern Feinberg
  15. Pitt
  16. Brown
  17. UCLA
  18. Drexel
  19. Weill Cornell
  20. UConn
  21. UNC
  22. Einstein
  23. Mayo
  24. Boston University
  25. NYMC
  26. UCSF
  27. WashU
  28. Zucker Hofstra
  29. Michigan
  30. Johns Hopkins
  31. Yale
  32. Penn State
  33. UVA
  34. Stony Brook
  35. USC
  36. Tufts
  37. UC Davis
  38. Sidney Kimmel (Jefferson)
  39. UWashington
  40. Mt. Sinai
  41. Case Western Reserve
  42. NJMS
  43. UPenn
  44. Minnesota

Posted Jun 13, 2026, 11:45 PM UTC

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