School List Help, Worth applying T20 MD/PHD
Hey all, I’m currently building my school list and wanted to get a sense of whether I’d be competitive for T20 MD/PhD programs. My main concern is my GPA, which is solid but not exceptional for MSTPs. That said, I feel like I’ve built a fairly cohesive research profile centered around neuroscience, neurology, neurosurgery, and computational/AI applications in medicine. I’ve also heard that MD/PhD admissions can be more holistic and research-focused, though I’m not sure how true that is at the top programs.
Here’s my application overview:
GPA: 3.6x cGPA / sGPA
Trend: 3.48 → 3.26 → 3.04 → 3.10 → 3.74 → 3.68 → 4.0 → 4.0
MCAT: 516
School: Large Texas state university (Texas resident)
Majors: Computer Science + Neuroscience
Minor: Government
Clinical Experience
- 1200 hours hospital volunteering in the Emergency Department
- Founded a nonprofit connecting children/families with ASD to peer mentors (also generated ~200 volunteer hours)
Shadowing
- Primary Care: 20 hrs
- Dermatology: 20 hrs
- Neurosurgery: 40 hrs
- Interventional Cardiology: 40 hrs
Research
Neuropsychiatry & Neuromodulation Lab (T5 institution) — 3 years
- 3 first-author posters at university conferences
- 1 mid-author conference abstract
Neurosurgery Collaboration (T5 institution) — 3 years
- 5 first-author systematic reviews (all focused within the same neurosurgical/AI theme)
- 1 mid-author systematic review
Neurology Lab (home institution) — 2 years
- Honors thesis
- 2 posters at home institution
Biotech Startup (SF-based ML Research Intern) — 3 years
- Worked on ML models for neurodegenerative disease discovery
- No publications from this work
Neurotechnology Organization
- Research Lead for 2 years overseeing ~50 members/5 projects
- 5 posters at home conferences
- 1 first-author external conference poster
- 2 review articles (late authorship)
The project I’m personally most proud of is a solo first-author philosophy/neuroethics paper on BCI ethics that’s currently under peer review at the journal.
Other ECs
- Consulting work for 2 startups
- Interviewed with and
- Helped raise $20K for homelessness initiatives
- Policy Director for a Student Body President campaign
- Ran 2 half-marathons and 2 full marathons
Gap Semester
- ~1200 hours as a clinical research coordinator working with a neurosurgeon
Would appreciate honest feedback on:
- Whether this profile seems realistically competitive for T20 MSTPs
- How heavily the GPA might hold me back
- Whether my research output is viewed as cohesive/meaningful versus overly spread out
Thanks for all input!