How to approach forming a school list?

[JackyLin]

So I have recently received my 3rd retake on my MCAT, and its a very exciting 42. I had been doing some speculations on possible schools to apply with my previous stats of cGPA/sGPA as 3.51/3.45 and 33 MCAT, but now that I got a 42 I think that opens a few more doors despite the same below-average-GPA.

That being said, how should I go about making the school list? Lizzymscore does not help, as it just list me as having a high chance at any school except WUSL. I know that it's been said when your stats are highly discrepant (High MCAT, low GPA) the Lizzy score is less reliable. What should be my "safety, match, and reach" school criteria?

This link has a basic info of my background: http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=1003097

Thank you in advance!

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[Arbor Vitae]

Think of it like craps, honestly, everyone says its a crapshoot anyway, and you want to make the most probable bets and cover the table in safe bets so at least one will pay out. For example, since I'm from CA, I listed all schools that took a large number of OOS applicants and in that group I applied to all the schools that my MCAT is is at least equal to the median accepted score. At the end I had 32 schools to apply to, so a bunch of safe bets covering the board.

It resulted in 32 apps, 10 interviews, and 2 acceptances so far. I have average stats and also withdrew from most places after first 2 acceptances.

 

[Barcu]

Your ECs are solid and your MCAT is outstanding. A good explanation for your junior year slip will have you set up to apply anywhere you would like. I do believe you are competitive at any school in the country. I started my own search by choosing cities I might like to live in, and then just looking at every school there (they tended to be major cities with several schools).

I would still apply broadly. Especially when applying to top schools, things don't always work out. I think you can apply to a number of them, but also make sure to include some lower ranked schools and your state schools (though Cali doesn't help as much as some other states).

Word of warning: you have to make sure you put effort into your lower-ranked schools essays. If they catch any whiff of you viewing them as a "back-up," you may find yourself with a pre-interview rejection. Do your research.

 

[eefen]

First off, congrats on your score! That's awesome. Also, you're ECs look great as well. Your GPA is definitely a bit lower, but by no means dismal.

As far as school selection goes: if you haven't, by the MSAR. Sit down and weed through it. Obviously, your MCAT won't be a limiting factor in selecting schools. The only problem with a high MCAT is that it can, in some cases, come back to bite you in the butt - as mentioned above, if you play your cards wrong, some schools might think that you are just "using them" for a safety school and auto-reject you. Just something to be aware of.

But anyway. Go through the MSAR, glance at the average stats, mission statement, general curriculum set up, etc. There are around ~150+ or so US MD schools. This time around, you can try and weed them down to maybe 30-40+ choices or so. Don't shy away from applying to top schools, but don't only apply to top schools. Have a decent spread - maybe 1/3 top, 1/3 middle, 1/3 "low" tier schools. Note, though, that "prestige" and "rank" fails to really matter outside of the top 10-15 schools or so. After that, it's more of a matter if how you "fit" into the culture/goals/mission of the school. For example, a school with a heavy primary care emphasis might reject you if all you talk about is research, etc., in your personal statement.

Once you've narrowed it down, just go to each schools website. Figure out what you're looking for in a school - do you like a more stratified grading system? P/F? PBL? Lecture? Do you want to make sure lectures are recorded? Where are the schools? Do you want to live there for the next 4+ years? What's the cost of living like? Use these and other factors to try and narrow it down to ~15 schools.

Again, good luck and congrats.

 

[chemsmith]

Your ECs are solid and your MCAT is outstanding. A good explanation for your junior year slip will have you set up to apply anywhere you would like. I do believe you are competitive at any school in the country. I started my own search by choosing cities I might like to live in, and then just looking at every school there (they tended to be major cities with several schools).

I would still apply broadly. Especially when applying to top schools, things don't always work out. I think you can apply to a number of them, but also make sure to include some lower ranked schools and your state schools (though Cali doesn't help as much as some other states).

Word of warning: you have to make sure you put effort into your lower-ranked schools essays. If they catch any whiff of you viewing them as a "back-up," you may find yourself with a pre-interview rejection. Do your research.

Yeah, they are good at sniffing out the fakers. Learned the 'hard way'.

 

[JackyLin]

Thanks for the replies! They are all really helpful. So it's sure that I should be applying to a decent spread, but what defines a school to be on the low/med end?

 

[anguisette]

Thanks for the replies! They are all really helpful. So it's sure that I should be applying to a decent spread, but what defines a school to be on the low/med end?

If your LizzyM score is significantly above a school's averages, consider that a potential school that thinks you'll treat them as a "back up."

 

[JackyLin]

If your LizzyM score is significantly above a school's averages, consider that a potential school that thinks you'll treat them as a "back up."

That's the thing, with how Lizzy M score works, I have 78.1 score, and the chart considers most schools except WUSL as safety...and I know there's no way in hell that's true.

 

[anguisette]

That's the thing, with how Lizzy M score works, I have 78.1 score, and the chart considers most schools except WUSL as safety...and I know there's no way in hell that's true.

Most people look at about 1 - 2 points around their LizzyM score. Yours is going to be skewed because your MCAT score is so high. I'm just going to throw some raw numbers out there, but say somewhere at like 74+ is a "reach", 71-74 is a bit of a "target" school, and any school you apply to that's 70 or below to be ones that will think you're treating them as a safety.

 

[shahcoco]

So I have recently received my 3rd retake on my MCAT, and its a very exciting 42. I had been doing some speculations on possible schools to apply with my previous stats of cGPA/sGPA as 3.51/3.45 and 33 MCAT, but now that I got a 42 I think that opens a few more doors despite the same below-average-GPA.

Wow. Best of luck to you, your most recent MCAT score is awesome! What did you do differently after the first two attempts that you feel made the biggest impact on your best score?

 

[somethingdeep]

Wow. Best of luck to you, your most recent MCAT score is awesome! What did you do differently after the first two attempts that you feel made the biggest impact on your best score?

Seriously! How on earth did you go from a 29 to a 42? That's awesome

 

[LizzyM]

My personal opinion here: base your LizzyM score on the average of your 3 MCAT attempts rather than your best score alone.

(42+34+29)/3= 35 + 3.51(10)= 70.1 which vastly changes the landscape.

 

[JackyLin]

My personal opinion here: base your LizzyM score on the average of your 3 MCAT attempts rather than your best score alone.

(42+34+29)/3= 35 + 3.51(10)= 70.1 which vastly changes the landscape.

That does significantly changes the scope. Then by that standard my target schools would be 68-72 range?

P.S. I have thought about it but wasn't sure, so adcom do view the three scores as more of an average of the overall achievement?

 

[Barcu]

That does significantly changes the scope. Then by that standard my target schools would be 68-72 range?

P.S. I have thought about it but wasn't sure, so adcom do view the three scores as more of an average of the overall achievement?

All three scores are there on your app, so it may be a little hard to determine how each school will view it, and it will vary by school.

There is a list floating around that has the "official" policy of schools. Some schools say they will look at the most recent, some say they will look at the best overall, and some say that they will take the best subsection of each test you have taken. Since all scores are there, I'm a bit skeptical that schools would just gloss over previous attempts, but your 42 should stand out, especially since the other two were from a couple years ago.

Most schools seemed to weigh the latest one the most. So while averaging them may make sense in terms of calculating some LizzyM scores, I think that you can feel ok with throwing a couple extra reach schools in there just to see.

 

[NickNaylor]

What I did:

1) Buy the MSAR
2) Write down any schools at which your numbers are at or above the median
3) Add any "reach schools" to the list that you're interested in applying to
4) Add any and all schools at which your receive an in-state advantage
5) Eliminate schools that are structured in a way that you don't like (e.g., PBL vs. traditional curricula, graded vs. P/F, etc.)
6) Eliminate schools in bad locations
7) Eliminate schools at which you have very little chance of getting accepted

Points 5-7 are done as necessary to get to a list that you can manage and actually finish all of the apps to. If you're a less competitive applicant, you have less leeway in eliminating schools from your list. If you're a stronger applicant, you have a little more freedom and can be more selective.

This is by no means the best way to do things, but it at least gets you a decent list of schools that you can spend a little more time expanding or whittling down if you have nowhere else to start.

 

[Narmerguy]

Moving to WAMC.