How to Pick Schools?

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benjaminjado

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Could someone please provide a list of schools that are really strong but possibly overshadowed by the big-name schools like Harvard and Stanford and Hopkins? I'm trying to choose schools that I want to apply to, and although I know there's no such thing as a safety school, there are schools that are easier to get into than the popular big-name ones, and I'd like to find several of those that I could be excited about going to.

Background: 4.0 GPA, 41R MCAT, successful experience with Teach For America in the worst middle school in the state, summer doing medical work in Bolivia, two years of biweekly clinic volunteering, three years as a TA while holding other jobs, study abroad in a Medical Practice & Policy program, from a medically underserved area and federally-designated low-income community, gay, high on compassion, yada yada yada.

So far, I've got Penn State and UPitt because I'm from Pennsylvania, as well as UMich. Others?

Thanks for your help.

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What do you mean by "really strong?" Are you referring to research, reputation, quality of hospitals? I'm also from PA, you can check out the schools I applied to in my mdapps (most are within < 6 hours driving distance from where I live, in case you want to stay close to home as well.)
 
Go through and identify schools at which your numbers are competitive (In your case, you can probably step that step). If you want to be sure to get in, apply broadly. Don't stick with the top. With your stats, don't be afraid to shoot for the top.

Then pick and choose based on what's important to you. Grading system and geographic location are going to have the biggest impact on your everyday experience, so they're probably pretty important. Cost is huge. Reputation may be important to you as well. In accordance with my academic stats, I considered the following, in order of importance:

-P/F grading
-Geographic location
-Cost
-Pretty much everything else

Apply to reach schools, those within your range, and those schools with averages that you exceed. Make sure to have the most schools in the "within your range" category.
 
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With those stats you can probably apply anywhere you want. With that being said there are non academic factors to consider (fin aid, proximity to home, in state, family/so and how it will impact them etc).
 
Thank you for the advice! The grading system and location are really important to me, and I wasn't even thinking about those exactly.

Is there a list of P/F schools around here somewhere? I've learned in a P/F environment before and it prompted such collaboration like I've never seen.
 
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