Looking for help with my school list

[HopelessDreamer]

Thanks everyone!

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[solitarius]

Way too many schools. You need to make some hard choices cutting from Reach + CA + Emory + Brown + some public OOS schools. Even with riveting essays, the numbers (i.e., MCAT) are going to filter you out, sorry to say.

 

[HopelessDreamer]

Way too many schools. You need to make some hard choices cutting from Reach + CA + Emory + Brown + some public OOS schools. Even with flawless essays, the numbers (i.e., MCAT) are going to filter you out, sorry to say.

Thank you for your input. I definitely plan on cutting from the reaches as I know my MCAT will severely limit me with them. Are there any specific OOS schools that you'd advise against? I'm not too familiar with how selective schools are with their OOS applicants.

 

[solitarius]

Well you know... that's where you have to do the actual research. Unfortunately, my forte/experience is in the West Coast/Western States region. But you'd want to see what their policy is about OOS. Some won't accept any OOS at all (e.g., UMass); some will accept OOS with a connection to the state (Utah); some will only accept people in certain categories of certain nearby states (Nevada); some will only accept OOS people if they fit limited criteria consistent with their mission (Washington), etc., etc., etc. Many are biased to OOS applicants in their region. Anyways, you get the drill.

For Cali, I'm pretty sure Irvine likes SoCal people, Riverside likes IE/UCR alums, and Davis prefers people in the Central Valley/very rural NorCal.

 

[HopelessDreamer]

Well you know... that's where you have to do the actual research. Unfortunately, my forte/experience is in the West Coast/Western States region. But you'd want to see what their policy is about OOS. Some won't accept any OOS at all (e.g., UMass); some will accept OOS with a connection to the state (Utah); some will only accept people in certain categories of certain nearby states (Nevada); some will only accept OOS people who fit limited criteria in their mission (Washington). Many are biased to OOS applicants in their region. Anyways, you get the drill.

For Cali, I'm pretty sure Irvine likes SoCal people, Riverside likes IE/UCR alums, and Davis prefers people in the Central Valley/very rural NorCal.

I've already eliminated schools that I found to have high IS bias. For the most part, the ones I listed seemed at least moderately OOS friendly. Also, you suggested cutting Brown from my list. Any specific reason for that? I believe their average MCAT is a 33

 

[theSmurfette]

University of Arkansas is only accepts OOS students who have strong ties to the state. Even then, it's a stretch for an acceptance. I was born and raised just a few miles from the Arkansas state line and had absolutely no chance of an acceptance.

 

[theSmurfette]

And Tulane is very committed to its mission of helping the under-served. Your MCAT is low but above their 30 cutoff. If you don't have significant community service that you haven't listed, I think Tulane is a reach.

 

[WillburCobb]

I think Tulane is reasonable, I was accepted there with a MUCH lower GPA, same MCAT and VERY OOS. Most of Brown's matriculants come from their BS/MD program.

 

[HopelessDreamer]

University of Arkansas is only accepts OOS students who have strong ties to the state. Even then, it's a stretch for an acceptance. I was born and raised just a few miles from the Arkansas state line and had absolutely no chance of an acceptance.

I was worried about this being an issue. I have a lot of family in Little Rock so that's a main reason that I am interested in it, but I know that their OOS acceptance rate is low so I'm not sure if it's a smart move to apply there.

And Tulane is very committed to its mission of helping the under-served. Your MCAT is low but above their 30 cutoff. If you don't have significant community service that you haven't listed, I think Tulane is a reach.

Good to know. I'll have to look more into this and possibly reconsider my chances there.

I think Tulane is reasonable, I was accepted there with a MUCH lower GPA, same MCAT and VERY OOS. Most of Brown's matriculants come from their BS/MD program.

Not to be nosy, but did you have a lot of community service?

 

[WillburCobb]

Not to be nosy, but did you have a lot of community service?

A fair amount. I talked about some tutoring I did throughout high school in my PS (didn't list it on AMCAS though), I had been volunteering with hospice for ~ a year, I had some pretty minimal stuff through my pre-med organization, ~100 hours working with a high school band program, and ~75 hours volunteering at a nursing home from when I started college.

 

[HopelessDreamer]

Does anyone else have advice? PS: I'm definitely taking some of the reaches off my list, I just haven't spent that much time looking at that yet. I'm trying to focus more on the ones that I have an okay shot at. Are there any schools that you would recommend I look into?

 

[Goro]

You need to practical, not scatter shot. If you have MSAR Online (which is your firend) note the OOS numbers at individual schhol. You're not getting into U AR, for example.

For your reach schools, they'll appreciate the donations in the from of your app fees. Allow to quote the exceptionally wise gyngyn
“Dream schools are like dream girls: better in the abstract than reality”.

Goro suggests:
Rush
Rochester
Duke (maybe)
Baylor (maybe)
Vanderbilt (maybe)

• Oakland University
• Drexel
• Virginia Tech
• George Washington University
• Albany
• Virginia Commonwealth
• Tulane
• Penn State
• Creighton
• Brown
• Jefferson
• Temple
• University of Miami
• Wake Forest
• Tufts
• Dartmouth
• Tulane
• Boston University
• USC
• UCLA
• UCD