need advice on schools to apply to!

[wetlightning]

hey guys,

i'm trying to narrow down my final list and i've studied MSAR/USnews/other sources for a long time, so i have a pretty good idea of where the schools stand in comparison to my stats (3.91/hopefully >30 on MCAT)...but i just wanted to ask you guys if you think i'm missing some safeties or reach schools that i should include...want to have the best possible shot of getting in. any advice would be HUGELY appreciated!!!!! please please please

i'm a tx resident, so i'm doing TMDSAS (checking UT-Houson, Galveston, Southwestern, San Antonio)

for AMCAS:
Duke, Harvard, JHU, Baylor, Wake Forest, Boston U., NYU, Brown, UPitt, UChi, Vandy, Georgetown, UPenn, UMich, Northwestern, UVa, Dartmouth, Stanford
(possibly Tulane/Albert Einstein...depending on my MCAT scores)

do you think i have too many top-tier schools? i had figured that i would hopefully match somewhere in TX, and that would be both a good safety and a school i'd be willing to attend. thanks so much for your help!!

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[Medikit]

hey guys,

i'm trying to narrow down my final list and i've studied MSAR/USnews/other sources for a long time, so i have a pretty good idea of where the schools stand in comparison to my stats (3.91/hopefully >30 on MCAT)...but i just wanted to ask you guys if you think i'm missing some safeties or reach schools that i should include...want to have the best possible shot of getting in. any advice would be HUGELY appreciated!!!!! please please please

i'm a tx resident, so i'm doing TMDSAS (checking UT-Houson, Galveston, Southwestern, San Antonio)

for AMCAS:
Duke, Harvard, JHU, Baylor, Wake Forest, Boston U., NYU, Brown, UPitt, UChi, Vandy, Georgetown, UPenn, UMich, Northwestern, UVa, Dartmouth, Stanford
(possibly Tulane/Albert Einstein...depending on my MCAT scores)

do you think i have too many top-tier schools? i had figured that i would hopefully match somewhere in TX, and that would be both a good safety and a school i'd be willing to attend. thanks so much for your help!!

I like your list of schools. You're right, it is top heay. I think that you might want to apply to less schools at the top and apply to more in the middle depending on your MCAT. I don't know what your post-high school experiences are either.

 

[Ifellinapothole]

hey guys,

i'm trying to narrow down my final list and i've studied MSAR/USnews/other sources for a long time, so i have a pretty good idea of where the schools stand in comparison to my stats (3.91/hopefully >30 on MCAT)...but i just wanted to ask you guys if you think i'm missing some safeties or reach schools that i should include...want to have the best possible shot of getting in. any advice would be HUGELY appreciated!!!!! please please please

i'm a tx resident, so i'm doing TMDSAS (checking UT-Houson, Galveston, Southwestern, San Antonio)

for AMCAS:
Duke, Harvard, JHU, Baylor, Wake Forest, Boston U., NYU, Brown, UPitt, UChi, Vandy, Georgetown, UPenn, UMich, Northwestern, UVa, Dartmouth, Stanford
(possibly Tulane/Albert Einstein...depending on my MCAT scores)

do you think i have too many top-tier schools? i had figured that i would hopefully match somewhere in TX, and that would be both a good safety and a school i'd be willing to attend. thanks so much for your help!!

You make me sick...you and everyone like you on this site with your stellar qualifications. Why not just humor me and apply to St. George's?

i'm kidding (sort of). You're fine, you'll get in no problem. Might as well apply to a rosalind franklin or drexel to be 150% certain.

 

[wetlightning]

You make me sick...you and everyone like you on this site with your stellar qualifications. Why not just humor me and apply to St. George's?

i'm kidding (sort of). You're fine, you'll get in no problem. Might as well apply to a rosalind franklin or drexel to be 150% certain.

hahah..sorry....but you never know, i could have BOMBED the mcat...that's the uncertainty that's killing me

i thought i would add ros frank/drexel if my scores are below 30...any other mid to lower tiers i haven't thought of?

thank you guys SO much for your responses...appreciate the help

 

[wetlightning]

bump!

 

[doc05]

with your gpa, an mcat score less than 34 will make your grades look inflated. and that is a bad thing. where do you go to school?

 

[LadyBulldog]

hey! i have a similar gpa and am also waiting on the mcats (i'd expect a 30-35 based on practice exams) and here are my schools:

Harvard, Yale (my undergrad), Duke, JHU, Columbia, Wash U
UMich (born there), UPenn, UCONN (my state), Vandy, Stanford,
case western, BU, NYU, UPitt

i also want to add more lower tier schools, but I really think I have a good shot with UCONN and with the financial breaks of being in-state, i think i'd go there over any other lower tier school so.....

wetlightning, i'm sure you'll do fine (on mcats and med school admission!)

 

[wetlightning]

with your gpa, an mcat score less than 34 will make your grades look inflated. and that is a bad thing. where do you go to school?

hey,

i go to wake forest...so definitely NO grade inflation there...deflation, in fact

anyway, i had a really tough courseload this past semester, so that's why i'm kinda worried about the mcat...i thought it was really hard when i took it, that's why i'm not sure (seemed more like a kaplan test than an aamc test to me)

 

[wetlightning]

wetlightning, i'm sure you'll do fine (on mcats and med school admission!)

THANK YOU! your list seems very similar to mine...i had a 31-35 range on kaplan tests and 36-37 on aamc's, so i've got a similar range to you. hopefully we'll be just fine! best of luck with apps

 

[amand0r]

THANK YOU! your list seems very similar to mine...i had a 31-35 range on kaplan tests and 36-37 on aamc's, so i've got a similar range to you. hopefully we'll be just fine! best of luck with apps

you guys have similar lists to mine also....

I added Drexel and my two other state schools MSUCOM and UofM, also I am applying to my undergrad.. Case Western

I had conisdered applying to jefferson and/or Ohio state, but I'm conserned that they give too much in state preference...

Other than that, I'm not sure of any other Mid-tier schools

What would NYMC be considered?

 

[caffeine37]

How many schools should I apply to?

 

[gujuDoc]

hey guys,

i'm trying to narrow down my final list and i've studied MSAR/USnews/other sources for a long time, so i have a pretty good idea of where the schools stand in comparison to my stats (3.91/hopefully >30 on MCAT)...but i just wanted to ask you guys if you think i'm missing some safeties or reach schools that i should include...want to have the best possible shot of getting in. any advice would be HUGELY appreciated!!!!! please please please

i'm a tx resident, so i'm doing TMDSAS (checking UT-Houson, Galveston, Southwestern, San Antonio)

for AMCAS:
Duke, Harvard, JHU, Baylor, Wake Forest, Boston U., NYU, Brown, UPitt, UChi, Vandy, Georgetown, UPenn, UMich, Northwestern, UVa, Dartmouth, Stanford
(possibly Tulane/Albert Einstein...depending on my MCAT scores)

do you think i have too many top-tier schools? i had figured that i would hopefully match somewhere in TX, and that would be both a good safety and a school i'd be willing to attend. thanks so much for your help!!

Some not so top tier schools to keep in mind are NYMC, SLU, Albany, GWU, and Rosalind Franklin. Oh I would also consider Ohio State University, its a top school but with decent gpa and MCAT stats. Meaning, that I believe 3.6 is actually closer to their average GPA, and MCAT I'm not too sure about.

However, if you get a 34 or 35, like you did on your diags, I'm sure your list looks good depending on extracurriculars etc. If you do end up getting a high MCAT score, are you going to consider other top tiers like Yale?????? Just curious. Also, are you hoping to get into one of the NC schools since you go there, or do you want to go elsewhere????? I'm just being curious. I would go ahead and add the schools I listed in the paragraph above, because those are good safety schools. Well the first five schools are safety schools. Ohio state, I threw in, because they are very out of state friendly for one of the more competitive schools, and with decent stats. I know of quite a few students whom have gotten in there in the past 2 or so years.

 

[gujuDoc]

you guys have similar lists to mine also....

I added Drexel and my two other state schools MSUCOM and UofM, also I am applying to my undergrad.. Case Western

I had conisdered applying to jefferson and/or Ohio state, but I'm conserned that they give too much in state preference...

Other than that, I'm not sure of any other Mid-tier schools

What would NYMC be considered?

NYMC would be lower tier school. Ohio state actually has given about 80 out of the 210 seats to out of state students. so that's almost 40% of the class that is from out of state.

 

[gujuDoc]

How many schools should I apply to?

On average most applicants apply anywhere from 10-15, with 3-5 being the bare minimum, since that's about the number of med schools in many states, except those like NY which has well above 5.

 

[nicholasblonde]

just make sure u apply to at least 3 fallbacks--I screwed up this app cycle by applying to Yale, Stanford, Dartmouth, NYU, Cornell, and University of Missouri...of these I was rejected pre-interview from Stanford, Dartmouth, Yale; waitlisted at Cornell and NYU; and REJECTED from my own home state med school where I've also been an undergrad for the past 5 years...just make sure you have plenty of fallbacks in case your fallbacks aren't there for u to fallback on!!! Now I'm in a precarious position--wait listed at 2 schools w/no acceptances even though I've got a 34/3.98 SUCKS. I'm ready to go to school this fall--but it might not happen if my waitlist schools don't come through~!

 

[wetlightning]

If you do end up getting a high MCAT score, are you going to consider other top tiers like Yale?????? Just curious. Also, are you hoping to get into one of the NC schools since you go there, or do you want to go elsewhere????? I'm just being curious.

hey, thanks for the advice! i'll definitely be adding schools after i see what i get on the mcat

i haven't really thought about some of the other top tiers, cause i was thinking about places i'd like to live, and newhaven was not one of them...i've heard kinda nasty things about it...i would love to end up in chicago or ann arbor (since i lived there before). also, i know how many highly qualified candidates are out there, and even if i do well on the mcat, i dunno about applying to so many top-tiers...it seems to me like this whole process is such a crapshoot that you can get rejected from a place where you think you have a shot, while getting in to a total reach school...we'll see though..i'll definitely keep you updated!

about NC, i'm applying to wake mainly as a solid school that i think i might have a shot at, as well as that i'd be willing to attend. but i'd kind of like to move on from winston-salem after 4 years there...duke is another good choice, but i'm not SUCH a huge fan of durham...not applying to unc cause it'd be insanely hard to get in out-of-state. basically, i'd kinda like to get of NC, but we'll see how it goes. of course, if i got into duke, i would NOT complain

how are your choices going??

 

[LadyBulldog]

i haven't really thought about some of the other top tiers, cause i was thinking about places i'd like to live, and newhaven was not one of them...i've heard kinda nasty things about it...i would love to end up in chicago or ann arbor (since i lived there before). also, i know how many highly qualified candidates are out there, and even if i do well on the mcat, i dunno about applying to so many top-tiers...it seems to me like this whole process is such a crapshoot that you can get rejected from a place where you think you have a shot, while getting in to a total reach school...we'll see though..i'll definitely keep you updated!

hey, new haven is actually pretty nice and this is coming from a girl born and raised in ann arbor so..... but i guess i'm a bit defensive about my undergrad

i think i might want to add some lower tier schools after i see my MCAT, but i was thinking what my cut-off would be. Like 35+ I don't add schools and 34- I do??? I dunno, what are you thinking?

 

[LadyBulldog]

just make sure u apply to at least 3 fallbacks--I screwed up this app cycle by applying to Yale, Stanford, Dartmouth, NYU, Cornell, and University of Missouri...of these I was rejected pre-interview from Stanford, Dartmouth, Yale; waitlisted at Cornell and NYU; and REJECTED from my own home state med school where I've also been an undergrad for the past 5 years...just make sure you have plenty of fallbacks in case your fallbacks aren't there for u to fallback on!!! Now I'm in a precarious position--wait listed at 2 schools w/no acceptances even though I've got a 34/3.98 SUCKS. I'm ready to go to school this fall--but it might not happen if my waitlist schools don't come through~!

wow, did you ask why you were rejected pre-interview? Those are some awfully high numbers!

 

[LadyBulldog]

Some not so top tier schools to keep in mind are NYMC, SLU, Albany, GWU, and Rosalind Franklin.

gujudoc, are you suggesting adding ALL of those safeties?....and GWU is george washington, right? It's a safety?

and out of curioisity, r u applying this cycle or r u in med school already?--i see your posts everywhere and u seem so experienced, but for some reason i can't remember where you're at

 

[amand0r]

NYMC would be lower tier school. Ohio state actually has given about 80 out of the 210 seats to out of state students. so that's almost 40% of the class that is from out of state.

Thanks!! I'm adding Ohio State and keeping NYMC... But I'm still hoping for a UofM acceptance. Being in Ohio these past 3 years is tough for a born and bred Michigan girl

 

[wetlightning]

wow, did you ask why you were rejected pre-interview? Those are some awfully high numbers!

FOR REAL! that is depressing to hear! oh my...

 

[wetlightning]

hey, new haven is actually pretty nice and this is coming from a girl born and raised in ann arbor so..... but i guess i'm a bit defensive about my undergrad

HAHAH...sorry! i completely understand...i figured you'd respond to that

i'm so confused about what to do...i think if i have a 33 or below, i'll add some more schools...if not, i'll stick w/ what i have (maybe add emory/cornell/ohio state/ros franklin/drexel, etc.)

 

[gujuDoc]

Thanks!! I'm adding Ohio State and keeping NYMC... But I'm still hoping for a UofM acceptance. Being in Ohio these past 3 years is tough for a born and bred Michigan girl

When you say UofM you mean U Mich ann arbor correct?????? Just checking cuz some refer to UM as U of Miami. But seeing that you mentioned being a Mich kinda girl, I'm assuming you mean top tier UMich. I've heard awesome things from a girl that did her MPH there. She said the school was awesome but she didn't want to move back into Snow and cold weather.

 

[gujuDoc]

HAHAH...sorry! i completely understand...i figured you'd respond to that

i'm so confused about what to do...i think if i have a 33 or below, i'll add some more schools...if not, i'll stick w/ what i have (maybe add emory/cornell/ohio state/ros franklin/drexel, etc.)

I'm going to do a masters first, but I wanted to take the MCAT cuz I wanted to do an SMP and they take MCAT scores.

When I do apply, however, my list will include the four florida schools since its my home state, as well as Rosalind Franklin, NYMC, Albany, Drexel, as well as a couple of out of reach schools. I might also include Temple and Ohio State and a couple of other NY schools, primarily Albert Einstein. But we'll see.

 

[amand0r]

When you say UofM you mean U Mich ann arbor correct?????? Just checking cuz some refer to UM as U of Miami. But seeing that you mentioned being a Mich kinda girl, I'm assuming you mean top tier UMich. I've heard awesome things from a girl that did her MPH there. She said the school was awesome but she didn't want to move back into Snow and cold weather.

Yeah, I meant Uof Michigan..I know it's a good program...much better than Michigan State and I have scholarship money waiting for me if I go back in state so I'm really hoping to get in there