School List Thoughts

[Jinglefoot]

I think I have this narrowed down fairly well, but let me know if there are any egregious oversights.

cGPA: 3.58
sGPA: 3.55
MCAT: BS: 10, VR: 7, PS: 10 27
BS: 15, VR: 11, PS:10 36 taken 6 months later

ECs:
-4 year varsity athlete, all conference recognition, postgraduate scholarship award, other misc. recognition
-640 hours research, no pubs, multiple poster presentations (1 at international conference), honors for capstone thesis based on work
-100 hours volunteering as part of football and in a large non-profit
-approx 50 hours shadowing, multiple specialties, includes primary care
- 1400 hours clinical research, ongoing, involves a few hours a week at IR for biopsies, possible pubs during cycle

I'm a reapplicant. I applied prior to getting my initial MCAT score with a full list of schools like an idiot. Really poor choice. Did not complete any secondaries. A lot of improvement to app since then.

Huge Reaches: Case, Pitt, Duke
Reaches: OSU, Emory
Targets: Cincinnati, Toledo, Jefferson, Wake Forest, Tufts, Dartmouth
"Safeties": VCU, EVMS, Wright State, Indiana, Kentucky, Virginia Tech (aware of small class size and big research emphasis)

Thank you in advance!

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[gyngyn]

It is difficult to determine good targets when there are big disparities in an application.
A few more schools with a regional preference are probably needed in your case.

 

[Jinglefoot]

If money is a limiting factor here would you just drop those big reaches to fit those? Realistically I can only afford 16-17 max.

 

[Jinglefoot]

Went ahead and dropped Duke for MCW and swapped Rush for Tufts. Anyone else have thoughts on this? I realize I'm not a stellar applicant, but also don't want to low ball this.

 

[WedgeDawg]

Bear with me here: I'm trying something new out:

Note for you: your application is interesting in that you are a reapplicant and you have multiple MCATs with a very large jump between them. For the purposes of this system, I have averaged your MCAT scores to a 32 and have not taken into account the reapplicant status. You also say that you can only apply to 16-17 schools; if this is the case, you should really remove all Category 1 and 2 schools and all but 2-3 of your category 3 ones.

Your Applicant Rating System Score is
66
D Level
Apply to 30 schools
Apply to:
0% Category 1 schools
5% Category 2 schools
15% Category 3 schools
80% Category 4/5 schools
Apply to Category 6 schools
Possibly apply to Category 7 schools


Category 1 (TOP): Harvard, Stanford, Hopkins, UCSF, Penn, WashU, Yale, Columbia, Duke, Chicago

Category 2 (HIGH): Michigan, UCLA*, NYU, UWash*, Vanderbilt, Pitt, UCSD*, Cornell, Northwestern, Sinai, Baylor*, UNC*, Mayo, Case Western

Category 3 (MID): Emory, UTSW*, UVA, Ohio State, USC-Keck, Rochester, Dartmouth, Einstein, Wake Forest

Category 4 (LOW): Stony Brook, Vermont, Rush, SLU, VCU, Creighton, EVMS, NYMC, Albany, Commonwealth, Florida IU, Loyola/Stritch, RFU, SUNY Downst, VA Tech, Loma Linda, Quinnipiac, Tulane, Oakland, Western MI, Cooper, Hofstra, MC Wisconsin

Category 5 (STATE): Your state schools if they do not appear elsewhere on this list - ALWAYS APPLY TO ALL OF THESE

Category 6 (LOW YIELD): BU, Brown, Georgetown, Temple, Jefferson, GWU, Drexel, Penn State, Tufts

Category 7 (DO): DO Schools

* indicates regional preference - do not apply to these schools if you are not in their preferred region

Note: Because I'm 1) bored 2) procrastinating 3) on a very long bus ride, I have decided to try and come up with a way for applicants to quickly categorize themselves and figure out which schools to apply to and in what proportions. This methodology takes into account all parts of an application that are immediately available and under an applicant's control. This system does not take into account subjective parts of the application such as the personal statement, letters of recommendation, secondary essays, or the interview. It is not meant to determine where someone will get in - it is to figure out how to optimally apply.

Anyone who decides to read this, please give me input as to 1) the distribution of schools, 2) the schools in each category, and 3) anything else you can think of. I'll make a thread with complete methodology later if people seem interested.

 

[Jinglefoot]

I also forgot to mention I'm an Ohio resident. I'll tailor those OOS selections to fit your suggestions. Don't have any obsessions with donating money to schools that are out of reach!

 

[Australopithekus]

Bear with me here: I'm trying something new out:

Note for you: your application is interesting in that you are a reapplicant and you have multiple MCATs with a very large jump between them. For the purposes of this system, I have averaged your MCAT scores to a 32 and have not taken into account the reapplicant status. You also say that you can only apply to 16-17 schools; if this is the case, you should really remove all Category 1 and 2 schools and all but 2-3 of your category 3 ones.

Your Applicant Rating System Score is
66
D Level
Apply to 30 schools
Apply to:
0% Category 1 schools
5% Category 2 schools
15% Category 3 schools
80% Category 4/5 schools
Apply to Category 6 schools
Possibly apply to Category 7 schools


Category 1 (TOP): Harvard, Stanford, Hopkins, UCSF, Penn, WashU, Yale, Columbia, Duke, Chicago

Category 2 (HIGH): Michigan, UCLA*, NYU, UWash*, Vanderbilt, Pitt, UCSD*, Cornell, Northwestern, Sinai, Baylor*, UNC*, Mayo, Case Western

Category 3 (MID): Emory, UTSW*, UVA, Ohio State, USC-Keck, Rochester, Dartmouth, Einstein, Wake Forest

Category 4 (LOW): Stony Brook, Vermont, Rush, SLU, VCU, Creighton, EVMS, NYMC, Albany, Commonwealth, Florida IU, Loyola/Stritch, RFU, SUNY Downst, VA Tech, Loma Linda, Quinnipiac, Tulane, Oakland, Western MI, Cooper, Hofstra, MC Wisconsin

Category 5 (STATE): Your state schools if they do not appear elsewhere on this list - ALWAYS APPLY TO ALL OF THESE

Category 6 (LOW YIELD): BU, Brown, Georgetown, Temple, Jefferson, GWU, Drexel, Penn State, Tufts

Category 7 (DO): DO Schools

* indicates regional preference - do not apply to these schools if you are not in their preferred region

Note: Because I'm 1) bored 2) procrastinating 3) on a very long bus ride, I have decided to try and come up with a way for applicants to quickly categorize themselves and figure out which schools to apply to and in what proportions. This methodology takes into account all parts of an application that are immediately available and under an applicant's control. This system does not take into account subjective parts of the application such as the personal statement, letters of recommendation, secondary essays, or the interview. It is not meant to determine where someone will get in - it is to figure out how to optimally apply.

Anyone who decides to read this, please give me input as to 1) the distribution of schools, 2) the schools in each category, and 3) anything else you can think of. I'll make a thread with complete methodology later if people seem interested.

@wedgedog, I was thinking about making a recommendation system like this, but you beat me to it. I'm curious how yours works; are you willing to post your algorithm?

 

[WedgeDawg]

@wedgedog, I was thinking about making a recommendation system like this, but you beat me to it. I'm curious how yours works; are you willing to post your algorithm?

I'll be posting a complete methodology thread in the near future. I initially came up with this on a google doc and manually input/changed everything when I was tweaking weightings and such. Then, when I was happy with the actual numerical values and formulas, I wrote a python script which I've been using to evaluate people's WAMC threads and see the feedback from members on my recommendations. Now that everything seems to be working well, I've been creating an excel document that I will distribute so people can rate themselves or other people with it, and when the excel doc is done, I'll be posting a complete methodology thread that explains everything!