Which top ten school(s) did you apply to, and why?

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Which USNWR top ten school(s) did you apply to, and why?

  • Harvard

    Votes: 157 51.3%

  • JHU

    Votes: 110 35.9%

  • UPenn

    Votes: 151 49.3%

  • UCSF

    Votes: 115 37.6%

  • WuSTL

    Votes: 97 31.7%

  • Duke

    Votes: 75 24.5%

  • Stanford

    Votes: 129 42.2%

  • UWash

    Votes: 43 14.1%

  • Yale

    Votes: 128 41.8%

  • Baylor

    Votes: 56 18.3%

  • Columbia

    Votes: 133 43.5%

  • UCLA

    Votes: 88 28.8%

  • UMich

    Votes: 94 30.7%

  • All of the above

    Votes: 4 1.3%

  • None.

    Votes: 19 6.2%
  • Total voters
    306
UCSF & I had no business applying & they weren't shy about letting me know 🙂

I'm an optimist & I honestly thought I had a chance, I mean they are averages after all
 
Rafa said:
Since we spend so much time talking about "the list", I was curious about how many of us actually applied to one (or more) of the schools.
Click to expand...

You cannot call it the "top ten" and then list 13 schools. There are only 10 in the top 10, by definition.
 
Law2Doc said:
You cannot call it the "top ten" and then list 13 schools. There are only 10 in the top 10, by definition.
Click to expand...


Yeah I was thinking the same thing. Ruined my whole day. Thanks for nothing, Rafa.
 
Law2Doc said:
You cannot call it the "top ten" and then list 13 schools. There are only 10 in the top 10, by definition.
Click to expand...

The list changes from year to year. Since no one here applied for the class of 2011, I incorporated rankings from both this year and last. 🙂
 
Rafa said:
The list changes from year to year. Since no one here applied for the class of 2011, I incorporated rankings from both this year and last. 🙂
Click to expand...

The second the USNews hit the streets, some of those schools no longer get to be called "top 10", no matter when folks applied. Sort of like saying your clothes are clean because they were when you put them on this morning. 😎
 
There are probably 15-20 schools that call themselves top 10. Pitt, for example, says they're a top 10 school (because of NIH money).

Columbia, on the other hand, doesn't deserve to call themselves top 10. As soon as usnews got wind of my admission, they stopped the presses and dropped them to 11.
 
all of them except JHU because it's scary there, and Duke because their secondary was ridiculous.
 
Law2Doc said:
The second the USNews hit the streets, some of those schools no longer get to be called "top 10", no matter when folks applied. Sort of like saying your clothes are clean because they were when you put them on this morning. 😎
Click to expand...

Well in this poll, these here are the top ten. Or top eleven, if you go by this year's USNews report. 😀
 
Rafa said:
Well in this poll, these here are the top ten. Or top eleven, if you go by this year's USNews report. 😀
Click to expand...

Ok, perhaps you should add an "other" category so we can list other schools in the top ten we applied to too. :idea: :laugh:
 
I applied to Harvard, UPenn and Hopkins because they were the top ranked programs for pediatrics. I applied to Duke and UMich because they were top ranked programs in my part of the country. I applied to Columbia because it had a fully funded MPH year, and I applied to Cornell because I figured if I got an interview at Columbia I could save money and interview at both places for the same plane ticket. I applied to UCSF, and I can't for the life of me imagine why-I'm not from California, and I don't particularly want to go there....
 
deuist said:
We're ten replies into the thread only one person has bothered to answer Rafa's questions. Thanks for hijacking this "can't count to ten" thread, Law2Doc.
Click to expand...

Sorrry. My bad. (But actually when you posted, we were 11 replies into the thread, unless we are using the same methodology as above. :laugh: )
 
I applied to the UCs because I live in California, as do my wife, her family, our dogs and the house. I applied to the Michigan schools because I grew up in Michigan and I still have family and friends there. I applied to Wash U because I went to grad school there and figured they might cut me some slack. (And also because they sent me a really nice form letter after the MCATs saying, "C'mon, we won't laugh at you! We think you're really cute!" Damn teases....)

Ultimately almost all of the schools I applied to were chosen based on where we'd live for the next four+ years and the relative convenience for my wife.
 
Penn - Best curriculum, city location and good geographic location for me, international opportunities, children's hospital, etc. etc. etc. etc. etc., really I could go on forever. Sadly, I am waitlisted.

Stanford - I kind of applied here as a "game" because I heard they liked to reject people fast...my friends and I wanted to see how far we could get? Then I got an interview, actually read about the school, and absolutely loved it when I interviewed, now I'm just about as enthused with their program as I am with Penn's.

Columbia - Everybody makes mistakes...I originally applied b/c i thought living in New York would be cool and I heard they were big fans of the brain. I like the brain, too.

I also applied to Duke and Yale on my AMCAS application. Then I realized how painful the Duke secondary and the year of research would be and ditched Duke. Some MD/PhD kid in my lab told me all about the trouble several of his friends who graduated from Yale Med were having with residencies (not getting in, but once they were there), so bye bye Yale.

I would have applied to Harvard, but the thought of taking more calc to meet their math requirement wasn't worth it to me.
 
I don't do cold, or places that are really really far away from Va. So that ruled out all of them except Hopkins, and even the weather there is a stretch for me.

Oh, and I wasn't really interested in the year of research thing at Duke.
 
I applied to Harvard, Penn, Yale, Columbia, and JHU... because they're all in the northeast, and I'm not goin' farther from home than that.
 
All that I applied to- interested in academic medicine.

Penn, Duke- liked the decreased preclinical time.

UMich- in-state tuition was most obvious reason.

UCSF- someone told me California was sweet. Should have tried Stanford too.

Yale- interested in curriculum.

Columbia, JHU- mistakes, don't want to live in NYC or Baltimore.

WashU- know some friends there, nothing strong for or against at first.

Harvard- at first, I'll be honest, just because it's Harvard.
 
Harvard: It's in the same neighborhood of Boston as my college, and I love the area. I've interned at the School of PUblic Health, and knew some great PIs I would want to work with for my PhD. It's Harvard.

UWash: Felt like I needed to add another school or two to AMCAS, I've always wanted to see Seattle, and I knew the secondary fee was only $35, so I went for it. Plus, this school has amazing ID research.

Columbia: Had wanted to go there for college, but couldn't afford it, so I kinda had a soft spot for the school. New York City.
 
I gave Harvard a shot b/c it is one of the four schools in my state, and I figured I might as well apply to all four. I applied to Columbia because I hear they like musicians! :laugh: And the only reason I applied to either one was because I thought my August MCAT scores were waaay better than they actually were... 😳
 
I applied to all of the California schools on the list b/c I live here, my s.o. lives and practices here, etc.

I'm really impressed with y'all ... in reality, "Top 10" is way out of my league 😛
 
Harvard - was really wanting to go to HST, kind of like how I wanted to go to cal tech for undergrad. REJECTED
UPENN - maybe could squeak into to MD/MBA. REJECTED
Columbia - new york would be sweet. REJECTED
Stanford - its in cali, biotech connections. REJECTED
JHU - #1 in BME. REJECTED
UCSF - really good school, in cali. Interviewed, REJECTED
UCLA - wanted to stay in LA. Interviewed, waitlisted 😡


Actually, come to think of it, except for the schools in cali, the only out of state schools I applied to were top 10. :laugh: Oh well. Im goin goin back back to cali cali....
 
.
 
Last edited:
Penn: Liked opportunity for any dual degree. WAITLISTED.
Stanford: I'm a legacy. REJECTED
UCSF: Wanted to do JMP. REJECTED
Yale: Liked free-for-all curriculum. REJECTED
Harvard: HST looked cool but I didn't have prereqs. WITHDREW
Hopkins: Liked the place after reading William Osler's biography. REJECTED.

I'm an indecisive person. Don't know what I want to do when I grow up. Applied to these places for the chance to be a drifter and still get a fancy diploma. Still hoping for Penn.
 
Columbia because it's in NY state and I applied to every NY state school. And I may or may not have a relative who donated some money, but not nearly enough to get them to overlook the fact that my GPA is like .3 points below their average, lol. (nah, seriously I haven't even spoken with said relative about anything)

I didn't bother with anything else because I know I'm way outta my league. So Columbia and Cornell both got applied to just by the fact that they're in NY state.
 
I applied based on how aesthetically pleasing the schools' websites were. I did similarly for UG, and it seemed to work well.
 
TheMightyAngus said:
Penn: Liked opportunity for any dual degree. WAITLISTED.
Stanford: I'm a legacy. REJECTED
UCSF: Wanted to do JMP. REJECTED
Yale: Liked free-for-all curriculum. REJECTED
Harvard: HST looked cool but I didn't have prereqs. WITHDREW
Hopkins: Liked the place after reading William Osler's biography. REJECTED.

I'm an indecisive person. Don't know what I want to do when I grow up. Applied to these places for the chance to be a drifter and still get a fancy diploma. Still hoping for Penn.
Click to expand...


You should have applied to McGill then. He was there before he moved to JHU.
 
UCSF and UCLA - because they're in California and I'd like to stay in state.

Got secondaries from both at least.

Already rejected from UCSF. Haven't heard back from UCLA yet.
 
Baylor and Columbia
-excellent medical programs
-outsanding research and faculty
-nuture students' interests other than medicine
 
UCSF -- I grew up in the east bay, and it would be nice to relocate back to my home area. The school interests me because it's in a metropolitian area and the school's reputation.

Yale -- The unique curriculum here interested me as well as it's long history.

I figured that I had a high enough MCAT, 4.0 Post Bacc, and uniqueness as an older applicant that I had a slim but possible chance of gaining acceptance. I asked myself if I would have regretted not casting my net far and wide during my 1st chance at applying to medical school. I answered in the affirmative and spent a small $ at a small chance at applying to these two schools (including lots of other schools in my MCAT/GPA range, my state schools, etc).
 
Interested in academic medicine so

UCSF - great school, lots of research for med students, happy students, san francisco is awesome (but expensive)

Stanford - good school, nice campus, weather, mostly cuz it's near San Francisco and UCSF's happy students - really I dunno, I liked it when I visited when applying to UG (I chose Yale instead)

Having lived on the east coast after being a warm-weather gal, decided I didn't really want to do it again
 
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