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Just pick a school you're going to apply to *regardless* of what your MCAT score is. The whole purpose of the throw-away is to get your application in the queue for verification.

Can you think of any circumstance you won't apply to your private in-state school? If no, just apply to it now.
 
When I was considering (I didn’t go through with it) doing this I picked Howard (a HBC). You could pick some super reaches like Hopkins or Harvard or some OOS school with high instate bias. And if you’re not African American, HBCS.
 
In the same situation, and I applied to Kaiser while I wait on my score. If my score is awesome I might get free tuition 👍. Either pick a school that you will apply to regardless or pick a school that is more of a reach and you wouldn't be too sad if things didn't work out with them.
 
vivalashey said:
The only thing holding me back is my MCAT score and I'm kind of expecting a low score. But would applying with my private school now put me at an advantage vs adding it on 6/25? I don't understand how the timing works for secondaries since schools get apps in 6/29
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It will make no difference. You just want to do your best to be verified by 06/29.
 
vivalashey said:
Thank you. So if it makes no difference, wouldn't it be wiser to choose a different school in my case that is not my top choice? Then I wouldn't be considered a re-applicant if I apply next cycle?
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If you want to apply to a school that you will apply to anyways, go with one of your state schools.

If you want a trash/dumper school, Elson S. Floyd won't even send you a secondary if you are not a Washington state resident.
 
vivalashey said:
I get my mcat score on 6/25 and I am about to submit my primary in the next 2 days. I have no idea how to choose my throw-away school because my advisors told me to choose my private in-state school so I can get the secondaries sooner and submit them earlier and have a better chance if my score's good enough to apply this cycle. But I thought the throw-away school had to be a school I would apply but not my top choice. And my two in-state schools are my top choices.

Would applying to my in-state school as a throw-away now put me at an advantage? I though that as long as I get verified by June 29, my application would be sent to all schools early. And since I get my score 6/25 and assuming I get verified by the end of June, would applying to a school now as a throw-away put me in an advantage than adding it on the 25th?

Sorry if my question sounds confusing.
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CNU for MD
LUCOM for DO
 
vivalashey said:
I get my mcat score on 6/25 and I am about to submit my primary in the next 2 days. I have no idea how to choose my throw-away school because my advisors told me to choose my private in-state school so I can get the secondaries sooner and submit them earlier and have a better chance if my score's good enough to apply this cycle. But I thought the throw-away school had to be a school I would apply but not my top choice. And my two in-state schools are my top choices.

Would applying to my in-state school as a throw-away now put me at an advantage? I though that as long as I get verified by June 29, my application would be sent to all schools early. And since I get my score 6/25 and assuming I get verified by the end of June, would applying to a school now as a throw-away put me in an advantage than adding it on the 25th?

Sorry if my question sounds confusing.
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Harvard. Seriously.
 
vivalashey said:
I can't tell whether or not you guys are being serious. This was a serious question and now I'm even more confused :blackeye:
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I am being serious for a dumper school. @Med Ed is being serious with a school you likely will not have a shot at unless the MCAT comes back 98%+. @Goro is just being salty.
 
vivalashey said:
I can't tell whether or not you guys are being serious. This was a serious question and now I'm even more confused :blackeye:
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It's called a "throwaway" because you really don't want to go there and won't be sorry applying there if you under-score on the MCAT.
 
Does anybody else picture Goro as his avatar? I can't help but see a black kitty typing away in my mind's eye.
 
vivalashey said:
Ok, I think the consensus is to apply for a school I have no shot at but would go if I get in. This is totally different that what my advisors told me but I think it's the safer route.
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My argument is the opposite.

Apply to a school you are definitely planning on applying to regardless. That is, even if you got a lower school, you'd plan to try this cycle to get into that school and whatever others. For most people, that would be your local state school.
 
Raryn said:
My argument is the opposite.

Apply to a school you are definitely planning on applying to regardless. That is, even if you got a lower school, you'd plan to try this cycle to get into that school and whatever others. For most people, that would be your local state school.
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I would not advise this because what if OPs MCAT is just so absolutely terrible they don’t want to apply this cycle? Now they are a reapplicant at their favorite school next cycle...
 
Raryn said:
My argument is the opposite.

Apply to a school you are definitely planning on applying to regardless. That is, even if you got a lower school, you'd plan to try this cycle to get into that school and whatever others. For most people, that would be your local state school.
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They can always add the state school after they get the MCAT back. It will upload within a single business day. The delay comes in the AAMC transcript verification. The throwaway serves that purpose.
There is no benefit in becoming a re-applicant at their best-chance school.
 
vivalashey said:
So in terms of getting the secondaries, there wouldn't be that much of a difference between someone who applies 6/10 and someone who adds the school 6/25?
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None. It's the verification that delays the process.
 
gonnif said:
I strongly disagree. A throwaway school should be just that. A school you would never be accepted to like OOS that doesnt take any out of state or very high reach that you are unlikely to obtain. The purpose is solely for verification and not to worry about a possibly terrible bad score going to a school you want to attend. Applying to any school in your state is 180 degrees opposite of what you should be doing
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Uh oh. I am also trying to get my application verified while I await my May MCAT scores. I thought I was safe applying to my state school as my verification school, as my MCAT practice average is 9 points above the school’s median MCAT. I should have looked around SDN first.

Guess I’ll find out on Tuesday if I screwed this up :nailbiting:
 
StayWandering said:
Uh oh. I am also trying to get my application verified while I await my May MCAT scores. I thought I was safe applying to my state school as my verification school, as my MCAT practice average is 9 points above the school’s median MCAT. I should have looked around SDN first.

Guess I’ll find out on Tuesday if I screwed this up :nailbiting:
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If you are consistently scoring 9 points higher than your school’s median in practice tests then you should be fine.

But, not to make you too anxious, there is always the slim possibility that you did absolutely terribly on this MCAT (on the real deal) and your score just tanks and you get to be a reapplicant at your state school next cycle. But that is a slim possibility, I am sure you did find.
 
vivalashey said:
Ok, I think the consensus is to apply for a school I have no shot at but would go if I get in. This is totally different that what my advisors told me but I think it's the safer route.
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The smart thing is not to listen to your advisor. The road to medical school is littered with the festering corpses of students who did and found out that the information they'd been given was lousy. The wise LizzyM

 
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