2009 - Declare your first choice school for the cycle

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It keeps changing as I do more research. UW is a dream. Yale and UMass are currently fighting it out for 2nd.
 
The place that offers me the best financial package is my first choice.
 
Any Florida resident should have UCF as their first choice. Nothing beats getting a full ride to medical school. I wouldn't worry about the school's accreditation as it's bound to happen.
 
Medical University of SC... 4 years in Charleston!!!

Awesome student body, lots of opportunities. Fingers crossed! :soexcited:
 
mayo!!!😍

realistically though would be loyola chicago. love that city.
 
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twostep376 said:
MSSM, NYU, Columbia, AECOM, NYMC

(I really want NYC...)

;-)
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yupp!! ditto here with MSSM being my top choice (after harvard of course! hahaha right!) also applying to cornell and suny downstate
 
Stanford or WashU right now. We'll see once I (with any luck) get to go visit them!
 
Hmm- I have a three way tie right now... Texas Tech, Emory, and GWU!
 
My first choice (mainly for personal reasons) when I applied this year was UChicago ...rejected without an interview.

Got interviewed everywhere else, and outright accepted to Hopkins, Yale, UCSF (out of state), WashU, Michigan, blah blah blah. This process is so random that it almost drove me insane.

I'm pretty happy with how things turned out, though. Don't get hung up on a first choice.
 
MCW!!! I love the city I live in and would like to stay.

My other favorites are U of Rochester and NYMC (used to live in NY).
 
This is really hard, but...

if there's a huge computer glitch and they accept me: Columbia, Duke, UCSF, Stanford

somewhat more minor computer glitch: Tufts, Mt. Sinai, Vandy

but I'm excited to see what places I actually like after visiting. When I visited my undergrad for the first time it "felt right" and I ended up picking it over a couple of Ivies I got into. I hope to get the same inspiration now.
 
1. UWSOM
2. Northwestern
3. OU (safety)
4. Stanford
5. UChicago
6. Mayo
 
Anywhere that offers me an acceptance
 
A few I really like:
Reach: Yale, Duke, Columbia, Emory, Dartmouth
More reasonable: Georgetown, Tufts, Rochester, Wake
Reasonable: Jefferson, MCW, Tulane, GWU
 
Dream School: UCSF
Close second place: UC Davis

Note: I reserve the right to change my mind in the future. This is based on preliminary research and I have not visited any of the medical schools on my list.
 
Northwestern!

Let me just say that Northwestern is a phenomenal med school. It became my first choice after interviewing at 7 top schools.

By the way, only look at rankings to tell you the top 25, the next 20 or so, and so on. Within those ranges it doesn't matter much. (translation = don't pick a school just because it's several slots higher than a school you love)
 
HopkinsGrad said:
Northwestern!

Let me just say that Northwestern is a phenomenal med school. It became my first choice after interviewing at 7 top schools.

By the way, only look at rankings to tell you the top 25, the next 20 or so, and so on. Within those ranges it doesn't matter much. (translation = don't pick a school just because it's several slots higher than a school you love)
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Very true Hopkins Grad!!!

Oh and congrats, since it seems you will be very happy next year.
 
Hehe, if anyone wants reasons to LOVE UPenn, just ask me! I could give you a million reasons why it's a great school, worthy of being a first choice school 🙂

Huge integrated campus, great city, progressive curriculum (start rotations early), offers almost every dual degree you can think of, great reputation of looking out for you during rotations so you're not just doing scut work, awesome facilities and opportunities, AND they even serve you breakfast before exams 🙂

I think Penn gets overshadowed by Harvard and Hopkins, but I think it's an awesome awesome school!
 
Textuality said:
Hehe, if anyone wants reasons to LOVE UPenn, just ask me! I could give you a million reasons why it's a great school, worthy of being a first choice school 🙂

Huge integrated campus, great city, progressive curriculum (start rotations early), offers almost every dual degree you can think of, great reputation of looking out for you during rotations so you're not just doing scut work, awesome facilities and opportunities, AND they even serve you breakfast before exams 🙂

I think Penn gets overshadowed by Harvard and Hopkins, but I think it's an awesome awesome school!
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I agree - I'd pick Penn over Harvard or Hopkins in a second. 👍
 
1.Cornell/Mt. Sinai
3. Virginia
4. Urban school

I really want to go to school and end up practicing in an urban area. Preferably inner-city when it comes time to choosing where to practice.
 
I mean I think it's most important to keep an open mind on your interviews and visits. Right now I may be leaning to one school over another, but I only applied to schools I would actually like to go to. So the real test will be how I feel when I am at the school.

But it's nice to hear about the breakfast pre-exams at Penn.
 
Textuality said:
Hehe, if anyone wants reasons to LOVE UPenn, just ask me! I could give you a million reasons why it's a great school, worthy of being a first choice school 🙂

Huge integrated campus, great city, progressive curriculum (start rotations early), offers almost every dual degree you can think of, great reputation of looking out for you during rotations so you're not just doing scut work, awesome facilities and opportunities, AND they even serve you breakfast before exams 🙂

I think Penn gets overshadowed by Harvard and Hopkins, but I think it's an awesome awesome school!
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Interviews really do change everything. Before I interviewed, I was largely unfamiliar with Penn, and it wasn't among my self-declared dream schools. After my interview, Penn moved to the top of my list.

It's a strange process. After interviewing, I realized that several of my dream schools were not right for me. And in the end, I've chosen to attend Penn, a school I applied to on a whim.

Text...you should be a student host next year!!!
 
Wombat Jones said:
Interviews really do change everything. Before I interviewed, I was largely unfamiliar with Penn, and it wasn't among my self-declared dream schools. After my interview, Penn moved to the top of my list.

It's a strange process. After interviewing, I realized that several of my dream schools were not right for me. And in the end, I've chosen to attend Penn, a school I applied to on a whim.

Text...you should be a student host next year!!!
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Haha, I ENTIRELY plan on being a student host, maybe even a student interviewer if I can 🙂 My fiance and I will have a small extra guest room most of the time, so i plan to join the hosting list 🙂
 
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Me three for South Carolina:
1. MUSC, because I like Charleston better than Columbia. I also like the curriculum and pass/fail better.
2. USC-Columbia, because my supervising doc thinks he can "get me in" there. Not that I want to do it this way, but at my age, I'm not sure I'm willing to ignore influence.
3. OHSU, because Portland is home, and I'm homesick. But a long shot and they probably won't give me the time of day.
:idea:
 
WinterLights said:
The place that offers me the best financial package is my first choice.
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You can't always judge schools by the size of their package...

you need to see what kind of personality the school has too 😉
 
Impossible to say and really just hoping to get in somewhere.... anywhere

But if we are talking I could choose.... MAYO.

Other top "choices" would be Yale, Stanford, Dartmouth, and UW.

I may end up going to Wisconsin... seeing as it is my home college and they show strong preference for their own students.... just this lurking feeling... but I really want to leave madison... but the program is so dang good...
 
I want to get in. I guess to have a dream school would be a bit extravagant. Being extravagant, I'd say UCSF.
 
You are all missing the point. As wide-eyed pre-meds, we all think there is a dream school. Remember, there are many great schools and you should be realistic about how you choose your school. Do not forget about the price tag; afterall, it will be with you for a long time. You wouldn't buy anything at the mall if it weren't on sale, so why would you pay full price for an education if you can find a similar one for a better price. You are going to med school in the U.S.; guess what, you will be receiving a fine education just about any where you go. DO NOT get caught up in the "prestige" game.
 
bears123 said:
You wouldn't buy anything at the mall if it weren't on sale, so why would you pay full price for an education if you can find a similar one for a better price.
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Really? I mean I wouldn't pay full price for some thing on sale... but if I really wanted that item I would pay full price. And that same thing goes for medical school in my opinion. If I love a school that offers me a scholarship awesome, but if I want to go to a different school that much more then I wouldn't take the scholarship. But don't think I'm crazy... Just like shopping I would have to question why I wanted to buy one shirt that was full price when a similar one was on sale.
 
UF, Tulane, and George Washington are tied for first... if I got accepted to all 3 (unlikely) I think I'd have to choose UF. I'm a Florida resident so it'd be the cheapest, even though I'd LOVE to go to school in New Orleans or DC.
 
Flamen04 said:
Any Florida resident should have UCF as their first choice. Nothing beats getting a full ride to medical school. I wouldn't worry about the school's accreditation as it's bound to happen.
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Why just Florida residents? They will be taking a good number of non-Florida residents into their charter class.
 
I didn't say "just" Florida residents. I just said that Florida residents should apply there (some Floridians have a prejudice against UCF). Best of luck to whoever applies though. UCF already has over 800 applications in this first month of applications to fill in 40 spots...
 
Well, I'll chime in here, though I totally agree with all of you saying that top choices are pretty pointless, that definitely happened to me with undergrad interviews.

Top choice is probably Dartmouth

Realistic: Loma Linda, I've visited there and I liked it pretty well, and I'm SDA, so the community's familiar.

Good luck to all of you!
 
Don't really have one, truthfully. I'm fairly certain I'll be happy at whichever school on my list I get into.
 
Jefferson, UT-San Antonio, or Univ. of North Texas
 
EpiPEN said:
You can't always judge schools by the size of their package...

you need to see what kind of personality the school has too 😉
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Someone has a dirty mind 😎. Schools are hard to read. Most of the time their shills will trick you. I prefer to go with a sure thing: whoever offers me the most will get my attention. I'm not a gold digger or anything like that, but I don't mind when they offer me a bit of monetary compensation . . .
 
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