4.0 GPA 34 MCAT. Some School List Help Please!! Confused on reaches/safeties!!

[Hello678]

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Hi everyone!! Here are my stats: 4.0 GPA/34 MCAT (10 BS, 12 PS, 12 VR), Maine resident, 550+ hours volunteering (includes shadowing), 1+ year research (science but not medically related, unique), tutor, leadership-started a non-profit with friend (global health focused), etc. etc......

And now.....here's my school list!! Let me know if I have enough reaches/matches/safeties. I used the excel spreadsheet, but I don't think it was very accurate for me. The only school on my list that was listed as a reach was Harvard, and schools like Einstein were listed as safe?? So please help!

Harvard
Vanderbilt
Cornell
Mount Sinai
Univ. of Virginia
Mayo
Dartmouth
Brown
NYU
Tufts
BU
Univ. of Rochester
Albert Einstein
UCONN
Stony Brook
University of Central Florida
Jefferson
Buffalo (SUNY)
SUNY Upstate
Hofstra
New York Medical College
UVM

Let me know if this looks good, or if there is anything I should add/remove. Thank you so much!! 🙂

 

[darkjedi]

Hi everyone!! Here are my stats: 4.0 GPA/34 MCAT (10 BS, 12 PS, 12 VR), Maine resident, 550+ hours volunteering (includes shadowing), 1+ year research (science but not medically related, unique), tutor, leadership-started a non-profit with friend (global health focused), etc. etc......

And now.....here's my school list!! Let me know if I have enough reaches/matches/safeties. I used the excel spreadsheet, but I don't think it was very accurate for me. The only school on my list that was listed as a reach was Harvard, and schools like Einstein were listed as safe?? So please help!

Harvard
Vanderbilt
Cornell
Mount Sinai
Univ. of Virginia
Mayo
Dartmouth
Brown
NYU
Tufts
BU
Univ. of Rochester
Albert Einstein
UCONN
Stony Brook
University of Central Florida
Jefferson
Buffalo (SUNY)
SUNY Upstate
Hofstra
New York Medical College
UVM

Let me know if this looks good, or if there is anything I should add/remove. Thank you so much!! 🙂

Brown accepts very few kids a year, and mostly those who are older. Much of their class is dedicated to their 7 year BA/MD PLME program. However being from Maine might help.

Otherwise I think your list looks good. Harvard, Vanderbilt, Cornell and Dartmouth are 'reach' for pretty much any one, but it doesn't hurt to try if you have the time/money/effort to spend on secondaries.

"Safe" is also a misnomer, as you can potentially be 'too good' for a school and they will decline to even offer you an interview, assuming you will probably get into/go to a better school.

 

[Hello678]

I've read both sides of the argument on SDN, but I don't think any of the schools on my list are significantly below my stats either way.

I'm not really sure how to determine fit. I just read the mission statements in MSAR, and left out any schools that wanted to train for family practice or for rural areas. The other mission statements all seemed similar...research, teaching, clinical practice. Am I missing something?

And if Harvard, Vanderbilt, Cornell and Dartmouth are all reaches, I'm guessing Mount Sinai, Univ. of Virginia, and Mayo are reaches as well. Would 7 reach schools be too many, especially since quite a few of my other schools are state schools that I would be applying to OOS? Not really sure where else I could apply.

Thanks for your help!

 

[darkjedi]

This is false. It's more about being a sincere fit for the school rather than a stellar student when you have great scores. That's why you see 4.0 35+ students being rejected from "lower tier" schools.

I'm hesitant to believe that lower-tier med schools don't screen out 'top shot' candidates. There are only so many interview slots a school has a year, so it seems unwise to extend them to students that they know will probably go to a better school? "Fit" definitely plays into it, but I think to a much lesser degree than people think. And how much of fit can be decided before even an interview?

This plays into the fact that letters of interests can help an application significantly. The more the school is convinced you will go to them when accepted, the more likely they will accept you. Since yield (percent matriculants to acceptances) is a factor in school rankings, there is a lot of politicking involved when selecting students for acceptance.

I say this because I have personally heard stories about deans being very hesitant to accept candidates they know will go to 'better' schools.

I've read both sides of the argument on SDN, but I don't think any of the schools on my list are significantly below my stats either way.

I'm not really sure how to determine fit. I just read the mission statements in MSAR, and left out any schools that wanted to train for family practice or for rural areas. The other mission statements all seemed similar...research, teaching, clinical practice. Am I missing something?

And if Harvard, Vanderbilt, Cornell and Dartmouth are all reaches, I'm guessing Mount Sinai, Univ. of Virginia, and Mayo are reaches as well. Would 7 reach schools be too many, especially since quite a few of my other schools are state schools that I would be applying to OOS? Not really sure where else I could apply.

Thanks for your help!

Mt Sinai, UVA and Mayo are going to be reaches too in all likelihood. That said, their median stats are slightly lower then the others I mentioned. If you have a strong set of experiences you can talk about in secondaries and interviews, you definitely have a shot at all of these schools. 7 is not too much if you really like all of them. If there was a school that was 'lower' on your list that you would go to above any of your 'reach' schools, I would reconsider it, otherwise just suck it up and pay the fees and do the essays. So much of this process seems completely random, you never know where chance may take you

 

[darkjedi]

Take a look at posts by LizzyM and NickNaylor (both are involved in their schools' admissions). This is an old (debunked) SDN myth that you might begin to support by reading archived threads. It really does have everything to do with fit. As a top candidate at a "lower tier" school, you may be blindsided at interview with "We know we're your bottom choice, so why us?" but if you can give a good, sincere answer chances are you'll fare well in their decision. There is much that can be learned about an applicant without meeting them in person.

In addition, letters of interest aren't very effective until after you've interviewed. Typically, they're not even opened until you've already been identified as a candidate for an interview spot. Sending a letter can't hurt (unless it's the eighth you've sent), but it's unlikely to really help either unless you're already in the running.

It is true that showing specific interest in a school will help you significantly, no matter how far above median stats you are. From anectodal evidence and stories from friends, it just seems that adcoms at lower-tier schools are just more inclined to assume people with stellar stats are not as interested in their particular school. I have seen plenty of people who have great stats, experiences and hometown advantage be outright rejected pre-interview at medium-tier schools, who go on to attend top-tier schools. I have trouble believing that the adcoms at these medium-tier schools saw these applications and felt like they would not fit, despite being excellent candidates for 'better' institutions. It's also probably important to note that both NickNaylor and LizzyM are at top-tier institutions. I think what is debatable here is how much of it is due to lack of interest coming from these star students, and how much of it is adcoms naturally being sensitive to this lack of interest. Either way, I can pretty confidently say that top-tier students just don't seem to fare as well at lower-tier institutions, even pre-interview.

I also know that from personal experience, that at least a handful of schools read updates/interest letters before interviews. 3 of my interviews came in practically the same day I sent in a letter, and this was after my application was 'deferred.' For this reason I am a very strong proponent of letting schools know how specifically interested you are in them.

 

[Hello678]

If I have 7 reach schools, shouldn't I have around that many "safe" schools? I am guessing Jefferson, UVM, and NYMC are the "safe" schools that I have so far. Are there any of the reach schools you, or anyone else, would recommend replacing? I am not really sure on what I could replace them with though, so any ideas for "safe" schools would be helpful.

 

[darkjedi]

If I have 7 reach schools, shouldn't I have around that many "safe" schools? I am guessing Jefferson, UVM, and NYMC are the "safe" schools that I have so far. Are there any of the reach schools you, or anyone else, would recommend replacing? I am not really sure on what I could replace them with though, so any ideas for "safe" schools would be helpful.

The SUNY's and Tufts are probably 'safer' schools for you as well. In selecting 'safe' schools I usually just went with in what parts of the country I would be comfortable going to med school in and selecting the ones with lower stats. Your flawless GPA should get you noticed at some of the better schools, provided you have the EC's to round off your application and the personal skills to make it past the interview phase.

 

[Hello678]

Ok. I am trying to decide between Cornell and Mount Sinai. I really like both schools, but I feel like I should cut one out to add another safe school. Which of the two do you think I would have the best shot at?

 

[darkjedi]

Ok. I am trying to decide between Cornell and Mount Sinai. I really like both schools, but I feel like I should cut one out to add another safe school. Which of the two do you think I would have the best shot at?

If it were up to me and I HAD to cut a school, I would cut Cornell and keep Mt Sinai. I have found Mt Sinai students to be generally happier. Cornell has more name power though. I feel like if you really like both schools, you might as well just keep both.

 

[Hello678]

If it were up to me and I HAD to cut a school, I would cut Cornell and keep Mt Sinai. I have found Mt Sinai students to be generally happier. Cornell has more name power though. I feel like if you really like both schools, you might as well just keep both.

I guess I don't HAVE to cut Cornell, but I really don't want to go over 22 schools and I feel like I should add another safety since my safety schools are mostly state schools with pretty low OOS matriculation (so I'm not sure if they are still "safe"--my advisor told me that state schools will look for OOS applicants with higher stats than the median reported in MSAR). So basically I have NYMC and Jefferson as my "safe" schools. What are some other options for the east coast (I would really like to stay as close to home as possible, but will consider other options as well). I looked into Drexel and George Washington, as these have pretty low stats, but they both receive 12000+ applications a year, which I am guessing doesn't make them a very good option.

 

[darkjedi]

I guess I don't HAVE to cut Cornell, but I really don't want to go over 22 schools and I feel like I should add another safety since my safety schools are mostly state schools with pretty low OOS matriculation (so I'm not sure if they are still "safe"--my advisor told me that state schools will look for OOS applicants with higher stats than the median reported in MSAR). So basically I have NYMC and Jefferson as my "safe" schools. What are some other options for the east coast (I would really like to stay as close to home as possible, but will consider other options as well). I looked into Drexel and George Washington, as these have pretty low stats, but they both receive 12000+ applications a year, which I am guessing doesn't make them a very good option.

The SUNY's and Tufts can potentially be considered safety's for you as well. I think your list is perfectly fine.