Any of you apply to 30-35+ schools?

[het het]

Just as the title says- any of you guys apply to 30-35+ schools? I know there are a number of opinions going for and against this. I was wondering because my school list (MD and DO included) seems to be up there now.

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[Noggin]

Just as the title says- any of you guys apply to 30-35+ schools? I know there are a number of opinions going for and against this. I was wondering because my school list (MD and DO included) seems to be up there now.

Yes. I am applying from California so I am most certainly applying to many OOS schools.

 

[PanRoasted]

I was originally going to do 30 schools, came down to 20 after realizing how much money and how many secondaries that would be. I really don't think you increase your chances by that much with 30 schools vs. 20 schools, and your secondaries will suffer because you'll have to write so many of them. Also, money.

 

[Ellie Arroway]

Aint nobody got money for that!

 

[TheShaker]

I'm applying to ~40 schools. I have FAP and I'm only choosing schools with easy secondaries though. 😀

 

[Captain Sisko]

32.

 

[ClassicJandT]

Nontrad applying from a competitive state and really trying to make sure I get in somewhere this cycle so putting in ~40 MD and ~10 DO apps. It's going to be crazy expensive but I would rather spend the extra money now than risk having to start med school a yr later.

 

[Soulstice]

I'm applying to ~40 schools. I have FAP and I'm only choosing schools with easy secondaries though. 😀

What are said schools with easy secondaries? I know a few .. Mayo, Einstein, NYMC .. Any others?

 

[AnthonyBourdain]

Every year at my undergrad there are at least a couple people applying to 30-40 schools. Secondaries ask the same questions over, and over, and over, and over again so you can recycle the same 5 essays. Most are wrapped up with secondaries before school starts in the fall

If you can afford it, it can help a lot........in some cases.

Lab-mate of mine with 3.2 and 32 mcat. Just money down the drain.

Per-med club president at our school. 3.3, 37. Last time I talked to him in the spring he only had 1 acceptance but for those stats, I consider that successful.

Then there are always the 4.0, 34 mcat bunch who are having their parents pick up the tab so they apply everywhere. I would discourage this but I know someone who did this and ended up with some nice scholarship offers from what seemed like random schools.

If you can afford it, apply to as many as you can. The more acceptances you have, you increase your odds of getting scholarship money.

 

[sushki3]

32 - been working two jobs since last May to raise funds for this endeavor 🙂

 

[olecranon4]

I applied to forty, but I had FAP

 

[October88]

I applied to that many schools and I don't see a con to it if you've saved up money and write good secondaries.

But you just need to stay organized. I had a spreadsheet to track what I had completed at each school.

 

[cerno]

Sounds expensive!

 

[earf]

I applied to 42 and had FAP as well. I worked throughout this gap year to pay for interviews and the 28 primaries.

If you have the money or you can find a way to get it, it's better to apply widely now (depending on your stats) and get in this cycle than risk having to reapply and spending even more money on applications and one year of lost income as a physician over your lifetime (~$200,000 opportunity cost)

 

[Quizlet04]

Aint nobody got money for that!

Eh, what else are my parents going to spend money on? They're retired, all of their children (including me) are out of the house, and they can only go on so many cruises per year.

 

[engineer16]

I am submitting to 35. I originally had 20 picked out but my parents insisted that I send out more to make sure that I get in this cycle. I'm fortunate to have parents who can make that happen. I chose all my in state schools and then a lot of places in the south and near where I currently am.

 

[Lucky Louie]

earf, congrats on getting in, but did you really need to apply to 42 schools? I think that's crazy and, in truth, took advantage of the FAP system.

With the FAP, I only have to pay $34 for each application after the 14 free ones with no secondary fees. The FAP covers every single secondary application cost, whether or not there are more than 14, with the fee waiver.

I know it's allowed, but for those of us who don't fall into the FAP, the expenses are outrageous. I think at lot of the reasons why you need 35-50 schools is because you didn't do your homework. Some applicants didn't pre-research how involved the secondary was, or discover the school's mission statement didn't match, or even look into where the school is located. And it seems that the FAP allows for that, instead of controlling it. Please convince me otherwise. It is, after all, paid for by me and my parents by my taxes and I'm trying to understand.

 

[Narmerguy]

earf, congrats on getting in, but did you really need to apply to 42 schools? I think that's crazy and, in truth, took advantage of the FAP system. I know it's allowed, but for those of us who don't fall into the FAP, the expenses are outrageous. I think at lot of the reasons why you need 35-50 schools is because you didn't do your homework. Some applicants didn't pre-research how involved the secondary was, or discover the school's mission statement didn't match, or even look into where the school is located. And it seems that the FAP allows for that, instead of controlling it. Please convince me otherwise. It is, after all, paid for by me and my parents by my taxes and I'm trying to understand.

The FAP is given without restrictions and the applicants are free to apply to as many schools as they choose. Your suggestion that the FAP policy encourages excessive applications ignores the vast number of applicants that apply to 30+ schools even when they're footing the bill themselves. There is no need for these students to justify their applications.

 

[KinesiologyNerd]

20 MD and 10 DO. Applied DO much later than MD. After I had a DO acceptance I didn't send in a few secondaries. A few MDs didn't send me secondaries. I used like 3-4 essays with tweaks for the MDs, and 1 essay with tweaks for DO. It wasn't that bad.

 

[SelinaKyle]

I applied last cycle (2012-2013) and submitted my primary to 50 MD schools without having FAP. Out of the 50, I received and completed 42. The rest I was screened for and never received. While this may seem like an insanely high number, I'm a California resident and knew many friends for whom applying to 30-40 was the norm. I have two weak MCAT scores (both <30) and a low/mediocre GPA so I knew I had to apply super broadly.

Yes it is expensive, but I knew that it would be more expensive to go through two application cycles (apply to 30 schools for two years in a row, cost of plane tickets & hotels, losing out on future wages, etc) to get an acceptance. I took a long time picking my school list based on several criteria: good fit, OOS-friendly, GPA/MCAT scores within accepted ranges, schools that look at the applicants holistically, and location (almost all the CA schools).

I submitted in early June and filled out all my secondaries within the two week window after I got them in July. How did I do this? I did my research and pre-wrote many of my essays. I even combed through the 2011-2012 threads and made an excel sheet with dates of when the previous year's secondaries were sent out, so I could write them in order of which came out earliest. Also I knew 10 of the secondaries had no essays at all.

Was it worth all the work? YES.
I'm matriculating in a month 🙂

 

[het het]

I applied last cycle (2012-2013) and submitted my primary to 50 MD schools without having FAP. Out of the 50, I received and completed 42. The rest I was screened for and never received. While this may seem like an insanely high number, I'm a California resident and knew many friends for whom applying to 30-40 was the norm. I have two weak MCAT scores (both <30) and a low/mediocre GPA so I knew I had to apply super broadly.

Yes it is expensive, but I knew that it would be more expensive to go through two application cycles (apply to 30 schools for two years in a row, cost of plane tickets & hotels, losing out on future wages, etc) to get an acceptance. I took a long time picking my school list based on several criteria: good fit, OOS-friendly, GPA/MCAT scores within accepted ranges, schools that look at the applicants holistically, and location (almost all the CA schools).

I submitted in early June and filled out all my secondaries within the two week window after I got them in July. How did I do this? I did my research and pre-wrote many of my essays. I even combed through the 2011-2012 threads and made an excel sheet with dates of when the previous year's secondaries were sent out, so I could write them in order of which came out earliest. Also I knew 10 of the secondaries had no essays at all.

Was it worth all the work? YES.
I'm matriculating in a month 🙂

You my friend are a straight up boss (male or female lmao). This is exactly the ideaology I am going by. I have been working from 4 years and what else would I want to spend my money on that is better than my future. YOLO.

 

[ToldYouSo]

earf, congrats on getting in, but did you really need to apply to 42 schools? I think that's crazy and, in truth, took advantage of the FAP system. I know it's allowed, but for those of us who don't fall into the FAP, the expenses are outrageous. I think at lot of the reasons why you need 35-50 schools is because you didn't do your homework. Some applicants didn't pre-research how involved the secondary was, or discover the school's mission statement didn't match, or even look into where the school is located. And it seems that the FAP allows for that, instead of controlling it. Please convince me otherwise. It is, after all, paid for by me and my parents by my taxes and I'm trying to understand.

Out of all the outrageous things your tax money goes towards, you choose to be concerned about secondary school fees?

 

[SelinaKyle]

You my friend are a straight up boss (male or female lmao). This is exactly the ideaology I am going by. I have been working from 4 years and what else would I want to spend my money on that is better than my future. YOLO.

Thanks! I'm female lol, and yes it's all about the ROI.

 

[jr93]

So many schools give automatic secondaries that it almost seems pointless because eventually you have to narrow it down. Might as well do it at the beginning because you'd be crazy to do that many interviews. If you apply to realistic schools that give you the best chance of getting in, you should be able to keep it under 20. I'd say 10-12 with a couple dream schools that may push it to 15-16. Interviews get old after about the 4th one. Or maybe that was just me. I did fund all of my own trips though while also holding a 40hr/week job. If you're bored and in a gap year with no obligations or cares about money, I suppose it doesn't matter how many you do.

 

[jr93]

I'm applying to ~40 schools. I have FAP and I'm only choosing schools with easy secondaries though. 😀

Hopefully you're slightly joking. I thought most secondaries were easy anyway...they just take a little time but the info just repeats over and over. You should pick schools based on what you want to do, where you want to live, etc....And obviously whether you have a decent chance of getting in.

 

[earf]

earf, congrats on getting in, but did you really need to apply to 42 schools? I think that's crazy and, in truth, took advantage of the FAP system. I know it's allowed, but for those of us who don't fall into the FAP, the expenses are outrageous. I think at lot of the reasons why you need 35-50 schools is because you didn't do your homework. Some applicants didn't pre-research how involved the secondary was, or discover the school's mission statement didn't match, or even look into where the school is located. And it seems that the FAP allows for that, instead of controlling it. Please convince me otherwise. It is, after all, paid for by me and my parents by my taxes and I'm trying to understand.

Thanks for the congratulations and sorry you feel like your tax dollars (all $0.00001 that probably went to my application) was used improperly to give me a better chance of getting into a medical school. Sure I took advantage of the FAP system, but I don't believe I abused it. It gave me better opportunity to realize my dreams of being a physician I would have otherwise struggled with.

In terms of applying to so many schools, name one school that I applied to (and many others that I didn't apply to) and I can tell you three things I liked about their curriculum, clinical experience, and overall medical education system. I've had the MSAR for 2 years and read the mission statement, history, curriculum, admissions percentages, requirements, and many other criteria for each school and slowly compiled this list over those years, even discussed it with multiple professors, mentors, and medical students.

I have the percentage of applicants from my undergrad who were admitted/applied to each school and compiled data across GPA/MCAT data offered by the MSAR. I even made my own ranking system where I take the USNWR research and primary care rankings, added them, then divided that sum by 2 to create my own overall ranking (that was mainly for awareness, not as a determining ranking list). I read all of the schools websites, submitted early, and pre-wrote all my secondaries to make sure that I have the best possible shot. So before you assume me or any other FAP awardee didn't do their homework, you should think again. I would hate for you to do something like this during your interview trail and be considered entitled or closed minded.

I understand that you're upset because you feel that the FAP system is unfair to you since you obviously didn't qualify, but being raised by a single mother who has a mental illness on an SSI income of $12k/yr for most my life also presented me with challenges I had to overcome. I worked 3 jobs to get through undergrad, double majored to get the most out of my education, and graduated in four years. So if you think you're more deserving of this assistance, I will gladly give you and your parents back those few cents that your tax dollars helped me out with. With that said, I'm not even sure if the FAP is from the federal government or from the AAMC.

I am very grateful to be admitted to many medical schools, but that's only the case in hindsight. Looking forward into the application process, I was an applicant with mediocre LORs, pretty low GPA, and was from California where applicants struggle with getting into our state schools (I didn't get into any of the public ones). This scared the **** out of me and since I wanted to realize my goals, I did what I had to do and have no regrets with taking advantage of a system they encourage you to take the advantage of if you're qualified.

So go ahead and be upset at your tax dollars going to public education and public assistance programs and complaining about us "moochers" while I'm busy studying medicine using loans from your tax dollars.

 

[TwistinD]

👍👍👍 This is exactly my philosophy, and exactly what I'm doing. 42 MD, 3 DO, 4 in the UK

I just hope I'm as successful 🙂

Congrats!🙂

I applied last cycle (2012-2013) and submitted my primary to 50 MD schools without having FAP. Out of the 50, I received and completed 42. The rest I was screened for and never received. While this may seem like an insanely high number, I'm a California resident and knew many friends for whom applying to 30-40 was the norm. I have two weak MCAT scores (both <30) and a low/mediocre GPA so I knew I had to apply super broadly.

Yes it is expensive, but I knew that it would be more expensive to go through two application cycles (apply to 30 schools for two years in a row, cost of plane tickets & hotels, losing out on future wages, etc) to get an acceptance. I took a long time picking my school list based on several criteria: good fit, OOS-friendly, GPA/MCAT scores within accepted ranges, schools that look at the applicants holistically, and location (almost all the CA schools).

I submitted in early June and filled out all my secondaries within the two week window after I got them in July. How did I do this? I did my research and pre-wrote many of my essays. I even combed through the 2011-2012 threads and made an excel sheet with dates of when the previous year's secondaries were sent out, so I could write them in order of which came out earliest. Also I knew 10 of the secondaries had no essays at all.

Was it worth all the work? YES.
I'm matriculating in a month 🙂

 

[sinombre]

Every year at my undergrad there are at least a couple people applying to 30-40 schools. Secondaries ask the same questions over, and over, and over, and over again so you can recycle the same 5 essays. Most are wrapped up with secondaries before school starts in the fall

The problem with this is that a lot of them vary just enough to force you to basically re-write the entire essay or essays. It's extremely annoying.

 

[I Love Cats]

you my friend are a straight up boss (male or female lmao). This is exactly the ideaology i am going by. I have been working from 4 years and what else would i want to spend my money on that is better than my future. Yolo.

yolo

 

[Lucky Louie]

Actually earf, I'm not at all upset. I'm just trying to understand the thinking. In case you didn't understand, I'm trying to figure out why anyone would apply to so many schools (free or otherwise). I really appreciate reading all you did to tailor your list, but still why so many? I notice many profiles show applicants don't complete the application and wasn't sure why not. Isn't that wasted money? Couldn't you have determined which ones would be a good match BEFORE you applied? One thing I'm learning is just how difficult it must be a CA resident. Whoa! So many strong candidates and not enough spots. I mean it's bad everywhere, but CA must be the worst. (TX is the best.)

 

[earf]

Actually earf, I'm not at all upset. I'm just trying to understand the thinking. In case you didn't understand, I'm trying to figure out why anyone would apply to so many schools (free or otherwise). I really appreciate reading all you did to tailor your list, but still why so many? I notice many profiles show applicants don't complete the application and wasn't sure why not. Isn't that wasted money? Couldn't you have determined which ones would be a good match BEFORE you applied? One thing I'm learning is just how difficult it must be a CA resident. Whoa! So many strong candidates and not enough spots. I mean it's bad everywhere, but CA must be the worst. (TX is the best.)

Because it's difficult to get into a medical school. It's even more difficult to have options to decide between. Looking back, could I have applied to less and still have gotten into one school? Probably yes, but it's still a crap shoot. My school reported having a 40% acceptance rate last year (below the national average of 45%) of getting into just ONE school and around 2% acceptance rate into each specific school I applied to. So these numbers scared me and I applied to many. It's not uncommon

 

[Lucky Louie]

But don't you think applying to so many schools is one reason why it's so tough? Yes, it's all a crap shoot, but it sure sounds like you researched all the details to find the very best possibilities. Even so, in your experience, were you surprised you only got into so few? What do you think made the difference between acceptance, WL, and rejection? What seemed to make a bigger difference than you realized when you first started? Did your race or State matter as much as you expected?

 

[aalu91]

Applied to 30 exactly. I probably didn't need to apply to that many but wanted to be safe rather than sorry. 3.9+ gpa and 33 MCAT. Has anyone else applied to this many with stats similar to mine? I want to know if I should fill out all my secondaries.

 

[Toss]

Actually earf, I'm not at all upset. I'm just trying to understand the thinking. In case you didn't understand, I'm trying to figure out why anyone would apply to so many schools (free or otherwise).

Because screening yourself from medical school is dumb.

There's a big difference between withdrawing from less desirable schools after you've had an acceptance in hand, and not getting into any medical schools because you didn't apply broadly enough.

People with competitive in-state schools, weak stats or ECs, late application submissions, etc. benefit from applying to more schools. If you have the money and time to handle all of the secondaries (especially how most of the secondaries can be prewritten), then there is no downside to applying to that many.

 

[zeppelinpage4]

Applied to 30 exactly. I probably didn't need to apply to that many but wanted to be safe rather than sorry. 3.9+ gpa and 33 MCAT. Has anyone else applied to this many with stats similar to mine? I want to know if I should fill out all my secondaries.

I had a 34 and a 3.89 cum when I applied and was okay with 20. You can see my mdapps if you wanna see how I fared. There are a lot of other factors, but for me 20 was plenty.
Also I got sick of the secondaries easily haha.

 

[pyrrion89]

Because screening yourself from medical school is dumb.

There's a big difference between withdrawing from less desirable schools after you've had an acceptance in hand, and not getting into any medical schools because you didn't apply broadly enough.

People with competitive in-state schools, weak stats or ECs, late application submissions, etc. benefit from applying to more schools. If you have the money and time to handle all of the secondaries (especially how most of the secondaries can be prewritten), then there is no downside to applying to that many.

Truth. I don't understand this SDN mantra of "apply to too many schools and your secondaries will suck." I get how that may be the case, but it doesn't necessarily have to be. If you work diligently you can churn out many excellent secondaries. I figure if you can afford it, go for it, as long as you're willing to put in the extra effort.

 

[HH8911]

I applied last cycle (2012-2013) and submitted my primary to 50 MD schools without having FAP. Out of the 50, I received and completed 42. The rest I was screened for and never received. While this may seem like an insanely high number, I'm a California resident and knew many friends for whom applying to 30-40 was the norm. I have two weak MCAT scores (both <30) and a low/mediocre GPA so I knew I had to apply super broadly.

Yes it is expensive, but I knew that it would be more expensive to go through two application cycles (apply to 30 schools for two years in a row, cost of plane tickets & hotels, losing out on future wages, etc) to get an acceptance. I took a long time picking my school list based on several criteria: good fit, OOS-friendly, GPA/MCAT scores within accepted ranges, schools that look at the applicants holistically, and location (almost all the CA schools).

I submitted in early June and filled out all my secondaries within the two week window after I got them in July. How did I do this? I did my research and pre-wrote many of my essays. I even combed through the 2011-2012 threads and made an excel sheet with dates of when the previous year's secondaries were sent out, so I could write them in order of which came out earliest. Also I knew 10 of the secondaries had no essays at all.

Was it worth all the work? YES.
I'm matriculating in a month 🙂

Love this! Congrats on the acceptance(s)!

I'm applying to 37 schools- 27 MD and 10 DO. It's $$ but I've saved up a bunch over the last year working two jobs. I have also done a lot of organizing in Excel, and I recommend it if you're applying to tons of schools. It may seem a little excessive, but it's helped me know how much money I need for this process and save it up, as well as organize dates like SelinaKyle said.

 

[dap]

I'm applying to 3 schools. In-state only. This thread terrifies me.

 

[SelinaKyle]

👍👍👍 This is exactly my philosophy, and exactly what I'm doing. 42 MD, 3 DO, 4 in the UK

I just hope I'm as successful 🙂

Congrats!🙂

Love this! Congrats on the acceptance(s)!

I'm applying to 37 schools- 27 MD and 10 DO. It's $$ but I've saved up a bunch over the last year working two jobs. I have also done a lot of organizing in Excel, and I recommend it if you're applying to tons of schools. It may seem a little excessive, but it's helped me know how much money I need for this process and save it up, as well as organize dates like SelinaKyle said.

Thank you, and best of luck to both of you on your upcoming cycle! It's a long road. I recommend sending updates/letters of interest once interview season is underway, I learned that too late and I think you could rustle up a few more interviews that way. Most students just submit their secondaries and never follow up.

 

[sugarmouse]

Does sending Letter of interest to ridiculously popular schools like Boston University, NYU, Georgetown, and Columbia (which receive ~10,000 applications?) work as well?

 

[newbegin2013]

Applied to 33 school, low MCAT/ high GPA, CA resident....my friend with almost the same stats ended up accepted totally different schools from where i'm heading, so you never know what happen if you limit yourself to 10 less schools

 

[nabilesmail]

Does sending Letter of interest to ridiculously popular schools like Boston University, NYU, Georgetown, and Columbia (which receive ~10,000 applications?) work as well?

Sending a LOI to Jefferson got me my interview I think, And they had a like 13k apps this year

 

[ToldYouSo]

Applied to 33 school, low MCAT/ high GPA, CA resident....my friend with almost the same stats ended up accepted totally different schools from where i'm heading, so you never know what happen if you limit yourself to 10 less schools

Also applying to 33 schools

 

[plumhill]

I'm applying to 3 schools. In-state only. This thread terrifies me.

If you have the means, I'd add more schools. According to the Dean of Admissions at the med school associated with my university, the average # of schools applied to is 15 and most students don't fare well if they apply to less than 10. Even at the "worst" med schools (if there was such a thing) the percentage of applicants interviewed is something like 10-20% and only about half of those interviewed get accepted...

 

[supermintyfresh]

Just as the title says- any of you guys apply to 30-35+ schools? I know there are a number of opinions going for and against this. I was wondering because my school list (MD and DO included) seems to be up there now.

I'm applying to 32 schools. It's always nice to cast a wide-net. Unlike undergraduate admissions, graduate ADCOMs are much harder to predict. If you have the money, why not go for it? Like someone else mentioned, you are going to end up hundreds of thousands in debt after med school regardless, so this is only a small cost to have a better chance of getting into a higher ranked school. (assuming you aren't overwhelmed by the number of secondaries; then again, many overlap)

 

[jdfamily]

Just as the title says- any of you guys apply to 30-35+ schools? I know there are a number of opinions going for and against this. I was wondering because my school list (MD and DO included) seems to be up there now.

I have a question to add to this, maybe qualified enough for its own thread. For those who had applied to 30+ schools, how many interviews were you typically offered and how many did you actually go to? That is what I am worried about. Especially with the FAP, which I fortunately qualified for, the primary app and secondaries are not that big of a deal in costs, but flying to to schools is a huge cost on money and time.

I also realize that many premeds decline interviews at some schools after having already received an acceptance at some schools, which makes sense if that school they would much rather attend. Although having the problem of having 10+ interviews is a good problem to have, it would be good to know what I am getting myself into.

On a side note I will have a much better idea if I even qualify for one interview once my MCAT score arrives on Tuesday... 😕

 

[jdfamily]

Deleted

 

[Freeinfinity]

I have a question to add to this, maybe qualified enough for its own thread. For those who had applied to 30+ schools, how many interviews were you typically offered and how many did you actually go to? That is what I am worried about. Especially with the FAP, which I fortunately qualified for, the primary app and secondaries are not that big of a deal in costs, but flying to to schools is a huge cost on money and time.

I also realize that many premeds decline interviews at some schools after having already received an acceptance at some schools, which makes sense if that school they would much rather attend. Although having the problem of having 10+ interviews is a good problem to have, it would be good to know what I am getting myself into.

On a side note I will have a much better idea if I even qualify for one interview once my MCAT score arrives on Tuesday... 😕

I applied to 29. Offered 7 interviews in total. I accepted all interview offers, regardless of which school it is. You can't really afford to be picky these days.

 

[anguisette]

I applied to a ton of schools and spent more money than I needed to. No regrets.

My friend with a similar LizzyM score applied to almost the same set of schools. I had 11 interviews, she had 8, we only had 2 overlapping schools for interviews. You just never know.