Applying to low-tier schools with high numbers. Bad idea?

[beebreezy]

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[mybubbles627]

Get your MCAT then evaluate if those are "low ball schools"

 

[DrMidlife]

First, let's make sure we're talking about a med school definition of URM, which means an identifiable demographic underrepresented _in_medicine_. Not a minority in the general population. People get confused about this around here with some frequency, and I'm not going to make assumptions about Georgia.

Second, the MCAT can make you or break you. A whole lot of people enjoy talking confidently about their chances and then get real quiet when they get their score. Hopefully you've already spent lots of quality time in the SDN MCAT forum making sure you're following best practices. And hopefully you're going after the best imaginably possible score you can get with all your time and energy and more money than you'd prefer to spend. Don't trash that pretty GPA.

Lastly, you acknowledge that your app isn't impressively well-rounded. How about letters? Being a career changer doesn't get you off any of the hooks that hang the kiddoes. Visit the reapplicant forum to familiarize yourself with the mistakes you need to avoid.

Best of luck to you.

 

[Goro]

What community do you represent? And don't say "Macon".

I am a post-bacc career changer. URM. 3.96 cGPA, 4.0 BCPM GPA. I only have two more classes to finish before I'm done, so my GPA is going to be up there even if I don't ace through my last set of classes. I will say my ECs are pretty unimpressive. By the time I apply next year, I'll have about 80 hospital volunteer hours (but going to see about doing more), a few in a nursing home, a few with Habitat for Humanity, and about 30 with the Humane Society.

I honestly don't care that much where I go to med school, although if the opportunity to leave Georgia presents itself, I'm grabbing it. Considering my income isn't such that I'll be able to afford applying to 30 different schools, I figured I'd just apply to low-ball schools. However, I've read that applying to low-tier schools with a high GPA (and hopefully high MCAT) is bad news because those schools will assume you don't want to go to them and not accept you on those grounds. So basically, I'm not sure what the best strategy would be. I'm not impressive enough to be comfortable applying to upper-tier schools due to boring ECs, but if I do well on the MCAT, might I be overlooked by lower or midrange schools because my numbers are too high for them?

 

[beebreezy]

I am Puerto Rican.

 

[Goro]

Some but not all schools consider Puertorriquenos as URM, so i think you're safe to apply to the lower tiers. Naturally, MCAT will make or break you.