Medical Can I add schools and do I need to?

[TheBoneDoctah]

I know it’s early, I know I’m neurotic. But, hear me out. I applied within reasonable timeframes (2 weeks for almost all) to my schools after having my app transmitted the first day, and have received very little love. I’m consistently seeing people with very similar stats and dates reporting literally 6+ IIs already to essentially all the schools I applied to. I did receive one ii and am absolutely thrilled and would LOVE to attend this school, but obviously as hard as I try an ii is no guarantee. While I’d love this school, it’s MCAT is probably 10 points lower than the avg of the schools I applied to and I think the next closest is 4 more. I can’t help but feel like this coupled with my holds/silences may mean I overshot. I’m also worrying that with record numbers of applicants, I just didn’t apply to enough schools. I think one thing that I just don’t have that most apps at my stats have is insane research, and I’m worried this is HUGE for the schools on my list.

I can’t help but feel I applied really wrong, and do think my “fit” is arguably more for service-based schools, but I had the fear of yield protection. Now, I’m wondering if it’s too late to add, because I desperately don’t want to reapply. If so, any suggestions who may bite and realistically wouldn’t be offended by this timeline/yield-protect? I’d also be more than happy to be a DO, I truly equally respect the titles and appreciate some of the holistic approaches- can/should I apply DO right now?

Prepping to get roasted but I really want the advice before it’s too late for this cycle- thanks!

MCAT: >525, GPA >3.9 traditional, ORM, CA
Research: 250hrs and nothing to my name, Clinical: ~850 hrs total, one really strong tie to an underserved group Non-clin: ~300, again strong tie with same population Shadowing: 80hrs Leadership: ~180hrs

Everything about my app was very service-focused: both primaries and secondaries.

List below:
Kaiser
UCD (II)
UCSD (HOLD)
keck- USC
vanderbilt
Emory
Wash U @ st louis
pritzker uchic
u mich
northwestern- feinberg
UCLA
NYU
Mayo (HOLD)
perelman- upenn
brown
Stanford
Ohio st
UCSF
Duke
Virginia
UCI
USF Morsani

It is still early but it’s always a smart idea to apply to some safety schools.

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[Goro]

Suggest adding:
Tufts
Case
U Cincy
Hofstra
Einstein
U VM
U CO
U IA
USF
Rochester
SLU
SUNY-SB

 

[Goro]

You do NOT need DO schools, but IF some some reason you don't get IIs by Dec 1, add both Westerns, TUNCOM, PacNW, Touro-CA and AZCOM

 

[Goro]

Sorry I'm back. I did some research and even started drafting some secondaries but rent among other things was due today and I'm honestly not sure I can swing more apps, or at least not this week. While I get that in the long run I'm waging much more than the couple $100 here, that is a real factor here and now. I guess at this point I'm a bit at a loss, is your feeling that I really need to be adding a few more of these schools or is my list (and results so far) still looking like I have a decent chance?

I'm thinking I might just wait on this and then reconsider DO in december per @Goro when my bank is hurting a bit less.. but I'm just not sure

Stop fussing, stay busy, and just wait and see how the cycle shakes out.

 

[TheBoneDoctah]

Sorry I'm back. I did some research and even started drafting some secondaries but rent among other things was due today and I'm honestly not sure I can swing more apps, or at least not this week. While I get that in the long run I'm waging much more than the couple $100 here, that is a real factor here and now. I guess at this point I'm a bit at a loss, is your feeling that I really need to be adding a few more of these schools or is my list (and results so far) still looking like I have a decent chance?

I'm thinking I might just wait on this and then reconsider DO in december per @Goro when my bank is hurting a bit less.. but I'm just not sure

Just wait. I have a feeling you will get invites rolling in soon. No need to eat canned beans and Cup o Noodles for the rest of the year.

 

[tantacles]

You are competitive for every single one of these schools based on your stats, but I would add on a few lower tier schools. BU, tufts, rush, Loyola, and SLU come to mind immediately, but there are myriad schools at which you will be competitive with your stats.