Choosing med schools to apply to

[1289]

Ive noticed in looking at different SDN threads and mdapps that people comment on how they chose to apply to a certain school or group of schools because they "value community service" or "look for applicants who've done a lot of clinical volunteering". in my own research of med schools, it always seems like the mission statements/description of how they choose candidates is basically the same? i have access to the MSAR also, but even that just reiterates a lot if info that's on the websites. My question is how do people know that certain schools "value" certain experiences more than others? i.e. a school that doesn't put as much emphasis on research?

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[mmmcdowe]

Ive noticed in looking at different SDN threads and mdapps that people comment on how they chose to apply to a certain school or group of schools because they "value community service" or "look for applicants who've done a lot of clinical volunteering". in my own research of med schools, it always seems like the mission statements/description of how they choose candidates is basically the same? i have access to the MSAR also, but even that just reiterates a lot if info that's on the websites. My question is how do people know that certain schools "value" certain experiences more than others? i.e. a school that doesn't put as much emphasis on research?

Word of mouth and roughly based on the % of accepted students that report those activities (that's in the MSAR, or at least used to be). Plus, a good rule of thumb that the top 20 schools or so are particularly interested in seeing research experiences. I based my choice on geography, % of out of staters they accepted, and average MCAT/GPA. I did not look so much at which liked research vs clinical vs etc.

 

[biomaj]

Well I'm pretty sure mostly all applicants do what you did, but I don't think adcoms want to hear you only applied to their school because you thought you'd have the best chance at be accepted. I think you're doing the right thing, viewing mission statements, peeking around the websites, reading the MSAR stats..

 

[Thego2guy]

Word of mouth and roughly based on the % of accepted students that report those activities (that's in the MSAR, or at least used to be). Plus, a good rule of thumb that the top 20 schools or so are particularly interested in seeing research experiences. I based my choice on geography, % of out of staters they accepted, and average MCAT/GPA. I did not look so much at which liked research vs clinical vs etc.

Not to be nosy, but I was always wondering what your stats were..?

 

[NeuralNetwork]

Ive noticed in looking at different SDN threads and mdapps that people comment on how they chose to apply to a certain school or group of schools because they "value community service" or "look for applicants who've done a lot of clinical volunteering". in my own research of med schools, it always seems like the mission statements/description of how they choose candidates is basically the same? i have access to the MSAR also, but even that just reiterates a lot if info that's on the websites. My question is how do people know that certain schools "value" certain experiences more than others? i.e. a school that doesn't put as much emphasis on research?

If the secondaries have essays involved, most often the types of questions they focus on correlate to what they are looking for and value. To further your research on this, check threads in the school specific forum and look at the posted secondaries to get a feel.

Also, keep in mind that your selectivity in these schools should be dependent upon your stats and resume. You want to be careful not to be to choosy at the initial application process if you are an average or below average candidate. You can always talk about an aspect of your application that can be relevant to a specific school based off their interests in applicants.