Choosing schools

[Elysium]

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For all of you seasoned applicants out there:

How did you choose the schools you applied to? I just went through one of those "Guides to American Medical Schools" last night and started checking off possible choices. Came up with 43 (MD and DO).
My point is: how do you know where to apply? Do you just look at their stats and location/ ranking or is there a better way to do it?

Also, do you guys know when the new AAMC book of schools gets updated?

Thanks.

 

[Doctora Foxy]

The AAMC book, the MSAR (med school admissions requirements) book gets updated every year. I mainly used that book to pick schools acording to stats, location, and whether they accept a lot of out of state applicants or not. However, this book does not always list stats.

Before I knew about the MSAR I had bought a Barrons Guide to med schools, which did list mcats and gpas...although i don't know how trustworthy those numbers were

Also, you can look at the us news rankings online to see ave scores and other things. for unranked schools, just do a compare schools search to find stats for lower-tier schools. some schools (ie tulane) don't submit stats

43 schools is a lot--aim for 15-25, depending on your stats. I appied to 22 amcas, but only submitted 18 secondaries, and don't forget about non=amcas schools like nyu and columbia, cuz they're not always listed with amcas schools..it depends on the publication

p.s. see that little doctor graemlin on top? I always thought it was a hippie until now! <img border="0" alt="[Laughy]" title="" src="graemlins/laughy.gif" />

 

[megkudos]

If you have a decent pre-med advisor check with them. I went to mine and he told me where to apply based on my file and how students in my undergrad with similar stats have faired. I just basically did what he said.

I would apply to mostly schools whose averages are similar to yours. Then pick a couple above and a couple below. It is also important to note if the school accepts out of state applicants. Good luck.

 

[pre-hawkdoc]

1. Decide what's important to you. This could be location (I didn't want to be that far from home, some people hate cold weather, etc.), curriculum style, reputation, campus environment (affiliated undergrad?), class size, grading system, special programs...the list goes on and on.

2. Get the MSAR or something similar and decide which schools offer most of what you're looking for. Also, you can contact schools and get their viewbooks. Hopefully this will give you a solid base of schools.

3. Compare stats. If you have #s that are way off then there's probably not much point in applying there. That's not to say that you shouldn't apply to a *few* schools that really appeal to you that probably won't accept you, but don't overload with "dreamers."

4. Figure out where you are in your life. For instance, I'm applying for the first time. I figure I'm still young and can afford the year off if I don't get in. With that in mind, I wasn't willing to settle to schoolX just b/c they let me in and only applied where I really thought I'd want to attend. I decided that I'd wait for round 2 to apply shotgun style. So, that's something to think about also.

That's pretty much the process I went through, and I feel comfortable with the outcome. Hope this helps. Good luck.

 

[USeF]

do a search for 'which school' in Subjects and you will find a WHOLE bunch.