Deciding on Schools to apply to?

[americanangel]

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Hey guys
I have a meeting set up with the pre-health committee at my school next week and they want to know, how many school I'm applying to. Well I know I'll be applying to all the instate schools but I don't know how many private out-of-state schools I should apply to?
Any advice?

 

[Rafa]

Don't apply to schools you wouldn't attend if they were the only ones you got into.

 

[americanangel]

Yeah thats what I figured but everyone is telling me a list of 8 schools is not enough...But I told them, those are the only schools I'd consider anyway, so why apply to anything else!
Thanks for that!

 

[hangten]

It has been advised that the number of schools you plan to apply to should correlate with your academic record.

Barron's Guide to Medical School (10th Ed) --sorry old version
A- to A+ 5-10
B+ to A- 10-15
B to B+ 15-20
C to B 20-30

Also, bear in mind this does not take into account mcat scores.

 

[DrVanNostran]

I will be applying to roughly 30 since I am a reapplicant. Go through the entire MSAR and pick out every school that you think you are compatible with---personally and academically. Good luck.

 

[Zoom-Zoom]

Barron's Guide to Medical School (10th Ed) --sorry old version
A- to A+ 5-10
B+ to A- 10-15
B to B+ 15-20
C to B 20-30

Also, bear in mind this does not take into account mcat scores.

You can add 10 to each of those if you're from Cali

Yeah thats what I figured but everyone is telling me a list of 8 schools is not enough...But I told them, those are the only schools I'd consider anyway, so why apply to anything else!
Thanks for that!

Like the others said it depends on what state you are in and what your stats are (and which schools are in that group of 8 you've selected). Your thought process is a logical one, but be advised that most re-applicants end up as such because they had precicely the same strategy. Think about it, are those schools really the only ones you would go to...ie. you would rather not be a doctor than go to another school? If this is really the case, it might be a better idea to apply to zero schools.

Don't get me wrong, there is a risk vs. reward factor with this whole thing. The cost of a few more apps is definitely cheaper in the long run than sitting around for a year waiting for the next cycle. Of course, if you happen to have a near perfect gpa or have a bunch of relatively non-competitive state schools to apply to there is less risk involved... Anyway, if you do only apply to 8 schools make sure you have some lower-ranking ones in there just in case.

 

[silas2642]

Yeah thats what I figured but everyone is telling me a list of 8 schools is not enough...But I told them, those are the only schools I'd consider anyway, so why apply to anything else!
Thanks for that!

It's really hard to say how many schools you should apply to without knowing your gpa, mcat, ecs, clinical experience, whether or not you're an dingus, etc. The other thing to really take into consideration here is where you want to apply-- if you're applying to 8 top ten schools then you might be in trouble. If they're all lower tier schools, then that's probably a safer bet.

 

[Law2Doc]

Yeah thats what I figured but everyone is telling me a list of 8 schools is not enough...But I told them, those are the only schools I'd consider anyway, so why apply to anything else!
Thanks for that!

Depends on your stats. In general you need to be a stellar candidate, choose really wisely and/or have an "in" to feel comfortable applying to less than 10. It's always better to feel like you applied to a few too many places than too few -- the couple hundred extra bucks is nothing compared to the cost of applying all over again next cycle. Are you locked to a state for family/spouse reasons? (If so, obviously you do what you gotta do).
The average number of applications sent out, for all applicants, is about a dozen. Those with more borderline stats may be applying to as many as 30+.

 

[Law2Doc]

It has been advised that the number of schools you plan to apply to should correlate with your academic record.

Barron's Guide to Medical School (10th Ed) --sorry old version
A- to A+ 5-10
B+ to A- 10-15
B to B+ 15-20
C to B 20-30

Also, bear in mind this does not take into account mcat scores.

LOL -- there is no science to these numbers -- GPA is but one factor used by med schools. I would ask Barrons for a refund. You can have stellar GPA and not get far in the process. For example, you can have an A+ and sometimes be what I would consider a weaker applicant who needs to apply to 30+ schools in hopes of finding a place that will overlook your lower MCAT score, weak ECs, a bad LOR, lame PS, poor interviewing skills, and so on.

 

[bugmenot]

Hey guys
I have a meeting set up with the pre-health committee at my school next week and they want to know, how many school I'm applying to. Well I know I'll be applying to all the instate schools but I don't know how many private out-of-state schools I should apply to?
Any advice?

If I were you, I'd poll a bunch of wierdos and losers on the internet and put together a list based on their recommendations.

 

[hangten]

LOL -- there is no science to these numbers -- GPA is but one factor used by med schools. I would ask Barrons for a refund. You can have stellar GPA and not get far in the process. For example, you can have an A+ and sometimes be what I would consider a weaker applicant who needs to apply to 30+ schools in hopes of finding a place that will overlook your lower MCAT score, weak ECs, a bad LOR, lame PS, poor interviewing skills, and so on.

Like I said, the numbers don't take into account mcat scores. We can easily fool ourselves that adcoms look at the whole package, but bottom line is, gpa and mcat are two primary selection factors. ECs, Lors, and other personal attributes are secondary. Gpa and Mcat are what they see first and what they use to weed you out from the primary application pool. Without them, you won't get a chance to show them that you're actually mother teresa.

Questions like these, it is always easy to say "it depends". But what does she get from an "it depends" answer? It's true that individual status matter like citizenship, state of residence, sex, minority, exposure to medicine, college attended, etc. But the list gives you a quantitative measure of where you need to be in terms of gpa. Your gpa (with degree of coursework and college attended) can easily categorize you quantitatively while others, like ECs, cannot.

 

[Law2Doc]

Questions like these, it is always easy to say "it depends". But what does she get from an "it depends" answer? It's true that individual status matter like citizenship, state of residence, sex, minority, exposure to medicine, college attended, etc. But the list gives you a quantitative measure of where you need to be in terms of gpa. Your gpa (with degree of coursework and college attended) can easily categorize you quantitatively while others, like ECs, cannot.

Disagree. She didn't give us enough info, and you don't pick the number of schools to apply to in such a vacuum. So it depends is totally appropriate. You don't pick the number of schools purely by GPA or even GPA and MCAT score. And the cut-offs on that list aren't even close to right if you assume MCATs can be anywhere along the spectrum. Questions of ECs, interviewing ability, and all the other stuff needs to play in too. If you already know that your numerical stats will get you through a cut off, but are concerned that you are going to tank at least half your interviews, or that places are going to have concerns as to whether you have enough clinical experience, that suggests a very different number of applications you're gonna need. Bottom line is you have to evaluate whether you are a strong, average, borderline or weak applicant in total, NOT just on GPA, and apply accordingly. The average # of applications is a dozen. The high end is probably 30-40. Amazing applicants probably can get away with 10, but run some risks. That's as much of a breakdown as one can give. Your book's GPA oriented one puts too many people into the bad advice world because it doesn't take enough things into account.