Good mcat and gpa % range for school list

[midnitetots12]

I've seen the 10%-90% range as schools I should be able to apply to, but does anyone recommend against this. Would it be pretty hard to have a chance if my school was at the 15th percentile for example. I've also heard the 25th-75th%. Has that range worked well for anyone. The only thing I feel insecure about is not applying to schools if I'm about the 80th percentile, since I feel like I should try to make myself seem like a "top" applicant to some schools, right? Also is a reach school a school where either my GPA or MCAT is below the median?

For context my ECs mostly check all the boxes, with pretty good clinical, research, and teaching, but less so great volunteering. My GPA is 3.93 and MCAT is a balanced 519 for a rough idea of my profile.

Double dipping here, but does anyone know how I can really learn about a school's mission statement. I want to be mindful of my school choices aside from OOS/IS numbers, tuition, and stats alone (i.e. numbers stuff), but a lot of them sound the same. Should I consider finding forums of medical students talking about their school, reaching out to people?

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[candbgirl]

Most schools talk about the mission statement and school focus on their own websites.

 

[midnitetots12]

Most schools talk about the mission statement and school focus on their own websites.

thank you, do you know any way to delve deeper into these mission statements however (e.g. finding specific forums with medical students posting about the school, or is that not necessary)? A lot of them seem to have the pattern of "good clinical practice, diverse and compassionate individuals looking to serve the community, high ethics, good research etc"

 

[LunaOri]

What are you trying to ask? You weren’t very clear....

 

[midnitetots12]

What are you trying to ask? You weren’t very clear....

sorry - for the original post, I'm basically asking what's a good rule of thumb range for schools to apply to using GPA and MCAT percentile of accepted students?

The question in my reply was whether it was necessary do more research beyond schools' mission statements, since so many of them seem so similar. And if it was necessary, are there any recommendations to reasonably do this?

 

[Blueprint Med School]

thank you, do you know any way to delve deeper into these mission statements however (e.g. finding specific forums with medical students posting about the school, or is that not necessary)? A lot of them seem to have the pattern of "good clinical practice, diverse and compassionate individuals looking to serve the community, high ethics, good research etc"

The only real way would be to reach out to third and fourth year medical students to learn more about the school. However, the truth is that most medical schools have similar missions statements because their missions (and your experience as a student there) will be similar. What ends up separating schools are location, prestige, and access to resources like research, volunteering, and networking. This won't apply to every school- there are definitely some places where I believe the school itself will cause a decrease in quality of life, but you can usually determine that with a quick Google search.

I would apply to 3-4 'safety' schools where you're well above the averages, 3-4 reaches (although for you, no school is actually a "reach"), and ~15 schools where your averages are right in the middle.

Kevin W, MCAT Tutor
Med School Tutors

 

[Putkernerinthehall]

If not a URM, I would generally not apply where your MCAT is below the 25th percentile. Likewise going for schools where your MCAT is much above the 75th percentile might get you yield protected. A whole bunch should probably be at or a point either way of the school's median. This is really just rough advice, a lot depends on the rest of your application.

 

[DNAJB6]

I've seen the 10%-90% range as schools I should be able to apply to, but does anyone recommend against this. Would it be pretty hard to have a chance if my school was at the 15th percentile for example. I've also heard the 25th-75th%. Has that range worked well for anyone. The only thing I feel insecure about is not applying to schools if I'm about the 80th percentile, since I feel like I should try to make myself seem like a "top" applicant to some schools, right? Also is a reach school a school where either my GPA or MCAT is below the median?

For context my ECs mostly check all the boxes, with pretty good clinical, research, and teaching, but less so great volunteering. My GPA is 3.93 and MCAT is a balanced 519 for a rough idea of my profile.

Double dipping here, but does anyone know how I can really learn about a school's mission statement. I want to be mindful of my school choices aside from OOS/IS numbers, tuition, and stats alone (i.e. numbers stuff), but a lot of them sound the same. Should I consider finding forums of medical students talking about their school, reaching out to people?

Try using LizzyM's formula. If your LM score is close to a school's median, then you are probably a good match at least as it relates to MCAT and GPA.

 

[datboi_58]

25%-75%

 

[Cheezin]

I've seen the 10%-90% range as schools I should be able to apply to, but does anyone recommend against this. Would it be pretty hard to have a chance if my school was at the 15th percentile for example. I've also heard the 25th-75th%. Has that range worked well for anyone. The only thing I feel insecure about is not applying to schools if I'm about the 80th percentile, since I feel like I should try to make myself seem like a "top" applicant to some schools, right? Also is a reach school a school where either my GPA or MCAT is below the median?

For context my ECs mostly check all the boxes, with pretty good clinical, research, and teaching, but less so great volunteering. My GPA is 3.93 and MCAT is a balanced 519 for a rough idea of my profile.

Double dipping here, but does anyone know how I can really learn about a school's mission statement. I want to be mindful of my school choices aside from OOS/IS numbers, tuition, and stats alone (i.e. numbers stuff), but a lot of them sound the same. Should I consider finding forums of medical students talking about their school, reaching out to people?

I would consider myself a highly average applicant and am ORM. 2 schools I have interviewed at (and accepted at) my MCAT is bottom 10th percentile so I think 10-90 range is fair. However, there are many more schools I have applied to as a bottom 10th percentile mcat and have not heard back from lol