Help! Can you match me with my perfect med school?

[BananaShake]

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Hi guys,
Well I'm an undergrad applying to an early assurance med school program so I still have some time until the real deal. Browsing on these boards though, have gotten me worried for the real thing! I don't have the slightest idea what I'm looking for a med school and was wondering if anyone can help.

I'm looking for a med school on either the east or west coast...possibly the south but NO midwest, please. As far as location goes, I absolutely love the outdoors and don't mind being rural as long as I have relatively close access to a city, like NY, SF, LA, Boston, or Philly. Otherwise, actually being in a city would work too. I don't know enough about PBL vs. traditional learning to have a strong opinion, but I do know that I definitely do best in academic situations where I can take an active role in my learning, so perhaps a mix would be best. Also, I really hate cutthroat competition and snobby Ivy league attitudes (not Ivy League schools, just the snobbiness in certain ones), so maybe schools that are P/F? And lastly, I know I have a while, but I would like programs where I can get good experience (i.e. rotations) in surgery and general oncology.

All statistics aside, I'm just trying to get a feel for what medical environment would be best for me. So assuming that I could get into any medical school in the US (ha... yeah, right), humor me and suggest some general reach and match schools?

 

[NYyanx28]

Why do you need to apply to early assurance?

I actually recommend that you do not, unless the school you are applying to is well within reach and you just want to save money/time traveling.

 

[alwaysaangel]

So assuming that I could get into any medical school in the US (ha... yeah, right), humor me and suggest some general reach and match schools?

If you apply early assurance you don't have the luxury of general reach and match schools.

It sounds like you have no clue what you're looking for in a medical school - which means early assurance is not for you. If you don't know what you want you need to apply normally and go to the interviews and see what feels right for you.

 

[BananaShake]

Well there are a number of reasons, but basically this program offers a lot of flexibility, is in a great location, a terrific school, and is perfect for me. I was just wondering in case it didn't work out though, if anyone had any other suggestions?

 

[DrBowtie]

I'm assuming you are a sophomore since that is typically when students apply for Early Assurance. You shouldn't really worry about finding the right school until A) You get rejected from the EA and/or B) You have your GPA solidified and an MCAT score.

 

[weathertalk]

All schools will give you exposure to surgery. Oncology is a subspecialty and may be available as an elective during the clinical years. If you don't feel your med school is particularly strong in an area you are interested in, you can always do away-rotations at other schools.


As for suggesting schools... we can't really suggest any schools that would be realistic for you without knowing your stats. It seems that you like a somewhat urban location but don't really have any other set criteria...

At any rate, I recommend to apply widely (~15 schools) and complete _all_ primary and secondary apps. Then, become more selective once you receive interviews.

 

[BananaShake]

Well right now I have a 3.7 GPA (BPCM GPA= 3.65) and based on (very tentative) practice MCAT scores I'm estimating a 33-37 on the MCAT? Also, I am an EMT-B, have a year or so of shadowing, am spending a term volunteering with a traveling medical clinic abroad, and 2 years of research experience (primary author of 1 paper, co-author of 2 more). I know beggars can't be choosers and just getting into med school is a feat, but I'd really really appreciate if someone could even just suggest possible programs!

 

[weathertalk]

Well right now I have a 3.7 GPA (BPCM GPA= 3.65) and based on (very tentative) practice MCAT scores I'm estimating a 33-37 on the MCAT? Also, I am an EMT-B, have a year or so of shadowing, am spending a term volunteering with a traveling medical clinic abroad, and 2 years of research experience (primary author of 1 paper, co-author of 2 more). I know beggars can't be choosers and just getting into med school is a feat, but I'd really really appreciate if someone could even just suggest possible programs!

You have excellent ECs and solid numerical stats. This should make you competitive for most of the top 20 schools. The top 10 tend to be a crapshoot though.

As for schools... (I'm leaving out ivies, since you don't like them)

SF Area:
UCSF: Super high reach (for anyone). As elitist as any ivy, just FYI. Sorry, there aren't any more options in the Bay Area, except for Stanford (which is just as elitist)

LA Area
UCLA: Reach, state school
USC: Mid-Range School
Loma Linda: Backup (but don't bother to apply if you don't like the fact that they are very religious

New York:

Columbia and Cornell: Reach, but I guess you don't like ivies
NYU: Mid-range/Reach. Their stats are quite high and they receive a lot of apps.
Mt Sinai: Mid-range
Albert Einstein: Mid-range, less selective than NYU/Sinai

Boston:

BU/Tufts: Mid-range. These schools receive a lot of apps b/c of their location, so even though they're not top-tier schools, they can still be quite finicky.

I don't know anything about Philadelphia. Sorry.

I know you don't like the midwest, however don't overlook Chicago-- which I believe is much more cosmopolitan than Boston or Philadelphia.

Chicago has Northwestern and Univ of Chicago (Reach schools, though you're very competitive for them) as well as some back-up ones (Rosalind Franklin, University of Illinois-Chicago, Rush)

Hope that helps.

Again, even though I said some schools would be "backups" there aren't any true backup schools that you can rely on based on your stats and extracurriculars. I did not receive interviews from USC, Wake Forest or UC Irvine (I'm a California resident), but did get interviews from yale, wash u, baylor (out of state), michigan (out of state, auto-interview), cornell, and columbia...

So yeah, it's a weird process...

 

[staticsoliloquy]

which journals did you publish in?