Help me cut down my school list pls!

[samosamosa]

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Happy April y’all!

I have a school list of 37 schools (haha) and I’d love some help cutting it down to about 25-30. Do you think I should cut out schools that get a lot of apps (low yield) ie. Loyola or Tufts? Or should I cut reaches like UCSF? Or something else? All opinions appreciated!

Background: ~3.3 cGPA and sGPA, 522 MCAT, CA resident, not URM, good ECs

UCSF
UC Davis
UC Irvine
UCSD
UC Riverside
USC Keck
CUSM
Kaiser
Albany
Columbia
Wake Forest
Rosalind Franklin
Creighton
Quinnipac
Loyola
MCW
EVMS
NYMC
Geisinger
Seton Hall
Western Michigan
Rochester
Tufts
Michigan State
Tulane
Virginia Tech Carilion
Rutgers
Rutgers RWJ
Cooper Rowan
Rush
Wash U St. louis
Hofstra
Wayne State
Oakland
U Cincinnati
U Colorado
USF Morsani

Thank you so much!

 

[907914]

Knock out Colorado and Virginia tech. UCSF is a reach unless you have super strong upward trend (A year of 4.0). You should be good to knock out the low yield schools as well.

 

[Wahkoon]

Remove
UC Davis (if SoCal) or UC Riverside (if NorCal)
Colorado (low OOS acceptance)
Rush (unless you have great community service experience)
Loyola (low yield)
Tufts (low yield)
Columbia (I think GPA is dealbreaker)
WashU (I think GPA is dealbreaker)

UCSF could stay as a reach IMO. They are a little more forgiving than other schools

 

[965978]

I was scratching my head asking myself why you don’t have UCLA on there and then it hit me like a truck that it’s cause of the 3.4 cutoff 😡

 

[965978]

Remove
UC Davis (if SoCal) or UC Riverside (if NorCal)
Colorado (low OOS acceptance)
Rush (unless you have great community service experience)
Loyola (low yield)
Tufts (low yield)
Columbia (I think GPA is dealbreaker)
WashU (I think GPA is dealbreaker)

UCSF could stay as a reach IMO. They are a little more forgiving than other schools

WashU loves high MCATs though! So I think it’s worth it.

 

[Arsartium]

Because of low OOS numbers I'd remove:

Rutgers
Rutgers RWJ
Cooper Rowan
Michigan State (assuming allopathic)

Given your MCAT I would actually keep your "low-yield" schools. I also had the low GPA/high MCAT combo and I received II from maybe 75% of the "low-yield schools on my list. Your MCAT will stand out.

Godspeed!

 

[ThrowawayShmoaway]

Actually, you should leave Colorado on the list if you like the school. They are up to ~50% OOS matriuclants based on the 2018 data in MSAR.

 

[Med Ed]

WashU loves high MCATs though! So I think it’s worth it.

Wash U's 10th percentile GPA for accepted applicants is 3.70.

Unless OP has a first author Science/Nature/Cell paper, the application fee is a donation.

 

[DoctorSnow]

Remove: WashU (one of the biggest stat ****** in country), U of Cincinnati (they have strong IS bias)
Keep: Western Michigan (value high MCAT and are lenient with low GPA), Quinnipiac (same as Western Michigan), Creighton (value reinvention of GPA if you have high upward trend)

 

[DoctorSnow]

Actually, you should leave Colorado on the list if you like the school. They are up to ~50% OOS matriuclants based on the 2018 data in MSAR.

This is 100% true. Keep Colorado! An applicant that I met on the interview trail said the school is actually getting sued for not having IS bias when it's the only med school in Colorado.

 

[LukaDoncicLuk]

I had a similar profile to you so I'm wishing you luck (3.3/>524) CA ORM. If you are from CA keep all CA schools except UCLA. I got secondaries from every school but Irvine (I am a Nor-Cal Native).

Add Mayo MN and Az for two smart reaches. I don't think you need to cut schools. I applied to around 40 MD schools and ended up with 4 interview invites and 2 acceptances. If you do have to cut schools you should cut low-yield. I would not advise applying to only 25 schools.

 

[puahate]

Cut down the low-yield state schools.

 

[Arsartium]

Remove: WashU (one of the biggest stat ****** in country), U of Cincinnati (they have strong IS bias)
Keep: Western Michigan (value high MCAT and are lenient with low GPA), Quinnipiac (same as Western Michigan), Creighton (value reinvention of GPA if you have high upward trend)

Actually, if you keep Colorado keep Cinci. UCincinnati probably has less instate bias than Colorado. >%50 of class is OOS. Cinci interviews ~10% of OOS while Colorado interviews ~8%. (per MSAR 2019). If you're looking for state schools, most Ohio schools are OOS friendly. Even more, you get instate tuition after your first year.

Honestly, this is should probably be moved to WAMC. And I hope you have MSAR. It's worth the investment.

 

[Goro]

Happy April y’all!

I have a school list of 37 schools (haha) and I’d love some help cutting it down to about 25-30. Do you think I should cut out schools that get a lot of apps (low yield) ie. Loyola or Tufts? Or should I cut reaches like UCSF? Or something else? All opinions appreciated!

Background: ~3.3 cGPA and sGPA, 522 MCAT, CA resident, not URM, good ECs

UCSF
UC Davis
UC Irvine
UCSD
UC Riverside
USC Keck
CUSM
Kaiser
Albany
Columbia
Wake Forest
Rosalind Franklin
Creighton
Quinnipac
Loyola
MCW
EVMS
NYMC
Geisinger
Seton Hall
Western Michigan
Rochester
Tufts
Michigan State
Tulane
Virginia Tech Carilion
Rutgers
Rutgers RWJ
Cooper Rowan
Rush
Wash U St. louis
Hofstra
Wayne State
Oakland
U Cincinnati
U Colorado
USF Morsani

Thank you so much!

Did you have a sharp rising upward GPA trend? If so what were your GPAs year by year?
If not, do not think that a high MCAT score will balance out well-below-median GPAs.
I suggest investing in MSAR Online and targeting schools that have 10th %iles < 3.3

Pay very careful attention to the II/OOS ratios for apps vs IIs vs matriculants. State schools favor the home team. On your list, the bolded will be donations.

Always have your state school on the list

 

[907914]

Did you have a sharp rising upward GPA trend? If so what were your GPAs year by year?
If not, do not think that a high MCAT score will balance out well-below-median GPAs.
I suggest investing in MSAR Online and targeting schools that have 10th %iles < 3.3

Pay very careful attention to the II/OOS ratios for apps vs IIs vs matriculants. State schools favor the home team. On your list, the bolded will be donations.

Always have your state school on the list

Would you say it is worth it to apply to schools who, despite having low OOS interview rates, will have the same post II acceptance rate for IS and OOS?

 

[Goro]

Would you say it is worth it to apply to schools who, despite having low OOS interview rates, will have the same post II acceptance rate for IS and OOS?

Are there such schools??????

OP, you need to have some DO schools on the list as well.

 

[907914]

Are there such schools??????

OP, you need to have some DO schools on the list as well.

UNC, Colorado, Western Mich are a few that come to mind. At least on paper (ie. MSAR) they appear to have their IS bias at the secondaries/interview invite stage but not after interview.

 

[Goro]

UNC, Colorado, Western Mich are a few that come to mind. At least on paper (ie. MSAR) they appear to have their IS bias at the secondaries/interview invite stage but not after interview.

UNC's number don't make sense. 1094 IS apps, but 1104 IIs????? 5602 OOS apps, and IIs to 3200???? Even if the IIs are cut by 90%, you still the home team getting an advantage, which is further seen in matriculants.

With U CO, the home team still is favored.
data: MSAR 2019

 

[907914]

UNC's number don't make sense. 1094 IS apps, but 1104 IIs????? 5602 OOS apps, and IIs to 3200???? Even if the IIs are cut by 90%, you still the home team getting an advantage, which is further seen in matriculants.

With U CO, the home team still is favored.
data: MSAR 2019

Yah, UNC only makes sense when you divide everything by 10. I feel like there were typos.

With U CO, I have been told by their students that the discrepancy is due to OOS choosing to matriculate somewhere else after acceptance, not due to refusal of acceptance in the first place.

 

[Goro]

Yah, UNC only makes sense when you divide everything by 10. I feel like there were typos.

With U CO, I have been told by their students that the discrepancy is due to OOS choosing to matriculate somewhere else after acceptance, not due to refusal of acceptance in the first place.

All I can go with is the numbers I see in front of my nose. $65K/year tuition for OOS is no picnic either.

 

[samosamosa]

Did you have a sharp rising upward GPA trend? If so what were your GPAs year by year?
If not, do not think that a high MCAT score will balance out well-below-median GPAs.
I suggest investing in MSAR Online and targeting schools that have 10th %iles < 3.3

Pay very careful attention to the II/OOS ratios for apps vs IIs vs matriculants. State schools favor the home team. On your list, the bolded will be donations.

Always have your state school on the list

By year: 2.9 - 3.1 - 3.4 - 3.7 - 4.0. Is that considered sharp @Goro?
Also, you noted every single one of my California apps will be "donations" but you still say I should keep state schools on the list? I am confused.

Yes, I am applying both MD and DO. I will post a DO school list in that forum soon.

Thank you!

 

[Goro]

By year: 2.9 - 3.1 - 3.4 - 3.7 - 4.0. Is that considered sharp @Goro?
Also, you noted every single one of my California apps will be "donations" but you still say I should keep state schools on the list? I am confused.

Yes, I am applying both MD and DO. I will post a DO school list in that forum soon.

Thank you!

Sorry, I just noticed that you were a California resident. UCSF would be your best bet, along with UC D and UCI

 

[samosamosa]

Sorry, I just noticed that you were a California resident. UCSF would be your best bet, along with UC D and UCI

Oh okay! Thanks

 

[samosamosa]

I do have MSAR, but these OOS schools confuse the heck out of me. Should I target only schools that have 10th percentiles <3.3? Or can I push it to schools with <3.4-3.5 10th percentiles if they accept a lot of OOS? How "strict" is that 10th percentile rule.

I'm definitely leaning toward removing Wash U and Columbia (long shots), and Colorado/Cincinnati for low OOS admit.

I have close but non-immediate family in New Jersey, hence the NJ schools (Rutgers and Rowan). If I somehow communicate my interest in living near them in my secondaries or something, will that help my chances at NJ schools as a CA applicant? Or should i forget those 😛

Thank you all so much for the replies! It's really helping focus my school research 😊

 

[Med Ed]

I do have MSAR, but these OOS schools confuse the heck out of me. Should I target only schools that have 10th percentiles <3.3? Or can I push it to schools with <3.4-3.5 10th percentiles if they accept a lot of OOS? How "strict" is that 10th percentile rule.

It's not really a rule, the 10th percentile just reflects the GPA distribution of accepted students. Ultimately you will probably need to apply to both types of schools, since it is unknown which will focus on your cGPA and which will look at your trend.

 

[Phile98]

Remove
UC Davis (if SoCal) or UC Riverside (if NorCal)
Colorado (low OOS acceptance)
Rush (unless you have great community service experience)
Loyola (low yield)
Tufts (low yield)
Columbia (I think GPA is dealbreaker)
WashU (I think GPA is dealbreaker)

UCSF could stay as a reach IMO. They are a little more forgiving than other schools

What's the lowest possible GPA where WashU and Columbia are not dealbreakers?

 

[LukaDoncicLuk]

Why are people telling you to cut CA state schools? This is terrible advice. If you are a CA resident you should apply to every CA school. The regional bias isn't so strong that you can't get a secondary (which is a significant screen). I am out of region with no connection to UCR and I still received a secondary from them.