Help with school list please

This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.

ScrantonicityII

Full Member
10+ Year Member
15+ Year Member
Joined
Jun 1, 2008
Messages
14
Reaction score
0
MCAT: 34Q
GPA cum: 3.74, science: 3.78

CA resident

Some of my extracurriculars:
Honors program and Dean's honors list
Phi beta kappa and other honors societies
volunteer tutoring (about 6 months)
hospital volunteering at two different hospitals (include ER experience 100+ hrs total)
undergraduate researcher (a little over 1 yr)
helped teach undergraduate anatomy class
volunteer at a museum (involves physiology and anatomy)
other cultural clubs activities (pretty heavy involvement)
intramural sports
intern at a financial firm (minor is business related)

Current school list:

UCSF
UCLA
UCSD
UCD
UCI
Stanford
USC
Loma Linda
Boston U
Tufts
Harvard
NYU
New York Medical
Cornell
SUNY Upstate
SUNY Downstate
Stony Brook
Albany
Albert Einstein
Mount Sinai
Columbia
U of Miami
Baylor
U Illinois
Georgetown
George Washington
John Hopkins
Washington University
Mayo
Jefferson
Drexel

Too many reach schools? If yes, then which mid tier schools should i consider? Thanks!

Members don't see this ad.
 
I don't think you have too many reach schools but I do think you have a lot of schools in general. By my count you have about 1 reach for every 3 schools which is good, but 30 is a lot. Some of the secondaries for those schools are intense, and you want to be able to make each of your secondaries as good as your personal statement if not better. With your numbers and experiences you don't have to spam everyone, so writing secondaries that completely explain how you fit in with the school and what you might be able to contribute become more important. They'll want to know that to make sure you're not using their school as a safety. I think you should whittle down your list by 1 reach and 2 other schools until you get down to a manageable number like 20 schools. If you think you need more, you can keep the schools with little or no secondary essays like UCSF, WashU, Upstate, Buffalo, Drexel, etc. But then again, it all depends on how much you like to write.
 
I don't think you have too many reach schools but I do think you have a lot of schools in general. By my count you have about 1 reach for every 3 schools which is good, but 30 is a lot. Some of the secondaries for those schools are intense, and you want to be able to make each of your secondaries as good as your personal statement if not better. With your numbers and experiences you don't have to spam everyone, so writing secondaries that completely explain how you fit in with the school and what you might be able to contribute become more important. They'll want to know that to make sure you're not using their school as a safety. I think you should whittle down your list by 1 reach and 2 other schools until you get down to a manageable number like 20 schools. If you think you need more, you can keep the schools with little or no secondary essays like UCSF, WashU, Upstate, Buffalo, Drexel, etc. But then again, it all depends on how much you like to write.

Thanks for the feedback. I think 30 is a lot too but it's hard for me to pick and choose which ones to leave out. I just want to make sure I have a few choices to choose from in the end.
 
Why don't you remove some of the NY state schools? Upstate NY is kinda a miserable place to live if you're from CA and they favor instate anyway so it might be a bit of a waste of time. I would say a similar thing about Miami, but I'm not a huge fan of the city. Miami is a private school that accepts some oos people, but they also favor in state.
 
Top