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if you applied in 2018, did you use WedgeDawg's Applicant Rating System (Updated Jan 2017) ? If yes, how did that work for you? Asking for a friend.
I have a WARS of 70 (C-level) and it worked out pretty well for me all things considered. I applied relatively close to what it suggested (no Cat. 1, only one Cat. 2, one Cat. 3, a bunch of Cat. 4-6, no Cat. 7) and I ended up with 4 IIs (three Cat. 4 and one Cat. 5) and one acceptance to a Cat. 4 school. I'm pleased that it recommended C-level applicants not apply DO, because I had planned on applying to like 10 DO schools until I did WARS, so it saved me a bunch of money there since my MD cycle did end up working out!Anyone else in that C - A group want to chime in? Lol I don’t think anyone expected the WARS to be wrong for the S types
I have a WARS of 70 (C-level) and it worked out pretty well for me all things considered. I applied relatively close to what it suggested (no Cat. 1, only one Cat. 2, one Cat. 3, a bunch of Cat. 4-6, no Cat. 7) and I ended up with 4 IIs (three Cat. 4 and one Cat. 5) and one acceptance to a Cat. 4 school. I'm pleased that it recommended C-level applicants not apply DO, because I had planned on applying to like 10 DO schools until I did WARS, so it saved me a bunch of money there since my MD cycle did end up working out!
I would say on the contrary in regards to it not working for you. It suggested all DO and no M.D., and you eceived no MD acceptance regardless of your interviews. Congratulations on your deal acceptances though, it seemed o be pretty accurate for thatMy WARS was 53. That would put me at Level E. Suggestion is to only apply to DO schools (about 20). Ultimately, I applied to 24 MD schools and received 4 MD II. Applied to 6 DO schools (a 7th DO I didn't complete the secondary) and received 6 DO II.
As it stands, post II for MD schools: 0 A, 1 WL, 1 R. Waiting to hear back on 2.
As it stands, post II for DO schools: 3 A, 2 WL, 0 R
So altogether, I would say it was not very accurate as I received 4 MD II (and was rejected to my state MD school pre II). Disclaimer though is that I have 4+ years of full-time clinical work experience, a ~40% increase in first MCAT to retake MCAT score, and a U-shaped trend with high peaks.
I would say on the contrary in regards to it not working for you. It suggested all DO and no M.D., and you eceived no MD acceptance regardless of your interviews. Congratulations on your deal acceptances though, it seemed o be pretty accurate for that
interesting, so those ‘top’ schools really do appear to want to see some kind of differentiation factorWARS 90. High stat applicant, strong research ECs - no real WOW factor in my app. Piggybacking off of Wakhoon for formatting. Green = interview, Red = pre-II R.
Category 1 (TOP): Harvard, Stanford, Hopkins, UCSF, Penn, WashU, Yale, Columbia, Duke, Chicago
Category 2 (HIGH): Michigan, NYU, Northwestern, Baylor, Mayo, Case Western, Cornell, Emory
Category 3 (MID): UTSW
Category 5 (STATE): Interviewed every in-state school I applied to
Ending thoughts: From my application cycle - I feel as if I only have 1 offer that reflects how strong my WARS / LM score is. As a precautionary word to many applicants coming from average undergrads: you have an uphill battle to fight to get into top schools. You will need a theme in your app, some X factor, something that demonstrates how strong of an applicant you are.
I disagree. The suggestion of foregoing applying to any MD school indicates that I am not competitive for MD schools. MD schools would not extend interview invitations to non-competitive applicants. WARS (and LM) in my understanding is a tool to help compile a list of schools to apply to in hopes of receiving interview offers.
Quote from the WedgeDwg's Applicant Rating thread (the OP): "As some of you may have seen, I've recently been pioneering a new system that helps applicants figure out where they stand with respect to medical school admissions as well as giving them a place to start when it comes to creating a school list. "
I disagree. The suggestion of foregoing applying to any MD school indicates that I am not competitive for MD schools. MD schools would not extend interview invitations to non-competitive applicants. WARS (and LM) in my understanding is a tool to help compile a list of schools to apply to in hopes of receiving interview offers.
Quote from the WedgeDwg's Applicant Rating thread (the OP): "As some of you may have seen, I've recently been pioneering a new system that helps applicants figure out where they stand with respect to medical school admissions as well as giving them a place to start when it comes to creating a school list. "
Hi guys, thanks for using the system and I’m glad it helped a lot of you out.
As always, I want to point out that WARS was intended as a means to create a first draft school list, which is then modified by doing things like posting in WAMC (which a lot of people do) or speaking with an advisor (on SDN or otherwise). This will nearly always result in a better yield than using WARS alone!
I agree with both the notion that WARS and LizzyM is not really perfect for non traditional.Glad I took WARS & LizzyM scores with a grain of salt and didn't really use them to make my school list. The advice via WARS was to not apply at all to MD or DO. This process is absolutely not one size fits all, and I'd say that WARS/LizzyM should be looked at to be realistic about expectations, but those are not the end-all-be-all for the "extreme nontrad"* crowd (which is usually stated).
59 WARS
17 MD apps
5 II's that converted to 4 A's, 1 WL
I applied to Cat 4 and below MD schools, threw in one Cat 2 school for fun. Delighted to begin as an M1 this year.
*I think a lot of folks designate themselves as "nontrad" these days, so I think a separate category of "extreme nontrads" (ie career changers) should exist/be described separately. Just my $0.02.
I agree with both the notion that WARS and LizzyM is not really perfect for non traditional.
Also the notion of what a nontrad is lol I have a hard time calling myself nontrad because despite military, spouse, child, career change, home ownership, I am only 23...not really nontrad in age.
It seems categories 1-3 are almost all OOS friendly T20 type private schools who are all looking for mostly the same thing (high stats, research, high clinical volunteering and commitment to learning)I used WARS, and believe that it was not quite accurate for me, at least as far as the demarkation of different categories of schools. I was A-B level, applied to a few more schools than recommended, and these were my interview invitations:
Category 1 (TOP): 2 / 7 schools
Category 2 (HIGH): 2 / 8 schools
Category 3 (MID): 2 / 6 schools
Category 4 (LOW): 6 / 8 schools
I was surprised that I had roughly equal II rate across Categories 1-3 (with no special ties to any of the schools)
WARS 90. High stat applicant, strong research ECs - no real WOW factor in my app. Piggybacking off of Wakhoon for formatting. Green = interview, Red = pre-II R.
Category 1 (TOP): Harvard, Stanford, Hopkins, UCSF, Penn, WashU, Yale, Columbia, Duke, Chicago
Category 2 (HIGH): Michigan, NYU, Northwestern, Baylor, Mayo, Cornell
Category 3 (MID): UTSW
Category 5 (STATE): Interviewed every in-state school I applied to
Ending thoughts: From my application cycle - I feel as if I only have 1 offer that reflects how strong my WARS / LM score is. As a precautionary word to many applicants coming from average undergrads: you have an uphill battle to fight to get into top schools. You will need a theme in your app, some X factor, something that demonstrates how strong of an applicant you are.
Edit: didn't apply to case or emory - forgot to delete
According to WARS I was borderline A/B. With the exception of Category 6, for the most part I followed the recommendations, and with the exception of Category 6, for the most part it was accurate: (green=II, *=A)
Category 1: Harvard, Yale, Columbia, Chicago (waiting to hear)
Category 2: Michigan, Vanderbilt, Pitt, Mayo, Case Western, Emory
Category 3: UVA, Rochester*, Dartmouth*, Hofstra*
Category 4: Vermont, Quinnipiac
Category 5: UMass*
Category 6: Tulane, Tufts, Brown (WL), BU*, Drexel (didn't attend), GWU*
Ultimately, I'm very glad I chose to apply to so many "low-yield" schools, as almost half of my IIs ended up being from those schools! I only had geographic ties to two of those schools, but I felt like I could articulate strong reasons for wanting to attend all of the Category 6 schools I applied to.
Overall, though, this tool was incredibly useful to me and I am so appreciative for it! Thank you, @WedgeDawg 🙂