How do you eliminate schools from the ones you want to apply to? I used the msar and usnews.

[mrh125]

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[theseeker4]

And I still have a list of about 70 schools. I know there's variability with a lot of schools so I'm including schools that have avgs a little higher than my own, and same for gpa. I also looked at OOS stats and all of the schools I have on the list have high acceptance rates for OOS. I'm not applying to any stupid choices I'm not going to get into either (no ucsf or Harvard or Stanford) and I'm just having a lot of trouble cutting this down.


Any advice? I was hoping to do 40 tops. These are all MD schools btw. Stats are 3.73 sci gpa, 3,62 gpa. 29 mcat (9/11/9) but I retook and am waiting on my results, and I have good Ecs

Look at location, curriculum, cost, etc. and eliminate 30 of the "worst" schools in those aspects, depending on what your priorities are and what you are looking for. Being "worse" doesn't mean it has to be bad, but if you want to cut things down, just start cutting schools from the bottom of your list. Make sure you still have plenty of safeties though when you are done eliminating schools.

 

[fhg]

Do you have any sort of location preference (geographic location within the US, big city vs. less urban location, etc.)? Do you have a preference for a 1/1.5 year pre-clinical curriculum vs. a more traditional 2 year preclinical curriculum? Do you want to be at a school that prides itself on primary care or one that focuses more on research? Some of this info is in the MSAR and more detail can be found in the school-specific threads and on school websites.

 

[QuinnTheEskimo]

After I started interviewing, I realized how much location matters to me. I want to be close to friends/family, and if I had to do it over again, I would not apply to schools in distant locations.

 

[mrh125]

Do you have any sort of location preference (geographic location within the US, big city vs. less urban location, etc.)? Do you have a preference for a 1/1.5 year pre-clinical curriculum vs. a more traditional 2 year preclinical curriculum? Do you want to be at a school that prides itself on primary care or one that focuses more on research? Some of this info is in the MSAR and more detail can be found in the school-specific threads and on school websites.

Id like to stay on the west coast, but there are only a few west coast schools. No other preference unless it significantly affects my chance of getting in a respected residency programZ I just want to get into a respectable md school

 

[fhg]

If you are still at 70 schools even after narrowing to the west coasy, I would suggest thinking more about city size, curriculum, mission, etc. to narrow the list.

 

[mrh125]

Look at location, curriculum, cost, etc. and eliminate 30 of the "worst" schools in those aspects, depending on what your priorities are and what you are looking for. Being "worse" doesn't mean it has to be bad, but if you want to cut things down, just start cutting schools from the bottom of your list. Make sure you still have plenty of safeties though when you are done eliminating schools.

I'm on the low end of applicants though. My gpa and mcat score make me "competitive" at most of the low end schools though so I'm not sure about safeties. I will look at the criteria of the schools you mentioned. My location preferences and curriculum preferences are really open-ended. All I care about is being able to get into a respectable Md school (no idea how to tell aside from it being non caribbean.
Id go to the Midwest as long it gave me opportunities I wanted) and being prepared for step exams, so I have the possibility of getting into any speciality I want. I'm not really interested in primary care or research, so I have no real preference. at this point surgery, anesthesiology, radiology, dermatology are the specialities I'm interested in, but I'm very open-minded. Any thoughts based off of these preferences and what I should look for?

 

[chenzt]

And I still have a list of about 70 schools. I know there's variability with a lot of schools so I'm including schools that have avgs a little higher than my own, and same for gpa. I also looked at OOS stats and all of the schools I have on the list have high acceptance rates for OOS. I'm not applying to any stupid choices I'm not going to get into either (no ucsf or Harvard or Stanford) and I'm just having a lot of trouble cutting this down.

Any advice? I was hoping to do 40 tops. These are all MD schools btw. Stats are 3.73 sci gpa, 3,62 gpa. 29 mcat (9/11/9) but I retook and am waiting on my results, and I have good Ecs. Id also look at DO schools but id like to solve this mess before i do.

1) Remove all schools that had >50% in-state matriculant except your instate schools.
2) Remove all top 20s.
3) Remove USUHS unless you want to do military.
4) Remove all HBC unless you are AA.
5) Remove all PR schools unless you speak fluent spanish.
6) Remove Loma Linda unless you are comfortable with their religious requirements.
7) Remove all schools with >70+ LizzyM scores (you're at 65-66... depending on which formula you use).

You should have a manageable pool now. Now add in a couple of your dream schools regardless of the stats for the heck of it.

Adjust rule #1 if your pool is too small. Schools that have relatively cheap tuition could be another factor.

 

[mrh125]

1) Remove all schools that had >50% in-state matriculant except your instate schools.
2) Remove all top 20s.
3) Remove USUHS unless you want to do military.
4) Remove all HBC unless you are AA.
5) Remove all PR schools unless you speak fluent spanish.
6) Remove Loma Linda unless you are comfortable with their religious requirements.
7) Remove all schools with >70+ LizzyM scores (you're at 65-66... depending on which formula you use).

You should have a manageable pool now. Now add in a couple of your dream schools regardless of the stats for the heck of it.

Thanks. Great post. For dream schools I kept ucla,
Uc Davis, and uc irvine in because I love the uc system. I also kept in Dartmouth and like two others. Would applying to schools with 67-69 Lizzym score be worth it?

Also, as for DO schools how bad of a decision would it be to omit DO schools from my list? I don't really want to be a DO, so they're more safeties in case I get rejections from all MD schools since my stats aren't that great.

 

[chenzt]

Thanks. Great post. For dream schools I kept ucla,
Uc Davis, and uc irvine in because I love the uc system. I also kept in Dartmouth and like two others. Would applying to schools with 67-69 LizzyM score be worth it?

Also, as for DO schools how bad of a decision would it be to omit DO schools from my list? I don't really want to be a DO, so they're more safeties in case I get rejections from all MD schools since my stats aren't that great.

I think so. Half of the people that get in to those schools had below average LizzyM.

EDIT: And it depends on how you feel. If you don't want to reapply AT ALL, then yes, apply DO. If you think you're okay with doing it again next time around if you don't get in this cycle, then you can put it off and think about it a bit more.

 

[noleknight16]

Thanks. Great post. For dream schools I kept ucla,
Uc Davis, and uc irvine in because I love the uc system. I also kept in Dartmouth and like two others. Would applying to schools with 67-69 LizzyM score be worth it?

Also, as for DO schools how bad of a decision would it be to omit DO schools from my list? I don't really want to be a DO, so they're more safeties in case I get rejections from all MD schools since my stats aren't that great.

Your 29 MCAT says you better apply to DO just in case.

 

[lmn]

Thanks. Great post. For dream schools I kept ucla,
Uc Davis, and uc irvine in because I love the uc system. I also kept in Dartmouth and like two others. Would applying to schools with 67-69 LizzyM score be worth it?

Also, as for DO schools how bad of a decision would it be to omit DO schools from my list? I don't really want to be a DO, so they're more safeties in case I get rejections from all MD schools since my stats aren't that great.

You might have a hard time with UCLA/UCI, I believe they both screen pretty hard and your 29 may well exclude you pre-secondary, I would check their website or give them a call and ask them. UCD is a bit more forgiving, but would likely still be pretty hard with your mcat.

Follow everyone else's advice, and if you still have too many, I looked into how many seats in the class were open to me (%OOS, not guaranteed to some program) and then chose schools that had 100 seats to offer vs 50 for example.

 

[chenzt]

You might have a hard time with UCLA/UCI, I believe they both screen pretty hard and your 29 may well exclude you pre-secondary, I would check their website or give them a call and ask them. UCD is a bit more forgiving, but would likely still be pretty hard with your mcat.

Follow everyone else's advice, and if you still have too many, I looked into how many seats in the class were open to me (%OOS, not guaranteed to some program) and then chose schools that had 100 seats to offer vs 50 for example.

Ah yes, figure out # applicant/seat. That should rule out a few more. I remember Vtech and brown (due to the BS/MD track) with terrible ratios.

 

[mrh125]

You might have a hard time with UCLA/UCI, I believe they both screen pretty hard and your 29 may well exclude you pre-secondary, I would check their website or give them a call and ask them. UCD is a bit more forgiving, but would likely still be pretty hard with your mcat.

Follow everyone else's advice, and if you still have too many, I looked into how many seats in the class were open to me (%OOS, not guaranteed to some program) and then chose schools that had 100 seats to offer vs 50 for example.

Hmm the msar has a range for each of these schools that include my mcat score and so does us news. If I get a 30 or higher on my retake do you think it would be worth applying to these UCs? Otherwise I wouldn't being applying to any schools in my home state 🙁 and well Davis is my dream school (went there as an undergrad). Oh and I forgot I'm gonna apply to riverside too

 

[mrh125]

Ah yes, figure out # applicant/seat. That should rule out a few more. I remember Vtech and brown (due to the BS/MD track) with terrible ratios.

Good call. When I was looking at brown and vtech I put them on my list because my stats seemed okay. Im guessing I should take both of those off.

 

[CarlosDanger]

I wouldn't spend any more time on your school list until you have a new MCAT score. If you can improve a couple - a few points your options will be much greater. If you don't improve, you need to add a few DO schools and take away some MD reach schools. In the meantime, try and find schools where your MCAT is close to the median or above, and schools that accept the highest percentage OOS. 40 is waay to many schools, I would do 20 (maybe 25) maximum when you get your new score. Remember, you need to turn around your secondaries very quickly to give yourself the best chance.

 

[Espadaleader]

1) Remove all schools that had >50% in-state matriculant except your instate schools.
2) Remove all top 20s.
3) Remove USUHS unless you want to do military.
4) Remove all HBC unless you are AA.
5) Remove all PR schools unless you speak fluent spanish.
6) Remove Loma Linda unless you are comfortable with their religious requirements.
7) Remove all schools with >70+ LizzyM scores (you're at 65-66... depending on which formula you use).

You should have a manageable pool now. Now add in a couple of your dream schools regardless of the stats for the heck of it.

Adjust rule #1 if your pool is too small. Schools that have relatively cheap tuition could be another factor.

Wow. Legit sticky this. Stop the nonsense and follow this guy.

 

[Oso]

Imagine taking a fresh batch of brownies to the campus and sitting in some open field, which campus would make you feel the most satisfied? That is your answer. 🙂

(Aka whichever campus you feel most at home and will enjoy the next four years eating brownies in)

haha ok fine, this made me laugh.

 

[mrh125]

I have another question, what do you consider to be top 20 schools? based off of what list usnews, some other lists? they can vary a bit.

 

[chenzt]

I have another question, what do you consider to be top 20 schools? based off of what list usnews, some other lists? they can vary a bit.

Yea, it's a rough estimate so USNWR is good enough.