How do you guys pick which medical schools you're going to apply to? Are they close by? Do you admire their reputation (ex. Penn/Johns Hopkins)? Some other reason?
How do you pick med schools to apply to?
- Thread starter Arrode
- Start date
- Joined
- Jul 20, 2011
- Messages
- 99
- Reaction score
- 0
My go-to move is to pick the ones with the prettiest colors.
Also the name should sound good.
And they should be ranked I think?
In all seriousness, my advice would be to look at schools in your state, look at your qualifications, talk to current and past students however you can, read online opinions, etc...just put a bit of energy into researching which schools you think would fit your learning style the best. I've heard from a few people that schools in my area (Ohio) are generally all created equal, regardless of research ranking and whatnot. I would imagine much of the same is true for the rest of the country. The education is effectively the same across the board, but it seems as though the methods for imparting that knowledge into students differs slightly here and there.
My #1 school is Case based on friends that are alumni, and based on opinions of those I have met in person and online.
Do your due diligence, and all will be right with the world 🙂. Make sure you're a strong candidate, apply broadly, and hope for the best!
Also the name should sound good.
And they should be ranked I think?
In all seriousness, my advice would be to look at schools in your state, look at your qualifications, talk to current and past students however you can, read online opinions, etc...just put a bit of energy into researching which schools you think would fit your learning style the best. I've heard from a few people that schools in my area (Ohio) are generally all created equal, regardless of research ranking and whatnot. I would imagine much of the same is true for the rest of the country. The education is effectively the same across the board, but it seems as though the methods for imparting that knowledge into students differs slightly here and there.
My #1 school is Case based on friends that are alumni, and based on opinions of those I have met in person and online.
Do your due diligence, and all will be right with the world 🙂. Make sure you're a strong candidate, apply broadly, and hope for the best!
That's sort of what I'm currently doing. I am a resident of PA (and arguably VA) so I started by finding all the MD/DO schools in those two states, but I see how broadly people are applying (20+ schools all across the nation) and I kind of wondered what their rationale was to do such a broad sweep. Increase chances? Possibility of moving somewhere new? Good school, etc?
It almost seems like people just cast a crazy wide net and hope at least one fish is too fat to get through the netting.
It almost seems like people just cast a crazy wide net and hope at least one fish is too fat to get through the netting.
- Joined
- Apr 14, 2009
- Messages
- 4,532
- Reaction score
- 13
This is not far from the truth. However, selection isn't random; it's any combination of statistics match (applicant's GPA and MCAT versus school's published accepted students' GPA and MCAT), fit (compatibility of school mission with career goals), location, and other intangibles.
Given that something on the order of 40% of all applicants to a US MD school are accepted, to put all your eggs in one basket is not a wise idea. You'll especially note that non-trads that post here tend to have less-than-ideal stats, further motivating people to apply widely.
- Joined
- Nov 30, 2010
- Messages
- 908
- Reaction score
- 13
1) Put all schools (MD/DO) in an excel file
2) Delete any where I would not live personally (New England, CA, ND, etc)
3) Removed any that were not OOS friendly
4) Dropped a couple more my wife didn't like the area/location
5) Looked at schools and judged if I would attend there and if they might let me in
Ended up with 19. So far: 4-rejections, 4-interviews, 1 completely ignored and the rest are sitting w/secondary complete.
2) Delete any where I would not live personally (New England, CA, ND, etc)
3) Removed any that were not OOS friendly
4) Dropped a couple more my wife didn't like the area/location
5) Looked at schools and judged if I would attend there and if they might let me in
Ended up with 19. So far: 4-rejections, 4-interviews, 1 completely ignored and the rest are sitting w/secondary complete.
- Joined
- May 27, 2011
- Messages
- 574
- Reaction score
- 7
I would keep an open mind. I put in a top 25 school that I had no plans on attending and ended up getting a full scholarship there.
Definitely apply broadly and ask around. 15-20 is a good idea, be ready for secondary pain.
Definitely apply broadly and ask around. 15-20 is a good idea, be ready for secondary pain.
