How do you recommend making a list of medical schools to apply to?

[Real Person]

If I am interested in pursuing competitive surgical specialties, how should I go about curating my list of medical schools to apply to? What would you recommend while researching these schools?
Which ones do you recommend for me? Thank you, I really appreciate your help.

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[candbgirl]

If I am interested in pursuing competitive surgical specialties, how should I go about curating my list of medical schools to apply to? What would you recommend while researching these schools?
Which ones do you recommend for me? Thank you, I really appreciate your help.

It is usually suggested that you start with the MSAR. You can develop a list based on your stats, states, IS V OOS, etc. . Always start with your IS schools.
There isn’t anyone on here that can rec a list of schools because you have shared NO information. If you are really interested in getting help fill in the WAMC grid.

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Hello, and welcome to the What Are My Chances (WAMC) forum. The purpose of this forum is to Post threads about your chances of acceptance to MD and/or DO schools Have your school list critiqued and modified by other members of SDN Determine how to strengthen your current application General...

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[Goro]

If I am interested in pursuing competitive surgical specialties, how should I go about curating my list of medical schools to apply to? What would you recommend while researching these schools?
Which ones do you recommend for me? Thank you, I really appreciate your help.

Making a school list based upon your desire for any specific specialty is a fool's errand, because you never know if your interests will change.

You make your list on the basis of the strength of your app and sometimes where you live or have lived.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

First fill out a WAMC template (link already shared).

Also, one does not simply walk into a cosmetic surgery residency...

 

[LizzyM]

Every accredited medical school (that's all of them) will require a surgical clerkship and will have surgical specialty electives. One can also choose "away electives" to audition for residency programs of interest. So, as mentioned above, where you do your medical school training will depend on your state of residence, your MCAT scores and GPA, and whatever else you have going on (e.g. if you have extensive research experience, you'll be more attractive to the schools that highly prize research experience, if you have extensive volunteerism, you'll be a good fit with schools that find that to be important).

The MSAR is the first step. It pays for itself if you avoid one "wasted" secondary.

 

[Goro]

How do you determine what schools really value? It is difficult to determine from their websites whether they care more about research or volunteer work, for example.

Thank you!

One absolutely can determine this from their Admissions websites. Many premeds fail to even lift a finger to do this, much to my annoyance.

In general the really top schools are the ones that are those that value research. It's among their mission to train leaders in medicine

 

[candbgirl]

How do you determine what schools really value? It is difficult to determine from their websites whether they care more about research or volunteer work, for example.

Thank you!

Did you buy the MSAR? Have started to get familiar with it?
Have you plowed through school websites?
Have you read the Mission Statements of schools you are interested in?