How many applications to process?

[UofRochesterMed]

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I am in the process of applying to medical school. I am graduating with a 3.6 undergraduate GPA accompanied by a 30 on my MCAT. I am a resident in New York State and as far as I'm aware, I have been told that being a resident of a certain state definitely helps your chances. The reason why I am making this post is because I am wondering what would be a good number of schools to apply to in order to really guarantee my chances of getting in somewhere? Also, should I really look into applying out of state? I just received by MSAR book from AAMC and from what I can tell, schools really like to choose residents in there state. I am new to this site so I am really looking forward to your responses and just hearing what you guys have to say.

 

[1TB4RKSB4CK]

There are so much posts out there about this.
I'll be nice and helpful.
IMO, I would apply to ONLY the schools you really can see yourself going too.
If school choice is not really a problem, if I had a 3.6 I would apply to around 10-15 schools EARLY and BROADLY.
Of course I am not even in the process of applying (2 more years), I just got most of the info about how the process works from surfin' through SDN.

 

[StoicJosher]

I would say go higher than 10 and apply closer to 15-20 schools. And yes, apply to schools you can see yourself going. State schools, because they are funded by tax payer money, tend to want more in state applicants. But private schools have no such interests. Look for private schools in your stats range and apply to those schools. There are lots of private schools out there that don't have any state preferences.

 

[johnisles2011]

YOu might want to contact your pre-med advisor and ask what their general recommendation is. At my school, they suggest around 20. I did 21. It worked out.

New York is cool, because you have so many state schools. Be aware that there is a small degree of regional selectivity between them.

Aside from your state schools, I would suggest every mediocre private school in the northeast (drexel, GW, Temple, etc) and a few of the superstar schools just to have a broad set of applications. Then you probably have around 20.

Someone mentioned above to only apply to schools you could truly see yourself going to. Personally, I could have seen myself going to ANY school I got into if it was the only one I got into. You should decide ahead of time whether or not that is true for all the schools on your list.

Good luck

 

[ialwayslose]

if i were you i'd apply to all of the schools in New York State, which should give you a fairly broad range of schools in and of itself.

Add to that any other schools that you feel like you would want to attend, or that you would fit really well, both in and out of your range.

Try to avoid private schools that get >10k applicants unless you have a particularly strong reason why you think they will accept you.

 

[UofRochesterMed]

YOu might want to contact your pre-med advisor and ask what their general recommendation is. At my school, they suggest around 20. I did 21. It worked out.

New York is cool, because you have so many state schools. Be aware that there is a small degree of regional selectivity between them.

Aside from your state schools, I would suggest every mediocre private school in the northeast (drexel, GW, Temple, etc) and a few of the superstar schools just to have a broad set of applications. Then you probably have around 20.

Someone mentioned above to only apply to schools you could truly see yourself going to. Personally, I could have seen myself going to ANY school I got into if it was the only one I got into. You should decide ahead of time whether or not that is true for all the schools on your list.

Good luck

Thanks and I will definitely take your advice. I feel the same way when you say that I could see myself going to ANY school. I don't have a 3.9 GPA with a 36 on my MCAT to be picky about where I want to go. At best, I would like to stay near home if possible but getting into any medical school would make me more then happy for now.