How many med schools to apply to???

[DZT]

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I started a thread similar to this before. U guys told me that med schools have no knowledge of the number of schools and what schools you are applying to. Well, I asked my prehealth advisor about this, and she said the the opposite. To top this, she emailed AAMC for a confirmation and they said that as of April 15, the schools can access your school lists, and hence can use it as a disqualifying factor if u apply to too many. <img border="0" alt="[Pity]" title="" src="graemlins/pity.gif" /> <img border="0" alt="[Pity]" title="" src="graemlins/pity.gif" /> <img border="0" alt="[Pity]" title="" src="graemlins/pity.gif" />

 

[DZT]

Anything over 15 schools is a no-no according to my prehealth advisors.

 

[Bounty]

Uh oh. If that is true then I am in trouble!
Bounty

 

[UCMonkey]

•••quote:•••Originally posted by Bounty:
•Uh oh. If that is true then I am in trouble!
Bounty•••••Bounty - I see that you're from LA. Is that LA as in Louisiana or as in Los Angeles? If you're from Los Angeles, don't worry a bit! The average California applicant (including me last year) applies to 20-30 schools (I applied to 25).

 

[brickmanli]

If your prehealth advisor can show you the documentation that addresses this issue, then do as he/she says. Otherwise, tell her to shove it. I know this wasn't an issue last year, and I can't believe all of the diligent SDN'ers didn't notice this, so chances are your prehealth advisor is just too sick stuffing more envelopes with recommendation letters.

 

[Bounty]

Hi UCNate,
Yeah I am from Los Angeles - thanks, that makes me feel better. The California schools alone would be half of that 15 and there is certainly no guarantee in that list. Eeek!
Right now I have 30 but i am thinking of narrowing it down...

 

[altaskier]

I'd apply to as many schools as your wallet can handle. Nothing is ever for sure in this process.

 

[mpp]

•••quote:•••Originally posted by NB:
•as of April 15, the schools can access your school lists, and hence can use it as a disqualifying factor if u apply to too many.•••••Yes, this is true. After April 15th of each application year, the school's will know where you have applied. Before that date, they will not know. However, April 15 is fairly late in the application cycle and at this point you are playing the waitlist game. However, the number of schools to which you apply should not have a bearing on schools granting you secondaries, interviews, and acceptances prior to April 15.

 

[Assassin]

•••quote:•••Originally posted by NB:
•Anything over 15 schools is a no-no according to my prehealth advisors.•••••may i dare to say your prehealth advisors are *******es?
i nearly doubled that number of schools i applied to, have had multiple acceptances (half before, half after april 15th), and would most definitely have regretted applying to any fewer schools - if anything i would've applied to even more schools (sure, having 5 interviews in 1 week in 3 different states is no picnic, but this process is so random, you'll do yourself a big disfavor if you limit your options from the getgo by applying to less than say 20 schools)

 

[PeasOnToast]

I had an interesting experience with this topic this year: Take from it what you will.

I had an dingus of an interviewer at UC Davis (I generally give them the benefit of the doubt, but this guy was really a jerk). His central interview question, around which 80% of our interview revolved, no matter how I tried to change the subject was: how many schools I applied to. As a California resident, I actually only applied to 9 schools. This guy reamed me like a tyrannical father for being so foolish, telling me that I had made a huge mistake, was unlikely to get any acceptances, and would have no one to blame but myself. According to him, the average number of schools should be 20-25. In the end, I got accepted to all but one (Harvard) of my nine schools. I'm not sure what the moral is, but it is a very strange story.

 

[SMW]

Peas on Toast, we'd be interested in your stats and other particulars of your application. 🙂 I'd say 20-25 schools is a good number for everyone with an average sort of app, maybe more if applying in CA. Do not pay any attention to the anything over 15 is a no-no rule!!! 🙄

 

[Jameson]

If apply to over 15 schools is a faux pas than our man Baylor21 is superman and defied all logic behind NB's advisor. Baylor21 applied to appx 30 schools and walked away with at least 9 acceptances + scholarships. My point - I don't think applying to over 15 schools makes any difference.
Jameson

 

[Daredevil]

I think anywhere from 19-29 schools would be somewhat reasonable, but that all depends on how much you are willing to spend applying to schools and how likely you will want to go there. 15 schools should not be the limit. IMO, your advisor just doesn't want to have to deal with having to send recommendations to a gazillion schools.

 

[none]

Apply to at least 20. You can be more picky, if your situation warrants it, when and if interviews offers start coming in. That's where the real cost of applying is anyways.

 

[The Fly]

I have to concur that I never heard any decent rationale for applying to less than 15 schools (assuming, of course, that financial constraints are not present). Granted, they can see your list after 4-15, but as others have iterated, this is so late in the application cycle that it doesn't have much effect.

Indeed, I applied to 23 schools (CA resident, 3.86; 34T) and although it was a sometimes bumpy ride, I'll be at Penn in the fall.

Don't constrain yourself to 15 if that seems like too few. 🙂