How many med schools to apply to?

[Mr. H]

Hey everyone, I'm a little over half way done with my junior year and I'm starting to think about where to apply. I'm an IL resident, but a student at UW-mad. Quick stats, 3.78 neuro honors, 33R. I'm just wondering what the normal number of schools to apply to? Also, does Cali. accept a good amount of students from IL? I'm trying to get a feeling about what (if any) top 20 schools I got a shot at and the general demographic of their acceptancees. Thanks for any input, and to all of you applying now, good luck with it all. I'm sure its going to be as much hell as you guys are all going through.
peace
Dream

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[Hopkins2010]

Just from what little I know from what you told us, if I were you I'd apply to around 10-15 schools. Possibly less than that, but then again I'm assuming you want to get in SOMEWHERE without having to apply again later.

Just dont apply to 31 schools. I wasted so much money on application fees and on interview trips that didnt really matter in the end.

But then again, who knows what would have happened had I done otherwise?

Good luck, hopefully the AMCAS web-based app has improved substantially since we used it.

 

[drjo2002]

Illinois has a lot of med schools (I think it is third, right behind CA and NY--even though it isn't as big of a state) that are good, but not highly ranked...if you apply to UIC, Rush, loyola, SIU (if you're south of I80 that is) ect... I'm sure you would be a competetive applicant and you can use them as back up schools if you are really interested in top 20 schools. That way you don't have to apply to a bunch of schools and can still feel like you have a good shot of getting in. Most of the schools in Il favor Illinois residents, even though they are mostly private. I applied to seven schools and had no problem...but I chose wisely (for me) and only applied to a few top ranked schools, none of which I have gotten into yet...

 

[none]

CA doesn't take a lot of its own residents, much less out of state people. Not a good state to set your heart on.

 

[Retro]

It is all about destiny, man... applying to 30 schools and applying to 13 schools will always end the same way if you are destined to go to the one school. I applied to 22 schools, and in retrospect, I wasted a lot of my money, applying to 10 would have done it for me... I don't recommend UC schools if you are a ORM. With your stat, Columbia, Penn, WashU, are good choices; but JHU and Yale may not be receptive to very young applicants, they like in general people with social and community experiences, i.e. volunteer in inner city high schools, Ph.D. scientists, African Peace Corps, etc.

 

[GS]

Okay, with those numbers you should apply to the schools you would like to go to, and then to a couple of schools in Illinois. If you are worried that you are not applying to enough schools then just send primaries to the schools you are interested the least, and fill out the secondaries as you go. I applied to like 22 schools but only filled out 16 secondaries. Then I found out that I got into a school in October and cancelled 4 interviews. In retrospect maybe I should have applied to less schools, but hindsight is 20/20 in retrospect, and I would have never have guessed which schools I would have been accepted to!

Then again, I am also trying to go to the same school with my gf so therefore I had to apply to a couple more schools. It all depends on your factors.

 

[reesie0726]

10-15 should be a fine number. Just make sure to choose a variety of schools. Dont apply to ten schools and only apply to the top ten. Have a couple of safety schools in the list although you probably wont need it.

 

[Cobragirl]

And just remember, generally speaking, you have a MUCH better chance at in-state schools...so if IL has a bunch, then apply to the ones you REALLY would want to attend and then send out a few "dream school" apps.

I only applied to 7 schools...got interviews at 5, and was accepted to 3 before I pulled the rest of my apps. And my stats we're as nice as yours...

Don't WASTE money by applying to a bunch of schools when you have good stats! Remember, some ADCOM at some school is eventually going to ask you WHY THIS SCHOOL over the other 30 you applied to. It's a LOT easier to answer this question when you have a narrowed pool of schools. Some schools (like mine) even go so far as to ask what other schools you've applied to on the secondary application. If they think you're just fishing for an acceptance ANYWHERE, you're probably going to get beat out (easily) by someone that shows a genuine interest in their school (even if they have lower stats)!

 

[SMW]

Get the MSAR (Medical School Admission Requirements) book (you can order it from AAMC). It has all the stats on in and out-of-state applications/interviews/matriculants for all the schools, plus curriculum descriptions, stats, contact info, and a great financial aid section. I can't imagine trying to decide where to apply without it. There is no normal number of schools to apply to. Current applicants on SDN vary between 1 and 58!! See <a href="http://www.studentdoctor.net/cgi-bin/ubbcgi/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=008425" target="_blank">this thread</a> that has all the relevant numbers for this year (except for some reason, lady in red who applied to 58 schools has not yet posted on that thread). If your heart is set on a top 20 school, then you will have to apply to more schools because it is at some level a total crap shoot. The fact that you're not from an Ivy or similarly ranked school makes it harder (sorry, but it's the way it is -- there's <a href="http://www.studentdoctor.net/cgi-bin/ubbcgi/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=006281" target="_blank">another thread</a> that tries to analyze that factor). Before everyone yells at me, please note that I said harder, not impossible. If there are only certain top 20 schools that you'd be happy at, and you would also be happy at a state school, then you could apply to fewer schools. Your school's premed office should have all kinds of information about how applicants from there did with their applications to all the med schools in the country. Hope this helps, and good luck with your applications!! Oh, and welcome to SDN!!!