How Many Medical Schools Thread?

[WuMedic]

---

Members do not see this ad.

Hey everyone,

I'm looking for a thread that a lot of people have referred to, but I have not been able to find in a few hours of searching.

It was one that talked about about how many medical schools to apply to if one has a certain type of GPA and MCAT (ex high GPA, low MCAT vs medium low GPA, and medium high MCAT).

If anyone has it bookmarked or is better than searching than I am, a link would be appreciated. I found an FAQ thread with 20ish posts but it afforded no great gains. If we can't find the old thread, perhaps we can start a discussion here?

I wanted to avoid personalizing but for example, my question is that since I have I high MCAT (37) and mediocre GPA (3.38), how many should I reasonably apply to? Everyone on the forums says 12-15, but If I want to apply broadly to see if I can get into some of those reach schools, wouldn't more give me a better chance since some schools will like the MCAT they see but others will dismiss at the GPA?

In the last few hours of searching I have seen anywhere from 10 schools to 25+ and I was wondering if there was any sort of range consensus we have come to for the different types of situations people may find themselves in?

Thanks for anything you've got!
-WuMedic

 

[PremedIowa]

I always told my students 12-15, but my premed office recommended 8-12 and I think that is fine too. Choose more schools if you are a borderline applicant or are applying very top-heavy with lots of reaches. Remember, apply to all of your state schools, a handful of "safety" private schools, and as many reaches as you are interested in.

Because you have a relatively low GPA, you should probably be focusing on mid-range schools with your applications. You may find yourself shut out of many schools due to the 3.4, so you should raise your application number accordingly.