How many medical schools

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postbacpremed87

postbacpremed87

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How many medical schools did you apply to? How many medical schools SHOULD an applicant apply to? I know everybody's situation varies, but on average.
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There is no number for everyone. Ultimately the number will likely be limited by 1) the amount of money you have for application fees and 2) the amount of time you have to complete applications.

Most people that I've talked to seemed to apply to anywhere between 10-25. I've found few people that applied to more or less outside that range. Apply to as many schools as you can to maximize your chances; the MSAR is a great resource for determining what schools might be good "matches" with respect to numbers.
 
I'd say the average SDNer applies to about 15 schools. However many med schools you apply to, though, make sure you include all or most of your in-state programs, and make sure you get your application files "complete" as soon as possible for each school.
 
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I'd guess average is 12-15.

I applied to 8.
 
Ditto Spin, I'd say the average SDN poster (California applications excluded, they usually apply to more) applies to ~15 schools, and any schools where you would be considered in-state should be on that list. I applied to much fewer, because I wanted to stay in Philadelphia after my husband got a new job. I wouldn't recommend that unless you needed to stay in a specific area.
 
ALL OF THEM. :cool: That's only 100-some secondaries, right?

Actually, seems like 10-25 (as Co-- erm, Nick said) is the general range. I think if you get up to 20-25 you're starting to apply to school that you really don't know anything about. You can get just as many acceptances with a well-thought-out list of 12 schools as you can applying to 25 places.

The important thing is to know something about each school you're applying to. Every year someone comes on here bemoaning the fact that they didn't get in anywhere, and it quickly becomes obvious that they (1) applied to state schools that accept very few out-of-state applicants, (2) applied to "safety" schools such as BU and Georgetown that receive over 10,000 applications in a year, and/or (3) applied to only "reach" schools and "safety" schools with little regard as to what might actually be a good fit for them.

Basically, think about which schools to apply to, not how many.
 
30ish for me.
























...only because my gpa fell to 3.3 this semester. just about 4 months ago while i still had a 4.0, i had 15 schools on my list.
 
It really depends on your numbers and finding fits with schools' statistics/mission. If you have amazing numbers, you probably don't need to apply to as many as you would if you were below average at most schools. Just make sure you apply to a range of schools (safety, average, reach, state school, private...) and consider fit with your specialty of interest/lifestyle/research when you make the list of each type of school. Having a safety that you hate isn't a good thing...
 
Regardless of Stats at least 15 match schools plus a couple reaches.Totaling around 21+
 
Dr. Kenneth Iserson recommended about 25 schools in his book.
 
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I was broke and still in school so I only applied to 6 in state. Saved loads of money and I only had to take half days off for interviewing so my schooling wasn't affected (maintained that GPA for the next cycle... just in case) Very stupid on my part, but in the end I got Lucky.

I suggest about 8-10 mid range schools, 2-4 reach/dream schools and 2-4 safety schools.
 
Reviving this thread to see if there is any AAMC data from the last cycle that correlates the number of schools applied to with numerical stats for accepted applicants? I feel like that might account for the "luck" factor of the admissions process.
 
I think it depends a lot on the state of the union you are a resident of. If you live in Texas, for instance, I think you could just apply to all the Texas schools and be done with it. But if you live in California, where the acceptance rate is extremely low and MCAT/GPA stats very high, it probably takes a lot more applications to be successful.
 
I originally applied to 15 when I submitted my AMCAS, but recently added 4 more reach schools because I have been feeling optimistic lately and noticed schools that I hadn't really looked at before. So 19 total, and swearing I'm not adding another.
 
The Milkman said:
I originally applied to 15 when I submitted my AMCAS, but recently added 4 more reach schools because I have been feeling optimistic lately and noticed schools that I hadn't really looked at before. So 19 total, and swearing I'm not adding another.
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wait, you can add schools after submitting?
 
MetabolismASE said:
Regardless of Stats at least 15 match schools plus a couple reaches.Totaling around 21+
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I realize this was posted in '11 but since the thread is alive again...

"Regardless of stats?" Lol please tell me what schools are "matches" vs "reaches" for me bro.


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I applied to 34 schools as a CA resident with a 3.65/3.6/33.

Pretty much all of my state schools (sans Riverside) are reaches, as are the Pacific Northwest schools for me (low OOS), so my list from there (10 schools) is 24 private and OOS friendly schools on the east coast.

Moral of the story: Average stats + CA resident = lotta schools.
 
rachel993 said:
wait, you can add schools after submitting?
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Yep, you can go back in and go to the medical schools tab and add whichever ones you might have thought about adding. Just make sure you hit update application on the main page. You just can't delete schools after you've already paid for them
 
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Osteoth said:
I applied to 34 schools as a CA resident with a 3.65/3.6/33.

Pretty much all of my state schools (sans Riverside) are reaches, as are the Pacific Northwest schools for me (low OOS), so my list from there (10 schools) is 24 private and OOS friendly schools on the east coast.

Moral of the story: Average stats + CA resident = lotta schools.
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I have almost identical stats and I'm also a CA resident, with about the same number of schools (24 MD + 6 DO). The only in-state school I feel like I have a shot at is UC Davis, and even then I'm not so sure. We're at a huge disadvantage in applications; this state really needs to address that.
 
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The Milkman said:
I originally applied to 15 when I submitted my AMCAS, but recently added 4 more reach schools because I have been feeling optimistic lately and noticed schools that I hadn't really looked at before. So 19 total, and swearing I'm not adding another.
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Yeah...I said that too. Then I found a 20th that I liked. I even have two others I'm considering, but at that point I'm either borderline desperate, adding schools just to add them, or preparing myself for a world of hell come July-September.
 
My strategy is just to estimate the number of schools I should apply to such that there is a 95% chance I will get into at least one school. To estimate this I use the following equation:

(1 - p)^n = 0.05
--> n = log(0.05) / log(1-p)​

where n is the number of schools you should apply to and p is your average chance of acceptance at a school.

By my estimate, without accounting for preference given to instate residents, around 2% of reasonably qualified applicants are accepted at MD schools and around 17% of reasonable qualified applicants are accepted at DO schools. So for myself (being a Maryland resident with a 3.5 gpa and 514 MCAT), I set p around 0.02 for MD schools and 0.18 for DO schools. This gives an n of 148 and 18 for MD and DO schools, respectively.

The value you estimate for p will need to be adjusted depending on what state you live in.
​
If anyone sees a flaw in my calculations please let me know! Also attaching a spreadsheet of the data I used to estimate acceptance rates. They are all based on being an out of state (OOS) applicant.
 

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  • Med School Admssion Statistics.xlsx
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Chimapnzee3 said:
By my estimate, without accounting for preference given to instate residents, around 2% of reasonably qualified applicants are accepted at MD schools
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It is much higher than 2% accepted at MD schools. Even at places like Harvard or Hopkins or Penn it is ~4-5% and at many places it is closer to 8-10%! Only a couple of the very lowest come close to 2% (Mayo is the lowest of all due to their tiny class size, they are actually at 2%).

Source: Admit rates can be found in US News behind the paywall.

Oh and also it def isn't a purely random subset of the pool admitted at each place! Like say half the applicants to a given school are too low MCAT to be competitive there - that means having decent stats doubles your effective odds.
 
postbacpremed87 said:
How many medical schools did you apply to? How many medical schools SHOULD an applicant apply to? I know everybody's situation varies, but on average.
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Depends on your stats.

To maximize my chances, I would apply to 20 when time comes.
 
I did 21. My original school list was 14 and if I had kept that list, I would have only had two interviews, one acceptance and would not have had three acceptances including my current school. I am normally a very frugal person, but it was time and money well spent.
 
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gonnif said:
larger than school matriculation rate, which is where the lower percentage comes in. @Chimapnzee3 , how did you arrive at the 17% acceptance at DO school rate?
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Thanks for the feedback. My calculations and raw data for estimating acceptance rates are in the excel spreadsheet I provided in the first post.

I used the MSAR data for MD schools, which gives the actual number of accepted students (not just admitted students). Also, as suggested above, many applicants do not have stats to support acceptance. So to reflect this, I divided the number of applicant in half. For MD schools I ended up with the following estimate:

Estimated_Acceptance_rate_at_MD_schools = [# admitted students from most recent MSAR data]/[0.5*total # of applicants]

For DO schools, a data report on the AACOM website, which only gives number of applicants and class sizes. So to estimate acceptance numbers, I multiplied class sizes by 2. I also adjusted to only consider applicants with in-range stats (same way as with MD schools). This gave the following estimate:

Estimated_Acceptance_rate_at_DO_schools = [2*class size]/[0.5*total # of applicants]

Hope that helps. 8% for MD schools might be reasonable. At that rate, to have a 75% chance of acceptance my equation would suggest you apply to log(0.25)/log(1-0.08) = 16.6 schools. But again-- beyond extra-curriculars, service work, research, your ability to sell yourself, etc -- it really depends heavily on what state you live in.
 
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donttazemebro said:
30ish for me.






















...only because my gpa fell to 3.3 this semester. just about 4 months ago while i still had a 4.0, i had 15 schools on my list.
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Did you apply DO or MD? And did you end up matriculating? I only ask because my stats are near yours!
 
futureoncdoc06 said:
Did you apply DO or MD? And did you end up matriculating? I only ask because my stats are near yours!
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You are replying to a post from 2011 and that particular poster has not posted on SDN in 6 years.
 
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jonnythan said:
That's assuming students are chosen at random, which they are not.
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all models are wrong but some models are useful.

but I don't mean to be snarky. you have a reasonable point that gets to the heart of the issue, which is that the average probability of acceptance is going to be different for everyone. so you need to estimate your own values for "p" in the equation. once you do that, you need to select what level of uncertainty you want to deal with in terms of getting an acceptance. if you're estimates are correct, then this is not even a model at all. it's just simple probability. basically a slight iteration on the concept of Expected Value, which is a hugely useful tool in decision making.

of course you values for p will always be an estimate. but this is a starting point at least, after which you can drill down to the micro level and start knocking out quality secondary applications on school at a time.
 
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The # also depends if you live in a state with at least 1 in-state program. A state like FL has multiple in-state schools with very high preference. A student can apply to those 3 along with a handful of private programs and have a statistically greater chance of becoming a doctor simply because of their parent's taxes.
 
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