I'm conflicted on how many schools I should apply to this cycle. I have ~20 schools I am considering applying to, but how many is too many? Should I narrow it down to 16-18? How do ADCOMs view the number schools you apply to? What's a good number?
How many schools should I apply to?
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ADCOMs do not know the number of schools you applied to. Apply to as many as your heart desires. Just remember that you have to pay for each one and fill out a secondary. I would say 20 is a good number though
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either is reasonable. i remembering hearing that about 15 schools is the average for applicants...but don't quote me on that. also, only apply to schools that you would really go to if accepted; i know people that have wasted a lot of money by withdrawing post-secondaries because they decided they really had no desire to go to particular schools.
the number you apply to is not so important as the particular schools to which you apply. example: you could apply to all of the top 20 schools and not get in, or you could only apply to a handful for which you are competitive and have a high success rate.
i'm going to pick like 3-5 "safties" and 3-5 "reaches", and around 10 "within reach".
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around twenties sounds good...but no matter how many you apply to, make sure you have a good spread of "backups" (if there is such a thing for med schools), target schools, and reach/dream schools.
Also, in general, the less competitive your stats the broader you want to apply, imo.
Also, in general, the less competitive your stats the broader you want to apply, imo.
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Like a million... Or, if you are feeling lazy you can just do all of them 🙂
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One. OUCOM. I love it here and never want to leave.
Edit: oops I read the thread title as "how many are you applying to". The OP should probably apply to multiple schools, not necessarily my favorite 😉
Edit: oops I read the thread title as "how many are you applying to". The OP should probably apply to multiple schools, not necessarily my favorite 😉
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I am sure you are all aware, but i will reiterate some points in case some of you don't know. It is best to apply to a wide spread of schools from the top to middle to bottom. If your goal is to attend a top 20 medical school and your stats are good enough (MCATs, GPA, Letters, ECS) but not stellar, a good selection of top schools will give you a higher percentage of acceptances.
I would say 15-25 schools is a good number.
I would say 15-25 schools is a good number.
Is it true that ADCOMs cannot see your list of schools? I would like to apply to 20-22 schools, but I'm willing to narrow it down to 18 depending on how it's viewed by ADCOMs. It would be tough to do though because all the schools on my list (see MDapplicant) are schools I'd love to attend.
adcoms cannot see how many schools you apply to. When it is past the May 15th deadline they could see the schools that have accepted you, but other than that ... they would have to ask you for the information.
also, i do not believe the adcom would have the time to care about how many schools an applicant applied to.
just consider the cost and the time you might have to spend writing the secondaries. The medical school process is a very expensive proposition.
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I was actually asked at one of my interviews how many schools I applied to. Later on she specifically asked me why I wanted to go to their school
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The national average is 13 for last cycle. At my undergrad, it was closer to 20. I have been asked on a couple interviews to which other schools I applied. If you are concerned with giving an exact number, a "safe" answer is to mention that you applied to all your state schools (which you should do) and list some out-of-state schools that jive particularly well with your interests, e.g. research, rural, urban/underserved, etc.
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Is your gpa really 4.0? If so, your 4.0 / 36 is very solid. If the rest of your app is equally as solid - and it does need to be - then your probably ok with your list of schools, although it never hurts to spend the extra couple hundred bucks and throw in a few mid to lower tier schools (that you would attend). You want to build yourself a safety net.
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First take the MCAT, then figure out how many to apply to.
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So I would recommend applying to about 25 schools, though this may just be because I live in CA and I think we tend to have to apply to more since CA schools are especially competitive. Here's a brief run down of what I did and what I'd recommend:
(3.87 applying GPA and a 35 MCAT)
Applied to 32 primaries just to be safe. Got every secondary and so I decided to only do 25 of them since this was a good indication. I chose mostly lower and mid tier schools-- like 10 "top" schools, though in retrospect I should have applied to more "top" schools.
I got 14 interview offers, about proportional to the number/types of schools I applied to (some top schools, mostly mid/lower schools). I only went to 9 interviews (though this is a lot I think..) and so far have 4 acceptances.
Conclusion:
I would apply to about 25 schools with my stats if I had to do it again because it's nice to have enough interviews to pull in a decent number of schools to choose from. You really never know which schools/how many are going to like you, so I'd say better be safe than sorry if you can afford it. The whole application process is super expensive anyway, so you might as well do it right the first time as to prevent having to apply a 2nd year and to give yourself some more peace of mind/later choice of more schools.
(3.87 applying GPA and a 35 MCAT)
Applied to 32 primaries just to be safe. Got every secondary and so I decided to only do 25 of them since this was a good indication. I chose mostly lower and mid tier schools-- like 10 "top" schools, though in retrospect I should have applied to more "top" schools.
I got 14 interview offers, about proportional to the number/types of schools I applied to (some top schools, mostly mid/lower schools). I only went to 9 interviews (though this is a lot I think..) and so far have 4 acceptances.
Conclusion:
I would apply to about 25 schools with my stats if I had to do it again because it's nice to have enough interviews to pull in a decent number of schools to choose from. You really never know which schools/how many are going to like you, so I'd say better be safe than sorry if you can afford it. The whole application process is super expensive anyway, so you might as well do it right the first time as to prevent having to apply a 2nd year and to give yourself some more peace of mind/later choice of more schools.
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I applied to 25 schools (which was brutal) and was accepted at 5.
What if I had applied to 20 schools and the 5 schools that I cut were the ones that later turned out to be my acceptances? And my 9 interviews were all over the spectrum: interview from top 10; dissed by several so-called "lower and mid-tier."
😱
Just be very, very careful with your list and apply to as many as you can possibly handle.
What if I had applied to 20 schools and the 5 schools that I cut were the ones that later turned out to be my acceptances? And my 9 interviews were all over the spectrum: interview from top 10; dissed by several so-called "lower and mid-tier."
😱Just be very, very careful with your list and apply to as many as you can possibly handle.
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With your stats, I would apply to 8-15. I was turning down interviews near the end and I think I may have applied to too many schools.
That being said, it is better to be safe than sorry. If you do apply to 20 schools, I think about 10 of those should be "high-tier" (UC's, Ivies, UChicago, Northwestern, Mayo, JH...).
That being said, it is better to be safe than sorry. If you do apply to 20 schools, I think about 10 of those should be "high-tier" (UC's, Ivies, UChicago, Northwestern, Mayo, JH...).
What if I had applied to 20 schools and the 5 schools that I cut were the ones that later turned out to be my acceptances? And my 9 interviews were all over the spectrum: interview from top 10; dissed by several so-called "lower and mid-tier."
Just be very, very careful with your list and apply to as many as you can possibly handle.
This is my EXACT fear. I am, however, relatively confident I can get into my state school, which is also an amazing school (U of MN).
I think that's pretty much what I'm planning to do. About 10-12 reach/elite schools and 10-12 mid to upper schools. My list only consists of schools I would attend. I really don't want to do the shotgun approach and just hope I get in somewhere. If I'm lucky, I'll get in where both the med school and me are happy with their decisions.
Your situation is somewhat unique, given your astronomical MCAT! I'd be thrilled to go to Mayo, btw. It's an amazing place. My PI got his MD/PhD from there.
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Currently your list is definitely slanted elite, but that makes it harder to cut schools since IMO the process is at its most random at the top. If I were you, I wouldn't apply to two UCs out of state. Perhaps someone else can speak to the degree of IS preference for the other state schools on your list.
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Then you can afford to have a shorter list and fewer "safeties." I did not have that luxury. My stats were a bit lower than yours and I have no state school.
Your thinking is just right. Strategery.
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Those two UC's select enough OOS applicants to make it worth it for OP to apply there if he really wants to attend. Iowa accepts a fair amount of OOS, I am not sure if Penn even has IS preference, Baylor is 50% OOS, not sure about UTSW, and OSU is 50% OOS.
Seems like a decent list.
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Apply to as many schools as you can afford and would like to go to. Make sure that you would actually like to be at the schools you apply to, so you don't put yourself in a situation where you are only accepted to a school where you don't want to be at.
I applied to 29 schools and felt that it was well worth it.
I applied to 29 schools and felt that it was well worth it.
Thanks everyone for the comments. I think I'm going to go forward with my current list, which is about 20-24 schools. I'm not sure there are any "safeties" in this game anyway. Sometimes, one person's safety is another person's reach school. I guess all you can really do is apply broadly and only to schools you'd like to attend.
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Personally I would apply to more like 16-18 schools. During my cycle I applied to 32 (CA resident, so CA + 25 other schools) and it was way too many. My stats were pretty close to yours (higher MCAT, lower GPA) I think if you apply to your state schools plus 13-15 (4-5 mid tier, and 10 top tier) you'd be more than fine.
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I think you've got the right idea. Some people on here who applied this past year with better stats than you, didn't do this, and they're still waiting for their first acceptance.
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That just really depends on what schools you're trying to apply to. Even if you have a 4.0/40+ with good ECs, I don't think it makes sense to apply to Harvard, Hopkins, and UCSF, for example.
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Don't apply to Wayne State. 60k OOS tuition ftl.
And if he wants to go to a top 25, why not apply to more?
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To each their own, but I think the application process is unpredictable enough that 3 or 4 schools is a big risk. It wouldn't necessarily take much to get rejected from all 4. I think 10 should be around a minimum, 15 to be comfortable.
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I'd advocate applying to a minimum of 10 schools even if you're applying to top tier, you just never know.
Regarding your last example, what is my hypothetical applicant had applied to those 4 schools and gotten into only their state school? Not only is it possible that they be rejected from all, but they could also get into schools that they don't really want to go to. If they applied to say, only the top 15, it's very likely they would have gotten into at least one of them.
Regarding your last example, what is my hypothetical applicant had applied to those 4 schools and gotten into only their state school? Not only is it possible that they be rejected from all, but they could also get into schools that they don't really want to go to. If they applied to say, only the top 15, it's very likely they would have gotten into at least one of them.
See, it's not that I want to go to a "top school" for the prestige or because they're better than my state school. I'm interested in applying to these top tier schools because I've been at my state school for 4 years and I've already taken many of the classes that will be taught during medical school here. I love MN and its med school, but I think I will ultimately be better trained if I attend another medical school and learn things in a different environment. Also, I really want to be around a diverse, brilliant class body -- which should be the case in most medical schools but the quality of class is likely even higher at the "elite" schools.
I chose my particular list of schools largely due to the types of curriculum offered, location and expense. Almost all of the have some form of case-based/PBL that I would like. I don't think I could choose to apply to only 3 of them. If I did, I would definitely be omitting schools that I really would like to attend.
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