How many schools should you apply to?

[USCbiograd]

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I am currently considering applying to 7 different schools for next years cycle. Some people say that this is not that many, but considering application fees as well as travel. It seems that 7 schools is quite ambitious. I feel that I am a relatively competitive applicant with a 20 AA/21TS/18PAT and 3.6 overall and science GPA. I applied to only one school last cycle and was not accepted. Since then I have been doing a masters in biomedical sciences program. Do you guys think it would be wise to apply to more than 7 schools?

Any input would be greatly appreciated.

 

[fireblast713]

1) Do you care deeply what school you go to?
2) Are you willing to apply again the following cycle if you don't get in?
3) Is money really tight?

Answer these questions and if you answer is yes to all of them then 7 is probably ok.

Personally it's a little on the low side and your scores (while pretty good) are not like 4.0 24AA 5000 hours of dental volunteer/shadowing (you get the point). I'd personally apply to 10-15 just to be sure, but then again I wouldn't want to apply again (I mean come on writing another PS... filling out the AADSAS bs... who would want to do that again?)

 

[lollipop999]

There's no harm in applying to more schools. The more schools the better the chances of getting in. If you want a good chance just dont apply to the really competitve ones and apply to ones that your going to have a better shot at. I have pretty decent stats and applied to 15+ schools because this is a process I want to do once and only ONCE. I would say add on a couple more schools, it is def worth it.

 

[caffeinehigh]

3.7 GPA SCI
AA 20 PA 19

I applied to 19 schools. I'm not doing this twice hahaha.

 

[Arsenic]

the 2 versions of this thread have now been merged into 1 in pre-dent

 

[Elipar]

More than "having to do this twice", think of the income loss of 1 year. What you make in the year you lose will far, far, far outweigh the cost of applications/interviews. Apply to more schools. If you get a ton of interviews, then just skip some. I'd rather get 10 interview offers and skip some, then get just 2 and hope and pray they work out.

 

[UNR.Grad]

I applied to 16, a lot of the schools I applied to are very tough to get into so I threw in some easier schools as well.