How to decide which schools you will apply to?

[willthatsall]

I'm not really sure how to decide which schools I want to apply to. I will definitely apply to my state school as a safety, but other than that I don't have any schools that I know for sure I like. Does anyone just apply to a bunch of top 20 schools and see where they get in? I'm not really sure how to choose other than that, since I haven't visited or have any experience with any of the schools. I think people will think I'm being ridiculous by only applying to a large number of highly ranked schools, but I don't really see the point in applying to other mid-range schools since I don't have any preference to begin with and money is an issue so I can't apply to too many schools. Do you think it's a good idea to randomly apply to top-ranked schools as long as you apply to enough that you will probably get in somewhere, or would you apply to more safety schools? As of now, I am thinking of like 12, and then MCG (my state school).

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[Biscuit799]

I'm not really sure how to decide which schools I want to apply to. I will definitely apply to my state school as a safety, but other than that I don't have any schools that I know for sure I like. Does anyone just apply to a bunch of top 20 schools and see where they get in? I'm not really sure how to choose other than that, since I haven't visited or have any experience with any of the schools. I think people will think I'm being ridiculous by only applying to a large number of highly ranked schools, but I don't really see the point in applying to other mid-range schools since I don't have any preference to begin with and money is an issue so I can't apply to too many schools. Do you think it's a good idea to randomly apply to top-ranked schools as long as you apply to enough that you will probably get in somewhere, or would you apply to more safety schools? As of now, I am thinking of like 12, and then MCG (my state school).

While 12 in a fine number, people generally apply to about 15, the more eager apply to about 20. First off, apply to your state schools because there is no such thing as a true "safety" medical school. Next, remember that the application fees for top 20 are substantially higher than for the rest (i.e. state schools), so if money is an issue, keep that in mind. Whatever you do, do NOT apply randomly to schools. Go to your pre med advisor and ask if there are any med schools for which your school is traditionally a feeder. Next, use the MSAR to compare your stats to the averages at med schools. Apply mainly to schools where you match well. I would say apply to 3-5 dream schools, all your state schools, and 2-3 schools that are about at/slightly below your stats, and 2-3 private schools that your stats are higher than the average stats. Also remember that you have to live for 4 years wherever you end up, so don't apply somewhere if you would hate to live there.

 

[willthatsall]

While 12 in a fine number, people generally apply to about 15, the more eager apply to about 20. First off, apply to your state schools because there is no such thing as a true "safety" medical school. Next, remember that the application fees for top 20 are substantially higher than for the rest (i.e. state schools), so if money is an issue, keep that in mind. Whatever you do, do NOT apply randomly to schools. Go to your pre med advisor and ask if there are any med schools for which your school is traditionally a feeder. Next, use the MSAR to compare your stats to the averages at med schools. Apply mainly to schools where you match well. I would say apply to 3-5 dream schools, all your state schools, and 2-3 schools that are about at/slightly below your stats, and 2-3 private schools that your stats are higher than the average stats. Also remember that you have to live for 4 years wherever you end up, so don't apply somewhere if you would hate to live there.

The only school my undergrad feeds is MCG. And that is my only state school, as far as I know. My pre-med advisor knows next to nothing and advised me to apply to 5 or fewer schools, which seems to be his advice to most students. My stats compare favorably to almost all schools, but I have no research experience. I should probably rephrase "random", because it isn't actually random if I am applying exclusively to top-20 schools, but I don't have any real reason for choosing each school except for rank. It's not that I wouldn't attend a med school that wasn't ranked at the top (I don't care that much), but I guess since I don't know anything about any particular med schools, I don't have any other criteria to go by.

 

[FloridaMadame]

The only school my undergrad feeds is MCG. And that is my only state school, as far as I know. My pre-med advisor knows next to nothing and advised me to apply to 5 or fewer schools, which seems to be his advice to most students. My stats compare favorably to almost all schools, but I have no research experience. I should probably rephrase "random", because it isn't actually random if I am applying exclusively to top-20 schools, but I don't have any real reason for choosing each school except for rank. It's not that I wouldn't attend a med school that wasn't ranked at the top (I don't care that much), but I guess since I don't know anything about any particular med schools, I don't have any other criteria to go by.

i think this might be a REALLY GOOD TIME for you to do some research on medical schools. There are things that are important: research possibilities, location, grading, curriculum, patient population, etc. Personally, I think that applying to just the top 20 ranked schools is stupid if there is no other basis than their rank. Scan this website for a while. See what other students say about a school. Think about where you might be the happiest. There's alot that goes in to applying to med school and getting accepted to med school, so for your own sake, do it wisely and with some thought.

 

[lorelei]

I'm not really a good person to give advice, because I applied to quite a few schools where I ended up not finishing secondaries/attending interviews because I wouldn't really want to go there. However, I think I learned a little from my experience.

Like you, I had good stats and no research experience. Your stats should make you competitive most places (I think I'm remembering correctly that you have a kickass MCAT score and I assume your GPA is good too). You could probably leave out the top schools that are very research-heavy, which in my experience include Mayo and Duke (that's based mostly on the fact that I got no interview love there). Also Harvard HST and the Case/Cleveland Clinic program.

Is cost a major consideration for you? You might want to make sure to apply to the schools that are known for giving merit money (Wash U, Penn, UMich, ?) as well as ones that have average debt loads lower than the national average. And don't forget cost of living AND cost of travel to interviews.

Location is important too - do you have family or friends you want to be close to?

I'm not sure how much curriculum matters; you learn the same stuff everywhere. However, if you know you'd rather spend more or less time in lecture, have earlier or later patient contact, more or fewer small groups, etc., you can sort based on that. Personally if I'd paid attention to this I might have focused on the schools that don't have you in lecture all day long.

Grading, again, may or may not be important to you. I doubt that Honors/HP/Pass/Fail will feel much different to me than ABCDF, but straight Pass/Fail might make a difference. Some schools do P/F the first one or two years then switch to letters for rotations, which can be scary to people who are used to being evaluated just based on tests and homework.

Do you have an idea as to what specialty you want, or whether you'd rather do primary care or a specialty? Do you have any particular angle on the med school thing? (underserved populations, religious faith, any particular soapbox issue, want to do volunteer work during school, want to just be a total animal and learn everything) If you have any of these things, SDN is probably the best way to find out what schools might fit you. I applied a few places where I didn't really fit, and surprise - I didn't get in.

Also note that if you're applying mostly to top-20 schools you probably want to apply to more places than if you've got more of a spread. Unless there's something wrong with your application, with your background you should be competitive in the top 20, but your yield will be a little lower becuase there's so much competition.

10 or so is probably a good number for mid-range schools; with more top schools I'd bump that up to 15 or so. Most people *ON SDN* apply to a lot, but the actual average number is somewhere around 10, I believe.

 

[QofQuimica]

Great post, lorelei, thanks.